Alt Bike Culture - Rebuilding a cruiser

hello and well i have a question for you all out there. i have a bike frame and rims that used to belong to my grandfather in the 80's honestly im not sure about the bike manufacture or the age i just remeber crusing with my grandfather on it.

well im wanting to rebuild it but im not to sure about it. The frame is rusted over and it requires alot of work on it, ill have to post images of it tommorow, what are the first steps i should take. i have read about sandblasting it sanding it down with steel wool im really not to sure about where to begin.

i have never attempted something like this before but i saw the frame and i thought it would be a good bike to ride around on. so if you could help me out i would greatly appreciate it....

tommorow i can post pictures and show you all the shape it is in if that helps....

Search the forums for "Rust removal" and painting tips. There are already plenty of threads on the subject. Your first choice would be a chemical rust remover/inhibitor. The less metal removed, the better.

i know this thread is old but here is pics of the bike is it worth working on? does it look to beat up please let me know....
i am going to ask a local bike shop to take a look at it too....
i was looking for a name or something i couldnt find anything....
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/bike2.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/bike3.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/bike1.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/bike4.jpg

Big 5 will sell you a complete single speed new for $99. Hardly worth bothering with that one, unless you're cashed up and have free time to spare.

yea i figured as much, im not to sure really what i want to do with it....
i want to fix it up for sentimental reasons, and i do have free but i cant say im loaded but i wanted to try it just to see if i could do it...but im sure it is going to be a pain in the ass at the same time....

If you want to do it for sentimental reasons, go for it. But the rust may affect the integrity of the frame, and the headset is sitting at an ugly angle.

very old and nice cruiser bike, go on and restorant it, you can paint and mount parts whot yuo like :)

sentimental reason is a good way

Nice frame, I like it! It wouldn't be too hard to get running for inexpensive w/ some second hand parts if you have the skills and the time. Make sure the frame is structurally sound before starting, though. It wouldn't be too hard to paint so it looked good, either. A perfect restoration is probably another story.

i have done auto body work for 15 yrs. I can walk you through the prep and paint process. The frame looks plenty good enough for sand blasting but needs to be done carefully. The chainguard should be done with glass beads in a blast cabinet. I say go for it,I resored an old schwinn found at a dump that resembled my first bike .I have gotten many compliments,and was surprised anybody noticed. Your project looks a lot like a hawthorn that i saw at a thrift sale. I remember the unique dropouts that it had. I would suggest a reputable bodyshop blast your frame and chainguard . if you ask them if they can work it in at their convienece, chances are they dont beat you up to bad on price. Also have them epoxy prime it and you will be ready for paint. good luck!!!

thankx for the help everyone i have asked some friends of mine and they really think i should go for it and clean this bike up. Now all i got to do is get it all apart, it seems the the bike shop in my area can get it powder coated for me that for me. they charge 95 dollars for plain colors and 120 for metallics...im super excited to get this thing cleaned up for me...

From the cranks, the gentle curve of the downtube and pointy dropouts i'm gonna say it looks like a Murray. Probably late 60s or early 70s. I had one, not quite as rough, fixed up and it rode nice enough. Some of the chrome looks good, crankset especially. How are the wheels? As far as the rust goes, most modern steels are going to take a long time to rust thru. As long as that bike hasn't lived outside for the last 30 yrs I would expect it to be fine for cruising around on. Just don't take up dirt jumping with it.

Hey man, just dive in. I love responses like, "just get one at Big 5". Some folks enjoy taking something old and making it work like new again. If it were mine, I'd blow it all apart right down to the bearing cups in the headset and the crank, strip the paint off, clean up or replace the existing bearings and basically, rebuild and regrease everything and re-assemble the thing. It's a cool looking cantilevered style frame what with the double top tubes and all. Now would be a good time to see what is offered in the way of aftermarket parts like some of the cool tires and handlebars a stem etc. Companies like Nirve and Felt offer lots of seperate components that can somewhat HOT ROD your bike with. Perfect restoration? Nah! Just take your time and have fun with it. You can rebuild the wheels it came with, just pay particular attention to how the rear hub comes apart and, hopefully, goes back together. If that is too intense for you, new wheels are available at your local bike store for fairly cheap (if we are talking standard chrome steel units). Get a new chain though. Sounds like you are pretty young and may not have many tools for bodywork and paint. If so, rattle cans will work and in fact give a decent finish, just make sure to prep the metal the best you can and, again, take the frame down to JUST the frame, no brackets, bearing cups etc. before you paint it. Scotchbrite or steel wool the chrome and bare metal parts to clean them up too. In the end you may actually have as much or even a bit more cash in this project, you will DEFINITELY have more time invested, but you will have a bike that you KNOW is built well, has sentimental value, has some vintage FUNK to it and most of all PRIDE in your accomplishment.

thanx again man....
i have tools .actually my dad passed away last year and well he has been a mechanic all his life so he has some tools i think i can use...hahaha....

yea i started taking the thing apart this morning....from my little experience it looks really actually ok, the frame has not rusted through and i actually got the pedals to spin freely...
just working on it for about a hour has really made me love this bike....
as for painting and sandblasting i might get it sandblasted by my wife's uncle he works for a company out here in arizona where they test cars for a majpr car company and well she reminded me she actually had something sandblasted for her awhile ago so im going to ask him if he could do the frame but i also called the bike shop this morning and they said the place they get it powercoated could do it also....

this morning i was looking at the tires and they look fine a little rusted but one of the tires has a spoke broken on it....i wanted to replace the bearings and as well as other stuff on it...i want to salvage what i can on it too...

ive also been looking around at this site and i found a cool little site that i was referring too...
http://www.bunchobikes.com/

here is some pics of the rims...
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/1.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/2.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/3.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/4.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/5.jpg

Looks like a nice Bendix coaster brake hub. You should definitely keep it and/or make it work again.

ok im stuck....i cant figure out how to take the pedal section apart...
i got to the point where i took off the bolt holding the bearings in...
this part
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/9.jpg


i cant figure out how to reome the whole part...can you all help?
here is a pic of the other side...
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/8.jpg


i also tried removing the pedel
this part but nothing...
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/7.jpg

ya go for it man...it will make you smile in the end and that's what is all about.

I just finished restoring a Chicago Schwinn and it turned out very good IMO. I took it down to the metal and painted her candy red. I bought my paint from Pete at http://www.hyper-formance.com who restores mostly sting-rays. It was a long process of repainting so just paying a c-note for powdercoating is a very good route.

Anyway, here are some pics of my restore and good luck with ur project!

Wow, aztoaster, nice TYPHOON. Looks great. In a round about way, I used to help Pete restore art for those decals he sells. He's a good guy from what I remember.

Lefty loosey, righty tighty does not apply here Jamesj, they are reverse threaded on the left side, put a wrench on that sucker and give it a good turn to the right and it should, with a little effort, come loose, same with the bearing retainer. You can leave the opposite side retainer fixed to the sprocket but should you want to replace it, you'll switch back to your conventional lefty-loosey train of thought. Same thing with the pedals, one side is left hand thread, the other is right hand thread. YO

ok so i got the right one off now all i need is the left one....
i did get the bearing retainer off actually that part was easy, i only put it back together because i thought it would be easier to work with....at least im learning alot, its funny you think bikes are simple as can be and when you actually start getting into the mechanics its not diffucult just more goes into it once you start working on them...
btw aztoaster those are some awesome bikes........

and i was able to locate some letters so maybe we can find out what it is...
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/WORD1.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/WORD2.jpg

Well, Cyclodan said it looked like a Murray. And that lettering looks like it might say Meteor.

I'm going to go for broke and guess it's a Murray Meteor. Try a few searches, maybe you can find some pics to work from. Best of luck!

That's what's called a one piece crank, you unscrew the nut and the lockring on the left side, remove the bearings, and the whole assembly can then be extracted from the right side. Common on Schwinns, cruisers, kids bikes and BMX. The left pedal and the left side crank nut are going to be reverse threaded, so they don't loosen up while you're riding.

I read 'Meteor' on the Chainguard.

BTW james if you post this in the vintage & classics forum you might get a positive Id on that bike. I still think it looks like something made by Murray (they also made J.C. Higgins, Mercury, Western Flyer etc.) Look on the bottom of the frame for a serial #.

(edit) Breaking news: Digging around in the archives here I found that there was indeed a Murray Meteor Flyer.

James J

You can try to remove some rust and dirt with WD40 to identify details. I also collect sewing machines and often I clean "rusted" surfaces to identify decals and words. I apply WD 40, let it stay for a couple of minutes and then, clean with a soft cloth. I repeat this process for several times. Finally the picture gets cleaner and I can identify parts and models. Try to do it over rusted parts of the frame that have words or important details. Probably it will work. After you have visible details, take pictures, right down the position of words and decals and proceed with your restoring

Take a look at this site http://www.bunchobikes.com/repair2.htm

and since we spoke about sewing machines it is worth a look

http://www.sewmuse.co.uk/

so yesterday i figured out how to take the whole assembly apart that it made sense once i was really thinking about it....the first one i took ff was easy then i tried the other side and ohhh god that was hard as hell, but i got it...
thanx again guys you have been awesome at helping i appreciate all your help....

all thats left is the headset and seat!!!!

also the wd 40 trick i was using that same method thats why the it looks wet i was using wd40 and cleaning it to make out letters, me and my wife both agreed it was a meteor...

Just for the heck of it, what numbers are stamped into the bottom bracket(crank shell of the frame) or rear dropouts(where the rear wheel bolts on)?

To be honest, if I'd found just the frame of this bicycle, it would have made my day. Neat looking thing.

ok so i was able to find the serial numbers they go: n07--40d 847534

ok so im needing some more help from you folks....im working on the headset and well i pulled the long ass screw from the handle bars, now im trying to get it all apart...i was able to undo the bolt on the actual headset...
is it just uppposed to come apart or what?
there is the one bolt and then 2 washers then a riveted one....
where should i go from here?
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/head1.jpg
http://www.afreeimagehost.com/upload/517/head2.jpg

Here's info on servicing a threaded headset. Look around the site for anything else you need to know.

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=127

Also check this out...

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enostalgic%2Enet%2Farc%2FScannedLit%2F1963+Murray+pg10%2Ejpg&Desc=

You may have to copy and paste the links.

Here's info on servicing a threaded headset. Look around the site for anything else you need to know.

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=127

Also check this out...

http://www.nostalgic.net/index.asp?S=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enostalgic%2Enet%2Farc%2FScannedLit%2F1963+Murray+pg10%2Ejpg&Desc=

You may have to copy and paste the links.


that is awesome!!!!
man that looks almost exactly the same but the only difference is the top bar looks to be a single one on my bike it has two bars going across....but thats awesome!!!
honestly i dont really want to make it that complete i just want to clean the frame, and put some new wheels up on it and make it run....but to think it may have looked like something like that awesome!!!!

Actually that one is a 2 top bar style as well. The pics just don't show it very clearly.
Hope the Park Tool site is helpful.

wow that is so cool....yea i noticed that too, i was actually looking at that site and it shows a catalog from 1963 and it has all there bikes and there it is....thats really cool....

so i called my mom and she was telling me about the bike she told me my grandfather bought it in a thrift store and when he saw it he had to have it so he bought it, he bought it for like 20 bucks or something.

and well im from the rezervation and well its in the middle of the desert well he used this bike to get all over the place, and well he used to get drunk alot and from what she told me he used to ride it all over the place get drunk and leave it somewhere and his frineds would always bring it back to him, well this one time he rode it to town and of course he was drinking and having a fun time when he was riding the bike home he got picked up for drunk driving, apparently he was drunk and riding his bike home and they thought he was to drunk to drive...

when she was telling me these stories i was laughing so hard....

Why paint it? Why is everyone so anti rust..? its still a solid bike, just put wheels on it and ride- although I dont really like cantiliver frames thats a pretty cool cruiser, you'd be ruining it if you did anything to it other than ride it.

PS: The stem bolt you pulled out, you kinda screwed it, the wedge broke off it and its stuck in the fork tube now. You're supposed to just loosen the bolt a little and jimmy the handlebars out (if there was a wheel on it you'd stick it between your legs to get some torque on it). Thats a real common problem with old bikes.. stuck necks/seat posts. You can probably still get out though, here read this:

http://www.bunchobikes.com/stuckneck.htm

If you ever get an old bike again I'd suggest pouring WD-40 in the hole for the fender on the bottom of the fork and let it sit for a few days before attempting to remove the neck.

Why paint it? Why is everyone so anti rust..? its still a solid bike, just put wheels on it and ride- although I dont really like cantiliver frames thats a pretty cool cruiser, you'd be ruining it if you did anything to it other than ride it.

You make an interesting point.

In my opinion, a bit of rust is no sin. It's like a mark that says the bike is unique, and can be distinguished from every other bike. And a frequently-ridden rusty bike is more honorable than a perfect show bike that never goes anywhere.

On the other hand, "its still a solid bike" only holds true until it is no longer true, and at that point the bike becomes unsafe. Tubes can rust internally and surprise you with their weakness. I 've stripped parts from frames that had the integrity of a $30 swing set.

I respect your ethic, but entropy is something I have more than a passing acquaintance with, and given a choice, I like painted bikes better than extensively rusted ones. A little rust on a beater bike is a badge of honor, though.

Rust is a badge of honor indeed, road rash and scars are too when your fork decides its had enough and snaps on you at high speed! I wouldnt worry too much about that happening though, if something on the frame does decides to sgive im sure the bike will still hold together so you can stop safely.. except the fork of course!

jamesj: do you have the fenders for that bike still? A cruiser aint a cruiser without the fenders!

Beach cruisers are supposed to be a bit rusty, yours has great lines to it. Put some wheels on it and a chain and ride it around your neighborhood, jump it off some curbs and try to put some light abuse on the frame to see if the rust is a liability. If the frame doesn't break, WD40 the frame inside and out, clean it and prep it so it doesn't rust any more than it already has, and ride it like that. Broken spoked wheels can be ridden on but don't waste your time, just get some cheap used wheels which are safer.

If this is a quality bike you'll enjoy it much more than a hundred dollar cheapo bike which might throw the chain off and get you hurt. This bike has soul, that goes a long way to enjoyment.