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...

Almost...

Well, as I mentioned earlier...tonight was the night for the final coat of color paint on the tank. I dry sanded everything...then wet sanded everything to make it as smooth as possible.  There are a couple/three imperfections in the tank...I left them.  The reality is, I don't want it to me "flawless;" I want it to look as authentic as possible, so the imperfections add to the character.  Anyway, I think it turned out beautiful!

I'm very pleased!

So for the next 48 hours I will let the paint dry.  Friday afternoon (night) I'll go see Kurt so he can pinstripe and put the "Mallin" graphics on the sides of the tank.   Then the tank will get a coat of clear enamel...then 48 hours after that I will reassemble everything and take a few glamour shots of the bike and call it officially "Done!"

Almost there!

Preparing for the final detail...

I found someone to paint the graphic and pinstriping on the sides of my tank. The guy is a professional artist who does this sort of thing all the time...and he’s giving me a pretty sweet deal to do my tank. I'm going with what most of you suggested: old-school gold letters in an "Indian style" font with a black outline around the letters and black and gold pinstriping around the tank.

So given that his work is professional, I wanted my tank to look just as nice as his work. I’m not the greatest painter, but my frame and fender came out great. Unfortunately my tank had a few fisheyes in it, so before I drop it off with Kurt, the pinstripe guy, I decided to strip the tank down and redo it. I don’t consider myself a perfectionist, but clearly I have issues.

Here’s today’s work...

Step 1...(kinda looks like Eddie Van Halen painted it)

Step 2...

Step 3...

In 48 hours I’ll sand it down one last time and give it one final color coat before it goes to Kurt. I figure I’ll sand it and do the final color coat on Tuesday night...48 hours after that it can go to Kurt...so probably Thursday or Friday night. Then once I get the tank back I have to hit it with a coat of clear...then 48 hours after that everything will final be dry so I can put the bike back together and officially call it done!

"Mallin" ???

So one more (multi-part) question for you guys...

A. Do you like a graphic on the tank?

B. If the yes to A. above, which do you prefer from the choices below:

Choice 1 (gold):

Click to enlarge

Choice 2 (silver):

Click to enlarge

Choice 3 (silver with a black and silver pinstripe):

Click to enlarge

Choice 4 (gold with a black and gold pinstripe):

Click to enlarge

Thoughts?

Beginning to end...

Since it's a little challenging to see the progression of pictures throughout the build in this blog, I made a little slideshow...

:-)

All Done!

Well... I that's that.

 All done (sans some minor little things...but it's 99.9% done)!!!

I see red...

I didn't do a lot today on other than lay down a base coat of blood-red paint.  I got all sorts of pieces and parts hanging and drying...

That's where it stands right now.  I have to wait 48 hours to give everything a good sanding then lay down another coat of red.  I imagine I'll have to do this at least three times...then a similar process for the clear.  Then reassembly, blah blah blah...

I also need to decide on lettering.  In my original mockup, I was going to put "MALLIN" on the side of the tank...but I don't know.  Here's a look at the original mockup again...

A friend suggested "MALLINATOR"  I dunno...

And, here are two pictures...I'm looking for input on the seat-post color, the seat-post-clamp color and the conduit brackets that hold on the tank...

I'm using simple conduit straps to mount the tank (four of them).  I was thinking of leaving them bare metal, but maybe they need to be red as well?  I guess I could paint them silver?

Basically, I originally thought I would do the seat post the same color as the frame...maybe leave the clamp chrome...the seat rails and springs are black...and leave the rear bracket I fabricated black...

Like this...

But the more I look at it...well, I dunno.

Here are a couple of other choices...

I like the back bracket being the same color as the frame like this picture...

On most original bikes, you cannot see the seat post or clamp, so it's not an issue...

WAIT!!! (I just though of this)... what about leaving the seat post read and making the clamp

Yeah...I still dunno. Maybe I'm brain dead from all the paint fumes...?
I'll think about it over night and see if any of you have opinions in the morning...
Decisions decisions.  I'm sure it will come to me sooner or later...
If you have thoughts on any or all of the above, I'm listening...

More details...

Today I got a chance to work on the bike a bit.  I spent a lot of time sanding sanding sanding...then Bondo Bondo Bondo...then more sanding sanding sanding.  Here's a shot of the frame at some point during the process...

At some other point I got it to a point where I could put down a coat of primer...

Here are some of the other bits and pieces with the first coat of primer...

Clearly everything will need to be sanded again...probably a little more Bondo...then some more sanding...then another coat of primer...then more sanding...then the first color coat...and so on...

And even better...my wheels are done!  I mounted the Quick Bricks on them today...NICE!

I was able to get the white letters off of the side using some MEK.  Here's a close up of the tread...

Retro!

So that's it for today.  I'll probably piddle a bit tomorrow with sanding and primering...

I'm in the home stretch!

No more Rat!

I'm to the point now where I'm ready to grind, sand, Bondo, sand, primer, sand, and paint. My new wheels will be ready on Tuesday…but that's no reason to hold up the finish work. So this is final picture as a rat bike…

After taking snapping that shot, I disassembled everything and separated the parts that need to be painted and started doing some test sanding. Here's where the project is right now…

The painted parts…

The non-painted parts…

My new tires are here too (forgot to take pictures of them). I used some MEK to get the white writing off the sidewalls…all black…they're going to look awesome on the new wheels.

Hopefully over the course of this week, I can take some time in the evenings to grind, sand, Bondo, sand, primer, sand, yada yada…

It's coming along...

I can breathe!

Before...

After...

That's better. Too much empty space before...

Details...more details...

Probably not a lot going to happen on the project today aside from gluing a piece of rubber on the outside of the clutch cover to quiet the clutch noise a little (which I already did). I read somewhere that this will significantly reduce the clutch noise…and sure enough it does. I first applied the rubber to the outside cover with spray-on adhesive and went for a test ride. Sure enough, the noise was reduced. So I removed the rubber and reapplied it with high-temperature silicon and clamped it on the case to dry…

It's like I say when doing carpentry work…and in the words of Norm Abram…"You can never have enough clamps."  Here's a project I built for a friend of mine...

... see...clamps good!

OK, back to this project...
Before I glued on the rubber to the clutch cover, I did take a picture showing the bike with the modified faux-oil-pump chain…

I'm much happier without the tentioner on faux oil pump...and I love the copper fuel line!

Tomorrow my retro Quick Brick tires arrive. And by the end of next week, my new wheels should be built. Then it's on to final tweaking…then all of the prep work (which is going to be significant--disassembly, sanding, grinding, cleaning up welds, Bondo, more sanding, more grinding…then eventually paint!) It'll probably be a while between getting the new wheels on the bike and paint…I'll more than likely ride it around like it is for a while (I like it). Though, maybe I will primer it and ride it around primered (like the hot-rod guys did in the 70s!).

Mas later...

Getting into the details...

Last night and today I worked on my fuel tank. I purchased a Kreem tank liner kit and went through all of the gyrations required thoroughly line and seal the tank. It seemed to work perfectly. Looking down into the tank, you can see the white liner….

The Kreem tank liner requires 24 hours to drive before putting any fuel into the tank. I will probably give it a couple days to ensure it's completely dry given the humidity we have here.

Next I worked on the exterior of the tank. Sanding…Bondo…sanding…Bondo…and so on and so forth…

I got it close enough to give it a coat of primer. I'll work on the finish more when I'm ready to paint, etc. That'll be awhile…so the primer will protect the exterior of the tank until I'm ready…

Next it was on to the fuel line. The rubber hose looks ugly…and I wanted a copper fuel line anyway. Without a whole lot of thinking, I was able to get the fuel line installed.

And yes…there is a filter; it's inside the petcock.  Here's how everything looks so far...primered tank and copper fuel line...

The final thing I wanted to accomplish was to remove the "chain tensioner" from the chain on my faux oil pump. To accomplish this required significant amounts of pain and suffering…but it lost--I won!

Looks much better!

I also switched the pedals for a less ratty set...though the new set are still a little ratty.

Anyway, that's all for now.  Tomorrow morning I get to put fuel back into the tank and go for a ride! Slowly but surely, it's taking shape.

More later...