48cc Board Track Replica "Piedmont Prowler"

SAABstoryATL

SAABstoryATL

New Member
Howdy all...
I give you my 95% finished boardtracker. The Piedmont Prowler.

VIDEO: YouTube - Board Track Racer Replica 48cc Motored Bike

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Grubee Sky Hawk Gt-2 48cc.
Newer Schwinn frame.
Dual pull brake lever.
Schwalbe Fat Frank 26X2.35 tires
Commuter handlebars flipped upside down.

The tank I built myself in my spare time while taking an intro to welding class. Its TIG welded. Some might not think its too pretty... You can kind of see where the welds get better and more consistent on the tank as I spent more time with the TIG machine. Great fun, I loved making it. I used the original tank for the filler neck and petcock. Made a rough carboard template, dug up scrap for the steel. Oxy'd out the shapes, ground them till they all kind of fit together. TIG'd it all together. Looking back It would have been easy to use a mig machine to tack it togthether, then use TIG to finish. ...Next time.

I love the feel of it set up as a board tracker. I rode about 200miles with it set up as a klunker. It feels a ton faster in the board track position.

Ive got a springer fork on the way. After that I just need to work out the seat. Id love to find an old brooks or old leather seat similar. Anyone have any references? Then I have to work out how to set it back over the rear wheel and keep the rear brakes at the same time. Untill then, irs great as it is.

Thanks for looking!
 
i've been stalking ebay for a brooks saddle. everyone i've wanted has gone for 60 bucks or more. i was willing to pay 40, and figured i'd never get one. wasn't trying to be cheap, i know how much those seats are worth, i just can't justify paying that much for a seat.

soooo, yesterday, i scored one for $1.25.

seriously. ONE DOLLAR AND TWENTY FIVE CENTS!

it's a vintage B66, brown leather saddle.

shipping's 20 bucks, but overall, i think i made the score of a lifetime. i'd hate to be the previous owner of that thing, and have to give it away like that.

but keep looking, there's deals out there.

oh, and nice bike, too.
 
I love it!! I'm really getting into the 'rat rod' style these days.
The tire choice is perfect.
Most people don't realize how important the right tires are to making a bike look cool!!
 
Im not sure what model schwinn it is. But its got a 1" head tube, and a derailure mount. Vertical drop outs.

As for an update, I found a brooks saddle from the 60s, Its it pretty bad shape. Im gonna see If I can bring it back to life...

In the mean time, here is a 5 minute video I made of me riding my neighborhood. Came up with some creative camera angles. Camera is a GoPro Hero 5 WIDE.
YouTube - Board Track Racer Replica 48cc Motored Bike

Take'r easy.
 
Superb pics! I was watching your video and noticed a full face helmet on your head- Good! Good example!
I really like your bike. Nice job.
 
I was just looking at the pics more closely... It looks like you put one of the rag joints on the outside of the sprocket instead of between the sprocket & spokes?
Is that what I'm seeing??? if so... why?
 
Looks like a tank I just finished using parts from another tank and a cheapo HF Mig welder. I had to use Kream to seal it though...but i never took a class of welding. Looks good
 
professor said:
Superb pics! I was watching your video and noticed a full face helmet on your head- Good! Good example!
I really like your bike. Nice job.
Click to expand...

Thanks!! ive really enjoyed building and riding it.

The helmet is a 661 downhill mountain bike racing helmet. It is not DOT approved. But it is SNELL/ANSI approved for bicycle racing. It is very confidence inspiring. I use goggles also. Getting dirt in your eye at 30mph in heavy traffic is not good, only needed to experience that once. The goggles and full face keep my head nice and warm too on cold mornings.

I was just looking at the pics more closely... It looks like you put one of the rag joints on the outside of the sprocket instead of between the sprocket & spokes?
Is that what I'm seeing??? if so... why?
Click to expand...

You are correct. Ive got another rubber block between the sprocket and spokes. The outer one is used to take up some of the space on the longer grade 8 bolts.

Looks like a tank I just finished using parts from another tank and a cheapo HF Mig welder. I had to use Kream to seal it though...but i never took a class of welding. Looks good
Click to expand...

Hey, awesome. Welding is great fun. Ive got a photo of the cardboard patterns I made, Ill find it an post it. I just used the filler neck and theaded tube for the petcock off the original happy time tank. I didnt know anyone with a welder and I really wanted to learn so taking a class was the way to go. It has been excellent. Ive met a lot of cool people, got some excellent discounts on supplies. Have acsess to a bunch of different material. Im going back to take an advanced TIG course and get a certification, then who knows. They say there are lotsa jobs out there.

Still waiting on a springer. My shop only orders from one distributer that sells springer forks and they have been out of stock....

Thanks again for all the kind words. Ill update this thread with photos as I go down this crazy motored bike world.

Andrew
 
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Thanks again for all the kind words y'all. A bit of an update...

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Picked up an old brooks saddle. But it was too far gone. So I got a reproduction. I think it fits the look pretty well. Also stuck on a different pair of handle bars to see if I liked them. Not sure yet. I also rigged a new throttle out of an older Sram X0 twist shifter. Put about 50 miles on it this past week. Loving it.
 
The boardtracker is great. Ive managed to commute it to work 4 days last week. Tons of fun... The looks I get. Love it.

I took a cruise through one of the industrial parts of town this afternoon and snapped a few pics....
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I also installed a "time trial" type raod brake lever. Im using it for the clutch. It works great. The long lever is much easyer on the hand. Dont really miss the "neutral" button too much. I installed an in-line barrel adjuster so I can fine tune the clutch cable tension.
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ride on.
 
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i like the 48cc you used ( seems like everyones using the 6680s these days )
personally i think the cylinder and head on the 48cc motor look a lot nicer .

cool
 
SAABstoryATL said:
The boardtracker is great. Ive managed to commute it to work 4 days last week. Tons of fun... The looks I get. Love it.

I also installed a "time trial" type raod brake lever. Im using it for the clutch. It works great. The long lever is much easyer on the hand. Dont really miss the "neutral" button too much. I installed an in-line barrel adjuster so I can fine tune the clutch cable tension.

ride on.
Click to expand...


Sorry about dusting off this old thread, but had to say I really like the setup! How in God's green earth did you manage clearing the Fat Franks with the chain? I have some brown Fat Franks, haven't installed the chain yet, but they're on a black cruiser, black skyhawk motor..with the "chrome" rims and 72 spokes it should look pretty good when all is said and done.

Do you have any updated pics of the bike?
Nice job!
-Ben
 
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