Show your bicycles, sans engines!

[Plymouthy Adams]

wooden rims, where a man can literally take a termite for a spin....

[rusty_apache]

25 minutes ago, cheesy said:

Rusty-I really like your bikes. Are you a Wheelman member?

Thanks, I enjoy revitalizing old bikes too. Yes, I’ve been in the club for a few years although I haven’t been to a meet since 2018. 

[rusty_apache]

38 minutes ago, Ulu said:

A fellow who can build wooden rims can’t rotate a photograph? Study up a little bit. There’s an icon for that.

It’s a wholly different skill set!!!

I was dragged into the 21st century and am not particularly a willing participant!?

[Plymouthy Adams]

When I first moved to this town there was a man with a carriage repair shop in an old warehouse down by the tracks.  He was a craftsman to no end and was a treat to view his shop and works in progress.  Alas, family issues and the shop is gone.  This is definitely an art form.  There are so many things wrong with the current century that make me unhappy also that a bit of time travel would soothe and calm for sure.

[rusty_apache]

I’ve picked up a few skills like mounting solid rubber tires to highwheel rims with heavy wire, and steaming hoops to take most of the the warpage out of them. 

Here’s the latest addition that I got at auction in San Marcos Tx. 1904 Pierce model 501 this one is original down to the spokes. The rims are laminated wooden coils whereas most manufacturers used solid hoops with finger joints. The tires and seat are period correct replacements. 

[Ulu]

 

 

[Plymouthy Adams]

this for sale local...mut be lot more art than bike for his opening price.....thought you may like some of the features like the springer fork set up....

 

 

[Ulu]

Plymouthy, if it was anybody else but you I’d be insulted. 

[Ulu]

I had to pull the seat position back and higher, and I made some temporary fittings in order to accomplish this with the existing seat and sissy bar.

I also took the upholstery off of the stingray seat and put some real dense foam padding in it. I threw away the original foam which was worthless.

 

Anyhow this improved the seating comfort, position, and the leg extension. I did have to bring the handlebars back some by reversing the gooseneck.

 

My chain turned out to be too short to run with the huge front sprocket and I added several links in order to access speed 13 and 14.

 

When I went to put the kickstand back on it was too short so I got out the torch and grinder and made some modifications.

 

This was part of an air ratchet.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

Busy day yesterday. I went Steven’s bicycle store, which is about the best in the area, to buy a tire and new tools and cables. Now I have cables long enough that I can reroute them back through the frame instead of having zip ties.

 

I de-mounted and re-mounted four bicycle tires to get the tires I wanted on the rims I wanted them on. I’m working on a couple of other different bicycles that I haven’t shown here yet.

This is just a pile of parts for one of them, Which I shall call the Sting-Gray.

 

The seat, bars, grips and brakes are brand new, and except for the rusty fork legs everything else is like new.

 

 

[Ulu]

I understand that today is World Bicycle day so we went riding around to the parks.

 

I don’t know who started World Bicycle day, but it’s on the Internet so it must be official!

[Young Ed]

Is that to counteract international donut day?

[Plymouthy Adams]

dang, the one day I did not take the Peugeot out for a ride....but, to my defense, I usually ride after supper and supper was late followed by a rain storm....tomorrow is another day.   Stayed very busy in the machine shop and such fabricating some parts for the Morris that is not available.  Found a couple worn items and went to buy them...they now no longer available.  I will be making some bushings next it seems.  Always something.  Rebuilt the vent window latches and had to make the special shoulder stud to stake in place.

[cheesy]

I did ride yesterday. Today, I felt like crap and twisted a throttle instead.

[Ulu]

That photo was my wife smiling was before the ride.

 

After the ride it was a little different.

I drug my wife around riding and taking photos until she couldn’t take it anymore and wanted to go home. Fortunately I have one of those neighborhoods where you can ride around and around and around for hours if you want, & never be far from home.

[Ulu]

On 5/28/2022 at 11:30 AM, Plymouthy Adams said:

…more art than bike.…

There is one shop in the next town that specializes in this kind of stuff.

This is how you spend $10,000 to win a $29 trophy. Gold.

 

If you find that Peugeot a little tall in the next few years Plymouthy we could set you up with one of these.

But the polishing is going to be a PITA every week.

Edited June 5, 2022 by Ulu

[Plymouthy Adams]

Bike Artistry Shop.....heck you cannot even find bike parts in my area....you are fortunate to  have such resources readily at hand even if you don't like all the flavors.

[Los_Control]

I myself never built a motorized bike. I think they are pretty cool though. Maybe someday I will.

 

I have never seen mustie1 mentioned on this thread, just wondering if any others here has seen his bikes?

While this is a older video and shows a few of them together .... this video is actually #2 of a 2 part series.

If you are looking for more you can easily find them.

 

I actually found mustie1 when searching for some videos to repair my riding lawnmower.

He has some real talent as a mechanic. Anywhere from small engines to large diesel backhoes converted to snow plows ... bass boats .... Today was a old funky go cart .... I enjoy my Sunday morning coffee watching his videos.

He certainly has imagination.

 

 

[Ulu]

I did a minor resto on this Electra for a friend today. Stripped and polished, every thing cleaned, greased & adjusted, new chain, new tubes, tires scrubbed.

This had been sitting 8 years and it was filthy. When he gets my bill he’ll feel properly punished for his laziness.

 

[Ulu]

On 6/5/2022 at 11:47 AM, Plymouthy Adams said:

Bike Artistry Shop.....heck you cannot even find bike parts in my area....you are fortunate to  have such resources readily at hand even if you don't like all the flavors.

I got the turquoise blue glitter seat from the same shop but it doesn’t match the blue paint. That blue paint will be history soon.

This is just a mock up and it’s far from done. I was going to use the green triple trees but it turns out they’re quite a bit weaker than the black ones, which are somewhat different design.

 

I will probably end up reinforcing the bottom tree, And sleeving the fork tubes right there about 6” to prevent bent forks.

You know my grandkids are going to do wheelies on this…

[Ulu]

16 hours ago, Ulu said:

 

This had been sitting 8 years and it was filthy. When he gets my bill he’ll feel properly punished for his laziness.

 

It’s not one of the worlds great bicycles and frankly I doubt if he’ll be able to sell it for much more than what he paid me to fix the thing.

Now he’s an old friend and he’s loaded hundreds of rounds of free ammo for me over the years so I would fix his bicycle for free anytime. But he said something that rubbed me the wrong way. I mean he gives me this crusty bicycle that he wouldn’t bother to even wash.

Anyhow I sent him a picture of the coaster hub disassembled and I said, “Buddy, look, if you can build an AR then you can fix one of these. It is no more difficult.”

He sent me back a message that says, “I don’t do bicycles.“ Like some snooty French maid or something.

So as a punishment I took the chrome acorn nuts off his bicycle and put them on my bicycle. I put plain black chinese nuts on his bicycle (Which, remember, he has not looked at for eight years. All his hardware was just black with oil and dirt.)

When I returned the bicycle (stripped, polished, greased, reassembled, new tubes, tires) I told him, “ You wanted me to repair your bicycle but you didn’t even bother to wash 8 years of dirt off the thing for me. So I stole something off your bicycle.”

He looked and guessed and he couldn’t figure it out. He begged me to tell him what it was but I refused. I told him, “Hey, keep looking, and if you can’t tell what’s missing it will have to remain a mystery.”

He will never figure out what it is either.

[Ulu]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 13, 2023 by Ulu

[Ulu]

Brake customization.

 

I have to do something to put this 20 inch wheel in a 26 inch frame. My answer was these custom scimitars made from 4 levers.

 

These are not yet welded, as I just mocked them up last night about midnight.

 

This bicycle will only have one brake on it so it better stop me.

[Ulu]

I think the brake is going to work but I hate that stupid cable guide welded to the frame. There’s a lot of friction. It’s going to get a pulley or a better guide.

I am not sure if I’m going to use the chains of the pool. I have a table set for it, but we’ll see how this works first.

[Ulu]

The weather continues to be beautiful and dry. Light breezes, very light overcast. Perfect biking weather.
Starting to look at the Nomad again. Not sure why I keep putting it off.

With a little mapping I find I am up to 5.3 miles this AM, on the custom Mongoose bike.


I have been riding every day when possible, but I'm not trying to kill myself like 2010 when I was in full beast mode.

I'm riding a 47 lb bike today, and I don't know how this relates to riding a 24 lb bike or a 12 lb bike, energy wise. Anyhow this is 0.4 miles farther than yesterday with my wife.

I am doing a big loop thru the neighborhood, and it is all pretty flat. I doubt there is 2 ft of rise corner to corner on a square 1/2 x 1/2 mile

But there are 10 cul-de-sacs so I get to do the hot-shoe, and my bike will do a hot grinding tail slide on the off camber tarmak. I have enough clearance to pedal thru the slide, but I can just drop into the turn and make it burn. I think part of this is the hard cruiser tire compound. Part is the steep rake and slight positive trail, with gross tire offset: 1.7" vs 4". It will dive into a turn if you are immodest. It's easy to hold in a line and will ride with no hands, but it is scary with so little weight on the front to stabilise it. Lots of trail means little with no weight. I do have a pretty sticky front tire. I don't think there is any way to wash out the front end unless I hit oil/etc.

When I take my wife I always go around the circles at least twice so she can slow down and catch me. Tons of fun! Ccorkscrews, figure eights, shoot the moon between reflectors.

I cross 8 stop signs, and I stop, or at least slow to a crawl as I shift down, depending on traffic. It was virtually zero at 10 AM. But there's a lot of stopping and starting. I use 4 or 5 of the available 12 speeds. It's a 14, but two combos just aren't practical. Lots of derailleur stress.

There are 30 turns. 10 of them are very cul-de-sac like but just 90 degrees. More tail-sliding fun.

I don't wanna count the BOT's dots or manhole covers or concrete gutters, but there are as many opportunities for bump-wheelies as you could want, without even looking at the perfect curb-ramp launches at every driveway. 4th gear power wheelies are limited by the legs. It is not a light bike to keep aloft. I'm not anxious to crash or stomp down the pavement to save it/me. Strictly for impressing the girls, and by the girls I mean mostly my lovely 66 y.o. wife.