1920's inspired Boardtracker

[damonjackson_spl]

finally finished my stretched cruiser/chopper and sold it on ebay for a mere $910, but no love is lost as it has given me the motivation to start my next build!

1920's boardtracker made from salvaged lugged hi-ten 27" road frames!!

also salvaged a SACHS coaster hub, absolutely beautifully made, all stainless steel and best thing it was 36 hole, so laced that up straight away!!

anyway here are the prelim pics, using a honda gx50 copy i still got laying round/ this is the last motorised specific engine i have left so this will be it for a while!!

starting engine mounts this weekend if not too hung over

cheers

 

[damonjackson_spl]

more pics

with engine mock fitted..

looks like good proportions with the 49cc 4 stroke

 

[Rockenstein]

Nice project my friend, I'll be following your build as I do love the board tracker look

 

[Goat Herder]

Looking cool theres a lota of work in that!

 

[eDJ]

I've been looking at doing this since December last year. I like the idea of stretching the
frame and using a seat like the one shown to place the rider back further.

I was wondering as I looked at the rear forkset if you bent the upper stays down to reweld
them at a lower point ? What type of welding materials are you using to secure the joins
with ? Are you placing a solid dowel in the tubing before welding it or just butting it up ?

How fast do you intend to ride it ?

Is there a source for that seat you could post a link to ?

 

[tyrslider]

Rideable Bicycle Replicas - www.hiwheel.com The link for the seat.

 

[damonjackson_spl]

eDJ,

I think the name of the way I am doing the fabrication term is telescopic something, I have a steel tube slide into the inner of one tube and weld it in, then slip over the next tube and weld the lot together, have the inner tube about 50mm set into each of the tubes..

since I only have an arc welder i cant just but the tubes up together as it just blows holes in the tubes, doing it telescopically I can get good amps and very very strong welds,

60km/h would be nice

 

[eDJ]

I've noticed some bikes using that technique. Most are board trackers replicas and I'm
considering that myself. I have a buddy who's a welder & braizer who wants me to
show him this stuff on my laptop when I'm down there. I'm sure he'd like to have a
build to show off and perhaps bring in some business now.

Where do you get your building tubing and couplings ?

I'm looking to build a "type" frame that could be easily built from a pattern I'd lay
out to build successive copies with. Making these frames would enable more builders
to complete a build. Next to that would be building some springers & girders and tanks.
If the average builder could get hold of this stuff then the enthusiasm could really
spread. And you may even see some young guys wanting to do something besides
computer games again.

 

[damonjackson_spl]

edj,

i get all tubing from a recycle shop who have the licence to salvage items from a tip, so i go in and get frames even full bikes for $5, and then cut off the bits i need, drop outs, v,brake posts, bottom brackets etc/ even got a sturmey archer 3sp full wheel a few weeks ago..

low cost, great tubing, usually 4130 cro-mo and local and 100% recycled materials!

welded in the wngine mounts last night using a mates gasless mig welder (doesnt blow holes as much in light tubing) so ready to grind welds back and start smoothing ready for paint!

 

[eDJ]

I've lurked on some frame building sites and have been trying to decide
whether gas braze or electric weld would be best. I knew some guys
who used to Hydrogen/oxy weld and claimed it was as strong as you
would ever want. (I don't know what # rod stock they used for that
application but they got some lovely welds) But the frame builders
there are more about Lance Armstrong cycling and don't quite know
what to think about this rat rodding, motor bicycling, much less
retro vintage notion. Most think it was a fad back in the 1980's.

Do you have a bending jig or a circular drill saw set so you can cut
shaped angles in the tubing ? I've seen some interesting ones that
aren't too expensive in the home built aircraft magazines.

I've seen some plans for building a floor mounted tubing bending
tooling in:

Lindsay's Technical Books

This is the Eastwood tubing cutter/notcher which is affordable.

Eastwood's pipe notcher/tubing cutter (PN 21749) costs $79.99, and is a necessity for cutting and fitting tubing for frame fabrication up to 2 inches. The compound angle adjustment is clearly graduated in degrees for accurate, repeatable cuts. Rectangular stock can also be accommodated.

But with a tubing bender, notcher/cutter, and some welding equipment a man could make some
frames fairly quickly and pay off the tooling in short order. Then settle into building what
he has a following standing in line for.

 

[damonjackson_spl]

update

got engine mounts sorted and engine mounted..

got brakes hooked up as well as acc/ cable

all welds smoothed out ready for paint

got my brother making a stainless tube tank to sit into the frame

just need to order some tires, i am really liking the 26" x 1.5's good clearence all round

had to fabricate the cranks to hook around the engine, dont know if i trust welding to cast steel will have to do some testing!!

 

[damonjackson_spl]

cranked the arc up to 100amps and got a nice fillet weld over the butt join in the cranks, also put some 5mm gusset plates on the corners, gave it the jump test and didnt move a cracker, so should be fine for some pedaling!!

 

[eDJ]

damon,

didn't you have a post somewhere showing the frames you make and how you go about
it. I remember an Australian builder who had several photos up including the frame traced
out on paper laying on the floor where he would bend tubing to lay withing the lines.
He too used the couplings to place the pieces of frame into to weld or braze in the completion
of his frames.

Was that YOU ?

 

[damonjackson_spl]

nope..

I am old school, do everything by eye haha

actually i do use a spirit level when tacking in tubes that need to be paralell

 

[damonjackson_spl]

exhaust done/

very happy with it!!

recycled old road bike handlebars for exhaust pipe, god I love recycling!

all is left now is fuel tank, looks like I'll have to draw something on autocad for my brother so he can make it without a hitch!

D

 

[Dave31]

Looking good

 

[damonjackson_spl]

ok big update..

got fuel tank sorted, ended up fibreglassing one up myself as it was taking my borther too long to make an alum one, anyway ended up with a 4litre tank and super finish!!

will be putting fuel in it and taking it for test drive in a week or so, then stripping it completely down for paint!!

 

[azbill]

nice job on the tank !!!
that seat looks pretty comfy as well

 

[damonjackson_spl]

ok finally finshed her, test riding for about 500kms and not one hitch, so ready to pull down for paint..

also i have been working fast and also built another 2stroke boardtracker that I want to sell on ebay to fund my next project airbagging a W109 mercedes that i picked up last weekend, so wont build a bike for a while now that i will be busy building the merc..

anyway enjoy

 

[mechanickid]

hot dog! love it