Monday, November 28, 2011

Been a while

Okay...so WOW it's been a while. Well work has kept me away for a VERY long time. Basically spent the past 2-3 months in Vermont so I needed a couple weeks to recuperate and get my ducks in a row again. But I've been hard at work on the bike and have a few updates to make so here goes...

I apologize for the poor photos. My camera died and had to use the phone on my camera instead.

My temporary makeshift wiring harness.

First off....THE BIKE ACTUALLY RAN!!!! Yeah that's right she turned over and she sounds fierce...a bit wheezy but still FIERCE!!! One of the pistons was working a bit harder than the other so I checked the carbs out and there are some issues I need to work through there (read "I need to order floats").

One good reason to be single. No one to yell about the carburetors on the kitchen table.

I was successful in officially mounting my tank after many many trips to the hardware store. Had to install 1.5" coupling nuts into the neck gussets and back bone but it should prove to be rock solid. I also have rubber grommets in there so that the vibrations from the engine wont shake the damn thing apart.


I needed to basically remake the entire caliper retaining bar. The previous owner had something on there that looked like it had been run through a trash compactor about 3 times and then straightened out. Sort of hard to see in the picture with the shock and tie down strap in the way but you get the idea.


After my Dad visited to help me store the old bike in the basement he helped me out of a bind in how to mount the lever arm mechanism for the rear brake. It was quite ingenious and I was able to get the parts for free seeing is how they came off unused parts from the old bike. Thanx Dad!!!


The next bit of business was the kick starter. Due to the new pipes that I had made for the bike the kick starter was not actually able to fold up fully. It hit the pipe and because of this the end of the kicker actually sat in the sensitive part of the back of my knee. I wasn't too keen about this and it just didn't look good. So what's a guy to do? That's right...break out the blow torch and bend the crap out of it...heh heh!!!

Now it doesn't hit the pipes and wont gouge me in the back of the knee while riding.


Even with all the bending the kicker still functions perfectly well and the position of it to get the bike started didn't change at all. Job well done I do think so myself.

Those are the major accomplishments thus far on the bike. I still have the seat, lights, fenders, carbs, wiring, and final touches to go but at least I'm making progress once again. Well that's it for now, stay tuned.