The Rustoration Build Off

[BarelyAWake]

Well, we've been talkin' it over and we've decided to have ourselves a vintage build off. As it was inspired by this thread, we're just gonna continue on in here - any/all are welcome to join provided you're just starting on a 1950s or older unrestored bike with the intent of motorizing it of course.

As for the "rules" silverbear laid it out pretty well lol;

Originally Posted by silverbear

...Some basic guidelines and requirements. For example, you have to be poor. I think the three of us qualify on that count, quite nicely. You've gotta have an inadequate shop or like me, no shop. (In the summer I use a picnic table and bench outside. Here where I am for the winter I'm eyeballing a corner of the wood shed where maybe I can set up an old door for my workbench, extension cord for a hanging light and a few power tools.) Three (and most important) you've gotta have a good sense of humor and not get too serious. And finally the bike has to actually run when yer done....
SB

To clarify a bit, this is a low key build off. While you don't hafta be living in a cardboard box - this isn't a thread for uberprofessional exotics and scratch built custom frames, this is just crusty old bikes being slowly transformed back to their heyday, so no choppers or major frame modifications (engine mounts etc. are fine).

You're welcome to post here with questions, suggestions, pics and comments even if your not officially in the build off... but a friendly warning, this is a build off thread so try to stay on-topic and keep it to crusty cruisers - this isn't the place to ask where the spark plug goes on your brand new Wallyworld bike or to just show off your finished build, such posts will be deleted. Don't take it personal, we'd love to help and/or see yer stuff - but that's what the rest of the forum is for.

Finally, this is a "competition" in name only, the only point being to have fun and the only prize the bike you just finished - which is a heck of a prize if ya think about it

Here are the entries so far;

BarelyAWake: 43 Rollfast


bairdco: 39 Colson


silverbear: 39 Elgin

[bairdco]

Originally Posted by BarelyAWake

Well, I went and picked up a winter project to try and keep me sane during the long cold dark - she's a touch rough but seems a good solid project bike. As best as I can figure it's an early 1940s Rollfast with the 40s frame style but the 30s paint scheme and skiptooth.

This one didn't come with the headlight and taillight combo and the chainguard is missing, but that is the original Rollfast speedometer/odometer and it still works. Apparently some came with a springer fork as an option and I got one that's about the right era included with the bike.

The guy I got it from is really happy with my plans to fix her up and motorize it, which is a relief as I fear some purists may not be impressed with my intentions lol



Any information regarding this bike (frame #14-E11 118525) would be more than welcome.

nice score! that speedo alone is probably worth more than the rest of the bike!

i think you're right about the year. those did come with the d.p harris big H chainwheel, and that paint scheme, actually, so it might be original. the 30's had more of a diamond frame, and during the 50's i think they went to the standard, tired old cantilever-style frame.

now would be a good time to buy that chain breaker. you don't want to grind any of those links off, because it'll cost you plenty to buy some more...

you can probably pick up a chainguard for pretty cheap. Rollfast bikes were made by D.P. Harris, and they made bikes for different companies, and most of them were pretty similar.

the funny thing about the "purists," if you tell them you're going to put a motor on it, they get all snooty, but if they see it afterwards, without knowing you did it, they think it's a factory job (till they get closer.)

the way i look at it, is you've got a solid, classic beater that would cost you more money to restore than it's actually worth, and giving it a new life with a motor is a way to enjoy it.

(but even i would flinch if someone found a mint, perfect condition original, and slapped a weedwhacker on it...)

good luck with it, and welcome to the cruiser crowd.

[Venice Motor Bikes]

Nice bike... (I like the card board back round!!) Couldn't you have just rolled it to the side of your garage for a pic?

Oh ya.... Like Baird said, "welcome to the cruiser crowd!" YOU KNOW WE RULE!!!

[2door]

Ahhhh, you can't fool me. That's a Target Point Beach that someone left out in the rain
Geoff, I'm envious. Every time I find something like that around Denver they want a million dollars for it. I'd really like to start with something really old and classic, then build from there. Keep us posted. We want progress photos.
Tom

[BarelyAWake]

bairdco - I'm pretty sure the paint & chain are original as are the seat and I suspect even the grips - although of course there's no tellin' what people might have done. I just noticed it's got the 30s style seat post as well... It's a touch confusing as it really seems to be a transition year bike with a mix of two different decades. If it wasn't for the paint I'd think someone just stripped out a 30s to fix up a 40s, which I suppose is a possibility *shrug* I'm not finding a whole lot of info on Rollfast yet - but I'm still diggin'

I like the 30s parallel top tubes frame style a little better, but I do like the 40s curvy down tube - so I guess it works out heh

1936


1946


ROFL - yeah don't worry, my Dremel isn't going anywhere near that chain, as for the chainguard and head & tail "lights" the guy I got it from has some stuff kickin' around and he's gonna dig through it to see what he can come up with. I've already noticed there's some aftermarket/NOS bits available and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they're really quite nicely priced!


Venice - I woulda loved to roll it to the other side of the garage... but I don't have a garage lol, that's my basement and it's so filled with other people's crap that yer lookin' at my entire shop space... that lil corner by the door... meh. I put up the cardboard so ya'll could see the bike a lil better without heaps of kid's clothing and other useless junk in the background. We've blasting & paint booths at my workplace though so when it comes time for that I'm all set.

Tom - funny you should say that as I spent the same as a Huffy Cranbrook woulda run me... I suppose I coulda got one and threw it in the ocean for a few weeks to get that "aged" look... or not lol But hey - I found a old and classic Rollfast on ebay for just $195 if yer interested;



Progress is gonna be a bit slow, particularly at first. I still need to get tools as all I have are metric for some reason lol, I have the engine kit for it but I'm obviously not going with the peanut tank - so I'm now with all the others trying to get tanks for these things. I figure the first step is stripping it down and bringing bits to work to sandblast... (actually I'm prolly gonna air up the tires and pedal it around a bit first heh) but yeah, I like progress pics too!

As for "welcome to cruisers" I really git a bit of a giggle out of the contrast between my Schwinn and the Rollfast TBH, it'll be nice to have the mountain bike for beating on trails and the cruiser for the comfy Sunday rides, gotta have the right tools for the job right?

Thanks guys, we'll see what happens.

[azbill]

nice score !!!
this is gonna be a cool thread to follow

[BarelyAWake]

Thanks Bill

I just had to ride the dang thing, so I greased the bearings & oiled the chain, put in some rim liners and new tubes, washed a few decades of barn offn' it and away I went on my first Sunday cruise...

o.O

I'd never ridden an old bike like this before - WOW it's comfy!!! Granted, with the single speed yer going nowhere fast but ooh, it just gliiiiiiiiides along without a care. I wasn't sure about it's crazy handlebars at first - I stand corrected, they too are supremely comfortable. I was also impressed at how smooth all the bearings were with a touch of grease, the bike's absolute silence surprised the heck outa me - despite it's huge steel fenders & rack there's no rattles at all.

It's coaster brake (a New Departure model D:New Departure Coaster Brakes) isn't something I'm used to, but unlike my buddy's coaster (on a new Huffy) I kinda like this one, it's growing on me. My buddy's is "grabby" - there's no real range of braking pressure, whereas mine will lock up fully or provide a range of gentle braking... I have no idea if it's because it's a better design - or just worn out *shrug* Ima coaster newb lol I do know that it's gettin' one of Jim's sprocket adapters fosho! I gotta dig up a drum brake for the front ofc.

Anyhoo - to appease Venice's tender sensibilities I took this glam shot without any cardboard in sight



Now... hmm... do I take it apart or ride it summore? *scratches head*

[bairdco]

see? i told ya...

[2door]

Geoff,
I took the liberty of playing with your photo a little to bring out the patina on that great bike. I see you took the speedo off. You're going to replace it...right? As for riding it for a while...Yes. That way you'll have a good comparison between what it really is like and how the motor will change it. I was thinking it would be cool to design a quick way to disengage the chain so you could ride it as a pedal bike whenever you want. Just a thought.
Tom

[BarelyAWake]

Nice Tom, thanks! You did a sweet job with that... it looks better than it does IRL lol

The speedo works, but the cable drive is really gummy so instead of tempting Murphy I took it off to clean/rebuild it before I broke it through neglect... I may not put it back on with the drive engaged as I've heard rumors of bad things happening to mechanical speedometers on motorized bikes *shrug* It does go up to "50mph" tho - this would make my HT faster - right?

As for disengaging the engine chain to pedal... I suppose I could pull the master link, that would be the simplest solution, but single speed aside I pedal my Schwinn all the time with the clutch locked and while there's some noise/drag it's really not bad.

To be honest though, much as I like how this bike rolls - I'm really not the biggest pedal fan, which is what brought me to this forum in the first place lol

The bigger "issue" I have is before I actually got this bike is I was planning on converting whatever bike I got to a multispeed and pickin' up one of SBP's shift kits, but I've become downright enamored with the skiptooth on this 'un so I guess that's out the window. I'm a lil disappointed, but for good reasons.

and yeah, instead of starting to strip down the Rollfast I'm gonna pedal it to work tomorrow heh, if the weather stays as nice as it's been today this project is in danger of being postponed