"kindalikeawhizzer"

[silverbear]

A few pictures for show and tell. A while back I picked up an old pickup truck spotlight for $4.00 in a junk shop, removed the hardware down to the barebones teardrop headlight, removed the sealed beam lamp, drilled mounting holes for the moped fork ears, made a housing for a 32 LED light assembly from a cut off flashlight. The housing was made from a chicken meat can and a wire lead was soldered to a spring which connected to one polarity of the flashlight batteries. I drilled a hole for a bolt and nut to attach the other lead and epoxied the cut off light unit into the can which was bolted to the rear of the headlight. Then I made a lens for it out of clear glass and opalescent stained glass soldered together using copper foil as in art deco lamps.
(cont.)

SB

 

[silverbear]

Also pictured is a fender light I made from copper pipe and fittings with the business end of a small 9 LED flashlight inside. The lens was made from a stained glass beveled jewel wrapped in copper foil and soldered to the copper pipe. The light is not attached to the fender; is just sitting there. Not shown is a copper jewel tail light with a red beveled glass jewel for a lens.

The fenders need to be worked on to remove/fill dents and I may need to make short extensions for the braces since the fenders are from a 1953 Schwinn middleweight and the tires are quite fat at 2.45". I plan to paint the fenders in the same pattern, but with brown background and cream/white accents. Just this evening I won a bid on a vintage paint stripper for pin stripping and hope to duplicate the stripe along each side of the fenders.
(cont.)
SB

 

[msrfan]

Killer lights, SB. Nice use of assorted scraps to make cool accessories for your bike.

 

[silverbear]

Pictured below is the bike sitting in my front window where I can give it a good stare as often as I wish. The pedal crank I swapped out for a smaller one so there will be more room for the engine. I had part of a second feather guard minus the mounting hardware and after painting and trying the one mason man kindly gave me I decided to try making smaller hardware for the incomplete guard using hardware from a 1960's Schwinn middleweight. It is shorter and allows for the guard to sit lower. Ray, I'll use the one you gave me on my 1950 Panther which has no guard at this time.

I also painted the modified guard to get an idea how the paint scheme will look. I have hesitated over painting a bike brown, but since that was one of the colors on the 1950's bikes, I'll give it some time to stare at. I did want something compatible with all of the copper... gas tank, fender and tail light, copper gas filter, drop stand and legs on the center stand. Also the opalescent glass on the headlight lens is brown with cream running through it, so it would all kind of tie in together I think. Much of the engine is off white, so I think it might look more factory with brown and cream elsewhere on the bike.

Also of note is the hand crank for starting the engine. It is a ratcheting brace with a socket extension ground down to fit in the brace and hold a socket for fitting onto the flywheel nut. The brace is held on to the seat post with spring clips and is quite secure.

That's it for now. I'll take engine pictures tomorrow.
SB

 

[Intrepid Wheelwoman]

Great work Silverbear, this is going to be such a lovely motor bicycle once it's complete.

 

[mason_man]

SB that looks great!
Brown n cream and all that copper. I can see why it sit there in front of the window.
Really nice work you've done there. Looking forward to seeing more.

Ray

 

[bluegoatwoods]

I'm liking this bike, too, SilverBear. The color scheme is really good. The lines and proportions are great.

And the old twist drill as hand crank is brilliant! You'll be the intellectual descendent of Ransom Eli Olds or Henry Ford. And that's not doing too bad.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

Different kind of hand crank, I think original from what I can tell. I mean the hand drill type mechanism being used it is quite functional and adds charm!

All the work is great the lights, everything!

 

[silverbear]

Boy,
Nice to wake up and read so many kind words. Thank you all so much. I'm giving a link to another build which gives more details on some things. http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=30828&page=13

Post 130 begins the series of show and tell for my first art deco headlamp made from a copper pot and is pretty thorough for anyone interested. A bit earlier in the thread there's a lot on the hand crank starter including some wrong turns before settling on the ratcheting brace. I'm pleased with the result and the much older (1890's) and tarnished brace for the old Elgin looks the part and really does work nicely. Earlier yet there is some show and tell on making a copper fuel filter which uses stainless steel wool as the filtering element. I like it alot.

One of the nice things about going slow in a build with fits and starts and all of the wrong turns, is that you find some things that both work for you and also ring your bell. So you take advantage of prior successes of your own along with ideas picked up here on the forum. I made my first copper jewel tail light years ago and was so excited that I thought up something original that to my eye was also beautiful. The copper drop stand was made because I didn't know how to weld. The copper legs on an aluminum center stand came about because an aluminum leg melted off when a truck fire burned up my bikes. I needed a center stand and didn't have the money to buy a new one, so made a peg leg out of copper and liked it so much I amputated the other leg for a matching one of copper. Tin cans have been a friend ever since seeing a gas tank on the forum made from a juice can... don't know how many gas tanks I made and then light housings.

I'm not real mechanical like some of you, but I admire and listen to you good people and try to be attentive on the days I'm not truant. That not knowing much along with never having much money keeps me out in the borderland of bike building which is a good thing actually. It's nice to come to an activity like bike building without much mechanical wherewithall and still be able to have fun.

I don't want for anyone to think I made that great copper gas tank. My good friend tinsmith made it while I took pictures and was his cheerleader. Msrfan rang a lot of bells when I first saw one of his wonderful Briggs builds. His influence is behind this build. And knowing some of you as I do who are following this and making such nice comments is humbling... well, it is quite wonderful and I thank you.
Pictures of the engine later in the day.
SB

 

[Tinsmith]

Doin' nice work there SB in your Winter Wonderland. Hope to see/ride this bike at some point

Dan

 

[silverbear]

Hey Dan,
I hope you do get to ride it and maybe you will. Your copper tank is still the highlight of the bike so far as I'm concerned.

I never got around to taking pictures of the engine today, but will. It sure is big and will fill up the frame. Heavy, too. But those are also pluses I think. It is substantial and made in America. My guess is that it will have lots of power and sound great, too. While 200CCs is pushing it on a motored bike in my opinion, it doesn't mean I have to go fast and I may need the five horsepower later on. At one time I had a wish to build a cyclecar, but gave that up as being unrealistic given my limited abilities and lack of a real work space. Plus the expense was a very real consideration. Even with my scrounging and re-purposing of things this is an expensive activity for someone living on social security.

Then one day I got to looking at pictures posted by Intrepid Wheel Woman of an old time vehicle known as a "sociable" which had a motorcycle with a different kind of sidecar attached to it. The sidecar was bigger and the driver of the motorcycle sat inside the sidecar behind a steering wheel. Oh boy... I saw that and then got to staring at the remains of my Grumman donor canoe which had already produced a nice sidecar for the American Flyer build. The remaining section is about nine feet long and could seat two in an offset tandem arrangement and even have a bit of room besides for the wonder dog.

First comes the "kindalikeawhizzer" as a two wheeler and later on after other builds are finished and if the itch for something like a cyclecar remains unscratched then I can build the "sociable" sidecar and adapt it to the bike. In which case the 5 hp may well be needed. So that has entered into consideration of what engine is best. It will be fun as a motorbike and maybe it will be fun all over again as a three wheeled sociable. Get it licensed and insured as a two wheeler and I'm good to go when it is adapted to three wheels... after all, its just a sidecar, right? Might happen. Might not. We'll see when the time comes.

In the mean time I have to see how this engine will fit in the frame and how to go about mounting it. Fun stuff.
Hey to Jackie & Willie,
SB

 

[silverbear]

Pictured below is the Seal sociable I was talking about. I like the concept and especially the versions of it with the folding top. The "kindalikewhizzer" could be the equivalent of the Seal motorcycle in the photographs and the body of the sidecar could come from my Grumman canoe donor.

I like that the motorcycle can be attached or stand alone as a two wheeler giving it a lot of versatility. The space in the sociable is not taken up with engine and drive train, leaving it open to driver, passenger and cargo.

Cool idea, I think. As I stare at the bike in my window over the rim of my coffee cup I not only ponder the immediate tasks at hand in turning a bicycle into a light motorcycle, but also sometimes fast forward to a time when it has already proven itself as a two wheeler and is ready to become something more... fun to think about.
SB

 

[silverbear]

A few years ago I got this itch to have a sidecar for my American Flyer (1950 Schwinn Panther) and was thinking that part of an aluminum canoe might work. Where I live in northeastern Minnesota there are thousands of fresh water lakes and lots of canoes, a few of which get mangled now and then. I advertised for one in the local paper and bought a 17' Grumman with gashes in both sides from a mishap in a rapids. It cost me $20.00. I was just beginning on this project when I had the good fortune to meet fasteddy in person for the first time. He was returning to British Columbia from the east coast after visiting his son. We had become friends on the forum and he stopped by on his way home to say hello.

It didn't take long before he became interested in the canoe sidecar and what was going to be a brief visit turned into a couple of weeks and the very first year of Motor Bicycling Summer Camp (for boys who never grew up). Steve is the brains and welding skill behind this sidecar in the photos. We used about 6 feet of the worst end, removed most of the keel, narrowed it up from a beam of 36" at the wide end to about 18", gave it a plywood square stern end and used some of the left over aluminum to cover over the plywood. It turned out really well and became Aaniimoosh The Wonder Dog's favorite ride.

If and when the Sociable conversion comes about, the rest of the donor canoe will be utilized... shown in the next series of pictures.
SB

 

[silverbear]

This is what is left over from the donor canoe. The intact portion is nine feet long and I envision it staying that length with about a foot extending behind the rear wheel of the bike and about two feet sticking out front. The narrow front is pretty useless other than looking nice and making it's origins clearly a canoe. The keel would remain and the body would not get narrowed. I think there would be enough room for offset tandem seating for two with a small seat/stowage area directly behind the driver big enough for a wonder dog or sack of groceries.

It could get more of a deck leading up to a windshield and dashboard. Steering wheel and go kart type controls would link up to the motorbike. Under carriage would be welded steel and the canoe itself would have some structural integrity. It could be painted to match the bike or left alone as a slightly beat up canoe in dull aluminum. It shouldn't cost much to do as I already have just about everything including a drum brake hub, wheel, dump find bed angle iron for the framework and of course I have the canoe. Why not? And in looking at the Seal canopy, that looks doable, too.

If nothing else it gives me a lot of cheap entertainment as I give the long creative stare to the old Schwinn in my trailer window. What it could be someday... and more immediately what it needs right now to become a light motorcycle. First things first. Now, how shall I mount the engine?
SB

 

[silverbear]

Big and heavy. But nice, too. Notice in the foreground a pair of antenna mast mounts which I'm staring at as possible engine mounts... or at least part of in conjunction with a piece of angle iron on each one. Will have to think about it some more. Welding is out for now. I am not standing in snow with a mig welder going. There is another way for now and maybe do welded mounts in the spring or summer.

Any suggestions on removing the flywheel fins? I have some ideas, but someone else's experience would be better. I do not have a lathe or access to one. I do have angle grinders, bench grinder, rotary tool, files and patience. Also don't have money and want to do it myself as a matter of principle.
SB

 

[silverbear]

And some more...
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Every time I see that canoe the memories flood in. Yes I was on a cross country trip to see my son and I said I'll stop in on the way out to see him and see what your building. My first introduction to the Silverbear School of Creative Staring as we sat there with a cold beverage and talked about what could be done to make the canoe side car.

And how the ideas flowed back and forth and then the sleeves were rolled up and before we knew it chips of metal flew and holes were being drilled and more ideas flowed and in a couple of days we had a side car body well on it's way.
This was a budget build deluxe. I think the beer tab was higher that the side car cost in the end.

A couple of trips to the town dumps metal pile yielded all we needed for the build and I had prefabbed the main mounting parts here at home when I built my side car and had every thing set up with the idea that I'd just drop them off as I went through Ely.

So started that summer institution known as Bike Camp as well as a solid friendship. Now I find myself sitting here designing a sociable that is not to far off a side car and I have the steering wheel for it as well. Try the seat from the Hiawatha tri car and see if it fits the canoe. I have the patterns to make another one and with some button tufted upholstery it might work.

Steve.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Yes, Silverbear, that canoe sidecar is a motorbicycling.com classic. (Kudos to fasteddy as well)

And I'm so happy that your dog gets to live such a life. Riding around with his human.

 

[mason_man]

We need the thumb up thing!
Mods?


Ray

 

[cannonball2]

On the flywheel SB, that's a deep fin type. Not the easiest to clean. As I remember the fins extend into the lower parts of the wheel so you cant realistically remove those sections, only a portion. The easiest way generally, especially with cast iron is to knock the fins off with a hammer then grind down whats left. The trick is to grind only the fins down and not get into the flywheel itself for balance purposes. Keep it uniform. The advantage is cast iron works easily.
Back in kart racing days we ran 3hp flywheels on 5hp Briggs on short tracks for quicker revs. It was a bolt on, just requiring lowering the ignition module on an easily made bracket. Might be possible to do the same with the Tecumseh. I don't remember. I believe the flywheel in the 3-4hp is a shallow fin version, but not sure. DONT run an aluminum mower flywheel unless you want your arm broken!
However, that big old flywheel you have now is the reason the H-50s are so smooth.