This is what she looked like when I got her.

Since I have the work space to partake on such a project I decided not only to clean her up, but to completely strip it down to the frame and repaint. It was a fun project to take the whole thing apart down to the bits and pieces. And while I won’t go into little details about it, I will say that this can be as hard as you want it to be. I wish now that I had thought about some of the things I was about to do, before I had done them. The biggest of those was when I went to remove the headset. In all of my previous bike disassembly past, the bearings have all been in races. Seeing as this is a much older british model, it did not, and I did not anticipate that difference. Needless to say, I lost basically half of the bearings into the dirt floor of my shop. I was a quick learner however, and figured as much from the bottom bracket, and sure enough there where no races there either. This time I was more careful and was able to keep track of all of them.

Notice the electrical tape being used as handlebar tape.

Working on this project in my spare time at night I was able to get the whole thing stripped down and cleaned down to bare metal in about a month and a half. It could have gone faster, but I liked being able to take my time, and I also wanted to be able to do other things at night. Once I had everything cleaned up I made up a little holder for the front fork and hit it with some primer. For my design I wanted a completely different look for the color and chose to go with a flat black. One of the things that I wanted to keep after I had repainted was to to keep the 4 stripes that were on the seat tube. I knew that was part of the original Hercules design, and I wanted to keep it somewhat original in that respect. I decided to paint those stripes back on, and chose to make them a medium to darkish red like the bike originally was. I also had originally wanted to keep the emblem on the front of the bike, but as I was sanding/grinding down the frame it become more of a hassle to work around it and I just took it off.

Black and red, one of my favorite combinations.

After I got the rest of the frame clean I hit it with some primer and then masked off all but the seat tube. I painted that with some Rustoleum paint that gives the appearance of hammered metal. I kinda wanted those stripes to pop a little in contrast to the dark flat black. After that I wanted to give the red a clear coat before putting the black on. Before I did that, just out of habit I guess, I tested the Krylon matte clear that I had on a spare bit of metal that I had painted with the same red. The clear reacted to the red paint in a way that I had completely not planned for at all. It basically worked like a paint stripper and started to peel and bubble up the paint! At this point I was very happy with myself for testing this on a piece of scrap and not going straight to the frame with it. So I went out and picked up a Rustoleum matte clear and ended up getting the results I wanted. After the clear, I gave it 2 or 3 coats of black and then 2 or 3 coats of clear over that. The clear ended up making it a little bit shinier than I had hoped for, but I still like the results. After that I put some of the clear on the fork and it went a little funny. Near the bottom of the fork where the wheel fits in, it turned cloudy. I don’t know why, and now the fork has a black to grey fade in that area. Kinda mad about it, but not mad enough to want to clean it all off again and repaint it. Also the frame had some spots where, in the badly lit area that I was doing the painting, I didn’t get a good job done on the black. Tiny speckles of the primer show through in areas. Again, I don’t like it but its not enough for me to redo the job.

A profile of the whip.

Since I had lost a lot of the bearings from the headset I had to order some online, and while I was doing that I also got some black cloth handlebar tape. I also had to order some new cotter pins for the cranks, as one of the originals was so rusted in that I damaged it getting it out. It took me considerably less time putting the whole thing back together than it did to get it apart. I think that was because I had already gotten to know where everything went and that parts where cleaned up and not rusty afterwards. I left the rear hub as it was, and still do not have a shifter. I also reused the original brakes, except for new pads, and brake line. I didn’t have a good way to properly attach the brake line, so I used some hose clamps. As I didn’t want to mess up my new paint job, I took the old inner tube that I still had laying around and cut some strips from that and wrapped the tube before putting on the clamps. I think it gives the bike character. At some point I would like to rework the rear hub and get it working properly again. I would like to add a shifter just near where the seat attaches to the frame right about where the hose clamp is now. I like the idea of not cluttering up the handlebars. I almost want a coaster brake for that same reason, but like being able to backpedal while I coast too much.

I took it out this past saturday for its inaugural ride, and was pretty pleased. I am not sure on how I like the cloth handlebar tape. It is most likely a result of my not knowing how to do it properly and butchering the job. I also think that I may have been wrong with the way I put the handlebars back on. I like the bull horn style in that it just feels better on my wrists and that they aren’t bent uncomfortably. Originally when I set the bike up to ride last summer I put them this way, but with the handlebars facing higher up than down. This time I wanted to have a racier feel to the bike and so I dropped them lower. I think this was a mistake. I feel very hunched over. (Which I know is how you ride a racing bike. Why would you put them that way if you didn’t want to ride it that way?) I have only rode the once though, and will give it a longer try.

Audra thinks the bike is too big.

A view from Betty's backside.

It was a fun project and I look forward to doing more like it in the future. On a side note, this was as far as I can tell, the longest post I have done on the blog so far. It was nice to be able to put down the whole process and get some thoughts out of my head onto … well, not paper… but you get the idea.

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Early in the season it is still chilly outside for quite a few of the days. Because of this it makes it hard to get out and go camping, let alone being able to talk the wife into sleeping outside. Some nights are warm enough during the day that it carries over into the evening for a while and make for good campfire nights. I really hope to be able to get some of those in this year. Last year I started and tried to build a small fire pit that would accommodate a grill surface. This started nicely but I ended up losing steam on the project and it hasn’t really made it past being a small hole int he ground outlined with brick. It would be nice to have a place where people could sit around the fire and enjoy the evening and the company. Hopefully this year more will be accomplished.

Another thing this year that I really hope to do more with is biking. Last year I was able to get out with a friend a few times and with the family once. This year I plan on making it a much more steady thing. I have almost completely reworked my old english 3-speed bike (a 1970 Hercules) over the last few weeks. There might be a post about it later on. With this newly fashioned bike the plan is to be able to get out with the whole family and ride some bike trails throughout the nice seasons. We have attempted this to some degree already, but since my bike was obviously not in running order, I was the one doing the running. Needless to say I have declined in my athletic ability since the beginning of college. the little one also seemed to dislike the ride, and as such we may try to do a simple husband wife ride for a while until such a time as when she enjoys riding in the trailer more.

Other projects include attempting to clean out some of the storage areas around the property, and reclaiming them from the varmints that have inhabited them over the last few years. Namely starting with removing all of the grain from the holding bins so that the mice, chipmunks, rats, raccoons, and opossums no longer have an all you can eat buffet. I think that should be a very good start to helping the situation.

It feels good writing down all of these things for all of the world to see. I am hoping that by doing so, I will have some form of accountability to my goals. I hope to write more often on the blog and will attempt to update as I actually accomplish any of my goals for the summer.

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Again these are not the newest machines with the most advanced features. They are, in fact, 28 years old and definitely show their age.  But that is what gives these humble machines their character.  They may not have some fancy rear suspension, or any rear suspension to speak of, but you don’t expect one either.  They aren’t the fastest machines, but they can definitely get you from point A to point B and excite you along the way.  They are the backbone and blueprint of which modern snowmobiles take their roots.  Without my machines, we might not have newer machines and styles.  And we are better off for them.

So until Wednesday comes, I wait with anticipation and hope.  For this is the stuff my winter dreams are made of.

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Along the same lines of reasons I haven’t been posting much, is that our family has just embarked and are almost finished with our big move from Lansing down to our new house that is out in the sticks. So between all the moving hassles and now the we are so far out in the middle of nowhere, it took me a while to get Internet (that I’m not completely happy with) and add that to new baby and you get not much time for ol Benny to be getting online and making posts. So that’s my update for now, and if time and baby permit I will have more in the near future.

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