Vintage Whippet racer
- Thread starter harry76
- Start date
Thanks man, ive been called a lot of names. "AWESOME clever guy" is not one of them....lol.
Im working on too many, at least my girlfriend would agree.
Obviously i have this Whippet build going.
Ive got my Villiers 99% done, just waiting on spare cash to get the good primary belt.
I have a Kroon with a 66cc in it. It was my first ever build, and i made an alloy inframe tank probably 6 months ago and gave it to a mate of his to TIG up, im not sure who was slack, my brother or the welder? But i still havent received it, but i did see my brother the other night and he said it was ready for him to pickup. Then i will paint the tank and probably do a makeover of this bike.
My main focus atm is I have a girls bike with a 3hp Briggs that im building for my girlfriend, i plan to enter that and my Villiers bike in a local ratrod show i go to. Thats next month so hopefully i will have it going.
I have a bike ive partly done but needs improving, and thats my Indian build, at first i planned to use the motor im using in my GF build. But then i bought a 5.5hp Honda. So i think that will be its home.... one day.
So thats what im working on atm. But i still have another 3hp Briggs, a 160cc Victa and 2 x 98cc Villiers wanting homes and a couple bikes i saved just last weekend, and more ideas then time...lol.
Some people on here have commented that i should just focus on one bike. Besides the fact that i can do whatever the **** i like, i just like to have numerous builds going..... you know that feeling when something just isnt happening that day or you just cant think of a solution.... yet. Instead of packing up and going to watch tv, i switch to another build. Fresh with new ideas i can continue to enjoy this newfound hobby and the best therapy im yet to find
Some people on here have commented that i should just focus on one bike. Besides the fact that i can do whatever the **** i like, i just like to have numerous builds going..... you know that feeling when something just isnt happening that day or you just cant think of a solution.... yet. Instead of packing up and going to watch tv, i switch to another build. Fresh with new ideas i can continue to enjoy this newfound hobby and the best therapy im yet to find
Harry,So thats what im working on atm. But i still have another 3hp Briggs, a 160cc Victa and 2 x 98cc Villiers wanting homes and a couple bikes i saved just last weekend, and more ideas then time...lol.
Some people on here have commented that i should just focus on one bike. Besides the fact that i can do whatever the **** i like, i just like to have numerous builds going..... you know that feeling when something just isnt happening that day or you just cant think of a solution.... yet. Instead of packing up and going to watch tv, i switch to another build. Fresh with new ideas i can continue to enjoy this newfound hobby and the best therapy im yet to find
I know what you mean about more than one build at a time. It is just the way that I work, I guess. And yes, sometimes you're stuck waiting for parts or for paint to dry and cure some. Sometimes you're sick to death of tightening spokes and fiddling with getting things true and want to do something else. So another bike to turn to is good. I have the one I'm riding which is in the middle of wiring/lighting experiments... a 50 Panther. Taking a wheel apart on the 53 Schwinn Greyhound to figure out what is binding in the junk Chinese hub and may have to take the wheel apart to lace in an old Bendix coaster brake hub. .. want to get this bike squared away to sell. I have things yet to do on the 34 Elgin and can't finish it until fall or winter anyway due to lack of funds for the shift kit. And mostly I have the Worksman Indian tri-car project going into high gear as soon as Fasteddy gets here for bicycle summer camp. And then in the planning stage and setting aside parts for is a hybrid gas/electric vintage Schwinn tricycle at least a year away before it is built. An advantage is that you can shift parts around to see what fork will work best for what build, wheels and hubs and seats...
I get a little burned out working on one thing then I work on or sit and stare at another one. Keeps me mind in a whirl, but I'm never bored and absolutely you will never hear Silverbear say "gee, there's nothing to do". It sure beats watching the traffic go by (not that there is any where I live in the forest) or watching game shows on TV. Arggg... I don't get TV anyway. This hobby may keep me broke, but it also keeps me out of trouble. Ha!
SB
Working on one thing is a good cause for burnout. The Monark and sidecar are a good example.
Waking up knowing that you have to do the same thing once more is maddening.
Thankfully Silverbear and I have planned the next 4 builds down to the most minute detail other than just where the money is coming for all the builds
That has kept the mood somewhat light on my end.
If there was room here, there would be 4 bikes started so I could do just what I wanted on any given day.
Keep up the great work Harry. You keep us moving forward.
Steve.
Waking up knowing that you have to do the same thing once more is maddening.
Thankfully Silverbear and I have planned the next 4 builds down to the most minute detail other than just where the money is coming for all the builds
That has kept the mood somewhat light on my end.
If there was room here, there would be 4 bikes started so I could do just what I wanted on any given day.
Keep up the great work Harry. You keep us moving forward.
Steve.
Hit the nail on the head: I got so many projects going I don't know if I will ever get a bike going,seems that way,but I will. Just put 3 new windows in my house.building kitchen cuboards in the winter. And I am a car guy trying to get old truck going. But I have learned a long time ago that if you do to much without thinking things through you have to do it over. And like this forum you see something better and you can make the change. Put a new cealing in my workshop last fall and still a mess but get it a little at a time,at least I have heat in the winter now..............Curt
Tonight i made brass coil cover version 2, i get this used brass for free from work. Im allowed to get it out of the bin and they throw away lots. They are brass strips about 100mm (4 inches) and in really long lengths.... Theres really something special about making something for free and from the bin.
I cut the sides off the coil and its a snug fit in the cover. I will make 2 metal "L" shaped brackets and weld them to the frame to pop rivet the cover to. I will also drill 2 small holes in the frame, one near the engine where the coil wires come out and one under the brass cover to hide the coil wires.
I cut the sides off the coil and its a snug fit in the cover. I will make 2 metal "L" shaped brackets and weld them to the frame to pop rivet the cover to. I will also drill 2 small holes in the frame, one near the engine where the coil wires come out and one under the brass cover to hide the coil wires.
What do you guys think? I think its a big improvement over the last one and a very clean look. Your welcome to copy if you like. I will make another for my Kroon build...
I also plan to replace the rivets with brass ones when im at the hardware next... and i also plan on shortening the tank brackets so that cover wont look so crammed in there....
I also plan to replace the rivets with brass ones when im at the hardware next... and i also plan on shortening the tank brackets so that cover wont look so crammed in there....
Well, isn't that the cat's meow! That would look good out of copper, too. Even aluminum.
Just curious what the guys at work think of what you're doing. I remember Tinsmith saying he got some ribbing at work... you know, like "real men have real motorcycles, not a bicycle with a little motor on it". Then the welder got interested in what he was doing with his stretch Worksman. I'll have to ask him if he's taken the finished bike in to work yet. I bet they want to ride it. Ha!
SB
Just curious what the guys at work think of what you're doing. I remember Tinsmith saying he got some ribbing at work... you know, like "real men have real motorcycles, not a bicycle with a little motor on it". Then the welder got interested in what he was doing with his stretch Worksman. I'll have to ask him if he's taken the finished bike in to work yet. I bet they want to ride it. Ha!
SB
I dont work in the section that does the sheet metal. So those guys havent yet heard nor seen of my bikes. Though i will take them in when finished. A couple guys seen my Kroon and thought that was very cool,even with the peanut tank, so who knows what theyd think of these.
I work at a paper mill, i drive a CAT front end loader, pushing up recycled cardboard and such. Day shift is reasonably busy and we arent really allowed in the sheet metal section. But on afternoon and night shifts its not very busy and no one is in the sheet metal sections.
Its quite a large place, all sorts of cool stuff to use, if only i knew how to use the lathes. But im fine using the drill presses, hydrabend, rollers, guillotine, saws etc.
And im always scouring their bins for possible fuel tanks and other items. Plus youd be amazed what i find in the bales and trucks that are meant to be cardboard for recycling, everthing from small up to engine blocks.
I work at a paper mill, i drive a CAT front end loader, pushing up recycled cardboard and such. Day shift is reasonably busy and we arent really allowed in the sheet metal section. But on afternoon and night shifts its not very busy and no one is in the sheet metal sections.
Its quite a large place, all sorts of cool stuff to use, if only i knew how to use the lathes. But im fine using the drill presses, hydrabend, rollers, guillotine, saws etc.
And im always scouring their bins for possible fuel tanks and other items. Plus youd be amazed what i find in the bales and trucks that are meant to be cardboard for recycling, everthing from small up to engine blocks.
I know what you are talking about I worked in a papper mill for 35 years inside finishing room for 28 and finally got enough wiskers to go out in the yard crew for the rest. In the yard we got the hole mill as our department.
Did everything from end loader, switch rail cars, hall garbage, ( to the dump twice a day I called it snupe-am-save ) and all other outside work. Boy did I find the stuff.............Curt
Yeah the finishing room is where they put the new guys, some stay there and move up to higher pay but its very regimented. I have the best job in the mill IMO, nobody bothers me providing i keep the woodchips up to the pulpmill, and stock to the conveyors im pretty much free to do whatever.
I should really have a better look at whats around the mill for bikes, if its not being used works pretty cool with letting me have it. If i had a tig i would be laughing as we have a lot of stainless steel.... and there is "the graveyard" where all old machinery and metal go. Theres some pretty cool stuff in there.
I should really have a better look at whats around the mill for bikes, if its not being used works pretty cool with letting me have it. If i had a tig i would be laughing as we have a lot of stainless steel.... and there is "the graveyard" where all old machinery and metal go. Theres some pretty cool stuff in there.
What do you have for a welder? you can weld stainless with regular welding rod. It will just rust there, ok if you paint it. But you can also get stainless welding rod or wire for wire feed.
To me that sounds like a trip to paradise and they pay you for it. Metal bins, old machinery and tools you can use.
Coil box is looking great and it adds even more of a vintage feel to the bike.
Steve.
Coil box is looking great and it adds even more of a vintage feel to the bike.
Steve.
Thanks Fasteddy, "parardise" maybe a little overboard but it does have its moments and beats an office job.
Curtis i never realised you can weld Stainless with a mig, even if it will rust. I will have to try this...... or maybe price that stainless wire, i wouldnt imagine it would be cheap but may be worth it just because its easier for me to find stainless at work then it is to find normal steel.
We have an unbelievable amount of stainless steel piping (sized from the very small to extrememly large) throughout the mill...... maybe a stainless steel bike is in my future. Louie McCanns "Pierce" clone was pretty damn awesome!!!!!!!!
My welder is just a gasless mig welder i got a couple months back. I bought it with the intention of only using it for tacking while mocking up, but ive since used it to do all my welding.
Curtis i never realised you can weld Stainless with a mig, even if it will rust. I will have to try this...... or maybe price that stainless wire, i wouldnt imagine it would be cheap but may be worth it just because its easier for me to find stainless at work then it is to find normal steel.
We have an unbelievable amount of stainless steel piping (sized from the very small to extrememly large) throughout the mill...... maybe a stainless steel bike is in my future. Louie McCanns "Pierce" clone was pretty damn awesome!!!!!!!!
My welder is just a gasless mig welder i got a couple months back. I bought it with the intention of only using it for tacking while mocking up, but ive since used it to do all my welding.
Thanks man, i am a firm believer in less is more......im glad i went ahead with this project. I almost listened to the concern of others about not using this bike, i understand their concern but i wanted something a little different..... And while i realise i could have done something similar with a cheapo 10 speed racer, it doesnt have the soul an old bike like this has. Someone more then likely built my bike with passion and skills that are rare these days.
This bike is staring to come together, id like to get it finished but my focus atm is my GF briggs build, so this is taking a backseat til then, or when im bored or frustrated with her project
This bike is staring to come together, id like to get it finished but my focus atm is my GF briggs build, so this is taking a backseat til then, or when im bored or frustrated with her project