Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Bike

[ShroomRudy]

I guess if I went with my little twist (skip tooth, powder coat, frame n forks) then it will be more of an inspired bike, right?
Ill probably have to sleep on this one to see what route Im gonna take......

 

[Ruddigger]

All that matters is that you're happy with it. It's your bike, and that's what counts.

 

[ShroomRudy]

Ill most likely be purchasing a early 50's schwinn dx complete to do the X1. ill just save the 41 for another project......

 

[ShroomRudy]

ill keep you tuned in for tomorrow evening.... good night

 

[kxazbug]

You can usually find the frame for not that much. Think I paid 80 for mine. Your gonna change most of the stuff on it anyways but a complete bike will give you fenders and a wheel set. It's not a easy project or cheap all the custom fabricated parts are a lot of work. And in reality only a small bit of it is off the shelf stuff.

 

[mauidude]

I've seen that. A nice bike but super inaccurate. I got everything on eBay or from forum members. Good luck with your build, and post progress pictures.

Super inaccurate? Come on. Probably 10 percent inaccurate at worst. And mostly nit picky stuff like wrong bell, missing generator on front, etc.

 

[Ruddigger]

Whats wrong on that bike?
Handlebars
Grips
Bell
Springer looks to be a repop
Tank badges
Fin shape on headlights and rear rack
Saddlebag shape and saddlebag grills
Tank buttons
Mudflaps
Amber tail light
Skirt guards are from an Elgin and not the correct shape, wiich has to be custom made
Center skirt grills
Chainguard is close on shape but all the details are wrong.
Cranks
Large mirror
Missing persons siren
Compass base is silver instead of black

Thats what stood out to me right away, others may notice more. Basically its a nice bike, but the guy made everything too perfect (like the center skirt grills), or found items that were close but not right (like the skirt guards and bell and springer and mirror and tail lights and...)

 

[kxazbug]

Super inaccurate? Come on. Probably 10 percent inaccurate at worst. And mostly nit picky stuff like wrong bell, missing generator on front, etc.

Kinda gone over this before but Rudd is right. First off the dude built a nice bike don't get me wrong. But if you go thru this thread you can see how we have put a Lot of attention and detail into using/fabricating the correct parts and figuring out what was used. I could walk around that bike and pick out wrong parts. Do I really care though. Not really its a cool bike with a lot of work. A handful of us on here with the sharing of knowledge/ watching the film over and over/ visiting real bikes. Heck I've sat on a real X1 are close to so called X1 experts. May not be something to brag about haha but we have learned quite a few things over the last few years. I don't think Rudd ment that as any type of insult. It's just that we have been into this so much it's the first thing we see. Kind of like the Herbie in your pic. I don't know the story on it. Screen used or replica? I've been into VWs over 20 years. Have a 2387cc beetle myself. I'd walk around your Herbie and think man this is nice. But a guy near me has a actual real screen used Herbie. His reaction may be like well this .... Not saying it is but get my drift

 

[kxazbug]

Haha typing at same time

 

[mauidude]

Whats wrong on that bike?
Handlebars
Grips - minor in my opinion
Bell - again, i mentioned this minor detail thats easily changed.
Springer looks to be a repop -whats wrong with a repop?
Tank badges
Fin shape on headlights and rear rack -shape is off so its super inaccurate?
Saddlebag shape and saddlebag grills -these all must be handmade, i give some slack when you can't buy these anywhere.
Tank buttons
Mudflaps - Dude, you can't even find these anymore, the last exact ones came up on ebay over three years ago and sold for an ungodly amount of money.
Amber tail light -omg
Skirt guards are from an Elgin and not the correct shape, wiich has to be custom made -the reason the screen used bike doesnt use these is they couldn't find enough of them so they copied the Elgrin guards to use for the movie. They are "repops" of the Elgrin.
Center skirt grills
Chainguard is close on shape but all the details are wrong.
Cranks
Large mirror
Missing persons siren -$50 on ebay solves this.
Compass base is silver instead of black -minutia.

Thats what stood out to me right away, others may notice more. Basically its a nice bike, but the guy made everything too perfect (like the center skirt grills), or found items that were close but not right (like the skirt guards and bell and springer and mirror and tail lights and...)

To me "super inaccurate" is a red huffy bike with some streamers on it and a pee wee doll tied on to the back. Considering there are probably less than 10 replica bikes in the world better than that one on rat rod bikes I wouldn't say its "super inaccurate". Just my opinion.

You are right though it's "perfect" looking as far as shiny and new. I think that's what I like about it compared to a lot of the other replicas. It looks shiny and new and the replica bikes look kinda old and dirty. I know the bike in the movie was more old and dirty but damn that shiny new rat rod bike looks nice.

 

[Ruddigger]

There's no wrong way to make what you like. But to me all those little things add up.

 

[KansasJack]

Every bike has its own idiosyncrasies. If we had a Pee Wee bike convention and had all our bikes lined up outside The Alamo, none of us would have any problem instantly picking our own bike out of the line up. When you've worked for three years on a bike build it becomes very easy to spot differences. I think everyone here respects each others efforts regardless of screen accuracy. It's fun just to see these old bikes come back to life.

 

[BestBike]

I agree with KansasJack. It's one of the things I love about this thread ... all the different approaches people have taken to pay honor to "the best bike in the world." I've been following the comments here for a long time and finally signed up to be able to say hello and thank everyone for their contributions to this topic. I have learned much here about the original bikes used in Big Adventure and fabricating facsimiles. So ... "Hello" and "Thank you."

 

[ShroomRudy]

Hey everyone, I decided to powder-coat the 41 Schwinn DX. The shade of red was pretty accurate. (I didn't want to go rattle can) Now that i have a better understanding of the definition of an actual replica, ill be putting together an "Inspired" Pee Wee Herman bike. I am gonna use the original 41 springer forks along with the skip tooth sweet heart sprocket. The frame should be ready by noon tomorrow, so stay tune for a picture.

@Kansasjack well said..... @bestbike welcome.....

 

[XTRMN8R17]

Out of curiosity, how much did it cost to get it powder coated?

 

[ShroomRudy]

where can i purchase these at? or do you have any for sale?

 

[ShroomRudy]

@XTRMN8R17 Its 100$ for the frame and forks. These guys do excellent work at a reasonable cost. They specialize in bike/motorcycle frames. (Americoat in OC)

 

[Ruddigger]

Sounds like its gonna be a cool rider. Pictures ASAP!

 

[ShroomRudy]

@ruddiger yeah for sure.
@kansasjack wondering if your still molding the tiger heads? (fingers crossed) 0r if Abe has any for sale.... please let me know thanks

 

[kxazbug]

here's my bike showed up in my Facebook.