I'm glad you guys like the bike and sidecar project. The positive comments really are a boost and give a smile. Many thanks for that. Of course the bike itself is the main gratification. Every time I look at it with the canoe sitting there I can't get over how satisfying it is and I haven't even run it yet. One of the greatest satisfactions is in figuring out solutions to problems, doing it all on a tight budget and scrounging this and that for it. So many things would be easier if you could just write a check and have someone else do it for you. Nothing wrong with that either, but it is never in my budget.
Harry, the sidecar will stay what it is, aluminum. Would there have been an aluminum canoe sidecar back in 1909 or whenever? No, I imagine not. It is one thing I don't like about restorations, restricting myself to what was or would have been. I keep using the expression "in the spirit of" and that is a good enough guideline for me. In the end I'm the one riding it, so it has to satisfy me before anyone else. So long as it comes together visually and mechanically and for a reasonable amount of money, I'm happy. I wanted it to have a look about it of an old time light motorcycle and it will do that for me.
The only thing different about the sidecar will be some new polishing with the buffer as it has dulled some since last summer. The seat cushions in black elk hide tend to dress it up a little and there will be four black raven feathers as a kind of "flag" at the top of the fishing rod "flagpole" at the right rear of the sidecar.
Steve found a neat chromed license plate light at the dump this summer from what must have been on a late forties or early fifties passenger car. The heavy chrome on it is still perfect, so I'm going to turn that into a tail light and add a copper 'jewel light' to each side of the license plate bracket to serve as turn signals. The lenses will be stained glass faceted 'jewels'. I'll document how to fabricate those lights when I make them this winter. That light assembly will go on the sidecar frame between the bike and sidecar. It will be a neat detail. I like it.
I may give the bow of the canoe the copper dragonfly light with amber lens I made last summer, as if it has landed there. Dragonflies have spiritual significance in the world of the American Indian, among other things admired for their predatory speed and agility, admirable traits for a warrior spirit. I'll set it in place and take a picture tomorrow to ask for your opinions (and end up doing what I want anyway).
Also thinking again about using the fake 'speedometer' which is actually an old water temperature gauge from the dump last summer. I would mount that under the front deck piece at the bow of the canoe. It goes from 0-60 degrees with a cool little arrow. Looks like an antique speedometer at a glance. I'll take a picture of that, too, and ask for advice. What fun this stuff is.
You mentioned the in frame gas tank. For now it will get the cylindrical tank I made last summer which is covered in harness leather. If Dan is up to helping me (actually me helping him) make a coffin shaped copper tank for it this winter, then that is what will go there. There will be a number of little copper do dahs on the bike (jewel lights, legs on the center stand), so it will fit in well enough visually, I think. Tim Boelner gave me a sheet of wonderful heavy copper last winter and that will be used to make the tank. Building this bike is not a solo endeavor. Fingerprints of my friends are all over this build.
Originally the bike was going to have a cream colored frame with black fenders, as it had last summer, but now with the addition of the Hiawatha fenders, rear rack and curved fender struts, the black doesn't seem right. I think it will all be cream colored and I'll look in to how to do black pin stripes this winter. Black would be nice as accents I think, and will pick up on the black in the engine, leather work and Indian logo on the back of the canoe. These are all things I think about in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping or dreaming about women, but I'm getting too old for that, I guess. Ha!
Thanks for following along on the thread.
SB