If you wonder what this build is doing here, I did ask members in other threads if it would be OK to post my build here and those who responded said it was fine. If there are objections then I'll ask the moderators to move it to the vintage bikes section.
Roughly six decades have passed since I first saw pictures in advertisements for the Whizzer motorbike. I believe it was in the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine or possibly my older brother's Boys Life magazine. It was love at first sight. Like just about every other boy in America I wanted one.
Over the past five or six years I have built a number of motorbikes and as I think about it I believe the source inspiration for all of them was the Whizzer... a bicycle magically transformed into a light motorcycle without the aide of playing cards on the spokes, but by a shiny gasoline motor! When it comes to these toys I am the boy who never grew up.
I never got a Whizzer (sniff) and have never even seen one other than in pictures. This build is likely my last one (famous last words) and I wanted it to have a belt drive like the Whizzers had. The frame will be a 1951 Schwinn Phantom (cantilever), so in those two ways it is reminiscent of the Whizzers I saw in advertisements.
While this build may be in the spirit of the Whizzer, I'm making no attempt to make it look like one or put Whizzer decals on it. No Whizzer engine. I can't tell you how many times someone has stopped me with one of my other builds and asked "is that a Whizzer? I always wanted one a them!" The person with this question was invariably an old fellow like me who remembered Whizzers as an icon of childhood fantasy. And I would explain that it was "kindalikeawhizzer", but was something I made.
So that's what this build is about. A nod of appreciation to Whizzer for being in the dreams of so many boys back when. What's Whizzer on it? The spokes is all so far. Well, that's something.
Builds usually begin with the frame and go from there. This one is starting with the parts and the frame will come later. Kind of ass backwards. A couple of years ago my friend Dan (Tinsmith) here on the forum helped me build a gas tank out of copper for my Indian Hiawatha and prior to that we made a few in frame gas tanks for the 1950's Phantom... a couple of tin ones and another out of copper. I still have one of each sitting on a shelf all dressed up with no place to go. As a gift to Dan for his kind help and friendship I gave him a Suzuki fork and my 51 Phantom frame.
As it turns out he has other projects and no plans for the frame. So it is coming home with me when I make a trip to the east coast this autumn.
Just yesterday I finished truing the wheels I built using rims from a 50's Schwinn, Atom drum brake hubs and Whizzer heavy duty spokes. I'm very pleased whith how they turned out. The tires are 26"X2.4" Cyclops which are supposed to give a very nice ride. I like the way they look. The fork is from a German Sachs/Hercules light motorcycle from the 1960's and the headlight I made from a Harbor Freight dune buggy light, somewhat modified to fit between the fork ears. The bulb has been changed to a 32 cluster LED unit
Gas tank is copper and fits in the frame. Seat is from a 1960's Schwinn. The engine is a 2 stroke 147CC Jacobsen made in Wisconsin in the 1970's. Carburetor is at the bottom of the engine, a reed valved Walbro. I'll make an air cleaner for it, probably from a tuna fish can. A carb rebuild kit came in the mail last week. The muffler is something I salvaged from a wrecked Amerchi/Harley Davidson light motorcycle (2 stroke). I think it will look okay cleaned up. If not, I'll use something else. The "sheave" I have sitting on the rear wheel is what I was going to use somehow or other affixed to the wheel. It is from a 20" bike. Chainmaker has kindly offered the real deal, a Whizzer sheave, so I will certainly use that. Thank you, sir! I'm guessing I may need to make up spacers to clear the fatty tire. Will cross that bridge when I come to it. The color I'm picturing is a kind of mahogany brown in Van Sickles Industrial Tractor paint. Good stuff. Maybe some pinstipes and accents on the fenders with cream. The color should go nicely with the copper gas tank and intended copper belt guard.
So that's where things stand. I'll be asking you guys questions regarding the drive line especially and appreciate you letting me post the build thread here. Hopefully the engine mounts and modification to the chain stay (belt clearance) will be done this fall and the bike can go together over the winter. with paint in the spring of 2014. A couple of other projects stand in line ahead of this one. Thanks for having me here as a kind of guest. Distant cousin maybe.
SB
Roughly six decades have passed since I first saw pictures in advertisements for the Whizzer motorbike. I believe it was in the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine or possibly my older brother's Boys Life magazine. It was love at first sight. Like just about every other boy in America I wanted one.
Over the past five or six years I have built a number of motorbikes and as I think about it I believe the source inspiration for all of them was the Whizzer... a bicycle magically transformed into a light motorcycle without the aide of playing cards on the spokes, but by a shiny gasoline motor! When it comes to these toys I am the boy who never grew up.
I never got a Whizzer (sniff) and have never even seen one other than in pictures. This build is likely my last one (famous last words) and I wanted it to have a belt drive like the Whizzers had. The frame will be a 1951 Schwinn Phantom (cantilever), so in those two ways it is reminiscent of the Whizzers I saw in advertisements.
While this build may be in the spirit of the Whizzer, I'm making no attempt to make it look like one or put Whizzer decals on it. No Whizzer engine. I can't tell you how many times someone has stopped me with one of my other builds and asked "is that a Whizzer? I always wanted one a them!" The person with this question was invariably an old fellow like me who remembered Whizzers as an icon of childhood fantasy. And I would explain that it was "kindalikeawhizzer", but was something I made.
So that's what this build is about. A nod of appreciation to Whizzer for being in the dreams of so many boys back when. What's Whizzer on it? The spokes is all so far. Well, that's something.
Builds usually begin with the frame and go from there. This one is starting with the parts and the frame will come later. Kind of ass backwards. A couple of years ago my friend Dan (Tinsmith) here on the forum helped me build a gas tank out of copper for my Indian Hiawatha and prior to that we made a few in frame gas tanks for the 1950's Phantom... a couple of tin ones and another out of copper. I still have one of each sitting on a shelf all dressed up with no place to go. As a gift to Dan for his kind help and friendship I gave him a Suzuki fork and my 51 Phantom frame.
As it turns out he has other projects and no plans for the frame. So it is coming home with me when I make a trip to the east coast this autumn.
Just yesterday I finished truing the wheels I built using rims from a 50's Schwinn, Atom drum brake hubs and Whizzer heavy duty spokes. I'm very pleased whith how they turned out. The tires are 26"X2.4" Cyclops which are supposed to give a very nice ride. I like the way they look. The fork is from a German Sachs/Hercules light motorcycle from the 1960's and the headlight I made from a Harbor Freight dune buggy light, somewhat modified to fit between the fork ears. The bulb has been changed to a 32 cluster LED unit
Gas tank is copper and fits in the frame. Seat is from a 1960's Schwinn. The engine is a 2 stroke 147CC Jacobsen made in Wisconsin in the 1970's. Carburetor is at the bottom of the engine, a reed valved Walbro. I'll make an air cleaner for it, probably from a tuna fish can. A carb rebuild kit came in the mail last week. The muffler is something I salvaged from a wrecked Amerchi/Harley Davidson light motorcycle (2 stroke). I think it will look okay cleaned up. If not, I'll use something else. The "sheave" I have sitting on the rear wheel is what I was going to use somehow or other affixed to the wheel. It is from a 20" bike. Chainmaker has kindly offered the real deal, a Whizzer sheave, so I will certainly use that. Thank you, sir! I'm guessing I may need to make up spacers to clear the fatty tire. Will cross that bridge when I come to it. The color I'm picturing is a kind of mahogany brown in Van Sickles Industrial Tractor paint. Good stuff. Maybe some pinstipes and accents on the fenders with cream. The color should go nicely with the copper gas tank and intended copper belt guard.
So that's where things stand. I'll be asking you guys questions regarding the drive line especially and appreciate you letting me post the build thread here. Hopefully the engine mounts and modification to the chain stay (belt clearance) will be done this fall and the bike can go together over the winter. with paint in the spring of 2014. A couple of other projects stand in line ahead of this one. Thanks for having me here as a kind of guest. Distant cousin maybe.
SB
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