Excalibur ‘09

[Mr.B.]

I plan to do something very much in the spirit of a 1915 BTR and really want to take time to get the proportions correct. Although I imagine I will use a steerer tube & bottom bracket from a donor bike.

Also parts from a vintage fork converted to some kind sprung suspension, perhaps a Harley Peashooter style, or Merkel?, or perhaps even another leaf springer- Really that would be the easiest option.

I’ll sort through my parts stash and just let the creative staring phase speak to me... Then make drawings!

“-)

-Kirk

 

[silverbear]

Sounds like you have a good idea of what you're going for. Just as a kind of visual reference, below are two shots of my "1932 Hiawatha" which is the same as your worksman frame, but with the Schwinn girl's front down tube welded in to make enough room for the Sachs engine. The frame tends to be on the smallish side, but I like it. I wasn't going for anything in particular, just something in the spirit of an early motorcycle. This is the bike that is in the process of being convertible to a tri-car, a seemingly endless project....

I'll look forward to your build thread!
SB

 

[Mr.B.]

Yes indeed SB, I’ve always liked that one, can’t wait to see it as a Tri-Car!

-Kirk

 

[fasteddy]

Neither can I Mr.B, neither can I and the old Silverbear is being as patient as possible. The really good news is it should be up on wheels about a week after the parts arrive.

With time out for fishing, swimming and story telling it may tend to be a 11 or 12 day week though.

Steve.

 

[Mr.B.]

I constantly tweak, make little improvements, and little repairs to the old girl, but rarely anything really worth sharing nowadays...

But last weekend I did have a fun opportunity to ride and wear some antique swag for our town's annual Old House Enthusiast club’s house tour...

I’d just arrived for my shift here, a minute later I had removed the plastic glasses and put on a ribbon tie.

-Kirk

 

[truckd]

Man Keep Posting That Ol' Guy ( I Mean the Bike) as often as you can there is a lot to this bike that inspires me to build on it's base line platform like this for instance Kinda based on a 1909 Lobel with a couple tweaks of course.
Don't Know if I want to put an engine in it or not yet so far it is going to be a peddler to with the Wife (she has a 20 spd Schwinn Mountain Bike) got some other stuff I'm doing got some vintage Micro Mill Caliper brakes coming and the diamond cross block Torrington peddles should get here today, making leather Mud Guard Flaps too.

 

[curtisfox]

I constantly tweak, make little improvements, and little repairs to the old girl, but rarely anything really worth sharing nowadays...

But last weekend I did have a fun opportunity to ride and wear some antique swag for our town's annual Old House Enthusiast club’s house tour...

I’d just arrived for my shift here, a minute later I had removed the plastic glasses and put on a ribbon tie.

-Kirk

Now that's KOOOOL,Love that bike. .............Curt

 

[fasteddy]

Mr.B

Both you and the bike are looking great. I would imagine that you were the hit of the tour.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Mr. B,
Bike looks good and the big kid standing behind it looks like he's having a good time.
SB

 

[hsvmick]

SUPER COOL ,
and sliverbear i like your bike as it is very much indeed but guessing the tri will look so much cooler and room for your best mate

 

[Mr.B.]

Thanks,

I’m usually received with a look of bemusement, thumps up, friendly waves & smiles- But occasionally with the annoyance of a slow moving vehicle in someone's path.

I’m thinking of sewing one one those reflective red/orange triangles to the back of my shirt... Ha!

“-)

truckd, That is a beautiful bike!

I haven’t abandoned either the Excalibur Tri-car or the BTR builds, but recently I haven’t had the easy access to my brother-n-laws pro welding rig. This has really frustrated any progress to numerous projects!

I’m going to purchase my own gear soon (should of a long time ago anyway). And I’m thinking of going Tig for the versatility & control- Learning curve expected.

In the meantime I have started the wheel sets for both of the above mentioned projects and will post about that soon.

-Kirk

 

[silverbear]

SUPER COOL ,
and sliverbear i like your bike as it is very much indeed but guessing the tri will look so much cooler and room for your best mate

Thank you. Sir. This summer should see Steve's tri-car finished, mine pretty well done and I'm guessing within another year Mr. B. will have his tri-car on the road. Then we need to meet up at the annual Blackhawk motorcycle show at Davenport, Iowa to ride around the show grounds on our cool oldish rides. Woohoo!
SB

 

[Mr.B.]

I am really looking forward to seeing the great northern Tri-cars!!!

-Kirk

 

[fasteddy]

They are ever closer Mr. B. I think that the camper heard about the ad that was going on Craig's list for a fine 1984 Dodge Class B camper and realized it was the one being advertised and has now quit sucking money hundreds of dollars at a time.

Of course when the new distributor quit just after the warrantee was up and I had to put a new one in myself I discovered that the last automotive genius had set the timing out by 22 degrees.

The parts will go up to the machinist probably Tuesday and I should have them back Friday so they can go together over the week end to see how they fit. Then it's time to tweek what needs doing and we'll have an idea if the idea was indeed a good idea.

Steve.

 

[Mr.B.]

Yesterday I got hung up crossing a train track and crashed my Excalibur... :- (

Bent forks, handle bars, stem, pedal crank arm, and then unknowably chewed the teeth on my speedo driver gear while on the slow ride home.





I tucked and rolled out of it nicely and only got a little ding on a forearm.

I’ll just plan on replacing the stem.

I’m sure I can straighten the crank arm, and hope to do the same on the forks & handle bars as nothing was actually kinked.

But we’ll see as the fork is bent back, sideways and racked. Worst case is to start anew, and I do have a good vintage fork option in the parts box if needed.

I don’t think I’ve had a 50 mile stretch this season with out having to make repairs, and I’m actually pretty disappointed about the speedo gear as I just got all of that working well after much trial & error tweaking.

-Mr. B.

 

[curtisfox]

Get ahold of msrfan he has a bunch of old speedos and my have the parts you need.Yep the old forks can be strieghtend i might have one if needed.
Sorry to here about the crash,lucky you didn't get heart.....Best .............Curt

 

[Mr.B.]

I am hopeful about the forks, as they were originally manufactured- tapered, shaped & bent while cold I should be able rework the old steel.

And I’ll very carefully inspect for cracks or stress/stretch too!

Schwinn used to actually make a tool for the common backward bend... It was basically a old fashion car bumper jack/yoke placed between the bottom bracket and front wheel axle nuts.

With the fear of excessive present day liabilities and the use of alloys I imagine you couldn’t get a bike shop to even consider straightening forks or frames today.

Thanks for the tip about msrfan, I'm using a 1960’s Japanese made driver that has a highly modified and reenforced housing.

I just seen he actually has a thread about it, which I will start reading...

Now!

-Kirk

 

[truckd]

Wow!! I am Speechless.

 

[rustycase]

Gosh I'm sorry to hear about your tumble and glad you didn't get banged up too badly.

Unfortunately, they do fall down, from time to time.
All we can do is hope it's not bad.

Best
rc

 

[silverbear]

Kirk,
Sorry about the bike, but all that stuff is replaceable. You're not, so I'm glad to hear it was no worse than it was. Heal up.
SB