Bikedued

I know I've seen them on here. Bikes that look WAY older than they actually are. Long reach brakes and upside down north roads, chunky tires with tread, and so on. Lets see them!!,,,,BD


I'll start.... I had been looking for an old Varsinentallegiate to convert, and then this one surfaced a month or two ago. I finally got around to messing with it yesterday. It had already been repainted the purple, so I had no qualms about building something non original. The tires are 1 3/8 Kendas on Super Sport DB spoke alloy rims. Large flanged hubs of course. The stem is from an old Traveler(Hi Ten variety) Bars I have no idea. The saddle is going to change eventually, probably for the old dirty B.15 I have in the garage. I have a cleaner crank and pedals to use from the old SS. Brakes are Universal Centerpulls. Just needs cables and a drop or two. I also need a couple of top hats for the top tube guides.

I am thinking solid maroon paint and a tan head tube with scallops. I have a 50's middleweight chainguard that can be modified to fit as well.....

sailorbenjamin

Yup, that looks about right.

mackerel

Excellent.

Well done!

Bikedued

I think it needs a little more chainring to balance out the huge frame. I imagine it will be topped out
around 10-15mph with the little ring anyway. A 46-48 tooth would look okay and fit the chainguard
better.,,,,BD

How about cable housing? Black, white? I know where some mustard yellow is. That might just give it that
funky old school look. Not bright yellow, but more of a brownish yellow.

Grand Bois

I'm collecting parts now for a similar project. It's going to be a while because I have to wait for warm weather to paint the frame. So far I have a Raleigh Competition frame with Capella lugs, cottered crank, high flange hubs, white tires and Cinelli Priest bars that I will mount inverted. I'm searching for a Torpedo two speed kickback coaster brake hub for it.

ozneddy

Bikedued, Its begging for a "Honey" Brooks !

cyclodan

Does this one work?
'70s C.Itoh by Bridgestone. Suicide fixed.

Sixty Fiver

I think we have already done this but what the hell... there can never be enough bike porn.



(The frame is actually a 1940)

Sixty Fiver

You guys have built up some seriously nice looking rides...

bbattle

Before:



After:

martl

here is a "Weltrad Halbrenner" (Halfracer) you can buy new today

FlatTop

Beautiful! I love the look of those, spare and purposeful. I'd like to build one too, with the old-style saddle mounting (far forward) and some block tread black tires.

Otis

sailorbenjamin

How about cable housing? Black, white? I know where some mustard yellow is. That might just give it that
funky old school look. Not bright yellow, but more of a brownish yellow.[/QUOTE]

Those might go pretty well with the gumwals, cork grips and that honey Brooks you're gonna get.

sailorbenjamin

Ratrodbikes did a diamond frame buildoff a couple of months ago. There were more apehangers than Northroads but still a few interesting bikes.

cudak888 

-Kurt

Bikedued

I had one shifter cable with clear spiral housing, so it got sacrificed. Unlined housing, so not the smoothest brake modulation. It does stop very well, and rides quite well. It was a shame it got stripped, it was that orangey/red color on the steerer tube. I'm not wanting to modify the frame too much, but maybe I will take the shifter braze(forge?) ons off?,,,,BD

I actually got the angle of the B.15 perfect on the first try. Unbelievable!

Bikedued

I'll call it done for now. Finding a decent quality set of 1/2" rat trap pedals is the next project. Not sure if I can find anything besides plastic junkers or BMX though. I changed out the crank for the nicer one mentioned earlier, and polished the spray bomb paint out as much as possible. It turned out to be a ark blue with tons of purple and red pearl. Not sure who made the paint, never seen the shade. It's definitely spray can though. The "head badge" is a Car Rene 7 badge. I found it in a pile of cinder blocks I moved today. An extensive search yielded only one bit of info. It was the first azeotropic commercial refrigerant ever made. It looked cool, so I put a curve in it and mounted it with double sided tape.,,,,BD

Gary Fountain

Great project bikedued. It really looks the part. I think the large frame really helps to create the mood.

Interesting to see so many other similar bikes as well.

Grand Bois

I think that an old fashioned looking stem is essential to pulling off the look. For instance, the stem on that Weltrad Halbrenner looks out of place to me. The problem I'm having is that the Cinelli Priest bars I want to use require a stem with a 26.4 clamp and and there's nothing with the look I want in that size. I may have to give up on those bars. Steel would be more appropriate, anyway.

Sixty Fiver

That is such an excellent looking bike...

BD -

Finding some nice 1/2 inch pedals for traps has been an ongoing search for me... they are very hard to come by so if you come across any multiples I'd love to hear about it.

One may be able to swap the spindles from some 1/2 inch pedals into some 9"16 pedals and I am going to check into this.

big chainring 

An inch pitch crank and chain would give it some character. They show up on ebay quite often.

Bikedued

Update time. I scored a couple of rusted beyond belief Suburbinentarsities last Sunday for free, and BOTH had Union generator light sets. Yep, sorry they're both spoken for to go on my bikes, hehe. They're ones with the V shaped lens and bullet shaped housing. Wonderful effect. I also got one of the crane bells, and installed a set of old school ESGE shorty fenders. It's really coming along. I still may or may not paint it. The pedals were about to collapse on me, so on went a set of platforms. Someday I will find a cool set to use.,,,,BD

Sixty Fiver

The bike is looking most sweet... let me know if you find any extra 1/2 inch steel pedals and I'll keep looking here too.

I think I would try some full fenders too...

Bikedued

I had the rear full fender on, and went to install the front. Oops, NO eyelets! I will have to break out the welder If I want them. I have no other Schwinn forks this long with eyelets.