The 2010 4-Stroke in-frame Build-Off!

[silverbear]

I'm entering this bike in the build off. It is a 1950 Schwinn straight bar. Needs a little work.
SB

I found this bike in August of 2009 at the local refuse transfer station (the dump) in the metal pile, recognized it as a skip tooth Schwinn and brought it home. I did some asking here at the forum (I was a newbie then) and got some advise from Norm at Venice Bikes and from Bairdco who was also pretty new to the forum. I wanted to know what model it was and when it was made. Being a skip tooth I thought that made it pre WWII and the graphics looked like a picture I saw in a Schwinn book depicting a DX.
Norm looked it up and from the serial number was able to determine it had been made on October 14, 1950. He said it was not a DX, but a straight bar frame shared by Panther, Hornet and a few otherearly models and was highly desirable. Bairdco found a picture of a Hornet and it shared the same color and graphics, so that is what it was sold as. By then I had stripped it down and painted it black and was calling it a Panther. Sounded cool. By just about this time a year ago the bike looked as it does in the photos below. I had rebuilt and upholstered the seat and had purchased new Wald fenders. It already looked a lot different from when I found it and I knew even then I wanted to do something special with it.
SB

 

[silverbear]

With the frame painted and winter coming in I stored the bike away and left for the east coast to spend the winter as a caretaker/handyman in northern Maryland near Thurmont and close to Camp David. I found a rear rack for it and a feather chain guard on ebay. Now I had the makings for a complete bike. I spent part of my winter thinking about that Schwinn and researching the straight bar frame. One of the best models I saw that Schwinn had used it with was the Motorbike with a fake gas tank and a nice decal on the side announcing how much it was like a real motorcycle. I thought it was a beautiful bike and saved these pictures I found on an ebay listing. Pretty neat. As you can imagine, it sold for big bucks. Then I saw a bike posted on our forum by Sportscarpat. It was his prototype of the tank he is selling now for the Schwinn Panther and a very similar one for the Worksman Paper Boy bikes. I thought it was wonderful and posted my appreciation on his thread. Before long Pat had improved on the design of the tank by tapering in the front end and it does look better. He decided to list the old one in Swap & Shop and I sent him a PM. We settled on a price and it was about half of what a new one sells for. I swallowed hard and paid the money. On my income it was an extravagance, but I was thinking it would make that bike back in Minnesota something special. I had the idea then I would give it a 2 stroke motor and sell it for as much as I could. The tank came and it was a beauty. Stainless steel and so nicely finished off. Pat does beautiful work. I left it in it's packing and when the time came for my migration home I packed it in my truck, the same truck which burned to the ground a day later. In sifting through what I could salvage among the twisted bike frames and melted motors, I found the tank, still intact but looking rough. I picked it off as well as I could, repacked it and brought it with me back to Minnesota. Even with smoke damage it looked mighty fine sitting there in my found-at-the-dump straight bar Schwinn. Now it was a Motorbike!
SB

 

[turkman]

the mount I fabed out of sheet metal with a 3/4" sq. tube under it an the exaust is made out of 1 1/4" tubing and the baffel is like a glasspack it sounds pretty good.an it runs good still having float bowl troubles later Bob

 

[silverbear]

Nice job on the exhaust, Bob. is that pretty quiet, then?
SB

 

[turkman]

the baffel really took the edge off, in my town I did'nt need to draw more attention and it still sounds great .Later Bob

 

[scotto-]

I'll prolly enter this bike when it's finished.....it runs great but is really hard to stop with no brakes! Have no fear, brakes are in transit....can't wait! I also need a rear tank/rack like my other 4-stroke, kinda hard to find them lately....and a straight pipe exhaust system. All in due time. The new name of this bike is Black-n-Blue, it transformed from a 2-stroke to a 4-stroke and was a pretty snug fit.




Complete with tachometer



Was able to use the stock cranks just barely....not an easy task. Cheers!

Well then, just took Black-n-Blue out for a proper maiden voyage....this bike rocks!!! The sound of the nearly finished straight pipe, the pull of the fresh 49cc HS coupled with the EZM Q-Matic with the 56t rear sprocket adapted to the freewheelin HD wheel with band brake and v-brake up front.......this bike was flying at 5,600RPM with lots more to go. Great pull on the low-end and cant wait to see what it tops out at! So far it's making my 4G feel like a tame puppy. This thing is rockin!!!

 

[silverbear]

Scotto,
Made me smile when I read about your most recent ride. Mine, too, is coming into it's power. It seems like it took fifty or sixty miles for something to kind of settle in with the motor and the bottom end has much improved. I also am using a longer pipe, one from EZM and it made a noticeable increase in performance and improved the sound, making it deeper and richer. This is my first four stroke so I have nothing to compare it to and can't very well say which transmission system is best without having used any others. But I chose this one carefully and love how smooth it is. Just start it and go. I'm usually pulling a trailer with dog inside which gives some drag and I weigh around 200 pounds. I'm running a 64T rear sprocket for a little better hill climbing capability. Nice setup. So far it seems bulletproof.
SB

 

[silverbear]

So getting that gas tank was a kind of defining moment in this build. A second big jolt moving it forward was when forum member Patrick listed some items in Swap & Shop, among them a Whizzer front fork and an unused EZ automatic transmission with driven sprocket. Oh boy. For a year I had been thinking about that transmission from when I first read about it and watched the video on their website. I contacted my long time friends from an older forum for motored bikes and asked some questions. I respected Chris Davis from having co-moderated that little group and Mike Simpson for the great bikes he was building then and for his general knowledge. They were both dealers by then and I figured there must be something to the transmission or these guys wouldn't either use or sell them. I'm not making a pitch for EZM, by the way, just sharing how and why I came to jump on Patrick's good deal. It was a start! I thought long and hard about that suspension front fork, too, and in a moment of weakness made the purchase. I had recently sold an old Suzuki Samurai and used the proceeds to fund this build. I wanted serious alternative transportation and knew it would take good parts and some money to make that happen.
For awhile there I thought maybe the fork was a nice looking mistake. It raised the front end up enough while just sitting that it looked raked and the center stand which worked so well with the stock fork no longer touched the ground. Neither did the old kickstand. Luckily I had learned how to make an old style drop stand out of copper pipe from a build the previous winter and knew I could do the same for this bike. Not a problem. I have since learned two things. In riding the bike the front fork 'settles' when you're on it so there is no rake and it is riding level. The second thing is that center stands are available with adjustable legs. That would be perfect. But my drop stand works,too.
SB

 

[silverbear]

I had meant to draw your attention to the decals in the last set of photos. Using the experience of Bairdco from his first Colson build, I tried cleaning up the smoke damage from the decals with WD-40 and very fine steel wool. I had thought I would need to repaint and get new decals, but they cleaned up nicely with a kind of old, weathered look to them. And a tip I got from Mike Simpson has been just great... fingernail polish. It comes in a bazillion colors and can be used as touch up paint with its own little brush inside. I found a gloss black at a store in town (felt a little funny at the checkout counter), but it works great for fixing up scratches and scrapes. What a great tip! From now on when I paint a bike I'm going to paint some little item like a bolt or washer at the same time so that I can go to a department store cosmetics counter, hand over the bolt and ask for a match to the color. Then I'll have a little bottle of touch up paint. Cool, eh?
The photos below show a tool box I made for the rear rack which looks suspiciously like my behind the seat gas tanks. It closes with Velcro. In the pictures it is just sitting there, but since then now has stainless bands holding it in place and the leather covered brake light has been moved back. I have also moved back the copper jewel tail light which has a ruby stained glass faceted 'jewel' as a lens. The jewel running light on the front fender has an amber lens. All three lights have LED bulbs inside. I like to make things and making things for my bike may take some time and effort, but the bike becomes more 'mine' and I like that. If instead of a bike it was an Indian pony it would have a hand print of ownership in war paint on it's side. Kind of like a decal saying "motorbike". Ha!
SB

 

[silverbear]

Since the engine installation on this bike is shown in detail elsewhere I'm going to declare this build of my 1950 Schwinn Motorbike officially complete, even thought of course it isn't. I still have wiring to run and tuck away and a few little cosmetic things, but those are details and I have another build going already which needs attention.
Some things about the bike... The front fork is from a Whizzer motorbike. Gas tank is stainless steel and the first one made by Sportscarpat. It will be a collectors item someday. Mark my word. Headlight is from Harbor Freight and is only about $15.00. Tires are Fat Franks and the front wheel with drum brake is from Husky. I made the copper jewel running lights with faceted stained glass jewels as lenses and they have led lights inside them. I made the leather tool box on the rear rack and the leather brake light which is activated by the brake lever at the handlebar. The seat is an original 1950 Schwinn which was on the bike when I found it. I took it apart to rebuild it, gave it new padding and an elk hide cover. I made the rear drop stand out of copper pipe.
The bike rides beautifully with bumps in the road pretty well erased by the suspension front fork and fat frank extra wide balloon tires. The HS motor has come into greater power with it now being broken in. It has good lower take off power and runs strong. The Whizzer exhaust is the upgrade available from EZMotorbike and gave it more power and a really nice throaty sound. I can't say enough good things about the transmission. The Q matic is bullet proof, quiet and all you do is get on the bike, twist the throttle and go. It isn't cheap in any way, either in quality or expense. But this is one of those cases where you get what you pay for. I hear people complaining about their drive systems and I'm really glad I jumped on Patrick's tranny in swap & shop when I did. It is one of my better judgment calls among some that haven't turned out so well in other builds. I wanted this bike to be an alternative to a car or truck and something I could rely on to get me where I want to go. I knew it would be expensive compared to previous builds and was prepared for that. I've been there and done that with inexpensive. As reliable transportation it is still a bargain. This is my first four stroke and it has been a real good experience. I wanted something more like a motorcycle, but still a bicycle and this is it. This is a heavy duty bike. I have never had one of the great old Whizzers which were in that kind of gray zone of is it a bicycle or is it a motorcycle? But I imagine this bike is kind of like a modern version of a Whizzer, at least in spirit and quality of ride, if not in detail. I hope you like it. I sure do.
SB

 

[silverbear]

The pictures did not come through on the last post, so we'll try again... I forgot, I made the hand grips, too. Foam with elk hide hand stitched. Lovely to use with tired old hands. This bike has zero vibration. Can't get over has smooth everything is.
SB

 

[Helmutt Cycles]

The pictures did not come through on the last post, so we'll try again... I forgot, I made the hand grips, too. Foam with elk hide hand stitched. Lovely to use with tired old hands. This bike has zero vibration. Can't get over has smooth everything is.
SB

SB Nice Build.. Helmutt Hats off

 

[silverbear]

Thank you kindly. From you, whose work I greatly admire, that is good to hear.
SB

 

[fat daddy]

Here is my build,haven't got a chance to ride it much but am pleased with what I have rode so far. Gotta get a taller gear for the hills here,but the weather is starting to get to cold to ride anyhow.

Fat Daddy

 

[jbcruisin]

That's a nice looking bike!! That seat looks comfortable.

 

[silverbear]

Yes, the seat looks pretty inviting! Should be a great bike for long rides. I think you'll find, too, that as you get more chance to ride the motor will come into more power. I know mine did. Also, the flexible exhaust upgrade made a big difference in power and as a bonus gave a very cool lower sound to the exhaust. Something to consider. I understand that a different belt will give a different gear ratio and help more on those hills, too. Nice job on the build...
SB

 

[jbcruisin]

I've tried 4 different belts & the belt I have on now I like best. I think it's an AX24.

 

[Helmutt Cycles]

Wow Now thats a seat!!! and she Looks Like she could be a EZ wheelie Machine..
Well I got my EZQ-Matic Motor Kit In.. Just Now starting to Lay out a course for my build..
Still deciding on color scheme and the whole picture of a Broad Track Racer theme bike is where I'm
going with this Fun Build.. I alway like building with the EZkit's Just a very Valid bullet proof
Mechanical work of art and Simple Is good..
Helmutt
A Phoenix Bike Works - Phoenix Chassis Frame Kit Featurig The PHOENIX CHASSIS

 

[fat daddy]

Thanks for the kudo's fellas,the seat is a buddy seat from a Honda motorcycle bolted to a banana seat and the shock sissy bar don't hurt any either,takes all of the beating off my 68 year old bones. I just put the flex pipe exhaust on today,I like the sound.

fat daddy

 

[azbill]

I was asked to post my stretch pics, but I had some pc probs and lost a bunch of pics,
so I downloaded them from the original build thread
http://motorbicycling.com/f40/azbills-ezm-stretch-project-14760.html

all the details are in the build thread, so I will just post pics