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Granny's Nightmare - Section 2| Section 2
Section 1 | Section 2
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| All content copyright Chopzone.com 2003-2009. All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The un-squished fork
tubing was cut to fit in place as a new main tube (Photo 15), and
the leftover end was welded as a gusset where the lug stub was
left from the original top tube and seat tube. This little curve
on the top tube gave the frame a stylish look, and would be the
basis for a gas tank style gusset later on in the build.
Now that the frame has
been modified, place the bottom bracket about 6 inches lower
than it was before (Photo 16). Although the frame is still tall
and laid back, this would work well for what I had envisioned. Be careful
with the forks at this point, without the top of the triple tree,
they would not take much weight. Dude, don't sit on the bike yet!
I found an old cardboard
box that contained bicycle safety brochures, and promptly emptied
its contents into the garbage can - so I could salvage the empty
box. A cool looking gusset was cut from the cardboard as shown in
Photo 17, and this was traced onto some scrap sheet steel.
The gusset is cut from the
steel using a worn out cut-off disc on the angle grinder (Photo
18). Although a jig saw with a metal blade is best when curves
are involved, this method is much faster if the curve is only
slight and you have a worn out wheel like I did.
To form the top of the
triple tree fork, 2 1/2 inch nuts will be welded into the ends of
each fork leg, and a plate will be secured to this by a bolt. Any
nut and bolt that will fit into the conduit will work (Photo 19).
Weld both nuts flush into
the ends of the fork legs as shown in Photo 20. The closer to
center you can get them, the better. If the nuts a quite a bit
smaller than the inside diameter of the tube, just weld as much as
you can, making sure they are both facing the same side of the
tube and centered.
The fork will use the
conventional triple tree with a top plate bolted to the top of the
fork legs, but with a slight difference - it will include the
gooseneck as part of the plate. Rather than making a single plate
and then fastening a handle bar clamp to it, I decided to use two
smaller plates that will fasten directly to a gooseneck. This way,
the original bicycle parts, including the handlebars could be
used.
The best way to ensure
alignment when welding the triple tree plates and gooseneck is to
bolt the two plates as shown in Photo 22; this is how they will
be in the final design. The two plates should be aligned as if
they were one single plate. The round area ground away at the ends
of each plate will form a joint with the steel gooseneck.
Once everything is setup,
all you have to do is place the gooseneck into the fork stem, and
weld the 2 plates in place. It's best to make a few solid tack
welds, then check it all over, being careful not to hit the fork
threads with the welding rod. Once tacked in place, it will look
like it does Photo 23.
Once the front forks are
completely welded and ground, they can be installed onto the
chopper (Photo 24). Now the frame can take the weight of a rider
- of course, you may want to install a seat first.
Options for a seat on this
chopper are abundant, but what I was looking for was something
that would fit the theme of the original granny bike, of course,
it had to be butchered into something evil at the same time.
Rather than mounting the seat in its natural position, I decided
that it should go as close to the rear wheel as possible, putting
it just behind the seat tube. To accomplish this silly feat, I
welded the seat clamp directly to the plate over the rear wheel
(Photo 25).
Once I reinstalled the
super fat spring seat, it was almost sitting on the rear tire
(Photo 26). The nose of the seat covered up the original seat
post hole, and this really looked good - almost planned! We are
now 30 seconds from the first test crash!
Once I rode around the
block a few times making sure everything was good, I stripped the
bike right back down and painted it using the original deep blue
color (Photo 27). I buffed up the chrome parts with some steel
wool, and put the bike back together, and damn it dog, it sure
looked cool!
Yep, Granny's Nightmare
really worked out nice! I even reversed the front fender just to
add some more wackiness to the bike, but everything looked great.
The front chain ring was replaced with a huge chrome unit from an exercise
bike, but other than that and some fresh tires, the whole deal was
made from the original granny bike. Told you it could be done!
Besides one small incident
where the seat almost fell off and started rubbing on the rear
wheel, all went well with Kathy's first test ride (was that my
fault for not tightening the bolts?). The bike rode well, did not
rattle, and felt pretty comfortable considering where the seat was
placed.
The moral of this story -
never say a bike cannot be chopped. When you find something in the
dumpster, don't think, "Hey, look at that scrap."
Instead think, "Dude, this thing will make a sick chop." In fact,
just about any thing made of steel can be used for parts. See that
old blender? Yeah, I can use that! Granny's Nightmare is a prime example of what can be done by simply modifying what you
have and using your twisted imagination to put vision into
reality. Now I better go and hide the chopper before granny gets
home from Bingo.
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Granny's Nightmare - Section 2| Section 2
Section 1 | Section 2
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| All content copyright Chopzone.com 2003-2009. All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||