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Originally Posted by bairdco  since my old frame cracked, and my custom frames are waiting on back-ordered steel and dies for the tubing bender, i needed something to ride, so i scored this bike on craigslist for $100 bucks.
the forks are bent, the wheels are rusty with tiny little spokes, but it's mostly complete, except for the tank, and the guy dropped it off at my house, and gave me an extra wheel with a red band bendix coaster brake!
so i'm just gonna use the frame (and the chain guard. that might help keep the cops away!) with new parts. it's a tight fit, but i already figured it out.
if i don't kill the frame before my custom ones are done, i'll put it all back together and restore it, and sell it for double...
i'll post some pics tomorrow when it's motorized, and you can see how lousy it looks with that stupid peanut tank sitting on top of it. |
Very cool bike and the price was right. That has nice lines and you're right, a peanut tank will look cheezy. How about a cylindrical tank behind the seat? I have two of those and neither one cost me anything but the labor in cleaning them up. Here's how I get them... when I go to the dump if I see a lawn mower or weed whacker that looks complete, I pick it up and pass it along for nothing to my local small engine guy, telling him I hate to see good things go to waste and thought maybe he could use them for parts or whatever. He has been very appreciative. Then we chat some about old motors and I steer it to where I want to go... motorbicycles. He's interested. Then I ask if he has any of those cylindrical tanks out back in the dead parts department. I've gotten two so far with no money exchanged. I'm planning to stop in today or tomorrow to see if another has shown up. These tanks are aluminum and if not dented, clean up nicely and shine up pretty well as they are. The second one I got had dents in it, so that one got some body work done on it with JB weld. I think that one is going to be black by the end of the day and will go behind the seat on my Worksman paper boy cruiser (actually similar frame to your Highway Patrol). This will leave a clean look I think.
Nice score!
Silverbear