We sprayed the bike electric blue metallic, with glitter on top and satin topcoat. It really sparks in the rare UK sunshine. We went along to a Hot Rod Show&Shine today, Pip took the bike and loved the attention it got - another Kustomiser is born. . Apart from all that - it's a really top site, which me and my boys (and a whole stack of the local rodders who I have introduced) enjoy gawping at. Thanks! Stuart |
Stuart Morgan: Pip's Kustom Rodeo Cruiser |
I'm sending some pics in of my son's bike, which we built to let him join in with the shows we attend. Hope it's good enough for your gallery... . This bike's a '69 Raleigh Rodeo, which was the skinnier-tyred version of the Fireball. It arrived in the workshop as a wrecked frame - the tubes were corroded through in a line about 6 inches back from the headstock, I guess it had been standing under a drip in a leaky shed for a few decades. Unlike the Schwinns it was attempting to compete with, the Rodeo was brazed-lug built, so I disassembled and re-tubed the front section with bits of tubing from a scrap auto seat found in a skip, bent to suit. I now had a good frame, and the stock resto of the Rodeo began. . It was then my second son, Pip, a Hot Wheels obsessive, got hold of the saddle. The resto stopped, the original bits I had collected were sold off, and the bike was built as a mild Kustom Cruiser. Pip wanted a super-clean look, so it had to be rear coaster only (unusual in UK). Harder than re-tubing the frame was finding a set of English 20-inch wheels (451mm diameter) to lace up. When these were sourced, I built up a set of coaster wheels with some NOS Shimano hubs I had. The forks came from a shopper bike found in the local dumpster, with the headtube shortened to suit. The same bike provided the cranks, chain and chainwheel, and a set of ally guards which were shortened and slightly flared. The chainguard is from a 26 inch Raleigh roadster from a different dumpster, shortened to fit, and the 'bars, which we thought would be difficult, came from the local cycle shop. |
We sprayed the bike electric blue metallic, with glitter on top and satin topcoat. It really sparks in the rare UK sunshine. We went along to a Hot Rod Show&Shine today, Pip took the bike and loved the attention it got - another Kustomiser is born. . Apart from all that - it's a really top site, which me and my boys (and a whole stack of the local rodders who I have introduced) enjoy gawping at. Thanks! Stuart |
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