Nirve switchblade in progress

2door said:

Paul,


Fang, just curious how you stripped the frame. The newer Switchblades were powdercoated and that is some tough stuff to get off. Was yours paint or powdercoat?

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Mine was paint I believe, I used a wire wheel on a grinder to remove most of it and had a friend of mine sand blast it also to get all the hard to reach areas.
Before sanding the sticker off I remember it said it was a 2004 model and made of carbon steel.

Next on the to do list is the chain and seat stays as shown in the picture below

Here's a picture of the engine somewhat mounted, needs to be more level and lower but you get the picture
next monday the stays should be done, but for now this picture will give me something to drool over
http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/nirve_zpscadea6ec.png

Here's a picture with the engine a little lower and the bars on there are well as a potential seat idea
http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/GOPR48512_zps63fbc252.jpg

In order to keep the rear tire at the level it's at in the picture (preferred) I will either have to make a huge rear dropout/gusset or make a kinda big one and chop the forks a bit to keep it from being lifted in the back, decisions decisions....

2door said:

Interesting build so far. If you had planned to lower the frame that much you should have designed that into the extensions you built. Instead of going straight back they could have had a kick-up built into them to put the drop outs where you want them. Is it possible to redo them now instead of your two options?

I'm a little concerned about your garage door however. By the way it's bowed in it must have been really windy the day that photo was taken.

Tom

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I was thinking that same thing but since I don't have access to a tube bender my options where kinda limited, at this point I'm just letting the bike tell me what it wants haha
Everything is welded in place now besides a few supports, dropouts and jackshaft plate etc
Here's how it looks after last night's welding session!
Today hopefully I'll have the dropouts designed and welded on

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums...0_567427119992185_260832910_n_zpsfcb1324f.jpg

And as for the garage door it just kinda flexes when I put my bike near it, Must be sensing the power of the Nirve close by haha

Last night I managed to get the dropouts and chain to seat stay support gussets welded on
now all thats left is the sissy bar, seat pan, tank and a few more gussets!
pics are kinda blurry but at least the final wheel height is pretty close

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/GOPR4903_zps56c7fdef.jpg

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/GOPR4902_zpsac58d69d.jpg

gokart25 said:

Nice... You have really changed the look and stance of the bike. I like it!!

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Thanks man It's coming out better than I thought!
Today tomorrow and Wednesday are the last day's I'll be doing anything to the frame as far as welding goes
Today the jackshaft plate will be done and also the sissy bar
I plan on trying to find a golf cart of some other light duty leaf spring to chop and mount to the frame with a clamp and some bolts as a front seat support/mount, hopefully it will give me a bit of riding relief also.
On the sissy bar I'm going to mount a plate with a bolt and spring running through it to mount to the rear of the seat to also give it some flex and to keep it from swaying back and forth

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/noive_zps10093624.png

http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/noive2_zps01d5736a.png

The BB placement is still up in the air

* I could put it above the jack shaft setup (I'm thinking I might cover the whole jack shaft set up with maybe a oil tank from a motorcycle)

* I've seen some 3/4 bore freewheel sprocket that I could maybe mate with the jackshaft somehow

* use the existing BB placement with either some super wide cranks (heck no)

*or fabricate some super tiny and pretty much useless 2-3" crank arms on the front

At this point I'm just figuring it out as I go but its working out so far!

rustycase said:

A nice looking chopper styled build!
..IMO... I'd go with the 99cc predator where you could at least pretend you were street-legal here in CA. There is little doubt the 212cc 6.5hp engine is NOT legal unless you wish to pursue moped licensing.
...sry... I'm always kinda entertained when folks install a chain tensioner on the drive side of the chain... As 2dr has said, it's a recipe for disaster. And the stock ones are risky, even on the slack side of the chain!
I hope you are able to do away with it completely for the new build.
Good luck
rc

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haha well the plan is to put a 99cc predator sticker on the pull start cover but we will see if any cops are wise enough to figure it out (I've been pulled over quite a few times so far and I have yet to run into a cop that actually knows what it is! haha)
And as far as the chain tensioner I shouldn't have any problem getting rid of it since I designed this set up with dropouts and engine slots to tension the chains, at first I had it on there as just a guide pulley since my engine wasn't offset correctly but now that I have the jack shaft set up I should be able to adjust it correctly
As for the pedal chain, I think I might be able to pull off being able to run it straight back from the crank
I might still have to look into that free wheel sprocket set up but I will find out today when I get a new chain and try it out
The original plan was to mount a new bottom bracket on the seat post but like some crazy bike related plot twist the front sprocket and mini crank arms just barely clear the engine plate and engine
Now as far as me being able to wrap my legs around this little beast of an engine and actually pedal while moving, that's a whole nother story
Heres a picture with the removable sissy bar mounted up and the front dropouts that where completed last night
The welding class I've been taking it to is over for the semester as well as the welding that's needed on the ol Nirve ratblade
Now the burden of getting it done is on me, today I plan on making a seat and finishing the exhaust and air intake
Btw I named the sissy bar "Vlad" for obvious reasons
http://i1079.photobucket.com/albums/w514/fang61922/GOPR50892_zpseeedf9ea.jpg

more pictures later with a seat and engine