It's A Chopper, Baby!

Tony H, at work, wanted me to build him a single-speed bike so that he could ride around the park with his grandson. Tony is a big dude, and a Harley rider, so I figured I would build him a bicycle which would give him a familiar vibe.

I found this bike on Craigslist, Monday, and made a call to the owner. Two hours later, and it was at my house.

 It is a late 60's/early 70's Huffy cruiser. It was complete, and rideable, which is always a good thing when you use a bike as the base for a custom build. It's nice to not have to fix problems before getting started.

 I spent most of Wednesday trying to figure out how to make the bike rideable for a guy Tony's size. The 13/16" mild steel seatpost will not hold up, if it is extended far enough for a full-sized adult to ride it comfortably. Plus, Tony is used to the foot-forward position on his Hog.

I used half of a junked parallelogram fork as a support for the seat. This got the seat low, and back, while providing adequate strength to support Tony.

 I did a lot of "test riding" on Wednesday. The thing is a hoot to ride, and I thought to myself, "I'll build myself one, eventually." Of course, I had to finish this bike, first.

I tore it apart on the 4th, and sprayed it flat black. Today, I reassembled it, with new tires, chain, seat, bars, grips, and some actual grease on the bearings, rather than the 40-years-old crud that was in them.

I particularly like the machined aluminum grips...

"Whose chopper is it?"

 And so, another project goes in the books as complete. I really enjoyed having the week off, so that I could actually get some stuff done and off of the list!

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