Royal Pain, but also a classic

About three weeks ago we received some old bikes at the shop and one of them was an old Royal three speed frame.  It was all rusted, the front fork and handlebars were rusted stiff in the head tube, and the bottom bracket wasn’t any better.  So I have been working slowly on it to get it all freed up and working.

 It’s a 27” tire size frame and I’m not sure whether to make it into a one, three, or five speed.  I have a pair of old Sturmey Archer three speed hubs, I would love to build at least one of them into a wheel for this bike and have it as a cruiser bike.

Right now I trying to get the bottom bracket freed up, I was able to get the bottom bracket out and the crank arms off, but one of the bracket caps won’t come off, I think its rusted in there.  I have been soaking it with Tri-Flo oil, and Liquid Wrench Penetrating oil, and so far I haven’t been able to get to come off.  My goal is to install a sealed bottom bracket and have removable crank arms rather than the dog ears.

 It’s taken me three weeks or more to get it this far, I think another three won’t hurt to get this beauty back on the road.  I just hope it doesn’t take three weeks to get this cap off. 

  I will be working on him as my main project, I would love to get him working by late January or Early February, depending on how the bottom bracket cooperates with me. 

  I don’t have any plans on painting him or not, but I don’t have to make a decision yet. I want make him run for years.  I will post updates as the month goes.

Keep on Biking….