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Firecracker - Section 2| Section 2
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Firecracker - Section 2| Section 2
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Place the forks, bearings
and hardware on the bike, and get the front wheel in place (Photo 11).
The chopper should be straight, and the bottom bracket should be
positioned high enough for adequate ground clearance once the cranks
are installed. If all went well, it's just a matter of putting the
other components on the bike to complete the build.
To make the original
handle bars a little more "choppified", the cross bar
that was once used to hold the crash pad was cut (Photo 12). This
instantly turns the BMX style handle bars into chopper style
handle bars. Grind the leftover metal from the cut area, as it will be
sharp.
I like to assemble the
entire bike before painting, just to ensure that no other welding or
changes are necessary (Photo 13). Little things like
fender mounting brackets can wreak havoc on your paint job if you
have to weld them in place after the fact. So far, everything
seems to be working out perfectly. Paint time.
The Firecracker was
painted red, of course (Photo 14), and the original blue
trimmings were kept, as it accented the bright red quite nicely. A
fatter rear tire was also found on my scrap pile, but other than
that and the extension tubing, all of the bike is original. Not
bad for a few hours work, and $5 for spray paint.
Kids can master a chopper
faster than the old boy crowd, maybe because they have not
tasted the pavement as much as we have, and the fear factor hasn't
been ingrained in them yet. Photo 15 shows Brayden ripping down the laneway on the
Firecracker, totally fearless of the ground below!
Thumbs up, buddy! In
another decade or so, this dude's ride will probably have spinner rims,
a custom frame, and a price tag comparable to that of a
house. Yep, once stung by the chop fever, there is no escape! The
young dudes love choppers.
