Excelsior V Twin build

Hi Kirk....Thanks for the link ..I have read these chapters a while ago..when I was researching to build the bike...Its great that we have people on the forum willing to spend their time searching out history.. and informing others...hopefully getting more builders to be creative about what they can achive...DD
 
Hey! DD... I saw a guy wearing a shirt today and the symble on the back was a fist holding two lighting bolts in the shape of an X, I thought of you and then thought of a wheel with the two lighting bolts going through it insted of the fist and then you could design a back ground the same as the Excelsior and with the bolts you could achieve a similiar overall design as the Excelsior that you desired with out decieving any one who wouldn't know the difference or perhaps would?
Just a thought and you might even sweet talk Lurker into helping you refine the image,since you have the eqp to make your own decals.
The fist holding the lighting bolts was cool! but I think the wheel would be even COOLER!!
 
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Hi Have been lacing up the rear wheel today....DD
 

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Beautiful ! did I tell ya ,I like the color, now take a picture of the wheel and go to photo shop on computer and run the lightning bolts going through it see what you'd get for a decal
 
truckd said:
Beautiful ! did I tell ya ,I like the color, now take a picture of the wheel and go to photo shop on computer and run the lightning bolts going through it see what you'd get for a decal
Click to expand...

Didn't realise you were foreman on this build Trukd laff
 
The only foreman I know of, over any build I know of is my wife ,"gee honey do you like the color?,what do you think of this Honey? and what if I did this Babe?" BUT! BUT! BUT! I, YES! Dear I'll take it off the kitchen table right now and don't worry the oil will wipe right up...... (LOL!)
 
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Hi Harry....I think a foreman might get me GGGGGGGGD up...spend a lot of time looking at what Im going to do next.......DD
 
Hi truckd.....Theres a lot of "yes sir...no sir...three bags full...sir" around here at the moment...with spring and the weather cleared up....Ill be spending some time in the garden and servicing the swimming pool for the grand kids...daylight savings stared last Sunday ..so its giving me a bit more time in the evening to potter around......DD
 
Hi ... Have pulled the front hub from the wheel.....have cleaned up and repainted with a high quality chome paint...also done the rear chain wheel.....DD
 

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What chrome paint do you use? Looks good in the photos, a lot better then chrome paint I have used in the past.

You mentioned earlier using a home chrome/nickel coating setup, are you still going to get one. I'd love to know how that goes and if the finish is good I may consider one in the future.
 
Hi Harry....The chrome enamel is called "liquid chrome" it is a "repo" product and is available at SuperCheap Auto.....still not the best but good..its about $20....the top of the line which I couldn't buy is no longer available its use to be $45.... 5 years ago.......
The nickel kit is a Caswell chrome/nickel/copper/silver..ect...just Goggle.. Caswell home plating kit..I have weigh up the cost against getting done commercially of have the kit there for future builds that I might do.....probally cost about $350 to $400 to set up.....DD
 
Ive seen some kits on EBay a while back, ill check out Caswell.

350-400 sounds good to me. I havent had anything chromed in a long time but i have heard it is outrageously dear these days so i havent bothered. So id imagine it would pay for itself in no time?

Would the $400 include the materials needed to nickle plate some initial parts, and i wonder what the ongoing costs per job compared to paying to have it plated? Any idea?

Personally i think nickel plating is a lot nicer and classier looking then chrome, but i have no idea about whether either is better for longevity
 
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Hi Harry...When you have a look on the site you will see two types of ways to plate....1....is using a power adapter and it connected to a brush wond...which operates on about 4Volts..2..the more expensive kit requires a power supply to regulate the current flow to the pieces being plated....Go the the Caswell site in the US as they have video instruction on how the kits work....I would use the nickel as chome wasent in use till the mid 1920s.....chrome is a very thin coating compared to nickel and acts as very hard finish to protect the nickle....DD
 
Hi ..... Have been assembling the front wheel this morning....DD
 

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Hi..... Have finished truing the wheel and testing the spokes ring tone making sure that the spoke tension is all about the same....get one or two a little slack the spoke will sound flat..should have a "TING" when all tensioned correctly.....DD
 

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Hi ....Have been getting the crank set finish off....I have made the rear brake lever from 1" ratchet spanner...I had 2 off these and so I put on to the stress test ..put a 3 foot piece of pipe over it and stood on the end and jumped up and down on the pipe to try and break the ratchet..this was on a 1" nut welded to a large I beam piece of steel..I am pretty confident with it as the break lever on the pedal set...lets the pedal crank rotate forward and applies the the rear brake when the pedal is pushed backwards..Has been cut down to about 3" centres..I can have the two chain wheels operating if wanted of just dont install on crank set if not using...the shaft is a 3/4" shaft steel 12" long...machined the ends for the cranks and milled the cotter pin slots...the bearings are sealed ball type with 3/4 bore 2" O/D.... the 1" nut is braze welded to the shaft...the bearings are held in place with slip collars which clamp onto the spigot shaft ...have had all set up and works well......DD
 

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Hey! DD just a thought but are those sprockets/chainwheels for mock up? they look realy thin as a matter of fact they look like they're for a bicycle, and we know you ain't building an M/B
I've been complaining alot about shipping cost's but don't you think ordering a couple of aluminum chainwheels from MM,Sportsmanflyer, or PirateCycles would be worth the extra cost of shipping and your safety as well.
Just looks like there would be a lot of slop between the two you could modify the aluminum chainwheels to adapt to your set up with all your talent it would be a snap!
Oh! by the way XLNT!! crank set up XLNT!!
 
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Hi Truckd ... These are for the bicycle part of the set up if I ever put a free wheel sprocket on the rear wheel ..so I can pedal it!!!.....the engine sprockets and chain are 520 pitch....DD
 
Hi ... Just an explanation to people following this build.....This bike I'm building has a direct drive from the engine-gearbox output to the rear wheel....the pedal set up is where on the original bikes counter shaft would have been...the pedals back then were used to start the engine when it was sitting on the rear stand...it had a large free wheel set up in the sprocket on the counter shaft so it could pedal forward..the original bike had no brakes..later model X's did have a rear brake setup similar to what I have done with the ratchet on the rear brake lever pivoting off the center bracket spigot with a 3 pawl mechinsm....DD
 

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