JD Themed GT2A-S, 4 stroke

[knightscape]

Now that I've got my paint pretty much done, I've got enough to kick off my build thread. I've always had a soft spot for John Deere bikes. My sister still has her John Deere bike from '73, I've got a '71 that I picked up a few years ago, and a fake painted road bike build done up in modern JD colors. Probably a side effect of growing up on and around farms. I thought a motorized version would be only natural and the GT2A frames have so much more surface for all that green. Building for reliability and fun here with a 4 stroke HuaSheng, hoping to actually use this as a fair weather commuter. Some of the parts that will be used:

• GT2A-S frame
• RST Dual Crown suspension fork
• HuaSheng 142F with taper shaft and 80t pulley
• Phantom Bikes long exhaust w/ wrapped header
• Wide doublewall rim rear wheel, 12g spokes, KT HiStop coaster hub
• Sportsman Flyer Sprocket adaptor w/56t sprocket
• Front Disc Brake MTB wheel, 14g spokes, Avid BB7 brakes w/203mm rotor

Some pics to get started:

More to come...

 

[knightscape]

RST Fork, crowns wrapped up for painting, thanks for the stickers, Paul! Would defintely not be doing this without the forum.

Couldn't resist these tires, needed to get some yellow in the wheels as JD's always have yellow rims. Sportsman sprocket mounted via their adaptor.

Gonna be away for the week, so won't be able to continue till I come back. That'll just let the paint all cure up good and hard before I start clamping stuff to it.

 

[wheelbender6]

Gonna be a looker.

 

[GearNut]

You are off to a great start!

 

[hot rodder]

That going to be a great looking bike

 

[maniac57]

Made me throw up in my mouth a little. I've never quite understood the weird love JD fans have for that particular shade of green, but you sure know what you're doing!
You nailed it for any southern market! The yellow really sets off the green!
What's the motor going to look like?
I'd list it at $2500 and watch them tear each other to bits bidding.....
Or ride it around church on Sunday and watch them throw money at you.
Moar pics please!

 

[BonusParts]

Love it. My grandparents had a fleet of john deere tractors on their farm, always loved the scheme.

 

[knightscape]

Made me throw up in my mouth a little.

Haha! I'll take that as a compliment! Just got back from a week on the road today and had a little tinker time, so I pressed in the headset, cut and mounted the fork. I'm going to start with just a little detail color on the engine cover, may or may not do green or yellow on the T-belt cover. Here's where it's at now.

Fork ain't bad for $25 on eBay...

Hoping to get it ridable for pedaling mode tomorrow. Disc brake came in while I was away, that should be the last part I actually need to build to completion. I also took a bunch more process pics of the headset pressing, grease packing, crown race setting, steer tube cut, and star nut setting if anyone is interested in the boring parts.

 

[Moto pope]

Wow, neat build and theme. You know, we never get bored with the boring stuff! Was just thinking, put that in a Cracker Barrel restaurant lobby a watch em gather!

 

[knightscape]

Well, didn't quite get pedaling this afternoon. Did get the cranks on, disc rotor, wheels, handlebars, and stem mounted. Realized I don't have a chain for the pedal side drivetrain, d'oh! Took the opportunity to paint the old beat up pedals I'll be using. Took some scavenging from the junk pile to find enough spacers to respace the rear axle from 110mm to 135mm, but got that taken care of too.

Crankset from the kit, not in love. Cottered cranks haven't been cool since the 60s. I'll eventually replace this. Note to inexperienced bike builders, the stamping may not be obvious, but there's a left and right crank and they are marked. They look identical, but the pedal threads are opposite and only work one way. Another note on the kit cranks, they are threaded for 1/2" pedals, rather than the more common 9/16" standard.

200mm rotor from the Avid BB7 brakes

That's a lot of gap to fill from 110mm to 135mm, spaced evenly on each side of course:

How she's sitting now:

 

[massdrive]

To cool...

 

[hot rodder]

I see your front sprocket is in the original slot on the Crank Axle. After centering my wheel the chain angle was way off,so i cut a slot closer to the seat tube on the opposite side it moved the sprocket about a 1/2'' in for better chain alignment

 

[knightscape]

I see your front sprocket is in the original slot on the Crank Axle. After centering my wheel the chain angle was way off,so i cut a slot closer to the seat tube on the opposite side it moved the sprocket about a 1/2'' in for better chain alignment

Ah, that doesn't sound great. Haven't measured chainline yet, thanks I'll have a look at that!

 

[knightscape]

Well, tonight I fitted the front disc brake, and test mounted the engine mount/engine, and tossed a spare saddle on for good measure.

Hot rodder's observation about the chainline is also quite correct. That crankset is about 1/2" too far out for a good clean line, so that'll have to be dealt with. I was reeeeally wishing I had a chain to toss on so I could go take it for a test pedal anyway. Chain should be here Wednesday. I just may have this thing ready to fire up this weekend. Fingers crossed.

 

[GearNut]

I am liking this build more and more.
You do awesome work.

 

[knightscape]

Thanks GearNut! I'm having fun with it!

A little more progress tonight: Mounted the Phantom exhaust, I'm very happy with what that does for the look. Fitted the drive chain. Also mounted and hooked up the throttle and grip, and tossed on the pedals. The kit throttle seems kinda cheap. We'll see how long that lasts.

Remaining tasks: Fit pedal chain, attach tugnuts to rear axle, connect kill switch and dress up wiring, attach fuel line/filter/shutoff, double check all bolts. I'll definitely be testing by this weekend, and will almost certainly be pedaling tomorrow night after my pedal chain comes in. Getting super psyched!

 

[AslansMonkey]

Remaining tasks: Fit pedal chain, attach tugnuts to rear axle, connect kill switch and dress up wiring, attach fuel line/filter/shutoff, double check all bolts. I'll definitely be testing by this weekend, and will almost certainly be pedaling tomorrow night after my pedal chain comes in. Getting super psyched!

Loving this build, it looks fantastic. But to your remaining tasks I'd suggest adding "Buy a Yellow Bicycle Seat".

 

[knightscape]

Hahaha, yeah, that task list will only get me to the testing phase of this build. I want to make sure I've got a viable motor/drivetrain before I go too far. I've actually been looking at saddle styles to rig up something lower and farther back more BTR style. I'm considering either brown leather or yellow, I actually kinda like the one you linked. Longer term I'll be doing a better seat, maybe handlebars, throttle almost certainly, maybe a small lower fairing, cranks/bottom bracket, lights, chainguard etc. Once I get the GO worked out, then comes SHOW

 

[runnermike]

I have to say.....this is one FANTASTIC looking build!!!!!! I have used those forks on a previous build and they were great. You should love them! Keep up the stellar work....

 

[knightscape]

Thanks, runnermike!

Well, took a couple steps backwards last night, to make a better mounting set up. In setting the tension of the chains, I decided I wanted to try running with no tensioner on the drive side until I can make a nice one with a toothed chainwheel. To do this I needed to be able to scoot the motor mount forward more. So off came the exhaust and motor to get at the plate. I cut longer slots in the plate, notched out the front semi circle for where it goes around the downtube and remounted. Now I can drop it lower and farther forward than it was, which will also give me more clearance on the fuel line, and make the choke easier to operate. May do a little more cutting grinding tonight to fine tune it. Then I'll need to retouch the paint on the plate as I've had it in the vice a few times. I'm also going to have to mess with the upper headset bearings, the top crown on the top crown on teh fork wants to slide forward when I brake so I think i need to double check that I did everything properly with the basic cage bearing headset included in the kit. I think it may want to use it's own bearing top cap, which I don't want to do. I may actually replace the headset for a sealed bearing version with a lower stack height if that's the case. Still on track to fire it up this weekend. I did pedal it last night before taking it apart though!