The Ghost is Complete!

The Ghost is finally complete.  After painting the frame flat white, I gave the paint a week to fully cure.  I assembled everything without any issues and ended up with this...

...not bad.

It looks ok, but not exactly how I planned it.  So I got to thinking...

I looked over at "Bruizer" and thought the red rims and whitewall tires might look good on The Ghost.  And what do you know...

I like!

And interestingly enough, I really think the black wheels and tires on Bruiser look better!

The New and Improved Bruizer!

So that's it for now.  There will be another project soon...

Sometimes flat is good...

Well, the frame is painted. Flat white. Looks a lot like the attached picture....

Letting the paint dry...

Looks exactly like that actually...

Theoretically the paint is dry...but I was giving it a little extra time to cure.  I may get out there and piddle with it tonight or tomorrow...

Stay tuned...

Step Two...

It may not look like much, but I did some work to the bike today...
New cranks (I didn't want to paint a set of Schwinn cranks black, so I went with this), new bottom bracket, new grips, new wheels (black rims and black spokes), new tires, new tubes, new chain...

A little progress is better than no progress!

I do need to find my grease press (a little tool that I have that forces grease into bearings better than trying to do it by hand).
Now I need to tear it all back down again...chemically remove the chrome from all of the chrome parts...and paint the frame and fork. I figure it will look a little like this...

My hack job of changing the color, but you get the idea...

Basically the frame and half the fork will be flat white...pretty much everything else will be black.  Sorry there's not more, but it's something...

Stay tuned...more later.

Here we go again...

Well, I decided I needed to do another bike.  Another cruiser.  As an aside...you can get an Electra for $250.  Nice bike...but what's the fun in that...

I started with a design that looked like this...

...which, conceptually is not bad.  But then I saw this...

Now clearly a completed project won't look exactly like that, but I certainly like it.

Anyway, I gathered up a lot of parts I had on hand and started assembling...

After a few issues that needed to be addressed--bent cranks, head tube that needed rethreading, flat spring in the springer, and a few other things--I got a version that's rideable...

So I'm going to leave it like this for a while.  I need to decide on how I want to finish it (if I want to finish it).  I need to decide on a half rear fender...a chain guard...other stuff?  I dunno.  To be honest, I like it as a rat bike...

Stay tuned...

Still Fun!!!

I really need a kickstand...

Grin Factor!

It's just not possible to have any more fun than riding this little thing brings me! The grin factor is just off the chart! :-)

After painting the tank for the third time, I decided to go with it as is...just all red. I might stripe it...or attempt to stripe it again...but I dunno...I sorta like it as is!

This is what it looked like after tonight's hour-plus ride...

Sorry for the poor quality...I took it with my cell-phone camera...

AWESOME FUN!

Things that suck...

I mocked up the final design for my tank and drove over to Kurt's place and dropped it off.  Below is the mockup, though the font in the mockup isn't what Kurt is going to use--he's going to paint "Mallin" in an Indian-style font, but I don't have that on my computer.  Anyway, you get the idea...

I thought that was that and very shortly I'd be getting a call from Kurt to come get it.  Well, I got a call from Kurt all right.  He said I wasn't going to be happy.  He said he began painting the graphics on the side of my tank, but when he pulled up the outlining tape, some of the paint came up with it.  Great...just great!  I went and picked up the tank...here's the damage...

At least Kurt didn't get too far into the painting...he simply put down the first coat of gold on one side and hadn't gotten into a second coat or the details with the black outlining.  

You know, I used paint and primer from the same manufacturer--the paint and primer recommended for use with each other...and I even scuffed up the primer a bit before applying the color coat.  The only thing I can figure is that somehow some way some sort of contaminant--oil, gas, oil from my hands...something--got on the primer.  Aggravating!

So for the third time, I will sand the tank down again (at least to the primer) and repaint it.  I think I will also allow a longer drying time before I take the it back to Kurt...maybe even put the tank in the oven for a bit (after 48 hours) to ensure the paint is cured.

On the plus side, it extends this project out a little longer and stops me from buying an old motorcycle for my next project...

Anyway...that's the current status.  I'm about to head into the garage and start sanding...[in the voice of Yosemite Sam] Frickin fracken...

Stay tuned...