Klunker Project: Fun with Coaster Brakes

And a month after ordering parts, in my grubby mitts I finally possessed the spokes, nipples, and spoke washers I needed to kludge together my klunk wheel.

This is the first wheel I have assembled in a few years, and using junked together parts for wheel building is a new experience as well. Definitely some screw ups in here, but I'll ride it. The next one will be more better.

 

This picture shows the wheel mounted in the Schwinn frame with a nice view of the coaster brake cooler. This part was sourced from monebikes.com. I've read reports of these legitimately helping reduce coaster brake fade and grease burnoff. Also, look at that thing. If you look close you may see the brass spoke washers which help with spoke angle.

I engraved the coaster brake arm. It will be transferred to a non-cooled rear wheel at some point. It was a lot of work, and unfortunately not very visible right now.

I've had a lot of parts jammed up in the nightmare of the mail right now. This entire build should be finished by now, but so it goes.

Recently I found Diamond Head - Borrowed Time album on a trip to the record store, and it ended up being the find of the day for $3 on cassette. Look at that cover. Beautiful. I'm gonna have to find the original gatefold LP. Originators of the tune "Am I Evil?" popularized by none other than Metallica, I would refer to anything else they have ever done as a "deep cut." Seriously, have you ever listened to anything other than that tune?

Klunker Project Part 1

I'm not usually going to go out of my way to drop a bunch of cash on a frame I don't necessarily need, but if said frame drops into my lap, well, that turd is gonna get polished. I have wanted to do a proper coaster brake klunker build for a while now, and a buddy of mine had an old Schwinn Cruiser he didnt need after he found a really nice early 80s Ross. I've also been working on some wheels, and I want to move into some proper hot rodding and start doing frame modifications. It's all too perfect, so away we go.

Here is our humble steed in the beginning, triumphantly perched on top of a parts pile. Draped across the front of my extra Radmobile like a busted Daytona stripper at the 93 Mopar Nats. She looks a little rough there, but diving in she's suprisingly clean. No rust in her guts, and check out the final picture of that hub below. I assume its a late 90s model. I'm not really sure, and I don't really care. Praise Crom she's mild steel.

Those Schwinn cruiser tires are cool, and only slightly dry rotted. Steel rim and mild steel spokes. 100% junk. I'll fix that with questionable parts choices and shoddy wrenching!

Pictured with the krusty hub is the rim I will use, and at the time of this post it is all broken down and polished. I calculated spoke length, and lo, it was a Sign. The fanciest spokes made. Four-hundred and twenty of those suckers. For about 60 bux shipped to me. Meant to be. These spokes are, for sure, a little (a lot) daintier than I prefer, and so fresh brass nips are on their way as well. I have a set of mint Araya 26 x 1.50 rims, but I may save those for a fresher build.

Here is a clean and shiny hub. A little elbow grease and she polished right up. Probably gonna break it down and run everything through the parts washer in my Pop's shop. I have some cool custom stuff coming, so stay tuned.

Here's a little somethin' complete to look at. I'll get proper pics and build specs soon! And here's some Nuge cause this shit's a ripper!

Bianchi: It's Italian for "Stooge"

More often than not a Bianchi is found underneath a greased gooch and smuggled plums, but not this little gem. This bike has made its way in and out of my possession a few times, ridden by my Cuz, then his little duder, and now on to another good bud of mine.

I think everything on this bike is out of my parts stash. Stoke. Old school Haro Fatboy bars, some Promax levers, Gusset tensioner. That stem was on my Trek beer cruiser for years (RIP).

Mmm... look at that tire clearance. Sexy.

I live my life one trash build at a time.

Overdose - Two Wheels and Gone

 Also, here's some fresh jams. Highly recommended if you need rock and roll in your life. And who the fuck doesn't right now?