The Machine: work in progress

The snow is all but gone, I'm getting ready for this riding season and had a few ideas I wanted to try out.
1. Flipped the handlebars, This was my Sons idea, I was just going to swap them for a low rise set but he suggested I try flipping the old ones and I like the way it came out way better (thanks Thomas)
2. Modified the exhaust, trimmed down the outer horn, and added more rivets. I think the look is cleaner and more in keeping with overall ascetic, it sounds almost the same (read loud lol)
3. Changed the Tires. I have had these Kenda K838 Blackwalls on my mountain bike for a while. Because of their domed shape they offer much less rolling resistance going in a strait line but also good surface contact for turning. That and I like the way they look.
4. Rebuilt the headlight mount (my Son helped with the handlebars and headlight mount. It's helpful to have the extra hands some times and it's great working on a project together. The old headlight mount was really just a mockup the mount was a thin bit of scrap steel with some holes drilled. The retaining bolts were too small so I made a nice thick bracket and put in some beefy bolts it's solid now. The electrical needed some TLC too. The light is made up of an antique bullet lamp and the guts of a 15 LED flash light. The switch in the back had a short so it killed the batteries when not in use. I re-wired/tested it it's a lot brighter now.
5. Added a saddlebag (leather hand bag from savers) to keep the toolkit at a spare 2oz of two stroke oil in..
6. Swapped the plastic air reservoir bottle with metal one from spray bottle (was blue painted it black) and relocated it from the bottom tube just behind the front tire to behind the seat in between the rack supports.
Still a few things to do for this season, I still have to finish mending the copper fuel tank. The bike was tipped over at a ride ( someone was taking a picture and someone else bumped it) it went over and the stopcock got bent, that caused the solder joint to fail. It started to drip ever so slowly, so I drained it and pulled it right then. Lucky for me a guy at the ride had two kit tanks he was looking to sell. He gave them to me at a great price. I installed one on the bike so I could finish the ride and have been running with it since then. I need to de-solderer the old stopcock and put in a new one. I have the part jut haven’t had the time. Also, with forward facing dropouts on the specialized frame, the rear axle tends to slip ever so lightly forward under sudden power load and the chain gets sloppy. So I'm going to make/install tensioners. took it for a short test ride today, with the bars lower I want to push the seat back too, going to work on a layback post . Here are some current pictures

Worked on the Chain tensioner and layback seat post fabrication. the Chain
tensioners are made from bar stock with a hole drilled for the axle bolt at one end
and then a bend the covers the end of the dropout. Another hole is put in the
bent end and tapped for a bolt. The bolt pushes on the end of the drop out and
pulls the axle back keeping the chain tight. here are some pictures.
Pedal chain side before tightening.

a view of both installed on the back axle

The layback seat post is made by cutting and welding a straight post 45 degrees
to make the cut I marked the bottom of the bend then measured up and made a mark at a distance that is the same as the outside diameter of the post like this.

then cut the post at an angle connecting the two marks on either side of the post

then line up the cut ends with the top of one cut at the bottom of the other like this

Now weld and grind (my welds are messy and so I need to grind)

This is what it looks like installed (no seat)

I Still need to weld a triangle support underneath.

Still have some stuff to do, (1/2 the fun for me) going to re-relocate the air reservoir to under the down tube with the seat back now it's not going to fit behind the seat. and with the new bottle, I think it works better there. Also thinking about adding a expansion chamber ...

Trey said:

TRAX- Nice build! Thanks for sharing it.
The pics are real nice, keep this thread updated for us as you go.
Trey

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Thanks for the feedback Trey, sometimes I forget to take pictures, but I will post the ones I do take.

2door said:

Nice build. Lots of attention to detail. Your chain tensioner idea is not new but yours came out good.
It must be nice working with your son on the project. Does he have a bike, or plans to build one?
You want to consider the noise from the exhaust. Your neighbors and others might not appreciate it as much as you do. You don't want to make enemies with loud exhaust. It doesn't do you or the hobby any good.
Otherwise I applaud your build. Thanks for sharing it with us. Very good looking machine.
Tom

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Thanks Tom, The exhaust on my bike is restricted at the end, the opening is smaller than the stock muffler. It's not "too" loud but is louder than stock by comparisson. I had seen this style of tentioners for sale but I like making thisgs if I can, for me its a big part of the hobby. Also the tentioners gave my son and I a project to work on that was not to hard/large, but needed different tools and techniques to finish. He had to use a torch a drillpress hammer/vise and a tap. he's only 12 so no bike for him for a while but he is looking forward to us building one for him down the road.

Russell said:

Looking great!

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Thanks Russell, you made my day. Big fan of all your builds. Can't wait top see the current one finished.

chainmaker said:

great looking bike, isnt it true that building them is half the fun!

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Thank's Chainmaker, and yes it is!

silverbear said:

A lot of nice details here...
SB

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Thank you SB, I have been following your builds for a long time. I realy appricaiate the feedback.

curtisfox said:

Very KOOL like the exhaust pipe,and all the other cool extras.............Curt

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Thanks Curt, it's starting to come together. will post more as it progresses.

TRAX

Picked up some parts from lowes. Some copper fittings and a shower drain strainer.

The fittings are for a resonator/muffler idea I had and the strainer I’m going to use on my carb.
The idea for the resonator/muffler is to put a length of pipe through them that has holes drilled
in it to break up the sound waves coming from the engine, hoping for a better sound not necessarily quieter but a richer. The design is kinda like the screw in mufflers for lawn mowers. here are the some pictures

Getting the length of the pipe right
*
the center pipe inserts 1/3 of the way into the small diameter on either end.
the completed muffler will be inserted into the tailpipe section by cutting the pipe
and inserting each cut end into one of the muffler ends....
Holes drilled


Fully assembled



With the pipe cut, I decided to put in a new horn I made from a silver bud vase from goodwill had the vase for a while just got around to making the horn. Still need to make the restrictor insert or may use the old one.

Now for the shower strainer errr. I mean air filter,
I used the stock air cleaner for a template and widened two of the existing holes
to except the retention bolts. I then used tin snips to cut out a circle that was
1/4 inch larger than the carb. I used a plastic hammer and the bottom that
I cut off the vase it was shaped like a dish to form the dome shape.
here it is installed.

work in progress, repaired, re-soldered, and remounted the tank. Welded the lay-back seat post. Riveted and installed the new muffler/resonator and it sounds great. installed the restrictor and horn.
New muffler and horn.

Tank and seat post.

Russell said:

Please discribe "sounds great"

Jim

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I started it up last night and recorded the sound. here is a short clip. sorry no video. It starts with me standing next to the bike and when gets louder the mic is near the opening of the tail pipe. have a listen.

https://youtu.be/SQIzPKfRnK4


its definatly different, I like it better, sounds....i don't know, deeper?

Wish I had done a before and after. but I didn't think of it.

Russell said:

Trax,
Hope to see you guys this summer.

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We will both be at Jays, looking forward to seeing you and everyone. don't know if anyone else is doing a ride this way but would love to go if there is one. I keep threatening to host one but never seem to find the time. (that's what my signature is about a reminder to do stuff I want to do before I don't have the time to do it lol)

Russell said:

Sounds good for a 2 cycle!

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Thanks I got close to the sound I was looking for maybe a larger one would make it even deeper? I don't pretend to know what I'm doing as far as sound waves etc. just trying stuff out and having fun.