Prewar bike rehabilitation

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
BOXKARS
Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
O

ozzmonaut

Joined
Feb 9, 2011
Messages
1,983
Reaction score
346
Location
Mount Airy, NC (aka Mayberry)
Rating - 100%
28   0   0
I still don't know much about this bike. I bought it thinking it was closer to original. But now it is just a "get it on the road" kind of deal. It started out with this 2-piece crank setup. wood wheels, the front one being disassembled. It came with two different sets of handlebars, both of which are likely incorrect. But I like the aged paint. The seat is too weak around the front rivets to be tightened and used. So here's some before pics:
bluemead_zps60e91240.jpg

SANY1155_zpse675792d.jpg

SANY1157_zpsae2d0b12.jpg

SANY1158_zps1cbb3b34.jpg

SANY1161_zpsf6ae3f5c.jpg

SANY1188_zps9587b85d.jpg
 
I plan to make a few subtle changes as I move forward on this. While I do have this bike in the I.D. forum as well, if you see something in the course of this build that helps you identify it, I'm interested in getting more info on this bike.
 
Since the wood rims weren't going to get me on the road, I decided to tear down a set of 28" westwood wheels off of a 30's ladies bike and lace the fixed gear hub in. Hopefully these wheels are not too far in the wrong direction.
SANY1190_zps9bb8e8fa.jpg
 
As you can kind of tell in one of the above pics, the chainring was pretty warped, so while I had the crankset apart I hammered out the chainring. I also cut a large rubber grommet in half to make two new rubber seals for the outside of the crankset.
 
Looks good so far! great to see the really old stuff being put back on the road.
 
Thanks, that's kind of my M.O. If I buy something it is to ride, no matter how old. If it can't be made to ride or is purchased for parts then I try to get any parts I don't need to someone that will use them to get something else rideable. This bike almost got parted because I wasn't sure if financially and time-wise that I was up to the task, but I'm glad I took the chance to try. I've already learned some new things from this project.
 
It turns out that the seat post uses a stem bolt/wedge assembly to stay in place. Apparently someone lost it in the past and drilled 1/4" holes in the seat post and frame and put the bolt in there. So I welded up the holes in the seat post. I don't want to mess up the original paint with welding, so I'm going to use jb weld to fill the holes. I plan to place a wood dowel in the seat tube to keep the jb from protruding into the tube. Then I'll fill it, carefully sand it, and mix some craft paint to cover the jb weld spots.
SANY1199_zps3ffa2091.jpg
 
My original guess was westfield, and I was told the 2-piece crank setup was likely early columbia, and the headbadge mounting holes point to early Columbia, so it is probably somewhere in all of that mess. I notice that early columbia images show some models with rod brakes, so maybe these wheels aren't as far off as I thought.
 
Yeah, needing a seat for this. I have hopefully found one, still waiting to see. If not I'm going to build something cool by taking two basic prewar seats and adding some extra springs and stuff between the two frames to make one awesome seat and recover it with buckskin myself.
 
And really I don't find that many cool bikes. This one was a basketcase, bad. I've been messing with bikes for maybe 20 years, old bikes for maybe 17 of that, and prewar and full custom for maybe 10-11. So the few cool bikes I have really has taken me a while to put together. The trick isn't just finding a cool bike, it's finding one you can afford (for me anyways). I've gotten lucky a couple times, but I've lost more projects than I've even owned due to not having the money or having it 5 minutes too late. I just assume nobody else wanted to take this project on. It's out of the norm with its strange crank assembly, it's too unknown or un-named for the resto/collector crowd. But it's just beat up and different enough for me, plus I like the challenge. Basically the "Can I make it ride again?" appeal. And I plan to ride it a lot. It will be a little tall for me, and since the cranks are very specific and hard to find replacements (especially shorter ones) I will just deal with it. But I want one cool racer, as everything else I own is50lb-75lb ballooners.
Unfortunately, the block chain will be of no use now as the clinchers I chose and have already laced are of a larger diameter and would be too close to the fenders with this chain, especially with the 40-635 tires that are on the way. The upside is that skiptooth chain was probably original and the block chain will be sold to help fund the project. But trust me, if this block chain was 2 links longer I'd run it forever. This thing looks bulletproof!
 
I won't know what the tires look like as far as the fit and profile until they get here. I did a quick mockup of the wheel and fender. There won't be a lot of room. I hope this whole thing doesn't go bad. Maybe I should have tried to find some 700c rims for this.
SANY1209_zpsf5108665.jpg
 
The rear cog was very wide and would only work with block chain. I pulled a skiptooth cog off of a morrow hub and put it on the wheel so now I'm ready to run some skiptooth chain.
 
I'm thinking of using this seat. It isn't all that old but kind of looks the part. I think I will still build the custom seat from two prewar seat frames that I had mentioned. I have another project in the back of my mind that may need something like this, and I kind of just feel like trying my hand at this custom seat idea.
SANY1210_zps8fab1e8b.jpg
 
I love this frame and what you're doing with it.

For wheels, you can use Velocity Blunts or P-35's. Many colors to pick from and you can run any 700C tire you want. I used them in place of 28" glue on tires on one of my builds and they worked and looked perfect.
 
ozzmonaut said:
I've heard the term P-35 but not familiar with what they are. Are they easy to come by?
Click to expand...


They are a wheel made by velocity. Designed to be used for mountain bikes and are light and strong. It just so happens that their profile is nearly identical to the original metal clad wood wheels. And the giant stickers on them are removable. Blunts are another one of their wheels but are just a little smaller profile. Both made in several sizes including 29'er/700c so they fit those old 28" bikes perfectly and tire choices are endless.

Do a search here for Lovell diamond and see pics of my bike. I used blunts because I got a good deal on them but honestly, cannot recall how much they were. I just did a quick eBay search and they aren't nearly as plentiful as they once were. Not sure why. Perhaps you could contact a velocity dealer and find out.

Also, go over to the cabe and do a search there. A while ago, a guy took a set and had them nickel plated for a bike resto and they looked amazing.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top