Straightening Ruttman Frame

#1
I purchased a Ruttman roller several years ago to use the original mag wheels on another project. That project was never realized and it just took up space for a long time. I recently decided to just fix up the Ruttman. But the challenge there is that its frame was bent. The entire rear portion of the frame leaned to the left side, and the left half of the frame sat higher than the right side. The appearance suggested that perhaps someone had backed into it with a car in their garage. The good news was that none of the tubes were kinked and the steering head was still properly located, so it was just a matter of pulling things into alignment at the rear and middle. The bad news was that this seemed too big a job to do at home with clamps and levers on my workbench.

This morning I took the bike to my friend's body shop. We fastened it to his big automotive frame machine and after pulling in three different directions we got it aligned petty accurately. To do this, we pulled it past the point of correct alignment in each direction, and then while it was still under tension the metal memory was relieved with hammer blows up and down the tubes. When the chain tension was relaxed the tubes would fall into a position somewhere between the starting and ending points of the pull. It took a couple of tries to get it spot-on, but the entire process still took only about 90 minutes.

This project was a good example of the difference between a cold pull and a hot pull. The fork legs on this bike had been bent back into the classic high speed position . Someone repaired it by heating the legs to bend them back into position. The legs are pretty straight, but each one now has a bulge where it was heated below the lower triple clamp, giving the appearance of a snake that has swallowed an orange. Straightening the legs without the application of heat would have required a lot more muscle (I've done it) but is far less likely to create other damage. We may still cut out and replace the damaged parts of the fork tubes.













 
#3
Ruttman....you have my attention..lol. When it comes to their forks...fix them or end up like most mine that people heated. Pic below of one..
yates 2 045.jpg
 
#4
What model would this likely be w/the long frame and 6" wheels? It's destined to end up a racer w/Predator engine similar to my Fimco. Did Ruttmans all use clutch brakes? I'm thinking of adding a bracket to mount a brake caliper for the rear wheel. I cannot find a frame tag.
 
#5
It would still be a Wildgoose. Yes they all basically had a clutch brake..except some Pacmules. The frame tag was a sticker your year..it is long gone. Probably about a 75 roughly since it still uses Ruttman 4 spokes instead of the Lil Indians and the kickstand.
 
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