This is a project that started over 10 years ago, and now I finally had a perfect reason to finish it: my youngest child learned how to ride a bike and I needed a new bike for our adventures. I could have of course used my expensive mountain bike, but that wouldn’t have been fitting for the leisurely pace our rides usually are. Instead, I dug out my old “Short John” from 1963 which needed a total overhaul.
What is a Short John you ask?
Short John is a type of a cargo bicycle used in Denmark for the last hundred years. There are two classical designs: Long John which has a low load area behind the front wheel in front of the rider, and Short John which has a load area above the smaller front wheel. Long Johns are very long bikes and are usually used for larger cargo (up to 100kg), and Short Johns are the size of a normal bike but are still able to carry much more cargo. Short Johns are also known as the “Bakers Bike”.
Here is are some Short Johns being raced in Denmark. These bikes are about the same age as my bike as the picture is taken at some point after the Second World War.
Why did this project take so long?
I purchased the bike in 2013 with the idea that I wanted to restore it while adding some modern touches to it. I began the project by rebuilding the rear wheel around a “SRAM Automatix” hub. It is an automatic hub with two gears. The gear changes work with the centrifugal force of the wheel, and change automatically based on the speed you are going. SRAM stopped manufacturing the hub in 2017 which is a real pity as the hub is fantastic. It is also perfect for older bikes as you don’t need to ruin the looks with ugly cables for the gears.
I rode the bike a while after rebuilding the wheel, but at that point I realised that it needed a complete overhaul. I didn’t have enough space to do the work that was needed, so the project had to wait for a better workshop in the future.
Time for a complete overhaul
This is the state the bike was in. A lot to do…… and this is how it ended up. Check out the build log below to see all the work that went into it!Perfect for those small adventures!
Build Log:
The starting point. The frame has to be painted, all bearings replaced, new mudguards, new handle bars, new saddle, and many other small improvements. The good things is that the rear hub still works flawlessly. I will also make the cargo area narrower so I can take the bike with me on the local train. They don’t allow cargo bikes in, so I’ll make it narrow enough to circumvent that.I started by doing a quick 3D model of the frame so I know how it will look like. The front is also much more narrow than before. As this is not a true Short John anymore, I’ll name it Narrow John. Very fitting in my opinion but most people will not have any idea what it means…I began by stripping all the old paint away, and by dissembling most of the parts that will be replaced.It first looked like this was a quick job, but oh man was I wrong. It took forever to clean all the small nooks. The die grinder and power file were lifesavers.The bottom bracket was the only part that was properly rusted. I decided to clean it and replace it with a new one.Ready for a new bracket.The new bracket was made out of 3mm stainless steel. I’ll weld it on place later.The frame has an interesting construction. It’s a mix of brazing and welding, and no lugs were used.The frame and the front fork is ready for paint…… time to start chopping the front.This should be narrow enough for the train. I simply cut off the center section with the original holes that also had some deep rust. I’ll make some new holes later on.Let’s just say that the dimensions of the rack were not perfectly symmetrical and that it required some brute force to align it for welding.My plan was to use TIG for this but I kept on getting porosity. I decided to use MIG instead, even though it won’t look as good. Here I added 6mm bars to keep smaller things from falling through. I also had to modify the bracket on the frame to accommodate the new design.It is starting to look like I planned!I’ll use the laser cutter for the new fancy sign. It’s easy to pull some vectors from the 3D model I made earlier, and prepare it for the cutter.The real sign will be made out of black acrylic, but to weld on the brackets for it I will need some sacrificial mockups out of plywood. It will make it easy to align the brackets, and it doesn’t matter if the sign gets ruined at this point.I used some 3mm stainless for the brackets. I had a perfect slice of it, so I just questimated the size I thought I’d need.The brackets look really small now that I’ve screwed them on. I might need to redo this…I can’t believe it, it’s a perfect fit! Absolutely no adjustment needed.The brackets are welded on, and the welds are cleaned with the die grinder. This would have been so much easier with the TIG…Remember those holes I cut off? Well, those are back!Damn, almost forgot. The new center bracket is welded on as well.Final prep before the paint.White primer for the frame, gray primer for the front. Orange for the frame, black for the front. The front fork got both orange and black.Now also the final acrylic sign can be mounted. I used M6 bolts which are similar as the bolts that I will use to mount the front in place.All the new parts were also put in place. The cranks were the only old part that went back on.Done! Looks great and rides great. It was a lot of work but now I have the perfect adventure bike for riding with the kids.Here you can see the similar bolts on both the sign and also the front cargo area.I wonder how many people will understand the Narrow John reference…Even the kids approve. On the other hand, why wouldn’t they? Now we can have loads of snacks with us!The bike is not completely ready yet and will need to have the front wheel rebuilt in the future. I also have ideas for other improvements, but for now it is good enough. Time to ride it while the summer is still here!
