rebuilt my bike

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lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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san diego
so my bike was a tade unstable with the extreme angle of the forks i built. i was fine on it but my friends were a little wobbly and last saturday my gf wanted to ride it so i showed her a little and she was doing good then she got a touch cocky and went a few blocks away. she was going down a hill and seriously flying (im guessing, she swears she wasnt) but anyways she got the speedwobbles and ended up flipping the bike, her leg got all ****ed up but that was the extent of her injuries thank god.

as for the bike the only damage was the gas tank got a few dents but thats it really. i decided that enough was enough with the extreme low rider style and decided to rebuild it a little bit more bobber/rat style.

all i did was cut the lower chain stays and extended them by about 5 or 6 inches, rerouted the exhaust a little bit, and then put some stock forks back on it. also built a chain tensioner for it, think im gonna redesign it to a spring loaded type though tonight at work, we'll see... anyways heres some pics of.





and yes i built the vast majority of this bike inside my apartment, except the welding which i did at my gf's moms house where i keep my welder haha
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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yea im glad of that too, once she felt the wind in her hair she threw caution to the wind and didnt pay attention to just how fast she was going
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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yea i loved the lowrider and was sad to see it go, this was however my original vision for the bike, i did the forks cuz it was less involved. after this stretch i had to combine two chains together to reach and that created tensioner problems but i got it all figured out. ill post a pic of my new tensioner here in a few minutes
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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heres the overview of it.



you can see the tensioner i made, the expansion chamber i made, the muffler i modified the other night, and the stretch in the lower chain stays.

little bit closer


two peices of sheet metal bolted around the seat post tube with a stud welded on the end of it. i cut a 3/8 drive socket in half to use as a spacer.



welded two old wrenches together to use as the arms for the tensioner and three little springs to tension it.



big soft long board wheel i had laying around. its mounted on a bolt welded onto the end of the wrench.
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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theyre both 26 but after you said that i looked and it does look like theyre staggered, must be the angle of the pic or something
 
Velodrome

Velodrome

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May 27, 2011
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Phoenix-ish
I think its the subtle diffrence in whitewall height that tricks the eye. Love you build! Especially the chain tensioner :)
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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Yea now that you mention it the white walls are different and that definately does play tricks on the eye. And thanks!
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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re-routed my pipe and added a bracket for support, and as far as ****ty welds go im using a 90 amp harbor freight gas-less mig and no grinder clean up after so i probably take the cake haha anyways, onto the pics...


overview of the new routing


close up of the bracket
 
A

atombikes

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Feb 14, 2010
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Your bike looks much better with this new geometry. The chainstay lengthening makes it look like a bobber.

In case you were not sure why your original geometry was unstable, here's the explanation I wrote a while back in another thread:

http://motorbicycling.com/showpost.php?p=419238&postcount=3

Long story short, if the point where the headtube axis intersects the ground is BEHIND where the tire sits flat on the ground, you will have handling problems.
 
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lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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san diego
thanks, yea it does kind of look like a bobber which i think is awesome haha

yea i read a few things about front end geometry before i bent them up like that but my logic was that if they sell low rider springer forks that are not that much different than what i made, how dangerous could they be? what i didnt take into account was that those low rider bikes rarely see anything above 5mph if that. my bike was clocked by a police radar at 33mph on flat ground so that was a huge factor...
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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san diego
at it again, guess ive never been one to just leave it well enough alone

swapped my mountain bike forks w/disk brake and shocks along with the handlebars on it, completely changed the look and feel as well as the riding experience. stopping is amazing and the steering will take a little getting used to but so far i like it...




couldnt find the motivation to swap out the rear white wall for a all black tire, but i will eventually
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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san diego
picked up a springer front end this morning and welded my disk brake caliper up to it, works awesome and love the look



closer shot


close up of my harbor freight birdshat welding skills


front view


rear view


it lowered the bike a little and beacause the rear it stretched and lowered the pedals (which are already bent to shorten them about 3/4 inch) hit the ground if im predaling through a turn. no biggie, just dont pedal shile turning ha
 
Moto

Moto

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Jan 7, 2012
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Sweet bike you got there. How is that welder working out for the thinner stuff like bike frames / exhaust pipes? Im thinking of getting one. Does it burn through?
-moto
 
lksdG2

lksdG2

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Sep 30, 2012
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san diego
Thanks, the welder works great. For the frame and exhaust it works good, the exhaust on my bike I used an old handle bar so its reasonably thick so it doesn't burn through. the exhaust on my car is pretty thin though so on that youvhave to be careful.

I love the welder, I just wish it had a better heat control, the min is too high for thin stuff and the max is too low for somewhat thick stuff (over 3/16 or 1/4 I would say)
 
V

VIKTR

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Jan 10, 2012
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San Diego
lksdG2 said:
picked up a springer front end this morning and welded my disk brake caliper up to it, works awesome and love the look



closer shot


close up of my harbor freight birdshat welding skills


front view


rear view


it lowered the bike a little and beacause the rear it stretched and lowered the pedals (which are already bent to shorten them about 3/4 inch) hit the ground if im predaling through a turn. no biggie, just dont pedal shile turning ha
Click to expand...
So I see you won't be riding that through quarry anymore haha

Looks sweet though
 
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