Too cool silver - I love the tapered ends! I'm amazed at how much better you've gotten the front one already - care to take care of the dents in my fenders for me?
That's just amazing what you have done. What a great looking bike. I wouldn't want to cut up that chain guard either. What about just saving it and putting it aside in case you ever want to return the bike to original, find something else smaller and make it blend in with the paint? Whatever guard you use will be noticed as unoriginal by very few people. Most of us have never heard of Colson and will assume whatever you use came with the bike. It is a concession to it's becoming a motorbike, just like the tank you'll give it. If it had gotten a whizzer motor way back when, some things would have gotten changed to make that happen. I wouldn't worry about it too much. You've kept the paint and I never would have guessed it could look so good. Great job!i use a rubber mallet and a thick rubber car floor mat and just pound the dings out.
silverbear, yeah, yours are way different, that's why i call my style "peaked," 'cause they peak in the middle.
so, a day full of wrenchin', sanding, greasing, fitting, and a few outbursts, some wrench throwing, and smoke breakin'...
paint came out really good. still has the original look, without being brown and rusty. my method of "rag painting" works great, as long as you don't do it in the sun (it was 81 degrees here today.) you need the paint wet, not sticky to make it flow.
after wiping it down with paint, i went over it with a green scotch-brite pad, then i soaked it all down with WD40 and rubbed that in. that's a really good trick. WD brings out the color, cleans off dirt and rust, and gives it a cool shine. it pretty much soaks in and/or evaporates, so it's not greasy.
put everything together and the pictures show the results.
the drum brake is waaay cool.
i rode it around for an hour or so, and i gotta say, out all the bikes i've ever had, this one's up near the top. it's the most comfortable, solid bike i've ridden in years. there's no creaks, no rattles, no nothing. it's a nuke-proof dream bike.
can't wait to ruin it by putting the motor on.
set the motor in the frame. super tight, but fits fine, except the chain guard ain't workin'. it'll work if i cut it, but man, i just don't want to chop that thing up. dunno when (if ever) i could get another.
so tomorrow, it's motor time, hopefully start on the tank, buy new hardware for the motor, and build some motor mounts.
enjoy the pics. first 2 are before and after. hard to believe it's the same bike.
happy thanksgiving (sorry about what we did to your people, silverbear)
I think I'll leave that satisfaction to you, thanks anyway. As it is I'll still be tapping and straightening when you're all done and riding around, I suspect. Your springer looks great, by the way.Too cool silver - I love the tapered ends! I'm amazed at how much better you've gotten the front one already - care to take care of the dents in my fenders for me?
Hey Steve,Silver Bear, can't believe your getting the fenders straightened out like that. Shows what a patient man can do. Beautiful.
Hope to get our compressor going this week end.
Thought the main electrical panel was going to have to be replaced but once again my brother got to much information off the internet and we don't have the panel that is causing problems.
Started building the Watsonian side car that BarelyAWake posted. Took a bit to figure out the size but I spent years figuring out the size of pieces of furniture in magazine photos when I restored antique furniture and people wanted a one of a kind piece of furniture made out of old reclaimed wood.
Taking pictures and I'll show every one how I built it. Going to veneer the body with ribbon mahogany and give it a polished varnish boat finish. Have a supplier that sells aluminum sheet with a glued backing that will stick to wood if it is sealed properly.
The company is Outwater Plastics. They have an on line cat. and there is a lot of interesting things in it. Well worth a snoop. Look under sheet goods I think for the metal and veneer.
Chrome plater next week and I'll see how much of the next soc. sec. check they get. This bike is long past the hobby stage and is now an investment. A Bear Stearns investment.
The UPS guy and I are on a first name basis and he is showing me his kids pictures.
Fast"going broke'eddy
Geez, Louise! Who'da thunk it! Lookit' that thing! I love the exhaust coming out the way it aught to. And the line of the exhaust repeats the line of the top bar... the whole bike has very satisfying lines to it. You're right, it is a serious work of art. And you get to keep the chain guard! Yeah, Chrisine has come alive... spooky is what it is.i'm possessed by this bike. it's seriously Christine. it tells me what it wants, and i do it. the blood red color fits it's personality...
so i've been buggin' Norm off and on about his "backwards engine" for the last few weeks, and he claims it works, so after getting the lowdown, i decided to go for it.
had to flip the head, the jug, and the piston, which is easy, peasy, made in chinese-y, then i had to match the transfer ports on the case. took me 15 minutes with a dremel, so far so good.
had to take a break, because my other bike was feeling neglected, so i rode to Mcfadden-Dale hardware to get bolts and stuff, but they were closed. since when do industrial fastener warehouses get a 4 day weekend? guess it's ace hardware for some paint stripper and stuff.
anyway...
got back home, test fitted the engine, and then went to work on the exhaust pipe. stripped all the paint, then clamped a pipe to my roomates boat trailer, rammed it into the exhaust, and fired up the map gas torch. heated, bent, smoked some cigarettes, drank a few beers, and the pictures show the fruits of my labor.
i gotta fab an offset intake, which doesn't matter much, since the one i got with my new motor wasn't finished, and the carb wouldn't fit on it anyway.
also, with the added clearance, i think i can make the chainguard fit.
needless to say, i'm very happy with the way this bike is turning out. it's a freakin' work of art...
Good grief, it sounds like the crimebuster BC bureaucrats are a little gung ho in dealing with motorbicycle criminals. Jail? $5,000.00? I hope this gets the public riled up and some serious media attention. It isn't right. Going electric on a heavy cruiser ups the ante on costs for sure. I hate to think about it. What kind of electric setup are you picturing? Front hub motor? I know you'll make the best of it. So electric is OK with the petty tyrants in authority?BarleyAWake, I'm taking pictures as I go. When I get a chance I'll put them on. Saw the link and used it to figure out the scale. Thank you it sure helped.
I'm more at home with wood than metal.
Yep, I remember the roads in Maine. Not much you can do with a 6in shoulder beside a 3ft deep ditch next to a road that is two carts wide.
Silver Bear, it's going to be electric. Just found out that 8 guys were grabbed for having gas motors on thier bikes in BC's capital. The fine is $5,000 and 2 years in jail and good luck paying for the insurance for the rest of your life. The charge is unlicenced, uninsured, unregistered motor vehicle on the road. They may get your licence as well.
Batteries are going in the side car. Don't know if I'll be part of the build off but I'll work along and keep in touch as I go.
Bairdco, I did get up at 2:30 this morning and go out to the garage to check something out.
Dont you just love it!
Steve.
yup. the weird thing about that, is i was trying to make the pipe totally straight, but my torch ran out. so i threw the pipe in the grass and hosed it down to cool it, and when i put it on the bike, it matched right up.... And the line of the exhaust repeats the line of the top bar... the whole bike has very satisfying lines to it.
SB
i'm possessed by this bike. it's seriously Christine. it tells me what it wants, and i do it. the blood red color fits it's personality...
Well, I think it's too bad about BC's policy. You can ride around in a Hummer, though, right? Ah well, I guess there are prices to pay for living in such a beautiful place. So are you really thinking of moving to the east coast? Are they less restrictive in the east?Silver Bear, the problem in this province is the province owns the insurace company. It's a Crown Corporation so anything that may cost them money is outlawed. They issue vehicle licences at the insurance co. when you pay your insuance.
When the Federal government was drawing up rules for motor bikes the only two groups to show up to lobby for a voice in what was written up were Ford and ICBC{Insurance Corporation of British Columbia}. They were making sure every thing went thier way.
You can have a moped if the Feds have approved it. You just can't make one.
No outrage. People don't fight in this province because the other party that would take over is even worse than this bunch. They are left wing anti business types who bankrupt the province every time they get in.
Our Premier{Govenor} is Gorden Campbell or as I call him Green Gordy. He is issuing laws left and right to ensure that he is remembered as the man who saved Canada in the global warming issue so you can be sure that a motor bike driven by a happy times is not happening in the perfect province. This is why I want to move to the east coast.
The hub motor and a top of the line battery in Vancouver at EBikes, a highly thought of electric bike company is all told about $1,500. That is slowing up my plans a whole lot. They are about 35 miles away and are really helpful. Where ever I go I'll be legal and I just don't want to watch my bike going down the road on the back of a tow truck being confiscated.
I would like to mount it on the side car. Workman wheels on the bike and the hub and brake on the car. Here every wheel has to have a brake. That will give me 20 mph and a 20 mile range. Can't be faster than 20 mph.
The boat style nose on the Watsonian is giving me fits but I think I've got it. I'll cut out the bottom tomorrow and see if I can get the nose and the seating area framed in. Know what I want to do but not sure it will work. I am taking measurements as I go so if it works I can pass on what I've learned. If it doesn't work I'll burn the evidence and claim I have no knowledge of what happened.
I'll stop and figure out how to set up a sight so that I can get pictures where people can see them. Tegan will help but the kid is such a whiz that her hands are a blur while she tells me how to do it. They look like they are caught in a tornado.
Steve.