The Rustoration Build Off

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;

silverbear said:

...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

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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

Re: Rollfast Skiptooth

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.

Re: Rollfast Skiptooth

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...



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*

Re: Rollfast Skiptooth

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

Re: Rollfast Skiptooth

bairdco said:

i just got this colson today. you and me can have a build-off!

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orly? o.o
I WIN!

Seriously though that Colson is gonna look sweet motorized, a tighter fit for the motor may be awkward pain in the *** during the build - but I really do think it looks really nice when yer done... more like the frame was designed with the motor and less like the bolt-on kit it really is (I'll admit I'm lookin forward to a build w/a lil room this time though heh). Any idea what year it might be roughly? I wanna guess late 30s - but I really have no idea lol

I think mebbe it's the 28 spoke rims makin' it look smaller than it actually is...

silverbear said:

Boy, I like that one. And I bet it will roll fast! The old Schwinns are sure nice and I love old Elgins, but a nice old Monarch, a Columbia, Shelby... or a Rollfast... you just don't see many of them around in any condition and yours will be the only Rollfast motorbicycle I know of. Yeah, cruisers rule! Nice lines on that bike and I really like the head badge. Recover the seat... yep, it will be fun to see it change before our eyes. Will you go with the original paint scheme or make it your own? Nice pick, Bud!
SB

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Thanks silverbear, yeah - I'm not touchin' that head badge 'cept to take it off and put it back when I'm done painting the bike, it's perfect just the way it is lol. I may not need to recover this seat (although it's NP if I need to), the fella I bought the bike from is diggin' around for a few things for me. If ya look close at the pic of the '36 you can see it's seat is identical, but a dual-coil whereas mine is missing the lower springs. It's nothing major, my seat is fine and I think mebbe it came like that - but it does bottom out on bumps pretty easy. I could ofc just replace the springs with heavier ones... or I can cross my fingers and hope he finds another... I'll prolly end up doin' both lol

Paint? meh... I thought I knew what I wanted but the more I think on it the less I'm sure My first thought when I saw this bike is prolly what I'll go with and thats black and "gold leaf" kinda like the old Singer sewing machines (mimicking the orig paint but pinstriped outlines), then I had the thought that black with the orig detailing done in antique white/cream... But then my brain burbled up with the thought that this bike would be perfect done up as an old army bike (which would be the easiest by far)...

I think I'll just start with primer gray and figure it out from there

I think I've seen yer 39 Elgin step through... but couldja post a pic here if ya get the chance? Might as well give bairdco summore competition as he's gone and made this a build off and all

Re: Rollfast Skiptooth

ROFL silverbear - sounds like a plan, The Crusty Comp is on

That Elgin really is about perfect for a step through HT isn't it? It looks as if with just a lil more standoff on the seat post, the forward motor mount would line up with the cross support between the Dtubes... with welded mount tabs, it'd look factory! Or am I seein' it wrong?

While the frame is gorgeous, with far less wear than mine - those fenders are... um... ooph... Are you bringing those back?