Alt Bike Culture - Tempest--The Grey Bike Grows Up

You are getting your stimulus check much earlier than I am! July 11th for me :D .

You didn't want me to have the honour of the 100th post? Oh, I am so bummed :p .

East Hill

You are getting your stimulus check much earlier than I am! July 11th for me :D .

You didn't want me to have the honour of the 100th post? Oh, I am so bummed :p .

East Hill


No slight intended! I have to get a yard sale together for at least four other parties beside myself Thurs to Sat but I have another mockup planned for the space to show Germaine although I won't be as Gung Ho with her as Tempest. The man I've been talking to in Boise about finding parts says he has a classic rack but no tank. I need a Typhoon-type (curved cantilever) tank and not a fancy chomey one as I want to paint it pearlescent white with lime green trim like the fenders will be. Cruiser SS like the base Cruiser has no fenders. A bullet light goes on the front fender and Honda ATC bike 4-5 inch wide taillight (hopefully the pedestal can be made to fit on the rear fender) will fit just right between the paperboys.

That's about it other than a new forked stand like Tempest's, my old piezo horn and another bell.

Pearlescent white with lime green trim sounds soooo beautiful :D .

East Hill

Pearlescent white with lime green trim sounds soooo beautiful :D .

East Hill

Still the Emporer's New Clothes until the tank shows up and I'm not there yet. I just sold a pair or AR-3a speakers but I'm scraping the surface for another week or so. I don't even need it in good shape or chromy.

Do you know how hard it is to find side views of Wald paperboys online? I have a scaled pic of the taillight I took and I was trying to make it nicer this time and skip photographing the bike directly...I still have to use Word Perfect 9 which doesn't like Photoshop at all except for GIFs but you can layer them easily and the transparent nature helps...but I haven't recalled how to layer or switch to clear the clipboard so I grab my screens and layer and trim... that is what 100 is for and I may get done with the mockup by WED morning...

hang in!

PS It was easy to save and recolor the 60s Schwinn logo.

Wald, Wald....you might ask in C & V if anyone has a catalogue?

I could swear I remember someone talking about Walds over there.

East Hill

Nah, I'll get a pic of mine later and paste it in, but I'm gonna edit #100 for now and update later with the changes.

Actually, I FINISHED IT.

Go back to page four and see, even it's kinda small.

Good day, fellow alt cyclists:

Some days I wonder if I should be moseying on to C&V when I don't have enough to write about Tempest vs. Germaine but for now it's the tale of two cruisers and my approaches to taking the seemingly mundane and elevating it a notch. No huge mods have really been done although a ton of brazing and welding for great fab work was done and a lot of improvements made and spare parts are involved. It's not rocket science but the snail next door has has a lift, metallic scarlet and a flame job added to his shell in that time so I AM SLOOOOOOW:roflmao2: Oh, he got a Rockford Fosgate Punch last week too. One deaf snail! :thumb:

Tomorrow I get the next to last part for Germaine, and that is (drumroll):

Unpainted nine hole rack (a gift too)! :D All I need is a workable non-chromy, maybe rusty Schwinn tank and a 6V+ setup to fit in there (4 'C' or 'D' cells) and I'm done. Whenever Tempest finally gets painted :rolleyes:

In the mean time I have been out every evening tearing up the earth beneath my knobby 26x2.125 OEM Cheng Shin tires.

Never halt your alt!

June's goodies are being budgeted and are mostly reflectors and decals. I am planning to buy four Columbia red reflectors for both bikes' fenders and two 3/4" amber glass reflectors on the panniers and one Rollfast decal for the chain guard, all from Memory Lane Classics. I am going to take the badge design A Hemp, a friend and I worked out as seen earlier and have decals created at a shop called T-N-T that does decals, vinyl and has built dozens of signs for several years and has the most experience locally.
I still need a tank. If I were able to find the 2004 Cruiser 7 speed tank with green trim it would be fine but Memory Lane only has blue and black. Schwinn (Pacific Cycle that is) says they do not sell directly to the public so I have to go through the dealer network if I can find one at all. Any flat tank will do, rust, dings and all. I'll try Craigslist while I'm at it.

Have you put out feelers in C & V for the tank?

East Hill

I put it in ISO/WTB? I'd have to look again to see if that was in C&V.

Yes, it's in C&V. Haven't heard anything for a few days since.

I was told that the painting has started finally...as for Schwinn tanks Memory Lane Classics said the prices aren't cheap anywhere? The fiberglass work is a month or two out. I don't think I'll get the DTV converter in time for the coupon expiration and the ones at the Radio Shack are NOT capable of analog passthough, which makes no sense as only six stations are converting for sure and the rest are Class A, LP and translators that aren't required to switch on Feb. 19th. This is doing to work...

I'll just have to wait and see. I'd rather finish my Altecs and listen.

Hurrah for the painting getting under way!

East Hill

My nine hole rack! Shelby Airflow 52 tank and Germaine at rest.

The rack is very elegant!

What still needs to be done with Germaine?

East Hill

The rack is very elegant!

What still needs to be done with Germaine?

East Hill

Still need the tank, a bell and a forked kickstand (would help a lot to prevent it falling over).

There is a swap meet in Boise tomorrow but I won't get there. It's listed on Craiglist if you didn't know over there. I won't be getting to that until next month, have a couple more bills to pay first. The organizer could've sold me a frame but never followed through a while back. Oh well.

I'm going to paint the rack today. I've got cleaning to do about the house and a vintage 1950s TV cabinet to fix and clean duct tape from the doors for an AV stand. $3.00

Rack in progress:

Congratulations on your progress :thumb:

Congratulations on your progress :thumb:

But WAIT! there's MORE! (Should be Ron Popeil's epitaph)

I haven't figured out how to add the rack yet. The Impala V-8 badge is for the fairing on Tempest. I can clean and mount the taillight but I still have no tank!

I will probably bang one out with Gary soon.

My goodies from Memory Lane Classics came!

I was told to come to the paint shop tomorrow and the frame might just be ready to go. The pannier rack is next.

I'm going to make sure the Li-ion cell for my Mavica is fully charged to shoot a phalanx of pictures to upload when I get back.

East Hill,

Hmm...I didn't get the multiquote to work or something but I clicked on your blog link and while the links were for some of your sites I got something about UK wildlife and not the forums I had subscribed to. Shame on me for not visiting in a long time but what up!

EDIT: OKAY...it was the other one! DUH...

I think I found a good piece of clean steel in a sheet large enough to make the tank and more.

No finished frame yet... it's partly finished.

I went to the sign and graphics shop here and went over the CD-R I made for him with the Rollfast and Schwinn graphics details.

He said I did an excellent job putting it together and with everything I provided him and the talk we had then he would be able to do the entire project for around $40! He showed me the materials he had thought of using to produce what he thought I needed and it was a really helpful experience. He has a long history as a sign builder and I also asked him about his work on several occasions before deciding to approach him with the job. The pictures and sample he has displays go all the way back to his training and final exam project (full commercial business logo graphics on a small car) and some actual signs in the shop and several of them are area businesses so I knew the signs well.

I have already thanked Cory Easom for the additional work on AHemp's original files and will send another heartfelt thanks to my fellow member very shortly. This is going to be very, very nice when it's finished!

I also want to say my birthday has been pretty okay today and the BF email beat everybody else!:thumb::thumb::thumb:

Something may show up later but no drama right now from me...I was working on very large speaker cabinets and tying up my July budget so I'm gonna sleep now.

:)

If I seem a bit slow lately, it's been my birthday and I've been arranging my budget and wrapping up bills for the month to get some non-bike stuff. It's been worth it though...take a look.

I thought I'd have a painted bike by now.

It's over there, saw it today...

NOT THE LEAST STARTED.

If he wants money or something he should speak so I could at least budget it.

No it's not going to disappear, it just hasn't been touched.

I HAVE DECALS ORDERED AND DESIGNED FOR $40...

Who else can paint the bike around the Treasure Valley then? I've had a lot to do to make a house pass a HUD inspection and it's also clear a board under the tub/shower is going to fail soon and inspection is the 9th.

I just have to budget it.

I have no clue why nothing's doing and I don't want you to feel disappointed and that's kinda annoying.

A lot of wasted time so now none is being squandered...I've got everything but the original paint back and I'm working to get that. There will be finished fenders at the least by Monday! None of the fenders I brought him were actually bad...Germaine will have some soon also. 1/4 of all the fenders are primered on top and the bottoms of Tempest's may need touchup but they will be ready Saturday. Watch me.

I'm about to paint the rear fender it's base color. I just realized the guy still has my tank and I'm trying to get the spraypaint and supplies back so I don't have to spent $20+ I don't really have on Pontiac light blue, white and such on top of maybe 1 more can of primer. My camera battery has two more hours to charge so more pix can wait til morning.

Happy Independence Day!

Two hours or so later...I don't have my chain guard and my tank and need my old paint supply back.

Got the paint and working on the tank and chain guard's return. I have most of Tempest involved in some aspect of painting. I am going to wait til tomorrow to work on it better with time and more stuff.

Happy Independence Day, which I'm having except when the bottle rocket landed next to me in front of the house while spraypainting.

East Hill, I hope you are having fun on the Islands and they shoot them off over a volcano or something...that would look cool!

More progress in progress...

More paint to buy and masking and then those motorcycle panniers!
:love:

I know it's sloppy but this is a work deciding how it's done in some cases and I'll clean it up good when I go to mask and take the chain and crank apart. Yet to come is Pontiac Blue and striping diagonally across the bars and bottom tube.

Refresher: Hey. come to think of it, I'M BACKWARDS on the front fender!

More spraypaint and 600 grit sanding paper, masking tape (I asked for and got some green tape that is supposed to be better and it was on sale). More pictures later.

Some progress, some indications also I'm trying too hard and fast.

More pictures

Most of the bike is locked in the shed for a couple more days. I have to finish cleaning and setting up to pass a housing inspection and also finish 2 pairs of speakers by the 9th.

I'll resume working on the frame paint this afternoon.

The frame is almost done!

Last shots tonight, and the frame has it's basic look now!

Do not attempt this at 4 am at home!

I've got sandpaper but I'm out of masking tape again. Stay tuned,,,

I took the frame to my LBS to get the crank. chain and steerage sepaated so I could do better at it and the owner's assistant asked me why I didn't ask him to paint it. He's quoted a reasonable price I suppose and I could figure out payments for About $100 but I hope he can use what's there and salvage it. I spent about $100 of what I have and it has problem spots but the colors are perfect to me. I sent him the mockup and some other pics (the original grey bike and the trim added). We'll see.

Germaine, meanwhile, has worn the race(s) and I was told it will hold out for a while. After 13 years I should hope so. I have a lot to catch up.

I talked about my experiences with spray cans and could he try to clean up my drips and use what I had to clean it up and finish. He said if I could provide the paints he would do that for free. So a lot of my work will still be there and I can still pay my other bills and finish what I need to.

I won't wait for months either.

Hard to believe the bike is finally starting to pull together.

I'm holding my breath for you, hoping that everything keeps moving forward. I know you've been waiting for this for a looooooonnng time.

East Hill

It's my fault, I fear. Still, I guess I have two bikes where I would've had none to ride at all and I've had a lot of time to be creative and get other things together.

Thunderstorm weather but it's WELCOME...10F drop in temps will help a lot.

Tempest is still at the LBS shop owners brother's place...he also works there. He said he had the fenders stripped down---LOTS OF BONDO and would try to get the colors matched up as close as he could but I shouldn't have used engine paint...

Meanwhile all is quiet, it's the beginning of a new month and I have been concentrating on paying the bills and getting the supplies to finish the stereo I am trading for his work (now that we've established I was half right on technique and all wrong on paint type--oh well)...I get a turntable gone in the process and I already have SEVEN anyhow...

Hang in there and stash a picnic on your bike...it ought to be a decent weekend. Don't forget the insect protection and ENJOY.

I'm putting two vintage handlebars on Pay It Forward and will have pictures up as soon as I locate the Mavica :) FAIR WARNING