Lets see your Balloon Tire Bikes

[fatwoul]

Looks wonderful, but does it not hurt the bike? No danger of all that water rusting it up over Christmas?

 

[cowboy76]

Looks wonderful, but does it not hurt the bike? No danger of all that water rusting it up over Christmas?

Naw,...the snow in Lancaster, PA is nothing more than dried potato flakes dropped by large military boeing aircraft, an astro-space-weather project based out of the local regional airport.

The US military has through scientists been able to manipulized the atmosphere via nuclear radiation and ionic cloud controll,...I think it was featured in Ripley's or Guiness,....you'd be amazed at it, but its not widely known.

Not strange though, most people in that area are now afraid of potatos,..they mostly stay indoors during the winter months. Show Kilroy a potato and he might pull a gun on you, its horrible, yet amusing!:eusa_doh:

Ok, I just had to!

 

[KilroyCD]

Looks wonderful, but does it not hurt the bike? No danger of all that water rusting it up over Christmas?

Actually, Cowboy76's answer notwithstanding, this bike is already pretty rusty. It's a 20 inch child's bike that I actually have no other use for, so I was not concerned about rust. However, I was giving consideration to repainting the bike to protect it a bit, but that was only after putting it up again this season. I'll probably do it next summer.

 

[cowboy76]

I'm sorry, I was just feeling goofy really, hope you wern't thinking I was being smart....its just my weird sense of humor,..dont mind me!

 

[KilroyCD]

Yes of course! A GOOSENECK!! I just could NOT think of it!!

Yes I want to put back the exact same style handlebars that originally came on it, I saw them BUT they were too small,...only a 26" spread on them,...they came with a 28", if you can spot one or two on ebay let me know. As far as the original gooseneck,...teh chrome is peeling off!! I'm going to save it though, if I get cash to blow I'll get it rechromed sometime later in life. I need the trusses, (they're also peeling), and the rear tail light (hmm,...maybe it was just a reflector??,..cant remember,..that isn't very important to me really). Hmmm,....lets see,...those parts and,....possibly a nice crank, chain (any will do obviously), and possibly a repro seat,..thought about recovering mine,..not sure what all's involved in it though...yeah, I guesss thats it.

Memory Lane Classics has the 28" bars in two styles. As for the gooseneck (also called stem), check the websites I gave you the links for, or do an eBay search under "bicycle neck" and you should find a bunch of classic styles. If you search "bicycle stem" you'll get almost all modern types.

 

[KilroyCD]

I'm sorry, I was just feeling goofy really, hope you wern't thinking I was being smart....its just my weird sense of humor,..dont mind me!

Cowboy, not a problem. You have a whacky sense of humour similar to mine. All you need to do is read the "WONK: The Chaos Players Reign" thread in the Observation Bar to see that! (It's a long thread though, and I wasn't there at the start, so look at the more recent posts.)

 

[cowboy76]

Memory Lane Classics has the 28" bars in two styles. As for the gooseneck (also called stem), check the websites I gave you the links for, or do an eBay search under "bicycle neck" and you should find a bunch of classic styles. If you search "bicycle stem" you'll get almost all modern types.

I just took a look at Memory Lane's website!!! They're GREAT!!! They have almost EVERYTHING I'm looking for but the gooseneck and the front fork struts!!!!! WOW! The nice thing is, its not very expensive either,...whoohoo!!:eusa_clap Let me tell ya, its a nice little departure from the world of early hot rodding money-wise! I'm still working on my pre-war roadster,...slowly coming along. Right now I'm completely focused on the engine and transmission,...the rest is easy for the most part.

Hey, thanks for the info, this is really cool,....I'm turning my entire world into the late 30s and 1940s, clothes, home, bikes, trasportation,...! My wife and I were out earlier today and a guy in the one antique shop who looked like a burned out hippie turned to me and said, "oh, are ya headed for somekind of '50s dance or somethin' ?" I said, "'50s?....no, not 50s, 1940s, naw no dance, this is how I normally dress, I actually dress like this pretty much everyday,..." He actually got a bit aggravated by my answer for some reason, I guess he thought he was catching me off guard or maybe trying to impress someone there, it was pretty funny and surreal, his reponse was, "oh yeah, everyday huh?..." I almost started laughing at him, then he saw my wife, and he turned to his older friend and said, "hey look, I guess we got a bobbysoxer here, you'd remember that stuff wouldn't you, that's around your time right, you're old..." I honestly was wondering what his friend was thinking??!!

 

[KilroyCD]

I just took a look at Memory Lane's website!!! They're GREAT!!! They have almost EVERYTHING I'm looking for but the gooseneck and the front fork struts!!!!! WOW! The nice thing is, its not very expensive either,...whoohoo!!:eusa_clap:

For truss rods, eBay is your best choice. The truss rods that Memory Lane has on their website (in the accessories section) and that BikeWorldUSA has are generic, and more like the 1950s Schwinn Phantom style.
You might want to call Memory Lane for a catalog. MUCH more is in the catalog than on their website.

 

[cowboy76]

I was gonna call today, no hours on sunday though!!:eusa_doh:

 

[SGB]

Hi all, SGB asked me to post a couple photos of his bike, as he doesn't have a photo hosting account. He has a 1946 Schwinn DX (BF Goodrich badged) that was rebuilt by a friend of his to represent a WWII US Army bike. Perhaps SGB can give us more of the story behind this bike. Here are the photos:

Thanks for posting these KilroyCD.
I bought the bike a couple of years ago from my buddy who collects and restores WWII military vehicles, the bike was a neat accessory to use at Air Shows. Sadly my friend passed away suddenly, 2 months ago. So I am real happy to have it, and to remember him each time I see it in the garage.

SGB

 

[cowboy76]

Finally,..I just came back from the garage,....here's my Roadmaster and my wife's Rollfast.

Now that I look at the Roadmaster, I notice that the fender struts ar not he same as the ones I've seen in the 1939 Cleveland Welding Company's catalogue I found online. The struts on mine are straight, the ones in the one in the catalogue are curved,....


Roadmaster,....

Rollfast,.....

 

[KilroyCD]

Finally,..I just came back from the garage,....here's my Roadmaster and my wife's Rollfast.

Now that I look at the Roadmaster, I notice that the fender struts ar not he same as the ones I've seen in the 1939 Cleveland Welding Company's catalogue I found online. The struts on mine are straight, the ones in the one in the catalogue are curved,....


Roadmaster,....

Rollfast,.....

Your wife's Roadmaster is in the original paint. It might be in decent enough condition on the fame and fenders to save, but the tank, chain guard and rack might need repainting. You might want to try something like Meguire's Fine Cut polish or their very similar ScratchX to bring that paint back to life, and maybe Medium Cut polish on the tank, chain guard and rack. It's amazing what results a little patience and some elbow grease can produce. Your Roadmaster was definitely repainted at some point in time.
One interesting thing about the Rollfast is that it has a Hawthorne chain ring. Hawthorne was the Montgomery Ward brand, and DP Harris (Rollfast) made some of their bikes. I wonder if the chain ring was replaced or if it's original to the bike?

 

[cowboy76]

Your Roadmaster was definitely repainted at some point in time.

If you look closely, you can see the old original outlines of the pinstripes and so forth on it. Yeah I think someone hit it with a paintbrush!!

One interesting thing about the Rollfast is that it has a Hawthorne chain ring. Hawthorne was the Montgomery Ward brand, and DP Harris (Rollfast) made some of their bikes. I wonder if the chain ring was replaced or if it's original to the bike?

Interesting detail you noticed. Thanks.

 

[KilroyCD]

One thing you may want to consider doing is to take the chains off and soak them in something like WD-40. Those are skip-tooth chains, and they are no longer made. Diamond chain stopped making them I believe in 2005, and remaining stocks of NOS skip-tooth chain have steadily been climbing in price. Both your chains show surface rust, and you want to try to free up any frozen links.

 

[cowboy76]

One thing you may want to consider doing is to take the chains off and soak them in something like WD-40. Those are skip-tooth chains, and they are no longer made. Diamond chain stopped making them I believe in 2005, and remaining stocks of NOS skip-tooth chain have steadily been climbing in price. Both your chains show surface rust, and you want to try to free up any frozen links.

Thank you,..will do!

 

[KilroyCD]

Here's the latest addition to the stable. Actually it's not mine, but my brother's. He keeps his "toys" in my garage as he doesn't have one. With all the bikes and motorbikes, my garage is becoming something of a Rubik's Cube, as everything needs to fit in place "just right". lol
This is a 2000 Cruzzer Cyclone, which is a modified Whizzer WC-1. Basically, it has all the performance modifications done to it making it a 40mph Whizzer.

 

[Johnny B]

Mine's a 2005 Manhattan Cruiser. The angle makes it look a little weird but I love my bike:

Every time- every time- I took it out in the summer (nearly every day), someone would compliment it. Style before the two wheels and a triangle bikes they pump out today

 

[KilroyCD]

That's a sharp bike! I looked at the Manhattan Cruisers site and they have a number of neat bikes, most in the retro style. It's neat how they added the fender skirts to create a unique look to the fenders. I also like the headlight, a classic bullet style with visor. Sharp bike!

 

[Johnny B]

The flared fenders were 45% the reason I wanted it, the moulded in tank another 45%, and the deco-stlye "M" with the Manhattan skyline painted on the front fender the last 5%. All the other models had at most 2 of the three- flared fenders but no tank, the M but no flare, etc.

It had been discontinued by the time I bought it, and it took finding a bike shop in Oregon- halfway across the continent from me- who had the last one that rolled off the factory line to bring it home

 

[KilroyCD]

The flared fenders were 45% the reason I wanted it, the moulded in tank another 45%, and the deco-stlye "M" with the Manhattan skyline painted on the front fender the last 5%. All the other models had at most 2 of the three- flared fenders but no tank, the M but no flare, etc.

It had been discontinued by the time I bought it, and it took finding a bike shop in Oregon- halfway across the continent from me- who had the last one that rolled off the factory line to bring it home

Very cool. I like their art deco headbadge as well. Their website still shows the Flyer model, but it doesn't have the fender flares. The Flyer Deluxe 6 has them, but it's not a single speed like yours. Looking at their offerings, I really like the "Trucker" model.