Been a While!

Well, can you find it in there?
As usual, the bike work picked up a bit in the colder weather but dropped off as soon as it got warmer. We started cycling earlier this year so that and the other hobbies(mainly vintage racing bicycles) have kept me distracted. My fiance was in a cycling wreck recently and required surgery. Linda and I will be married in August and then be off to Italy for a while(cycling a bit I'm sure......... or I'm leaving!) Not sure if I'll get time to do much to it before then.

I have started getting e-mails about the project and I see why. I googled "board track racer replica" and my blog was the 4th listing. Trust me, I still want to see this beast finished so all is not lost. Anywho, I did end up finishing the kickstand and purchased a used B&S Vangaurd V-twin engine last fall. The project is currently displayed, bachelor-style, in my dining room(see above). It has been buried by a few vintage lightweight race bikes(other current hobby) and has gotten little attention.

As for the progress before the break.... here are a few pics of the front fork:



Here is a closeup of the front truss mount. I have seen a few similar to this on antique bikes but I still like the idea of a tripple tree.





The kickstand:




When not in use, it folds up and will lay under the seat. On the old factory road bikes, they would usually clip to the back of the fender













A little about the motor I'm using. I really wanted a twin, and if I couldn't be authentic in appearance, I'd be authentic in theory. I found a 12HP Vangaurd(read bulletproof!) on the local CL and decided that was it. The rear hub will not likely take that torque so I'm leaning toward a MTB hub, using the disk brake holes to mount a sprocket. That will be a project in itself. I also bought a Comet 40 series torque convertor and will need to fab a jackshaft mount onto the seat tube.
The twin was stripped of it's shrouds and what wasn't needed was removed completely. The electric start is a nice option that might have to stay! Of course, that will necessitate hiding a battery, etc. I have a trick or two in mind for that. I'm looking forward to fabricating pipes and such for it. The more I type, the more I realize how much there is to do. Depressing!
I ran the motor on the ground and I like the twin sound.
That flywheel sure is ugly, heavy, and dangerous. I need to think of a vintage looking shroud if I want to keep my pretty shins! There is a growing support network for racing these twins and racing parts are out there. Should I bother with a different flywheel? I think 12HP is way more than I need anyway so why add a bunch of billet shiney stuff and introduce a bunch of tuning woes? Just keeping it upright will be enough work!
Here's the motor in the frame. Can you say wide?! Looking like a chopper build! I will of course create an oil filter bypass and remove that.


This bike is starting to look really uncomfortable! Thanks to those following along. Keep prodding me to finish!
Dave

Here's a shot or two with the engine plates and modified fork in place. You can see I made this frame "lugless". As it takes shape, I have to remember my goal - it will have the correct "lines" that so many motorized bicycles don't have but there are many, many details that have to be left out due to time and weight concerns...... okay mostly for impatience sake but I digress. Let's face it. I tell myself, the average Joe, even at a bike show, won't know what it is much less that it isn't a lugged and brazed frame. I do have to keep reminding myself how much more there is to do and decide where to stop. Should I now fabricate fake frame lugs? Replace the "engine plates" with bent tubing? It was never intended to be a knockoff to fool anyone - it is scaled down afterall. I still need the stand and fork trusses among many other things. Still considering finger gussets at critical frame joints or subtly boxing in some areas. My neighbor has been seeing it and hearing me talk about it all winter and when he saw it yeterday like this he was still thinking it was a bicycle project. All I could say was, "Well, I guess back then that's really what they were."

First mock up

I just had to put together what I had collected to see how it sits. The front end is lower than planned but I sort of like the look. I may just widen the fork and raise it a tad. Rake is only about 3" also. Wonder how a stearing damper disguised as the oiler would look? J/K. I have to trim the down and seat tubes and add the "cradle". I eventually want to make a yoke - get rid of the bike stem and make a better mount. A triple tree setup is an option and is seen on many racers. The stock Cyclone front end may not have had the fork tubes extend to the top yoke but this seems to have been retrofitted as an "indian-like" modification to many racers - not just the Cyclones. I picked a bike to model that has few examples and there aren't that many pics of the Cyclones for reference. I have seen several frame variations as well. Apparently there a handful of production racers, there were street models(even more rare today), and street models modded to racers(by the factory or by a privateer, I don't know). In addition, I sense the factory experimented with each racer built as each was a "one off" so few were identical in setup anyway. Good thing this isn't a very technical build. Truthfully, one could build a looped frame and, depending on motor, tank, and paint, call it anything. Remember this is not a Paul Brodie build! At one point or another just about all manufacturers crossed over the same points of style and technology. BTW, I'm up in the air on engines. Found a few old 30's Brit singles but I don't know if this is deserving of one of those. Perhaps the B&S single would be along the lines of the original scope of the project - to do what has been done over and over but to do it better with the "right" proportions and "correct" look.

Rear Wheel mounted!

Well mocked up anyway. I fretted about getting this thing lined up without a full frame jig but got it spot on the first time. Okay the calipers say it isn't spot on but it is way too close to alter - I might never get it closer! I guess all that measuring, marking, anglefinding, etc paid off. Here are some shots. First the dropouts tacked in(albeit poorly). Here you can see the seat stays mounted to the seat tube. I actually ended up grafting in the top bends of the donor bike's stays(about 6" down). I hated to do that as I had some nicely bent 3/4" tubing I had done myself BUT I fishmouthed them a bit too much and they appeared as if they would be too narrow for the balloon tire. I'm sure I can find plenty of reasons to bend different tubing aroud here. I will likely have to put a brace across the stays near the top(almost like a brake caliper mount) as I just don't trust anything from that donor bike! Hey, if I bend that, it might look like it was on the original 1915 version. Don't let me forget to do that! Here's what it looks like. Now I get to start on the fork and soon I will have a roller!

Some progess

It's been two months since I've posted. Hadn't really done too much until I got the top tube, chain stays, and seat stays bent. I used a standing heavy duty conduit bender and torched the .120 1 1/8" DOM for the top tube. I don't recommend this hack method but I got lucky. The 1" die was actually 1 1/8", the 3/4" die was 7/8", and who knows about the 1/2"! What junk some of these things are. I had to modify the smallest 1/2" die to fit the 3/4" tubing. The 3/4" tubing is thin wall so you have to be really careful with that unless you have a proper bender. Thin wall likes to crinkle on the inside of the radius. Here is the top tube. It's all just tacked for now. I hope to have a buddy tig it for me when I get it together. The mig might penetrate enough but if I'm riding it........ The bend doesn't look too bad considering. Here are some shots laying out the chain stays. The Workmate was leveled after the frame was secure. The plywood is only for marking and for horizontal layout. I struck lines on each side of the main tubes and reverse engineered what I needed from my known rear axle width of 4.227". Vertical setup will be off a known level surface that I'll set up then. The chainstays will actually be 10 degrees from horizontal and milled with slots for the dropouts. You can see the dropouts which themselveswill be oriented at about a 20 degree angle. It sure would be nice if it was all horizontal but I want it to look correct. Remember, those shortcuts add up and you end up with a generic looking bicycle mod IMO. Speaking of bicycles: Here is one of the few parts taken from a bicycle - the bottom bracket(for the crank). This and a 70's fork. I will gusset the bottom bracket well before it's done. Some racers had no gussets there and some did via some funky suspension brackets. I suspect these to be class C machines - racers prepped from street frames and not production racers. I welcome the bracket for the extra support. After I struggle through this part - mostly trying to keep it all even, I will address the fork mods. That will be a different headache for a different post.

Proportions

After a few tack welds, you can see the shape coming together. You can also see how low the frame is - it appears to "hang" between the wheels and not over them. This proportion is one of the fundamental problems with most of the replicas I've seen. At risk of offending someone, I will finally show what I mean. I have not posted many other replica pics as they belong to those who have been invited to view this site. Now compromises do have to be made, like what is comfortable and ride able, whereas I have never really cared about that. Maybe that's why my back always hurts so much! I'll also say that these guys do great work and offer some really neat stuff, I just have a different vision for what I am making. Here is the 08 racer from Simpson Motorbikes: http://simpsonmotorbikes.com/index.html I took the liberty of using Photoshop to quickly Me-ize this bike. Here is is with a bit more rake, flipped bars, a lowered seat, and adjusted frame. Now that even looks old! Simpson has some cool stuff and now even offers a conversion kit for the Whizzer engine with OHV external valve gear! Very cool! Let's see this "retro" stuff on an "old school" TV chopper! Did I mention I now hate those terms? Here is a video of the exposed OHV running. Don't forget your oil can! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leOrnYozVdY Too bad I don't think it will have the torque needed for this project though some motorbike forum member did build a V-twin Whizzer motor. Found this next guy on Metalshapers Association. http://allshops.org/ Great site if you want to learn frustration. Some very creative members there. Anyway, this guy never returned my e-mail inquiry so............ Here is his "Ace" motorbike: There are people all over the web asking about this bike. I like it's proportions better but I just can't get away from that engine shroud! Notice he uses standard BMX 26" forks for the rear wheel stays. I felt those were a bit thick at 1" but they do give a nice heft to the thing. A few months later I was cruising Ebay and found this from the same guy: Same construction but built loosely to look like a Flying Merkel. I like the one posted earlier much better. For some reason, people replicate that one, or that style, a lot. Here are a couple pics of some from www.Firebikes.com. This guy builds some weird bikes but is gaining some hard-earned attention. I couldn't save his pics(smart) so here are the addresses to his gallery pics. The first is another Merkel replica using the Chinese 2-stroke bicycle motor. http://www.firebikes.com/gallery3.html In the same gallery page is a similar black pedal bike with shaft drive - kinda cool IMO. Here is a one-off BTR replica he did. You be the judge on this one! Another Chinese 2-stroke grenade but I like the tank shape.

Engine Plates

Let's start on the engine plates. I drove to two places looking for some 6061 plate as my 3' piece is now somehow 24". Second place I found some decent drops. $26 later I ended up using what I had left - sharing the diagonal cut helped. I will remove an inch or two off the bottom of the plates as they would drop well below the hypothetical "loop" of the frame plus they will look a little bulky below the engine block - I want to keep that pretty low slung in the frame. There will be four mounting holes(narrower than scribed) that will mate up with bungs on each of the tubes. I'm not sure if I'll wait on those till I get the frame tacked up or if the plates would help align the tubes. I will also add a tube to bridge the down tube and seat tube for added strength - it will be concealed under the plate. The Dykem wasn't really necessary at this point but the flashback to model airplane dope days alone was worth it! I also mounted the stock 26" forks just for kicks. I knew I would have to widen the crown and add an upper triple tree and trusses but I didn't think they would be that short. I'm beginning to see why many of the "replicas" look so awkward.