musicman

The purpose of this project is to build a multi-purpose bicycle. I want a bike that looks good, can be ridden easily, and can pull a trailer that will carry my bari sax around campus (it's case is almost 4 feet long). The bike will have whitewall tires, be painted another color (to be decided), will have my vintage bendix 2-speed kickback hub laced into the back rim, and several other modifications. I also have some springer forks that I'm going to try and save from their rustiness. One way or another, this bike will have springers. I'm also considering a banana seat and high back sissy bar. This bike is not just a utility bike, but also a classic cruiser. I am building the trailer specifically to haul my very heavy saxophone around campus. I'll keep this updated as I go the best I can. I have built choppers, cruisers, and several other kinds of bikes, this one will be a change of pace, I'm not building the frame from scratch

Here's the core of the project, a cruiser style bicycle that I grabbed at Joe's Sporting Goods for $60, on sale from almost $120. It has an aluminum frame and rims, and I like the shape of the frame. It will be media blasted and re-painted.




The part of the build that I am focusing on right now is the trailer. So far, I have the hitch almost done. I took the idea of using an air coupling, and tried to improve on it. I found a piece of aluminum in the shed, and made a bracket out of it that fits the frame, bought a connector and caster from harbor freight for about $5 total, and riveted the caster to the plate. I had rivets, and no bolts. I think it will work well, nothing to shake loose. This design will use 4 hose clamps to hold it on the bike, not 2. This bracket will be painted satin black. The bolt that hold the connector is temporary, it's all I had in the garage that was long enough.








Total cost so far: $65 including the bike. Woot!

RickAccused

Thats a great idea, i was thinking something similar myself i bought a universal balljoint connecter for a pressure hose to do the same thing. thats from one sax player to another.

musicman

Tomorrow I'll finish the trailer (hopefully) then I can move to the bike. First things first, I'll strip it down for blasting and paint. But here's a question, should I just peel the decals off, and leave the powder coat as is? Something to think about.

deez

for better utility and performance you might consider an internal geared hub. You'll keep the clean look and add some ratios to get you up hills when you're towing that bari.

...I'm a bari player as well. Yamaha YBS-62...love that low A

I don't mind the paintjob its got if you can strip the decals...spend that money on the 'nanner seat and the sissy bar and some Ape hanger handlebars

RickAccused

however i must say this... perhaps you want to use a lockwasher and a locking nut on the pressure hose attachment instead of a wingnut. It'd help prevent the attachment from vibrating loose and there being a couple thousand dollar heartbreak with the bari on board.

musicman

Went and bought some hardware today, got a stainless bolt and poly lock nut for the hitch. I also grabbed 4 hose clamps. Then I got a few bolts to put the springer fork I have back together. Grabbed some steel wool to get the rust off the chrome. I ended up painting part of the springer due to pitted chrome, and I painted the spring, but I will order a new chrome one.

The hub I have is a very old bendix "automatic" 2-speed internal gear hub. You kick back to change gears. I just got done painting it black, then it'll be re-assembled and laced into that back rim.

I successfully got all the stickers off the frame, and it actually looks pretty good. I think I'll leave it as it sits for now.

The bari I play is a Yanagisawa, love that horn. It's their 2nd best bari. But it doesn't do to good with jazz, too mellow. An old silver buescher 400 bari is what I want for jazz. But the yani is great for everything else. So far, it's survived a wreck and a fall. It was in the trunk of a corolla I used to have. Slid off the road around a corner, and went down a cliff into a tree stump. Then after band practice one night, I lost my footing and fell on it. Luckily all the dents were removable, I'm glued to the thing.

I'll get some pics of the bike progress up in a minute.

musicman

geemac

Clean Bike! Looks great.

musicman

Alright, pick out a banana seat for me, I'm kinda buried in all them. Needs to be a good one, this thing will be ridden rain or shine

deez

It looks great with the decals off

and The springer fork looks cool as half black too. Can't wait to see how the trailer comes out.
I could link you to the 'nanner seat I'm looking at putting on my cruiser but I haven't ordered it yet and can't make a recommendation on quality.

Yani's are cool saxes...I always liked the look of their models that had the matte black designs over the brass. You're obviously a man of taste if you've got your eye on a Buescher. If you find one of their silver Bari's your should probably buy yourself a lottery ticket because you hit a lucky streak. My gramps gave me his Buescher silver Alto...its not the easiest thing in the world to play but its got a great tone

musicman

I had a Buescher 400 top hat and cane true tone alto sax for a while, sold it though. What's the link to the seat, I'd like to take a look

deez

seat
https://www.bicycledesigner.com/defau...umber%3D530301

Sissy Bar.
https://www.bicycledesigner.com/defau...umber%3D530301

and they have suspension seat posts there which I've always thought would be cool on a cruiser with a banana seat.

musicman

Oh, that seat. I've been buying parts from those guys for years, I'll look into that.

FlatMaster

have you considered making the beri case itself the trailer? If it's 4' long you could attach one end to your home-made brackets and mount wheels on the far end of the Bari case.

basscadetz

lose all the reflectors.

flip the bracket on the seat where it attaches to the seatpost, that seat looks too far forward.

get a beer holder.

put the forks on and take a picture.

the trailer bracket is cool. i had seen a similar design somewhere, sometime, and will probably use it in the future.

thehum

hmm well done musicman. I was actually making the same exact type of castor/plate hitch with the same quick release clamp, but havn't worked on it in a while. Did you ever finish the hitch and trailer and have pics? I also never quite figured out a way to attach the male end of the quick release to anything-since it had a finer 1/2" thread I couldn't find any nut that would fit.

Szczuldo

easy enough to find a mate who'll tap whatever you need to fit whatever you need. You can always ship a part out to get it tapped elsewhere if for some reason you cannot find anyone in town that can do it.

musicman

Alright, it's been a while, but the bike is almost done. I got a generator-powered bullet headlight and a tail light, got the forks on finally, my bendix 2-speed kickback hub has been laced into the rim, now all that's left is grips and the seat. It's too far forward, and rather un-comfortable. But that's with the bracket flipped already.

As for the trailer, I spent weeks looking for used wheels to build a trailer, but I couldn't find anything. I added up the cost of buying two new wheels, tubes, rim strips, tires, and the extra metal I needed, and found it much cheaper to buy a kids trailer from walmart and modify it. I did finish the hitch, but I used the one that came with the trailer.

I worried about my rear hub though, it's doesn't feel right. I think the guy put it together wrong, so I might have that checked out. I don't have the tools to work on it unfortunately.

The reflectors are also gone now. I also did a nifty thing and routed the wire for the headlight through the frame, nice and clean looking. Pics will be up when I get the new grips and hopefully a seat on it today.

musicman

oh, and maybe whitewall tires. This project got too expensive, so I don't know if I want to dish out the cash for them.

musicman

Alright, here it is. It needs a banana seat, highback sissybar, ape hangers, and whitewall tires, but this will do for now. It's nice to ride since it doesn't have a heavy steel frame.

musicman

Do you think this thing would look good with a banana seat and tall sissy bar? I keep starring at the bike, and I can't make up my mind. Heck, I'm not even 100% sure about white walls. Any opinions?

Sledbikes

i would keep it as is looks like a clean roadster

Rollfast

If you DO decide to use a banana, PM me and I'll see about buying your original.