Murray Missile 

Had to make some mods to the refugee to make it more rideable for me. Kind of ruined the look but at least I can comfortably ride it now. Swapped in a threadless stem adapter, threadless riser stem and wider bars which of course made all the cables 4" too short. Took it for a 3 mile ride today and knew by mile 2 the "sofa" seat had to go so I swapped on one of my favorite cheap saddles, I buy these 3 to 5 at a time. Also decided it needed more rubber.

Version 1:



Version 2:

taz777

Looks great! The cable outers seem to accentuate the flowing lines too!

tds101 

I love the contrast between the frame and the cables. Looks fantastic!

Sindy

Nice bike,
My 'Sofa seat' may also have to go, unsure what to go with as I sit more upright on my cruiser.
Will look at saddles similar to yours.
My Hippie bike has to keep It's look, a performance saddle would just be wrong.

I like SquidPuppet's Brooks saddle a bunch and they make a springer.

Your cables give the bike character, nice color choice.

SquidPuppet

If you can arrange a test ride before buying, I'd try a Brooks B17 before committing to a sprung saddle. I know everyone's butt is different, but I find that the B17 offers a LOT (to me) of natural suspension action due to the simple hammock design. It's a significant amount of up-down bump absorbing travel. I think a sprung saddle would actually be too much "bobbing" for me. But that's just me.

Murray Missile 

Thanks, they're Jagwire gold braid, originally purchased for another project but they clashed really bad. Stuck them up against the Met. Brown on the Clipper and knew right away nothing else would look that good on it.

I'm really loving the ride and handling with the bigger tires but the derailleurs and crankset are getting upgraded SOON! OK on level ground but downshifting on uphills is a lost cause. Time for a 3 piece BB adapter, decent crankset (probably a triple), better thumb shifters and derailleurs. I have some decent SunTour stuff off an old Schwinn MTB that should do the trick. I need a bit more seat height too but this post is at maximum height and the clamp is already under the seat rails. I'm a bit of a Clydesdale and I'm worried about putting too much leverage on it and I don't really want an offset post because I don't want to shift my weight further back, the handling is very precise the way things are. Maybe a crankset with 175mm arms would make enough difference, the Ashtabula cranks on it are probably 165 Max. Just happen to have one........

Johnny Mullet

Pretty sweet!

Sindy

Brooks B17, I hear ya

SquidPuppet

What diameter is your seat post? I easily bent the cheap steel ones so I've made a few from solid 6061-T6 rod. The rod material is actually pretty cheap. You can buy on line or at a metals supply house. I bought a 44 inch long piece of 7/8 inch scrap for about $12.00. Got three posts out of it. You can get tubing too. Both are available in a jillion sizes. No bending so far.

These guys have it all. Good prices.

https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant...0&showunits=mm

Murray Missile 

13/16", worse yet. I have a couple 7/8" BMX posts that are pretty heavy duty but they won't go. Thanks for the link, I was thinking about having one made out of 6061. My oldest is a machinist so if I can't find the right diameter I can have him shave a little off for me.

SquidPuppet

Hahahahahaha. I have two that are 13/16" also. I bought 7/8" rod and took it down to 13/16 (for the frame) but left the top inch or so alone, where the 7/8 clamp holds it.


$10.38 for a three foot rod. 0.875" Dia. Extruded 6061-T6 Aluminum Round Rod - Online Metal Store

J.Higgins 

That looks real nice!

SquidPuppet

Thanks.

Ironfish653

Good Looking Bike!

Murray Missile 

It's about ready to go on the stand again, it's getting a lot more gears and some vintage upgrades of the SunTour variety. Hopefully I can post some pics soon.

Murray Missile 

Finally got to work on it today and decided to start by replacing the crappy headset. The crown race was shot and the cups were zinc plated so I bought a nice Tange chrome set. Popped the old cups out and went to position the new lower cup and it dropped right in and rattled around. WTH?! Fork has a 1" steerer tube but the head tube is 1-1/8! This thing is full of oddities like that, the ID of the seat tube is an odd size too, that made getting a decent seat post a challenge. This is kind of a good thing since I had wanted to put a suspension fork on it but couldn't find one with a 1" steerer that didn't have disc brake tabs. I wanted it to at least look somewhat close to the same vintage as the bike. I found a "new" Suntour off a bike that had been damaged in shipment. No disc tabs and it had the mount for a cantilever brake cable stop on the bridge. Not the greatest fork but good enough for this frame. Now to get a U-brake adapter for the rear stays, or should I use a roller cam?

J.Higgins 

Pics... PICS... PICS!

SquidPuppet

Are you sure the head tube is 1-1/8 inch? I bet it's the old school OPC standard of 32.5mm. Plenty of head sets available for that size at PorckchopBMX.com and at TopLowrider.com. Available for 22.2mm stem or 21.1mm stem too.

Murray Missile 

100%. The old headset wasn't even a press fit, I pulled the cups out by hand. Actually the bottom cup stayed with the fork, the grease on the bearings had more grip on it than the head tube did LOL. The collars on the old cups are a good .010" smaller than the I.D. on the head tube! The cups on my 1-1/8" headset measure 1.3385" O.D. across the collars that press into the head tube and the head tube measures 1.3360 I.D. which makes for a pretty nice press fit. Since precision measurement is part of what I've done for a living for almost 40 years now and I keep my personal mics and calipers calibrated I'm pretty comfortable with my findings. I DO appreciate the input though as I was not aware of that size, I learned something today.

Murray Missile 

Not much to see right now as it's once again a pile of parts on the garage floor. I'll go ahead and convert it to a 3 pc. crankset and swap over derailleurs while I'm waiting for the fork and U-brake setup. I'll get pics just as soon as it looks like a bicycle again which hopefully won't be more than a week or so.

SquidPuppet

Alright, i see that you are kinda, barely, sorta qualified to use a ruler.

But seriously, now I wonder what the heck is going on there? 1" fork in a tube designed for 1-1/8" fork. I take it that's not the stock fork?

Was it rattling and clunking when you rode it before? Seems like it must have been loose feeling and crooked too?

Murray Missile 

It was actually pretty solid feeling but I knew the crown race was worn as I had pulled the fork before to clean and grease the bearings and should be replaced if I was going to ride it much more. Here's the bike when I originally saved it, as you can see it was a really cheap Klunker knock off, I was able to determine it was a 1982 model. I believe it was made in China which may explain a lot. The fork is the original, the bike had some really crappy parts on it, just about all the original components went back in the scrap bin. The only thing left when I finish this rendition will be the frame. The fork will most likely find it's way into something else someday.

Murray Missile 

By George I think he's got it!

https://www.niagaracycle.com/categor...RoCC-sQAvD_BwE

Looks just like it but it sure didn't fit this frame properly.

Murray Missile 

I think you're being too kind, this headset is worse than cheap! I think they made the crown race out of pot metal, a slight exaggeration perhaps but it IS damn soft. It's all good though, an 1-1/8" headset and steerer tube fit the head tube on this frame perfectly and I going with that.

SquidPuppet

So I was right then? The head tube ID is 32.5mm?