Indian Hiawatha

[timboellner]

I'm wrapping my brain around that tank design.
Looks like a tough one.
It's gonna be a challenge sweating that one together.
I'll pm Dan when I get this great idea I've got finished up inside my head.
Hope to see you guys next week if possible.

TiM

 

[silverbear]

Hey Tim,
Just yesterday Dan was saying how much he wished you were there to confer with. He tries with me and I do my best to look thoughtful and wise, but... well, you know. I don't know squat about this stuff. Besides getting your take on this gas tank it would be great to see you again. Looks like it may even be warm enough for a motorbike ride, too. Hope you can make it, bud.
SB

 

[charliechaindrive.]

I'm glad I ain't the only person in minnesota that's into motorbikes, other than me there's only one kid with one in staples. I've realy ben wanting to ride mine in town and race him but my dad says with my luck the cops would yell at me and him

 

[fasteddy]

Silverbear,
When the bike is done the young ladies will be pressing to be seen on your arm and the men will all want it to be known that they are friends with a man who owns such a fine machine.

The garage is getting drywalled slowly but all the window cut outs and the plug cut outs are done and the rest is pretty straight forward and should be done by next weekend and then I can get back to making some parts. I'll make the shifter lever for the bike and when the shifting rod gets here we can see if it can be reverse engineered or we need to purchase a second one which is my guess.

The tank is looking sweet and you will have to build another bike around it. Wonderful job Dan.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Charlie,
For a long time I was the only one doing this craziness in my part of the world. Finally a friend of mine wanted one, too, so I built him a 49 Panther with a four stroke and EZ transmission. We've put a lot of miles on our Panthers in and around little Ely, Minnesota and now I think the interest pot has gotten stirred up pretty well. This Indian build with sidecar should get the pot boiling, as Ely is a summer tourist mecca and is both "Indian country" (in the Native sense) and canoe country, too, as the launching point into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. It's good to have other people who share your interest and to go riding with.
Just a word to the wise... do your racing out in the bush. Anytime you're in town riding be a model rider for the benefit of the biking community to come. Start things off wrong and your local cops and town counsel can make it rough for everybody. I know it's a temptation to hot dog it and be cool when people are looking, even old guys are tempted, but be strong young man and resist the urge. Try not to get killed, too. Makes it look bad for the rest of us. Ha!
Only time I've been to Staples was to catch the Amtrak train in the dead of night at an automated robot train station. Can't say I remember much about Staples, Minnesota.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Hey Steve,
Good o hear you'll have your shop area finished up and can get back to work on your Indian. I miss seeing progress reports and photos. What a treat it will be to have a warm, well lit and clean shop to tinker in. A man cave.

You may be right about the shift connecting rod needing to be purchased, but I'm still going to see what I can come up with. I wouldn't try to make one just like the original, just something which will perform the same function. The original was designed to fit different manufacturers motorcycles, so needed to be adjustable. Ours can be specific to our machines. Dan and I have been talking about it and while it is still sketchy, I think we may have something. The real test comes after the tank is made and in place. First things first.
SB

 

[charliechaindrive.]

ha yeai talked my friend obie into buying one but he won't make a profile on here, choppercraz dosent actualy have abike but his neibors let him use theirs whenevr he wants. Obie says that he goes full tilt down mainstreet past the fuzz and he says they laugh there heads off. Eventualysometime next summer me and chopper (warren) are going to have a race and see who's bike is the fastest. Can't wate toseethe progress on te indian! My dads got a 201o chief coustem he built in te garage byhand. The only thing he dident make was the motor parts and wheels.

 

[silverbear]

In the Tinsmith's shop today Dan and I got a couple of hours of work in. He cut out both side pieces and with the burring machine formed a lip around the perimeter of each side and also made the bends so that at each end the tank will be approximately 2 1/2" wide and at the mid section 4 1/2" wide.
(cont.)

 

[motorhedfred]

Man ! Be extra careful not to get that beard caught in the machinery.

MHF

 

[leaded50]

Nice build,Silverbear!! And the F&S engine does look great. Youre "sidecar" style would do it!! It wont be a easy work by the tank, but with some effort, it can be done.Burring both connections would ease up the connections, to get a even more rounded contours, its hammerwork, or english wheel, and some use of stretch & shrink tools to help. It could also also be helped if you got some bigger rounded rollers on the burring machine, even if that shape are not normal to this tool. I made someone up years ago, to help out a motorcycle friend. Keep up!!

 

[silverbear]

With side pieces flared and bent, Dan checks to see how the two pieces fit in the frame. Next up is laying out the top piece. Dan realized after his attempt last week to lay out the top piece, that he would need to make the side pieces first and use them to determine the taper and bends in the top piece. He laid out lines on heavy paper to get the side to side measurements right, then was able to fix the points where it needs to taper in and then back out again at each end. The top piece is actually longer than just the top... as one piece it bends around both ends and covers part of the bottom at each end. This will be easier to understand when we get a little further along. That will be next Saturday in the Tinsmith's shop. See you then.
SB

 

[silverbear]

leaded50,
This tank made of tin is the first stage in making it in copper. We'll make our mistakes with the tin version so as not to waste the copper. I don't know if copper is expensive in Norway, but it has become very costly here, so we want to have a good idea of how to proceed before the final tank.

When I told Dan what I wanted for the bike, a coffin shaped copper tank, he told me right out that it would be much easier to make a welded steel one, but that he'd give it a shot with no guarantees. I know Dan and he likes a challenge. And he is kind in wanting to help me fulfill the vision I had for this bike. Whatever we do, it has to be with the tools available to us. Flaring the copper on the burring machine will no doubt be more difficult as it is a much heavier gauge than the tin, but we'll give it a try. Dan is a skilled tinsmith, so I am confident that one way or another the bike will have a one of a kind and very good looking copper gas tank. We may take a few wrong turns along the way, but we'll get there.

This Hiawatha is going to be my ultimate build and one of the last ones. I have a couple others less ambitious to finish up when leaves appear on the money tree and would like to do an in frame tank for my Panther, but this is the one getting all the good stuff and is a bike I will never sell. When I can't ride it anymore I'll pass it along to my son. I don't know how closely you have followed this thread, but besides the sidecar it is also going to be convertible to a tri-car with two wheels up front. That will come next summer and is being worked on by Fasteddy in British Columbia Curtis Fox is of Minnesota making the leaf spring front fork.

And thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you like the bike.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Since we're on the subject of tin and copper gas tanks at this point in the build, I thought I'd post a photo of a simpler tin gas tank made last winter for a 1953 cantilever Schwinn. Here is the link to the whole how to thread for anyone interested. Maybe you don't weld, but you can learn how to solder.

http://motorbicycling.com/f26/tinsmiths-frame-gas-tank-cantilever-schwinn-26805.html

What makes this tank simpler than the one we're making for the Indian Hiawatha is that the sides are flat.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Does this mean we can expect another Silverbear creation to unfold to use the tin tank.
Perhaps a trike?

Steve.

 

[charliechaindrive.]

A trike would be a cool project and would the tin tank mold thing be for sale when you make the copper one?

 

[harry76]

Outstanding job on the tank, cant wait to see it in copper. The bike is looking very very nice indeed, but as you mentioned it may be one of your last builds so i know its going to be beautiful, and i cant wait to hear that Sachs engine

 

[charliechaindrive.]

and i cant wait to hear that Sachs engine

Same here!

 

[silverbear]

Thank you for the nice comments; they are much appreciated.

Charlie, I have no idea what will happen to the prototype tank or even if it will be finished off with bung, etc. Probably will, but it might be seriously flawed or something. Too soon to tell. It's purpose is to guide us in making the copper tank. It would only fit a Worksman Newsboy frame. You could ask Tinsmith about it as he will be the one who made it. I do little things, but he's the man.

Steve, I have no real idea what there might be in future builds. I need to finish up the 1934 Elgin next summer to sell, still have a lot of work to do on the AMF/Tomos "Orphan", need to make an inframe tank for the 50 Panther and am seriously thinking about a Velocar using the rest of the Grumman canoe for the body. That's a lot on my plate already and as I said, leaves need to appear on the money tree which by all appearances is dead. And I'm getting old; 67 next month. I don't want to be building bikes all summer... I wanna ride and do some fishing. It's hard picturing not having some kind of project to work on through a long winter, however. That would be the Velocar, which might take a long time. We'll see. The focus now is on this Indian Hiawatha which has been in the works for some time. This is going to be a seriously fun bike. Woohoo!

I want to hear that Sachs, too. I'm hoping the engine has some serious power, but with 2 speeds I guess it doesn't really need to. I don't expect to be running it very fast anyway, especially with a sidecar, but it's nice to feel some response when you goose it, right?
SB

 

[charliechaindrive.]

Ok, stupid question what's a velocar?

 

[fasteddy]

I'm thinking the bike builders three. Road bike or board tracker, sidecar bike and trike. One for every mood and moment.

Forgot about the Orphan and the Elgin. I forsee a busy summer ahead of us.

Steve.