REAPER

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Got some of the electrical done yesterday. That was my first time trying to make what I want w/ a soldering iron & a hot glue gun. It wasn't too bad, The burns should heal up pretty soon.......

The more I look at reaper as is, the more I like it! I like the contrast & compliment of the rust, chrome and 3 different paint colors! But I'll follow through with my plans and will consider this look for another bike I have.

No pics today......too close to the end..... 8)
 
This bike is so awesome! I need to find me another frame so I can build me a slammed rat! Awesome job dude! Sweet!
 
ZbikerD said:
This bike is so awesome! I need to find me another frame so I can build me a slammed rat! Awesome job dude! Sweet!
Thank you very much! I appreciate that! I just arrived at the shop to get it finished today, so fingers crossed........
 
FINISHED !!

Let me start by saying thanks to everyone for their compliments and support. I truly appreciate on my first build!

Second.....I am by no means a Goth dude ot a follower of the Lord of Death & Darkness or anything like that. The inspiration for this build was simply from the shape of the fender light opening. Maybe it was near Halloween or something is why I thought of this design.

When I decided to do the Grim Reaper theme, It wasa going to be gloss black, new chrome and shiny everything. But then I got to thinking that if the Grim Reaper was to ride up on a bike, it would be anything but shiny and new. Instead, it would be just the opposite. So REAPER has nastly flat black paint, rusty chrome, no cushy seat or anything nice. So basically, this is my interpretation of what Death would ride if he were a Rat Rod Bike rider....

Here it is! What's hard to see in these pics is there are rusty chains hanging in various places. It seems like when you see Death in a movie, there's always rusty old chains dragging the ground and banging on stuff. When I had the rear wheel laced at the LBS, I had them use old rusty spokes. I didnt want shiny ones to stand out from the rest of the "old". The front wheel already had the rusty spokes anyway so they needed to match.


The handlebars are bent / warped and I had almost thrown them away. But again, if the Grim Reaper rode this, it's not going to be nice.


Here's the fat rear tire. I wish I could afford one for every build, but I cant. To make it fit, I wanted to keep the stock looking lines of the frame and didn't want to splice in a different section of frame. The original crank & shell were removed and one from an OCC Chopper was put in it's place. The gusset at the top section that holds the fender was removed too. The frame was then widened to accomodate the wider hub and crank shell and a new gusset was welded in.


Another profile shot. The head and figures actually have a purpose than just decoration.


The Grim Reaper head is the headlight. I installed two 10mm ultra high brightness LEDs and a battery pack inside of it for the headlight. A small switch on the bottom turns it in & off.


The hanging lantern works too. There's a small incandescent light above the skull and two small red lights for the eyes. This is more of an accent light than a anything else.


And the taillight. I installed a bright red 10mm LED in theside the flame to act as a taillight. What you cant see unless its dark is the base of the figure has lights that change from red, purple, blue, green, etc.


I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Thanks again for all your kind words!
 
Sweet!! Turned out awesome! That bike needed flat black! How did you widen the rear end? I read the whole build but must have missed it if you explained. Looks soo cool!
 
Thanks!

ZbikerD said:
Sweet!! Turned out awesome! That bike needed flat black! How did you widen the rear end? I read the whole build but must have missed it if you explained. Looks soo cool!


Here's the fat rear tire. I wish I could afford one for every build, but I cant. To make it fit, I wanted to keep the stock looking lines of the frame and didn't want to splice in a different section of frame. The original crank & shell were removed and one from an OCC Chopper was put in it's place. The gusset at the top section that holds the fender was removed too. The frame was then widened to accomodate the wider hub and crank shell and a new gusset was welded in.

The widening itself was easy. Once the gusset and shell were removed, the rear frame was loose. It was heated by the seat tube and slowly sread apart by a 4" pipe. Once it was where I wanted, the new gusset & shell were tacked in.
 
kingfish254 said:
All I have to say is, Where is the Cowbell????!!!!

I was going to add a bell, but from what littke I know about bells on bikes, they're to keep the evil spirits and/or bad luck away.........and that seemed kinda pointless with the theme of the bike...... :mrgreen:
 
Man this thing is cool, great job!! :D
 
Yes sir,this is a fine example of the nice atmosphere,one can create whilst riding a bicycle. What I'm trying to say is:




AWESOME RIDE,DUDE!!! I REALLY DIG IT! 8) 8) 8)
 

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