American Deluxe Makeover

GoldenMotor.com

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Back in 1963 this bike started life as a ladies bike. Some ten or so years ago I bought it as a kind of beat up blue middleweight and put a little Tanaka friction drive motor on it. Then I gave it a China girl and put a thousand miles on it that way. Last summer I gave it heavy duty 2.125 rims and new tires, much improving the ride. By this winter it was looking pretty bad so I decided to give her a makeover. Details to follow...
SB
 

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silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
I've always liked the lines of this model (enough that I have another one which will get made over this summer) and I like how well it is made. The fenders are middleweight and original and I had to make little extensions to make the fit, cutting out a section for drive chain clearance. Front fender light is from a Kawasaki motorcycle and the eyes light up with the engine running. I stripped the frame and painted it with gray dupli color engine enamel and the new BGF automatic with black Dupli-color engine enamle. I like that paint. The fenders are pretty rough in spite of chrome mostly in good condition yet. There are dents and crimps and some rust which I rubbed out at the bottom rear and the bottom front, both high impact areas over the past 47 years. I decided to paint those two areas in the frame gray and they look pretty nice for beat up old fenders. I'm old and beat up myself and don't shine up nearly so well. The seat is a Worksman and is very comfortable for long rides. I gave it my coffee can gas tank covered in harness leather, good for about 2/3 of a gallon. A smaller tank might look better, but I wanted more capacity for long rides. The headlight is my first made from two tin cans (I think a corn can and the hood from a mandarin oranges can) and has 18 little led lights in it to run off the engine. Tail light is a small mushroom can and has four led's. The rear fender light is an experiment and is made from a little tomato paste can, carved to the fender's shape with a dremel mototool. Wires for the rear fender light are fit into a section of clear vinyl tubing which is hidden inside the fender struts. I put all of my wiring inside clear vinyl tubine of one size or another. I made the red lenses from the bottom of a red plastic bowl I found at Good Will. The chrome tank originally had a horn in it and a push button switch. I replaced the tank switch with a toggle switch to become the engine kill switch and the kill switch that came with the throttle will be for a horn if I ever have one. Confused yet? Grips are 70's Schwinn covered in elk hide and are comfortable. That's about it. It isn't done as I have wiring to run, need to shorten the clutch cable and route that stuff. Need to wire up the brake light inside the light behind the gas tank. Brake switch is in the front brake lever. This is a fun ride and a solid bike to work with. It turns heads and I would say it makes a good motorbicycle, in part because the curving cross tube comes low, allowing a low motor mounting. Some of the newer step throughs are not so good in this way. Oh, another good thing to do on these step through bikes is to change the throttle cable to a longer one so that it can pass under the frame and come up under the seat and then curl into the motor. This leaves the step through area clear for your foot to pass through. I expect to be riding the old girl again in a few days. Now she's good to go for the next thousand miles.
SB