Here she is... Miss America!! 1949 Hiawatha

[AlphaLlama]

This is my first build and I would like to thank everyone here for all your
questions and answers that I have been reading for months. I would have made many more mistakes if it wasn't for you. I have been running her for about twenty miles now and so far so good. Her is a list of some of the improvements I did "before" I started it up for the first time.

shift kit and air filter
port and polish exhaust and intake with new gaskets
o-ring for carb seal
replaced all studs with ss rod including head bolts ( I stapped two while torquing)
new double silicone plug wire and boot
ngk spark plug
new throttle cable, it broke in the first hour
extended exhaust using old handle bars
new throttle and kill switch
dual pull brake set up
and many more little things I had to do to get it to work

any way thanks again to everyone here...

 

[stude13]

very very nice alpa; you must have done some heavy reading. a well thoughtout and beautiful build. take it to a car/bike show. location and age please.

 

[Pablo]

Beauty.

Poster Girl.

How does she go and sound?

What is the leetle module near your CDI?

What kind of hub?

 

[AlphaLlama]

Location, Stockton, California
what my age? Uh..40 midlife crisis time.
It runs pretty good, idles nicely. its a little rough at higher revs but I havent really pushed it yet and I don't really have any reference to go by since it is the first
time I have heard one and its only been twenty miles. I am sure I will be asking lots of
questions before long.
The leetle module by the cdi is a dual pull brake adaptor from an atv and the hub is
a Nexus 7-Spd.

 

[jasonh]

Now that is one sweet lookin' bike. Totally jealous.

Nice job

 

[NEAT TIMES]

Hi , And Welcome . Awsum Build For Sure. It`s Cool When Members Have Their Location In The Upper Rite Corner By The Number Of Posts. For Me It Makes It More Interesting, People From All Over The World. It Adds To The Feeling Of How Far Reaching The Internet Has Become. Thanks For Sharing, Keep Us Posted. Thanks Ron

 

[2door]

Beautiful build. Congratulations on a successful 1st time.
I really like the bike but I can't help but wonder what it would look like if you could fabricate a fuel tank that would go where tanks usually do. If you ever do that please share the pics with us.

 

[AlphaLlama]

Yeah, thats the one part I don't like. I would love to have a tank like that. The frame is identical to a roadmaster of the same era from cleveland welding so if I could find one I may be able to seal it up or just start from scratch. My welding skills are novis at best so I will need a little help to get it to seal properly.

Thanks Neat, I Fixed My Location Information...

 

[jasonh]

Yeah, thats the one part I don't like. I would love to have a tank like that. The frame is identical to a roadmaster of the same era from cleveland welding so if I could find one I may be able to seal it up or just start from scratch. My welding skills are novis at best so I will need a little help to get it to seal properly.

Thanks Neat, I Fixed My Location Information...

Got any fiberglassing skills? Would be pretty easy to carve a tank out of foam, then fiberglass it and acetone out the foam.

 

[seca40]

WOW! that is beautiful. I love the old ballooners. Really nice job putting it together too.

 

[Weedylot]

That is a bitchin' bike. Nice work. I'm jealous too.
Does the horn light on the front fender work?

 

[AlphaLlama]

Yeah, I rigged the horn to run on a 9volt battery and it is hooked to the left side button
switch on the handelbars. The light is just a regular led repro light. Of course I dream
of an electrical system using a dyno or the white wire and a rechargeable battery but
I'll have to do more research.

 

[rrraul]

Wow! Thats probably the nicest bike I've seen. Looks like it was a lot of work but it came out beautifully. Is that a drum brake on the front wheel?

 

[AlphaLlama]

Yes, it is a drum brake on the front. The back wheel was a coaster brake so when I got the shifter kit I had to find a way to attach a disk brake so I kind of used the same principle as the one used with the original kit drive sprocket. It was a pain in the but I finally got it to work. Then I routed them through a dual brake adaptor from a yamaha blaster.

Ok I am starting to see how this goes. You spend all this time on your first bike and you get it running and have lots of fun riding it but when you put it in your garage your realize you are no longer building a bike. All your tools start looking lonely. Does this mean I am going to have to by another bike and engine....OH MY GOD.....

 

[spillers]

That is simply beautiful.
Spillers

 

[Saddletramp1200]

First build, you have the touch, Welcome to The forum.

 

[wheelbender6]

Very cool and unique. Where did you source that springer fork from?
Maybe you could post a "how to" on using handlebars to extend the exhaust.
That was a great idea and adds to the uniqueness of the bike.

 

[AlphaLlama]

Oh, thanks. Yeah the springer is from a 1950's Murray Mercury/Western Flyer, it was used on both from time to time I believe. So its a patchwork bike. Frame-Hiawatha (cleveland welding), forks-Mercury (murray), fenders-Jc higgins, wheels-Worksman heavy duty and last but not least shift kit by SBP. The shifter kit really puts it over the top for me, it is a LOT of fun. I will try to figure out "how to" post an "how to". lol

 

[robin]

anyone out there know where i could get one of these? Robin Penticton B.C. Canada
you did a beautiful job

 

[huckersteve]

Classy frame! Just dial in that tank and you'll have a show stopper.