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Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 16th, 2015, 9:05 pm
by neo_pop_71
Hello all-

This thread is a bit of a wink to my good buddy vpc66 and his thread with a similar but reversed title. I sent a couple of older cruiser projects out the door via Craigslist to clear some room for a new cruiser build. By old I'm talking about threaded 1" steer tubes with quill stems, by new I'm referring to a 1 1/8th" threadless set up so I can take full advantage of modern components. One bike I've had my eye on for quite some time is the B1 by Nirve, a mock tank throw back to the old pre-war cruisers. The B1 is a single speed bike with a coaster brake rear wheel and a v-brake up front. One finally came up locally that didn't cost a fortune, I snagged it and immediately started tearing it apart. I was intending to build up a springer seat retro style bike but every single B1 I've found online are all built to that same basic design. So, I sacked that idea and started combing over the bikes on RatRodBikes.com hoping for some inspiration. I saw plenty of interesting builds, some really cool and amazing bikes, but I couldn't find my direction so I slept on it and hoped for some clarity in the morning. When I got up today, sleeping on it worked, I was ready and the B1 went in the bike stand. Here is the initial mock up, the bike will keep the rear coaster brake but with a new hub, I'm going with a Shimano Nexus 3 speed internal gear hub, up front is a Swobo disc fork from my Folsom and I will be running a large rotor disc brake. I figure with the added speed from the extra gears I'd better have some serious stopping power... I wouldn't want to find out the hard way that the coaster brake wasn't enough to slowly and safely bring my clydesdale girth to a complete stop! I still need to trim the bamboo fenders, I'm not happy with the stem and bar set up but I'm on my way and I can envision the completed bike and it's looking good.

Anybody else building a cruiser besides vpc66 and myself? Did you build a custom cruiser? If so, share it!

Thanks!

-D-

p.s. The first photo is from the Craigslist posting, the other two are from today.

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 16th, 2015, 9:25 pm
by vpc66
Like the look of the old layback with the Nana seat, did you buff that frame out because the color pops in your picture unless you just have better photo equipment...looks good ! What crank set up do you plan on running..have seen old profile cranks used that look great by the way ! Cool job D !

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 16th, 2015, 9:26 pm
by vpc66
Hey...what became of the Soma bars ?

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 16th, 2015, 11:23 pm
by neo_pop_71
vpc66 wrote:Like the look of the old layback with the Nana seat, did you buff that frame out because the color pops in your picture unless you just have better photo equipment...looks good ! What crank set up do you plan on running..have seen old profile cranks used that look great by the way ! Cool job D !


Right on, thanks brother! That's just the stock color in the sun, I've never even wiped off the funk that came on the frame when I bought it. It's a cool color but it's beat, someone rode around with a metal chain wrapped up, the front portion of the frame and fork are chipped to hell. I haven't figured out a color yet but I'm thinking seriously about going over the top with the powder coating. It's only a thought at this point but I'm considering doing the crank arms, seatpost, stem, and bars in the same color as the frame of fork. Maybe that's a bit much but for sure that seatpost, seatpost collar, and the stem... it'll look like one big, long continuous bike frame. Oh man, I'd really like the crank arms to match also, that would look amazing with an anodized chainring and a Salt Plus Warlock half-link chain. A Shimano NX01 "oval" chain, like I ran on my single speed, would be cool too but might prove challenging to get the exact length right on with a full link chain as opposed to a half-link chain. I'm pulling some inspiration from the gorgeous Vanilla bikes that Sacha White creates, that is pure bicycle eye candy! If I can pull off this B1 cruiser with hints of "Vanilla" that would be awesome!!!

Here is a link to the SaltPlus Warlock chain and Vanilla Bikes if you're unfamiliar... dee-lish!

http://saltbmx.com/saltplus/products/ch ... link-chain

http://www.thevanillaworkshop.com/vanilla-about/

-D-

p.s. The SOMA Noah bars would require such a massive stretch while seated of the rear axle, I can't imagine that the bike would be very comfortable to ride for very long. Like my big plans for a 9 speed cluster with dual disc brake set up, the Noah bars went the way of the Dodo bird.

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 17th, 2015, 12:40 am
by vpc66
Like the Vanilla road bikes! Yeah I figured you were going to say to much of a reach for the Soma bars. Shame the paint job is fubar and I hate when folks wrap bike locks on the frame !

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 17th, 2015, 3:31 am
by neo_pop_71
I was thinking of going after all the chips and scratches because they are somewhat centralized around each other and going for the relic'd look (aka fake patina) but I couldn't make it work since I swapped the fork. No way was I losing disc brakes up front (especially after losing the disc brakes in the rear) to keep the matching paint
fork in hopes of pulling off a fake patina look. Almost everything is getting media blasted and powder coated! After drooling over the bikes on the Vanilla site, I'm going for it... full custom color on the frame, fork, and multiple parts. I need to find a taller stem and some better bars, not sure what it is with those lousy stinkin' handlebars but they gotta go!!!

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 17th, 2015, 10:13 am
by vpc66
My guess is to wide, the rear of the bike has the classic slick muscle bike look then those bars go BAM way out to the side like a beach bike. If you could find a narrow bar that angles back ...idea I would throw out is something along the lines of a drag bar like they do on motorcycles, might need a double clamp stem for a setup like that....

Re: Out with the old, in with the new (vpc inspired)

Posted: February 17th, 2015, 1:28 pm
by neo_pop_71
Hey man,

That's a great idea, I hadn't considered it but it totally makes for the perfect solution to my problem!

Time to comb over Ebay for a double clamp stem, I recall them being big in the lat 90's when all those heavy double and triple crown forks with 100mm of travel hit the scene.

Thanks again amigo!!!

Peace,

-D-