This is the bike the apple juice can gas tank is going to live on and I've affectionately named it Riff Raff
The inspiration for this build came from too many visits to
Rat Rod Bikes dot com ...lol
I'm obviously no where near done this project but I've been chipping away at it in my spare time since I dragged the frame home from the junk yard back in early June. I went to the junkyard that day just to search for treasure and I spotted this at the bottom of a pile...45 minutes later I had it in my hands. I went to the weigh in office and said I'd like to take this home, how much? The man giggled, scratched his head and said have a nice day!! lol...I said thank you sir and walked out with a big smile on my face. I had traveled to the junk yard on my MB and if you can picture it I rode home (about 6km) with one hand operating the throttle and front brake and the other hanging on my treasure...lol...it made a heck of a racket rolling down the road with no tires and I think I seen sparks more than once coming off the rusty old rims! Anyway after much work this is where I'm at with it and about the only thing I didn't save was the wheels...yes as rusty as the fenders were in the original picture the black ones you see now are them! It's amazing what vinegar, sandpaper and a wire brush can do for ya! I picked up the el cheapo Chinese springer fork at the local bike shop and man are these things ever a wobbly POS! Downright dangerous for MB use out of the box in my opinion! So to solve some of the wobbly'ness I bushed it where the axle goes through the steerer tube and at the pivot point in the fork legs plus instead of using just a long bolt and nut to hold everything together I used the axle out of the front wheel that was originally on the bike. The bushings I made for the fork legs are silver brazed in place and they go all the way through the original hole which I opened up to about 1/2" in size. One other thing I did was lock the spring out with a length of chrome steel tube over the bolt that normally adjust the spring tension. Needless to say the front end feels nice and tight now, sure I've lost the suspension part of the deal but all I wanted the springer for was looks anyway. The wheels I bought new locally and they were originally chromed steel, the back wheel features 12g spokes, a Shimano CB E-110 coaster brake hub plus one of Jim's sprocket adapters and sprocket. The front wheel is another story...I had a brain fart when I ordered the wheels in that I never considered front brakes! DUH!! As that story goes I now have to order another chrome steel rim which I will build up using the disc brake hub from a bent rim I scrounge up, haven't decided if I will paint that hub red or if I'll have it chromed. I have a spare Hayes MX4 mechanical disc brake caliper on hand along with a new rotor so once I fashion and braze some caliper mounts on the left springer leg and build the new wheel we should be all set for stopping power up front. The bullet headlight and tail light pictured along with the 6v SLA battery are what I figure I'll use for my lighting setup and I've already bent up a battery tray that fits nicely down between the seat stay and the rear fender.
So I think that pretty much covers where I'm at with the project, no big rush to finish as it will give me something to do this winter when I'm bored and feel like tinkering with something
