I started out on this project by acquiring a 1940 Hiawatha fat-tire frame courtesy of Gordon Bradbury about a year ago or so. This frame was built by Shelby for Hiawatha, which is a fairly rare frame. To top it all off the frame was in rough shape from many miles of cranking and chain adjustments, but I felt I had to rescue it because of the
rarity of the frame. I needed to replace the rear drop-outs with new ones which I fabricated myself. The crankset bearing cup holder was egg-shaped from the years gone by of cranking, so I opted for a three-piece crankset and built conversion cups to take care of the problem. This leads to the rear wheel which is powered by the tried and
true Sturmey Archer 3 speed Coaster Brake hub, and shifted by a modified S/A shifter. The rear hub is laced to an extra-wide Sun rim via D/T double-butted stainless steel spokes, along with the Susie front hub, also laced to the same type of rim. The bike rolls on a set of fat-tire 26 x 2.125 v-grooved slicks.
In the developing of this fat-tire ride, I was looking for a really good ride with lots of cushion, which brings me to the front forks. I opted to use an old vintage Rollfast single-spring front end to help smooth the ride. I am always looking to make things work better; so I replaced all the steel-on-steel bushings with neoprene and
brass, to take care of the slack.
The ride is also cushioned by a Leppers Primus Saddle courtesy of Phat Cycles, which I truly believe is the ultimate in ride. I replaced the seat rails with ones made of alloy that I machined, milled and polished, to give Fat Red the personalized touch. I also replaced all the fasteners with stainless steel that has also been polished;
and I also had the springs plated to add to the detail.
To get the cranking done, I opted to build a set of alloy pedals based around the old tear-drop Airflow pedals of yesteryear. To start, I used a set of BMX platforms for the base of the pedals. I then machined, milled, and polished the rest of the pedal. Of course I screwed all the parts of the pedal together via stainless steel fasteners.
The pedals are then screwed to a set of Dotek alloy crank arms. This leads to the chain guard, which is fabricated around the old Dayton Twinflex guards, mounted with an alloy bracket which is also milled and polished. The chain is adjusted via Cruisers by Lou's own patented polished chain tensioners.
As for fenders I opted for a set of Schwinn DX models. These also had to be modified-along with the fender brackets, to fit the bike. I surrounded the rear fender with a Cruisers by Lou-designed Rear Reflector. Also surrounding the rear fender is a genuine 39`-40`Minneapolis license plate, held in place by a Cruisers by Lou license plate bracket. The front end needed a headlight so I opted for an old Impex motorbike style that was
blasted, replated and painted the same color as the bike, and held in place by a machined, milled and polished alloy bracket.
The custom is direction-controlled by a set of alloy cruiser bars via Phat Cycle that were mated to a set of Cruisers by Lou machined alloy teardrop grips. The grips are based around the old Elgin style of rubber grip.
As I completed this custom, I counted the number of custom-engineered alloy and stainless parts, brackets, holders etc. It came out to just over fifty pieces- too many to note, and roughly a year's worth of odd late nights and early mornings to build; but it was a great enjoyment to build.
I topped the custom off with Dupont Viper Red, along with detailing all the end milled slots on all the alloy parts to add the personalized touch.
On a last note, it is a pleasure to ride this custom off into the sunset of the evening; and to enjoy talking to people about the building of this edition of Cruisers by Lou. Built by: Cruisers by Lou, Regina, SK Canada
