My "New" 1977 Ramrod!!!!!!!!!!!!! in THE MUSCLE BIKE FORUM Forum

0 Votes

My "New" 1977 Ramrod!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Author	Comment
mmcdaniel69	My "New" 1977 Ramrod!!!!!!!!!!!!!	Lead	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/03/12 16:55:27) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	After more than two years of searching I finally found one! It's exactly like the one my parents paid $80 for in 1980, when I was eleven years old. It took them 8weeks to pay it off! I'm posting pics so some of the experts here can help determine how original it is. I don't think the cranks or pedals are. The wheels are rough, but luckily I have a nice set on the Fire Cat I bought from Jaxon. I also have NOS grips and some repop reflector brackets I got from oneadamtwelve. Thanks guys! I need to give it a good cleaning, any advise on how to clean the paint and remove the light rust from the front end without damaging it would be greatly appreciated. Pic from Ebay: Pics I took:
RailRider		#1	[-]
1 Crazy Bicycle Collecting Mo-Fo! (2500+) Posts: 18538 (02/03/12 18:03:44) AKA-Raleigh Ron! â�» Site Owner/Operator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	If you polish the paint with a light compound, and give the chrome a good wood bleach bath I think it will be nice looking. Great find! Here is mine. I charged the handle bars of course. lol
oneadamtwelve		#2	[-]
**Full Blown Bicycle Addict! (500+ Posts)** Posts: 675 (02/03/12 18:30:59) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I would say get some Evapo-Rust and soak the chain, handlebar clamps and bolts, rear reflector bracket, seat post clamp and the other small cad and zinc plated parts. Maybe for just 30 minutes or so, longer if needed. Also, Mike - remember when I said that the pedals were supposed to be WALD 7102? I was wrong, if you look at Ron's pedals (and I have seen at least one other Ram Rod bike), I would say that the pedals you have are correct. Also, I know where you can get a new black & white date sticker for the frame - looks like it says 12-77. Let me know. Last Edited By: oneadamtwelve 02/03/12 18:51:11. Edited 1 times.
classicfan1		#3	[-]
Coo-Coo f☺r Muscle Bikes! (1000 +) Posts: 1082 (02/03/12 20:57:21) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	12-77 was most likely built for the 1978 Model Year and it was most likely a Christmas bike. I have the ad for this very year.
mmcdaniel69		#4	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/03/12 21:42:12) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	classicfan1 wrote: 12-77 was most likely built for the 1978 Model Year and it was most likely a Christmas bike. I have the ad for this very year. I believe that makes it the same as the one I had in 1980. The chainguard graphic is the same. BTW, I'd love to have the ad, or a copy. Thanks oa12, good news on the pedals. I'll pm you for the sticker. Ron, what year's yours? The PO had this bike for 18 years, I'va asked them for any info they may have on the bike, hopefully they'll have some history on it! Last Edited By: mmcdaniel69 02/03/12 21:44:26. Edited 1 times.
RailRider		#5	[-]
1 Crazy Bicycle Collecting Mo-Fo! (2500+) Posts: 18538 (02/04/12 01:09:19) AKA-Raleigh Ron! â�» Site Owner/Operator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	mmcdaniel69 wrote: classicfan1 wrote: 12-77 was most likely built for the 1978 Model Year and it was most likely a Christmas bike. I have the ad for this very year. Ron, what year's yours? No idea! lol One Adam has been after me to get the codes for a couple years. I always forget until I am online. I had one as a kid also and had to own another. This one was a great find when I found it. The Ram Rod was one of the few bikes I had a major wipe out on too. I was "rod" ding one day when I "ram" med into the pavement. lol
John Brain		#6	[-]
Coo-Coo f☺r Muscle Bikes! (1000 +) Posts: 1529 (02/04/12 02:14:51) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Heres an ad from May 1977:
mmcdaniel69		#7	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/04/12 02:28:09) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	RailRider wrote: mmcdaniel69 wrote: classicfan1 wrote: 12-77 was most likely built for the 1978 Model Year and it was most likely a Christmas bike. I have the ad for this very year. Ron, what year's yours? No idea! lol One Adam has been after me to get the codes for a couple years. I always forget until I am online. I had one as a kid also and had to own another. This one was a great find when I found it. The Ram Rod was one of the few bikes I had a major wipe out on too. I was "rod" ding one day when I "ram" med into the pavement. lol Yep, been there! Hopefully, I've learned my lesson!
RailRider		#8	[-]
1 Crazy Bicycle Collecting Mo-Fo! (2500+) Posts: 18538 (02/04/12 02:57:38) AKA-Raleigh Ron! â�» Site Owner/Operator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	One Adam 12 sent me this one a while back!
oneadamtwelve		#9	[-]
**Full Blown Bicycle Addict! (500+ Posts)** Posts: 675 (02/04/12 11:08:31) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	RailRider wrote: mmcdaniel69 wrote: classicfan1 wrote: 12-77 was most likely built for the 1978 Model Year and it was most likely a Christmas bike. I have the ad for this very year. Ron, what year's yours? No idea! lol One Adam has been after me to get the codes for a couple years. I always forget until I am online. I had one as a kid also and had to own another. This one was a great find when I found it. The Ram Rod was one of the few bikes I had a major wipe out on too. I was "rod" ding one day when I "ram" med into the pavement. lol Hey Ron - I already have your serial number, it's a 1978 - but I just need the month-year from the little black & white sticker on the bottom of the seat post down by the kickstand. That's all, then I'll leave you alone. lol
oneadamtwelve		#10	[-]
**Full Blown Bicycle Addict! (500+ Posts)** Posts: 675 (02/04/12 11:19:43) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Also Mike - Some of us were concerned about you restoring this bike, but I would vote for RESTORE seeing the pictures you posted. The headbadge sticker and the date sticker are already available, and those flame stickers WILL be available someday (either through me or someone else). Someone has already done the chainguard sticker, but I may try one of those myself since I now have an actual guard to work from.
oneadamtwelve		#11	[-]
**Full Blown Bicycle Addict! (500+ Posts)** Posts: 675 (02/04/12 11:29:18) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	classicfan1 wrote: 12-77 was most likely built for the 1978 Model Year and it was most likely a Christmas bike. I have the ad for this very year. From all of the Murray made chopper serial numbers I have seen and that are on my list, this is a 1977 model. In the serial number the first '7' after the dash and the 'S' both stand for 1977. The 1978 bikes have an '8' and a 'T' in those places in the serial number.
mmcdaniel69		#12	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/04/12 18:15:15) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	oneadamtwelve wrote: Also Mike - Some of us were concerned about you restoring this bike, but I would vote for RESTORE seeing the pictures you posted. The headbadge sticker and the date sticker are already available, and those flame stickers WILL be available someday (either through me or someone else). Someone has already done the chainguard sticker, but I may try one of those myself since I now have an actual guard to work from. Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking. It's pretty rough, any place there's paint missing it's starting to rust. It spent at least the last 18 years on the East coast of Florida. I have one of the chainguard stickers, buit it's for the '78 model Ramrod-1. There's quite a bit of difference between that one and mine. The flame decals on the frame are also different. I'd be happy to send you the chainguard and frame decals if it'll help you to make some repops. Here's Mine: Here's the '78 model: Mine: '78 model
oneadamtwelve		#13	[-]
**Full Blown Bicycle Addict! (500+ Posts)** Posts: 675 (02/04/12 19:09:11) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You can send me the guard and the flame stickers to work from if you want to, is the lower sticker all there? Looks like some of it is missing on the right side, might not be a problem if it is symmetrical though. This is the chainguard I got off ebay a couple weeks ago, just has the pedal scrape on it but overall pretty clean.
mmcdaniel69		#14	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/05/12 03:30:28) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	oneadamtwelve wrote: You can send me the guard and the flame stickers to work from if you want to, is the lower sticker all there? Looks like some of it is missing on the right side, might not be a problem if it is symmetrical though. This is the chainguard I got off ebay a couple weeks ago, just has the pedal scrape on it but overall pretty clean. Oh, that's where it went! lol! I'll try to get the flames off in a couple of days.
classicfan1		#15	[-]
Coo-Coo f☺r Muscle Bikes! (1000 +) Posts: 1082 (02/05/12 03:41:09) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I just can't get the darn thing to fit in my scanner right! If I had the time I would scan the '83-'85 and '88-01 catalogs for Western Auto, but the -78-80 ones are just so darn thick!
mmcdaniel69		#16	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/06/12 22:41:57) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well, I cleaned it all up and it looks pretty good. I used some rubbing compound on the paint, seat and chainguard. I'm waiting on some Evapo Rust to come in so I can clean up the front end and misc. parts, but overall it's not as bad as I thought. The cranks and wheels are off my Fire Cat and the grips are NOS. Now if I can just find a nother front reflector and front wheel reflector I'll be happy. At this point I don't think I'll be restoring it, there's just something about patina. It just adds to the mystique of the bike. Plus this is probably what my original bike would have looked like now, so at least this week, lol, I'll leave it as it is!
oneadamtwelve		#17	[-]
**Full Blown Bicycle Addict! (500+ Posts)** Posts: 675 (02/06/12 23:03:51) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Looking good!
RailRider		#18	[-]
1 Crazy Bicycle Collecting Mo-Fo! (2500+) Posts: 18538 (02/07/12 02:47:53) AKA-Raleigh Ron! â�» Site Owner/Operator Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I still think it would be a shame to restore it. Looks like a good original bike with character. However its your bike, and understand most want a Minty repainted bike. If it was a Firecat or something more common I could see it, but these don't pop up very often.
mmcdaniel69		#19	[-]
Bicycle-o-holic! (25+ Posts) Posts: 101 (02/07/12 20:57:14) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	RailRider wrote: I still think it would be a shame to restore it. Looks like a good original bike with character. However its your bike, and understand most want a Minty repainted bike. If it was a Firecat or something more common I could see it, but these don't pop up very often. I agree, I've decided to leave it alone. They're only original once. Of course mine's not completely original, but more than not. I'm planning on resto-modding the Fire Cat to look like a Ramrod.
Jaxon		#20	[-]
1 Crazy Bicycle Collecting Mo-Fo! (2500+) Posts: 3251 (02/07/12 21:06:04) MBF I-Patrol Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The firecat you have is a good choice to repaint. Then you will have a original and a custom bike. Best of both worlds....

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Reply to Thread

Yuku free message boards

My "New" 1977 Ramrod!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My "New" 1977 Ramrod!!!!!!!!!!!!!