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

and I'm using part of the old ones to boot!

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It's my birthday today!

I hope A&S enjoys the respite! ;)

I received the Western Flyer ladies tank I bought Monday.


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Working to make some final cleanup on the Ross, more painting on the Schwinn's fender light and trying a color on the tank I bought. Soon to start working on the Higgins.

There is a car and bike show on July 24th. I want to be done and...secret, sorry.


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Pinstripes are a pain when you have lousy fingers. I put the headbadge stickers on one over the other so it looked flatter. I think it's going to work out okay.

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DIG!:rolleyes:
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That wasn't the Higgins fender I had done already, it was the front and it awaits a Zephyr-style light and the other Schwinn script decal I had left.

I am almost done with the Ross' tank striping and will be mounting it soon! Still waiting on a crank for it...

The other tank is Western Flyer and It's not quite right for the Higgins but I will have to be creative as it's what I have. We've only just begun to build that bike.

Stay TUNED (or end up untuned)...

Gee Rocky, I don't know my own strength!

DIG!:rolleyes:
159841159842159843159844159845159846159847159848159849159850159851159852

That wasn't the Higgins fender I had done already, it was the front and it awaits a Zephyr-style light and the other Schwinn script decal I had left.

I am almost done with the Ross' tank striping and will be mounting it soon! Still waiting on a crank for it...

The other tank is Western Flyer and It's not quite right for the Higgins but I will have to be creative as it's what I have. We've only just begun to build that bike.

Stay TUNED (or end up untuned)...

Gee Rocky, I don't know my own strength!

You may want to try something with decal paper
http://www.testors.com/product/136937/9201/_/Decal_Paper_-_Clear

Rollfast thanks for keeping this thread going. I don't chime in much but I love what you're doing with these old bikes. I know I'll be coming back here if I ever get round to fixing up my old Spaceliner.

Jim

You may want to try something with decal paper
http://www.testors.com/product/136937/9201/_/Decal_Paper_-_Clear

I could indeed but I do get what I have for not much (a little money now and then, I tell others who did the decals and I praise them greatly in person). I'm also not doing very good in the printer department lately. I'm thinking of getting the JC Higgins set online *tank and headbadge at least as they're extremely busy and have been helping me with all they can right now. I'm buildiing alt bikes, as I like, not full-on restorations but some parties I buy from aren't fully in the mix on that yet, mainly just because I'm poosibly confusing them a little and talking would clear that up.

Frankly though, for this year and maybe the next this might be all I do for a while after the Higgins. Repairs and replacements to my fleet for certain, but winter usually puts me on hold and I've been going 5 different ways lately.

I say the same thing about audio gear and of course I'm bound to find a project out of the blue.

This thread isn't supposed to be about me as much as the various bikes I've documented in it. If I wanted to banter about me all day I have to start a blog or something. I'll probably close this eventually and do individual threads like everyone else. This has been more of an event than a thread and it's really something how it's had more hits than mostly me looking in to find images I lost on my computer or something and I'm really satisfied and grateful.

Somebody go find East Hill though, get the Peace Corps or somebody. She was here at the start to encourage me and I can't close it without her somehow.

I think we have some time left for that though.

Dribs and drabs as of late but I believe I have a crank for that Ross now and I'm been moving mountains around La Hacienda as if junk depended on me getting done.

My father got through the chemotherapy round and we await more news about the status of that treatment. I hope the doctors are as optimistic as mama.

It seems like a mean season and lunatic circus if I dwell on the computer or TV for anything unrelated to music these days. I think it's gotten to the wrinkles in the gray matter some.

I finally have a new cassette stash of note though!


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Well over 200!

Saturday's mail brought a goody. Murray/Hawthorne/Western Flyer that will match the skiptooth JC Higgins in 1/2" to complete the conversion later.



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I've been away for a while, sorry. I've had a lot of work to do, bike related or not.

I will have more to post after a bit but I had two computers quit and I'm barely back on this one. I bought two pairs of Hunt-Wilde grips, for the Ross (white) and the J.C. Higgins (clear blue) but I'm a little crippled using a 9X OS and IE 6 so I've got a ways to go before I will post more.

Thanks for waiting. My folks will be over today so I have plans.

Here are the Pix...

Just to prove I DO own 8 tracks... It was very good too.
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Now for the bike stuff!
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The Ross is still coming along... I finally got the Schwinn green glitter grips on! Nice, huh?

Nice to have 100 GB of HD, XP on an HP with AMD (even stuffed in a Spacewalker cabinet and looking UGLY)...

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PS Something Murray this way will come...

Didn't happen...darn.

I've been away from my own thread for nearly a month, for which I apologize. Life has focused on other stuff for a while.

Guess what I got this month?

Two pairs of NEW Hunt Wilde grips, translucent glue and white. White for the Ross and the blue pair for the Higgins. I also found the same model of Electra bell I had on my Schwinn until somehow the arm snapped off last month. Familiarity, you know.

Some bike things have to get done and gone or locked up outside, I have a weatherization crew coming (FINALLY!) withing three weeks' time and I get new windows and whatever else they end up doing. I've been waiting around two years for this. I've also been cleaning and fixing stuff, put dual wheel casters on a stereo cabinel (a very nice one) so it would roll well with over 40 lbs including the Rpberts 1630 tubed stereo reel to reel deck...sorry no crossfield head.

Whatever pix I can find for now, been up all night.

171441 Cabinet, phono and integrated


171445 Philips GA 202, Sony TA-1055 (for phono preamp as the Onkyo has none)


171444 Roberts 1630


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171442 Realistic TM-1001/SA-2001, Pioneer Timer (clock is not good), Pioneer CT-3000, Yamaha DSR Dolby Prologic 5.1 decoder and Sony DVD with Dolby Digital/DTS and 5.1 out in livingroom.

Grip photos next...

Here are the white grips for now. They are the same style that was on my Rollfast and O transferred them when I swapped the handlebar for I believe a prewar Torrington model. I like wide bars, it's true.



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I didn't drop off the face of the earth with the thread...I've had four million other things to do and I've waited for some parts (and money) in the meantime. I can create videos okay but this piece of junk won't play them lately. Never fear, I'm working to nuild a new computer as well.

I'm about ready to assemble the Ross finally and I need a new rear wheel for the Flyer. The house ifs supposed to be weatherized, new windows and all so I've been doing a lot offall cleaning as I have to move a lot of stuff away from the windows.

I've got a lot on my plate, so to speak. Thank you for your continued support, I really appreciate it.

Tempest has been out of the picture for a long while. I had my brother in law take her over to Nampa to work on getting the fenders on the RIGHT way and noT the LBS' way (and HEY, they went out of business in AUGUST). They I get to fix scratches and chips. He also went looking for a good seat post (the old one was BENT) so he could install the big Troxel seat.

I got my Alex Wheel rear back from Mom straightened and ready to put the Flyer back in use.

Good thing as I need to straighten the Schwinn's rear wheel. The Viscount seat, reupholstered just last year had the frame break from the front. I don't want to use the Taiwanese Troxel lookalike but the Velo-made The North face seat should go on the Ross.

The former LBS owner, a really good man who left to pursue a chain of small, eccentrically decorated coffee houses, assured me that if I broke the fork seal to mount a fender NO HARM would come as it won't impact the bearings.

BINGO. Fenders are coming! The tank next.

I sold off nearly 180 dollars in working and parts stereo gear in the last two months and moved a mountain or two. Had a back spasm or two, slept days and worked nights and got back where I need to be. Some long and irrelevant tales so I've got to produce some Schwinn pics and stories this week.

The fitting has begun...
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one hitch for now--

The kick stand has a hex bolt or whatever so I can't get it off and attach the bracket for the rear fender

two--

the Flyer's rear tire is separating and I have to change it.

So I'm Johnny One-Fender for a bit.

Really nice shots after I got back this evening...still one fender but I'm going to find the Allen keys I have and see what I can do. Might need to use a drill press on the bracket I fashioned.
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We have LIFTOFF!

Time to figure the rear fender installation out in earnest.

Meanwhile, where are the rest of you ABC maestros? I've been IT for 4-5 days??? :innocent: :lol:

No kickstand!

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No kickstand...

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Waiting in the wings again.

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I finally got some nuts and bolts so I'm going to work out mounting the rear fender now. I had to utilize anchoring the bracket for attaching the front tab. I have the top bracket figured out.

The Western Flyer had been sitting around for a month without the rear wheel chained to the TV mast so I figured it might have some kinks to work out when the wheel came back...I was right.

The chain kept jumping so I had to run errands with a driver although it's perfectly clear, if not still 30s and 40s in temperatures. I got it turned over and the chain is kinky and loose although it's the same chain. It isn't going to stop jumping for now. Still lumpy and bumpy and I have tried to work some motor oil into it. We'll see how it goes and try to get the Schwinn finished.

The Flyer got a new chain Thursday and it's taut, stays on and it felt great to get it on the road. Now it's trying to snow of course.

I spent two days getting the house in the shape to clear space and pack to fill a used shed my brother in law was going to haul here from Payette, ID.

Not to be. The wooden floor it sat on was frozen to the ground. He tried to take it apart and a beam went south, ruining the thing. I got my money back though. I wanted to store the bikes in there and my fixit stuff.

Fortunately I made the room in the old shed and in here for the gear.

Tempest is home and no closer to having fenders...the LBS guys brother who painted used fender braces for a 24", that seems to be confirmed. I asked him to call Cafferty's Monday and round some up.

I almost have a tidy house again so that at least makes up for the disappointments.

Come to think of it, I have some braces and I'll give Gary a call about that when I ask him to weld a frame for the fairing.

I finally started some drilling to mount the front fender and light plus the reflector at the bottom of the back.

There is a big issue with the paint. The front fender isn't so bad but the rear has flaked off badly around mostly the edge. It hasn't seen a minute on the road...every bit of damage has occured from it sitting around.

I can easily fix up the front as it will be about 40% covered with the replica Zephyr light and the scratching isn't so bad. I'm thinking I might redo the rear and use a complete layer of white vinyl to stripe over as well as the tank halves. I'm having a time with those as well and the whites don't really match, so stuff that wouldn't bug me so much could be corrected and fix the damage.

Tempest is still waiting for the correct fender sized braces. She's all here and waiting to go. There have been more speeds than gears for a while.

Life has been full of many other tasks, joys and sorrows for a long winter and into a new speing. My father ended a round of chemotherapy for lung cancer and it of course did not yield so he's back for another. I guess it was naive to hope for such a drastic recovery but still I bawled my head off as my parents left for home that day. The mule didn't kick me in the gut until then, the moment I realized my pa was a lot more fragile than I wanted to know about. The denial and brave hope that he'll make it five more years to that magical 50th wedding anniversary, and how I've been here all 45 so far. Well, it will just have to happen if it does, I can't wish it so. You might know what it feels like to lose the best man you've ever known, or it might not be that time yet but it's a huge loss when it happens. This is my second time as a companion of this journey. I lost a girlfriend from bone cancer out of breast cancer on Christmas Eve 1995. Linda was already 2/3 down the road perhaps when I met her and she traveled it more than 8 years. 15 years is a long time to miss somebody and still...

______________________________


Back to the present and bicycles,,,

It hasn't been that Tempest isn't operable...she'd be fine without fenders, she'd roll like a tempest for that matter. Her paint has taken a beating from the frame being propped up here and there when she needed to be WRAPPED! My fault for trusting spraypaint too much. I did find two more spraypaint cans at the dollar store yesterday and one of the blues should be very close to the darker shade (I still have a partial can of it as well). The left half of the tank took a bad scrape near the Rollfast decal and there are a number of nicks and scrapes to fix. The successful arrival of shed attempt no. 2 should give me the bicycle and electronics/momento storage I so badly need within the next week or two when my brother in law has built a jig and found the gas money to bring it 40+ miles.

If you can't roll fast today...

clean it and lubricate it.

It's owed that much after all it's given you.

I think I've fallen off the chart as it's been so long sinve I posted. I've had everything under the sun in ahead of this and a lot of it had litle to do with bikes.

I had to pass a housing inspection and we had a family reunion for Dad. We aren't sure if he'll be here in a year with his lung cancer so everyone except his oldest grandson (himself a father now) made it here, from northeastern Oregon to Minnesota. Only one niece is still under teen age and one nephew and my brothers' oldest girl is about to graduate. I had fun and I hadn't seen my brother's family since their youngest was a baby, about 5 years.

Dad had a nice time as well. I saw aunts and uncles I hadn't seen in a long long time as well.

As I mentioned a few times in the last two years, my dad was diagnosed with lung cancer the very day after his retirement at the Kia dealership.

It finally claimed him on December 10, 2011.

Dad asked to be cremated and inurned at the Veterans cemetary in Boise, Idaho. His services were on the 17th. He did this to spare mom the heavy expenses as they did it free of charge. Dad has shown such character long before they fell at first sight and married 7 weeks alterward with the blessings of both families.

My dad served in both the Army (Guard) and in the Navy as a member of MCB Seven (Seabees). One thing that I found out that was a big surprise.

He was stationed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base DURING THE CUBAN MISSLE CRISIS.

He raised four children who returned the favor lovingly by giving him eleven grandchildren and one great-grandson.

The only SAD part of the story is that he passed on. It's a beautiful story in every other respect. The best part will always be how he gave us all he could even to his last breath.

I couldn't be there the whole time, I had to be at home and to be honest I cannot sit and watch a person die, not for Linda in '95 either. It doesn't stop the hurt believe me and I knew the morphine wasn't going to save him...how I'd wished he could make it 4 more years to have his 50th anniversary but it's been clear since the spring-this was it.

So I saw him the last time December 8th and when it was time to go I gave him a careful hug andkissed him on the forehead. I said I love you Dad...

Without hesitation and with a pretty rough voice he said

I love you too Steven.


I'd just had the talk of a lifetime. Many never have it. I didn't even know if he'd wake up when the hospice nurse came to help mom give him his medicine...really serious things including morphine and methadone.

So here's to Eldon Ray Dinius (1943-2011, aged 68) He taught me everything, whether I listened or not.

Guess what somebody bought for me for Christmas!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160703099608

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/VINTAGE-BICYCLE-ROLLFAST-SPEEDOMETER-/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/$(KGrHqFHJC0E7BcvfcB9BO8RmdeHj!~~60_3.JPG

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/VINTAGE-BICYCLE-ROLLFAST-SPEEDOMETER-/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/$(KGrHqFHJDEE7BcvfUhPBO8Rml(iew~~60_3.JPG

If somebody can supply the rest of the drive for a 26" bike please get in touch by PM. I want to get this up and in use by spring.

There was a lot of STUFF in this house, and now some is gone and some is stuffed succinctly. Stashed strightforwardly, sirs and sisters!

Surely something shall surface soon, straddling sleep.

Shalom, Street Survivors

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That is where we go from.

My Schwinn's rear axle, bearings are in and the Western Flyer's new tank is almost ready

A bunch of followup and pictures will be here today. Getting there with spring here.