Les Miserable

[Oldbiscuit]

No faster than I ride, and no more fuel than this will hold, I decided to skip any front to rear baffles. I did reshape the front and rear of the tank and got the filler neck welded in . Back cap is tacked in place and I’m ready to tack on the front plate. First I need to weld in the petcock mounting pipes and the vent tube adaptor.

 

[curtisfox]

AWESOME!...........Curt

 

[fasteddy]

Absolutely first rate.

Steve.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

So I got the tank all welded and the bung holes brazed in. I decided to reconfigure my seat mounting. Being as I’m the only one who will ride this, I built it to my leg length. I still want to add a cross brace at the top of the frame and a single bar from that to the seat post bottom.

 

[fasteddy]

Nicely designed classic gas tank. Sets the bike off perfectly.

Steve.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

Nicely designed classic gas tank. Sets the bike off perfectly.

Steve.

Thank you Steve. Like I’ve told others, I don’t have any plans drawn up, I just build it like I see it in my head.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

Well it’s been awhile since I’ve posted any updates on this build, so I’ll try and bring it up to date.

First off I got my belts sorted out and a hand clutch/tensioner mounted. I fabricated a bracket that’s welded to the top frame tube that has detention notches to hold the tension.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

I glued and riveted a leather strap around the back wheel pulley to give me a little better look and better traction. I built a transfer/tensioner pulley set up by welding a 4” 6 groove pulley to a 4” single groove pulley. I then fabricated a mount with a sliding nut inside that can be tightened from the nut on the front. I am running a serpentine belt to the rear wheel and a B series belt from the engine.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

I also wanted to keep this build more period correct, so I opted to go with a skip tooth chain and sprockets. I don’t know what the front sprocket is off of but with a little machine work I had a plate that I bolted it to. The rear sprocket is a marriage of a newer hub/ sprocket with a replacement skip tooth sprocket. I built some axle tensioners and mounts as my frame tolerances are close and I don’t want movement.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

I purchased a set of Velo Orange bars and machined the slot in it to install the internal throttle lever from a Honda Trail 90. I purchased it for around $100 from DRATV on EBay. Worked great. I built my own intake manifold and installed a cheap Chinese after market 2 cycle carb, but it runs great and I like the choke operation even if it doesn’t look period correct.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

I got my Sturmey Archer front hub with the drum brake installed. Ordered new 12 gauge spokes to get it relaced to match the rear wheel.

While I was at it I dug out an old tractor headlight and built a mount for it. I plan to eventually convert it to LED with an external switch and a power wire from the dyno in the hub to keep the battery charged.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

Lots of little fabricating things to do, but I’m in no hurry as I won’t paint it until spring when it’s warmer. I got lots of parts on order and a lot of parts in stock so it’s coming along.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

#90 really caught my eye. So I started at the beginning and post #11, page 1 is a you tube of a internal throttle install in a Honda 90 trail bike that I flat a$$ed missed. A year ago or so I wanted to do a internal throttle and was flummoxed at the cost of most ready made for 7/8" handle bars. Until a link for Honda spare parts came up with rebuild kits of which I bought one. What I got gave me a WTF moment. Which brings be back to page 1 and a you tube link on a how to Honda throttle rebuild. Looks like what I purchased was not a complete assembly, and did not know about the handlebar slot. Refresher. Factory internal twist throttle assembly install - Vintage Honda Z50 CT70 monkey mini trail dax - YouTube

 

[Oldbiscuit]

Tom, I was able to borrow a new Honda handle bar that gave me all my measurements to machine the slot and screw hole in mine. It’s actually a pretty simple machining and install and the price was affordable as well.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Tom, I was able to borrow a new Honda handle bar that gave me all my measurements to machine the slot and screw hole in mine. It’s actually a pretty simple machining and install and the price was affordable as well.

Looks like I need a Honda handle bar or a set of dimensions,+ the several twist throttle parts not on hand.
The documentation of your build has covered a lot of bases.

Your gas tank with out baffles is always a concern. Pat gets by with a trick cap vent, which has not failed me yet.
I had a preliminary baffled fuel tank designed. Went with the Flyer instead. Your weld capabilities are way beyond mine.

 

[MEASURE TWICE]

I don't know if this is for real, but an old Piper Cub CJ2A Aircraft had a fuel gauge that was a stick with float. The stick would protrude from the top of the gas tank. The tank I guess was not in wings, but right in front of windshield. If it stuck as it settled, you may be out of gas sooner than thought. Was that a vented tank or did that have the charcoal canister recovery? I went up in a probably newer version. It had a dual controls for side by side training. Still though it had the wings made of fabric over wood spars. 90hp aircooled. My mom was not too thrilled to let me go with my dads cousin flying, but relented.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

Tom , my tank is a saddle design and no faster than it will go, a baffle is really not needed. I never put them in my other tank build and I never had a problem. As far as a tank vent , I plan on using a copper tube that comes up from the fitting in front of the cap and will go over the side of the tank much like I did on my Rocket tank build.

 

[Oldbiscuit]

My cheap Chinese pedals arrived today. Surprisingly they are pretty decent, well built, smooth and good bearings. The down side is they have some kind of nylon/plastic pads which I planned to replace anyway. So I got some oak scraps and made my own pads, just need to finish them either with a poly varnish or boiled linseed oil.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Nice touch Dude!
I been thinking to do the same.
The anti=rotation step is a clever detail on the "pedal pads".
(That last bit of nomenclature comes from the 1974 printing of Glenn's Complete Bicycle Manual)
My vote if it matters is Johnson's Wax for the pad finish as back in the day it was a go to floor finish and fairly nonslip easily renewed.
That end grain looks thirsty.

Tom

 

[curtisfox]

KOOL! Looking back what is the muffler off of? ..........Curt