Black Lightning Build

bare bones

bare bones

New Member
I got my bike stolen two Saturdays ago. This is the second MB I have had stolen this year! Anyway, I have all my parts in for my new build and I now have the bike too. Here is what I am starting out with. The bike has 24 in wheels. I bought new high quality double walled sealed bearing wheels w/ a free wheel. I am also painting the bike flat black. I am going for the traditional hot rod look. This bike already sits really close to the ground. It is from the early 60's. I can't wait till I'm done :) I want to chop the seat and have it sit as low as possible. More pictures on the way! :)
 

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That's a nice frame design & looks like plenty of engine room, but I'd measure anyway. Too bad about your bikes getting stolen.
SB
 
I have got a bit further with the build. I have the bike painted. I mounted the motor, flipped the bars, Installed the throttle and clutch ,and hooked up the CDI. I had to grind the drop outs a bit to fit the new wheel axles. I also had to Grind the crank arm on each side to get enough clearance to clear the motor. My new wheels have a freewheel and not a coster break so I also put on a rear brake using an adaptor that converts a single mount brake into the duel cantilever style. The coolest thing I have done (at least to me) is that I chopped the seat and lowered it as low as possible. I am thinking of using only the rear rack as the rear support for the banana seat. It looks way cooler that way, but may not hold up. I will probably have to reinforce it. I still need to mount the sick bike parts expansion chamber and get a brake cable installed. Here are some picks!!!
 

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I have been sick these past few days, but once I am better I will finish up the bike and post some more pics :)
 
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I just checked the mail and I got my new white wall tires in today so those bad boys will be going on the bike soon!
 
I have still been feeling a bit under the weather, but I did manage to do a bit more to the bike. I installed the pipe and set up the brakes. This bike is not set up for caliper type brakes and I bout an adapter to convert it to caliper style. I thought these would be way better for stopping power. The main obstacle I had to overcome was that the frame does not have a shroud holder/stopper before the brake line gets to the triangle mount for the calipers. I solved this by using the engine mount as the thread point and I used a large washer and a drilled penny as the stopper. The drilled penny hole is only large enough for the cable to pass and not the shroud thus I have my shroud stopper as seen in the photos :) Ghetto engineering :)
 
I don't know what happened, but my pics didn't show up. Here goes another try.
 

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chrome said:
i like the seat chop!! nice one bare bones!
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Thanks! The seat is gold metal flake and is cool, but has seen better days. If possible, I want to repaint it red metal flake. Does anyone know if it is possible to paint a flexible plastic covered padded seat and have it look good/last? If so what type of paint will work best?
 
Wow. That thing's wild lookin' in an intimidating sort of way, especially with the expansion chamber wrapping around, and the lower seat.
 
Thanks AlenWrench! I am going to work on the bike some more tomorrow. I should have it close to finished :). I want to chop the inner cover to allow space for the cdi so I can hide it in there. I will take some pics if it works out!
 
bare bones said:
I got my bike stolen two Saturdays ago. This is the second MB I have had stolen this year! Anyway, I have all my parts in for my new build and I now have the bike too. Here is what I am starting out with. The bike has 24 in wheels. I bought new high quality double walled sealed bearing wheels w/ a free wheel. I am also painting the bike flat black. I am going for the traditional hot rod look. This bike already sits really close to the ground. It is from the early 60's. I can't wait till I'm done :) I want to chop the seat and have it sit as low as possible. More pictures on the way! :)
Click to expand...

good luck !!!looks like it will be a sweet ride when done !!!!
 
Okay, so I got a bit farther with the bike today. :) I wrapped from the header to the start of the expansion chamber w/ exhaust wrap. I mainly did it for the look, but it will keep the heat away from the wires as well. I really like how it turned out. :) I also cut/chopped the decorative clam that was originally on the bike under the top tube to allow it to fit with the gas tank. I was hoping to have enough room to hide the cdi in there, but its not going to happen. I had to cut space for the gas tank bolts/clamp and I also had to cut space for the gas tank spout. I swapped out the all black back wheel for a white walled one and trimmed the length/zip tied the cables. The bike is really close to being ridable! Woooohooo :)
 

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Lord help me, but I love the look of your bike. I can tell you had a picture in your head, and all work on the bike went toward making the bike into what you had in mind. I, too, am adding a decorative clam to my Huntington build. It didn't start out with one so I've had to fabricate a pair using old auto-body techniques, sheet steel, rawhide mallet, and elbow grease. That, and building a super-reliable brakelight, are what's taking me a while to get on the road.
 
Allen_Wrench said:
Lord help me, but I love the look of your bike. I can tell you had a picture in your head, and all work on the bike went toward making the bike into what you had in mind. I, too, am adding a decorative clam to my Huntington build. It didn't start out with one so I've had to fabricate a pair using old auto-body techniques, sheet steel, rawhide mallet, and elbow grease. That, and building a super-reliable brakelight, are what's taking me a while to get on the road.
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Thanks :) I can't wait to see your bike when you are done! I really want to learn how to do body work. Post some pics of your progress! :)
 
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