Indian Hiawatha

[silverbear]

Time flies when you're having fun. The last post on this thread was in May and here it is with the end of summer just ahead. 36 degrees here this morning and a fire in the wood stove. Summer is now autumn in the border country.

Since Fasteddy arrived in July for bicycle summer camp we've been involved with adapting the canoe sidecar frame to the 1950 Panther which has also been reworked and is now an "American Flyer". http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=41458
The dog does indeed love her sidecar and I'm now comfortable with it's handling which is much different than a two wheeler as there is no leaning into the turns (mine has fixed mounts). The canoe sidecar frame will not interchange with the Indian Hiawatha as the frames are too different. Modifications had to be made to adapt it to the American Flyer where it will remain. The Indian will have it's tri-car front end mode and two wheeler mode which is enough.

Next up has been work on the 1934 Elgin "Velocipede" making engine mounts utilizing split collars. http://motorbicycling.com/showthread.php?t=30828
We think this is a pretty slick setup for mounting the Villiars engine as it makes no permanent changes to the original Elgin frame. A good bit of thought and fabrication has gone into the jack-shaft needed for the SBP shift kit which is mounted below and slightly forward of the engine and also uses split collars to affix it to the frame. I've also been making a flexible mount sidecar for it out of a 1950's baby buggy with a folding canopy. This build is approaching liftoff once a fitting on the crankshaft has been turned down to accept a one inch bore cast iron pulley. I'm sending that off to Tinsmith tomorrow. While that is in the works there are numerous small, time consuming things to finish up. Also need to send off to England for carburetor parts before starting the engine.

While I've been fiddling with the Elgin Steve has been working on the tri-car front end for the Indian Hiawatha. He had already made up the front axle with spindle housings back in Canada. Now we have the bike front and center on the bike trailer and Steve has been mocking up the front end and measuring once, twice and again and again before welding things up. He has set this up to be removable from the bike so that it can be either a two wheeled light motorcycle or a tri-car. Remove the front fork from one and slide in the frame work for the tri-car in it's place, bolt up the connector underneath by the pedal crank and it becomes a three wheeler.

The photos below bring us pretty well up to date. First up is the American flyer, second in line is the Elgin awaiting parts and the canopy for the buggy. Last is the Indian Hiawatha prior to removing the fork and mocking up the tri-car front end.
(cont.)
SB

 

[silverbear]

Lot's of staring and measuring are in order before the welder gets turned on.
(cont.)
SB

 

[silverbear]

Sorry for the duplicate last photo in the prior post. Here are more in the progression. I'm going to ask Steve to comment on what he's doing here and also post a link to how he made up the original axle and what I call spindle housings at the ends. That's probably not what they are called.
SB

 

[silverbear]

More progress today... These parts get welded together and will fit inside the head tube. Two front forks were cut off so there would be bearings bearing cups, threaded ends and nuts to hold the handlebars above and connect to the tri-car framework below. Holes are drilled part way to give more weld points.
(cont.)
SB

 

[silverbear]

It's coming together. More photos tomorrow as work progresses.
SB

 

[silverbear]

Steve bent the side support pieces by hand and did a nice job of matching them up. This is a pretty close approximation of what the original supports looked like back when.

The fourth photo shows the end of the tubing beefed up with a bolt welded inside so that there is more material to weld to the larger and thicker tubing.

From a design viewpoint I like the sweep of the side supports which echo the similar sweep of the front down tube.

It's coming along!
SB

 

[Tinsmith]

Quite a contraption you guys are into! Looks good.
Dan

 

[truckd]

Wow! Wowy!! Wowser!!

 

[silverbear]

Thanks for the comments. Steve finished up what he can at this point. The tri-car frame is done and mounts easily to the Indian Hiawatha. With the end of summer and Steve's return to Vancouver it is time for me to focus on putting up more firewood for the coming long winter. The frame will be painted and tucked away until next summer. It is a long project, indeed.

Last winter Steve made two tri car seats, one for his Indian and one for mine. He had some photos to work from, but was pretty much winging it without having a frame done first. We can see that the lower portion is too big and rides too close to the ground, so the front section leading to the footrest will get raised about four inches and pulled back about ten inches. Steve will do this over the course of the winter.

The first photo I saw of a tri-car was bare, without a seat. Originally either a seat or a box like trunk was available. The trunk was for delivery of goods. In some ways I like it best without anything as a bare frame.

Steve's tri-car frame is different from mine since his is to be in the spirit of the 1903 camel back version with the gas tank behind the seat, while mine was to be more like the later version with the in frame gas tank. Now, of course, mine looks different yet with the Hiawatha fenders. Steve's design of mine compliments the sweeping lines elsewhere on the bike, so it looks elegant to my eye as a bare tri-car frame, reminiscent of art nuveau (sp?) trends in the 1920's and 1930's. I like it and since it's my bike, that's what matters.

He will also be working out the wheel assemblies, spring/spindle deals and the steering arms, making up two sets as he goes. By next summer the bikes should be done. (Famous last words.)

First photo shows a camel back tri-car which is what Steve is going for.
SB

 

[curtisfox]

AWESOME!!!!
Way past the norm were no one else has gone LOVE IT! Its just looking perfict. Steve and you are doing one awesome job. Getting a little envious. I will be selling my lake place so I can consentrate on some more that I want to do. Need to get your forks done soon so you can finish that part of the build..............Curt

 

[truckd]

Nice! Nice! Absolutely Fantastic!,Way cool! well you know! I like it

 

[Tinsmith]

Nice pics SB. Quite the contraption!!
Dan

 

[silverbear]

Thanks, you guys. I took the tir-car front end off and replaced it with the single wheel fork. I want to get the tri-ca frame painted soon to protect it from rust through the winter.

Now I'm in firewood mode, cutting and splitting, stacking and then cutting some more. I don't move too fast at 67, so it takes awhile. One of these days soon I want to see if I can fire up the Sachs engine again to see if all is well with the transmission. Snow and the beginning of winter will come in October sometime, so I'm sandwiching in some nice rides on my American Flyer in between other work. Winter is a good time to tinker with detail stuff on the bikes. Plenty of time to sit and stare, too.
SB

 

[charliechaindrive.]

looking very nice sb, and good luck with the firewood enterprise. the indian is beautiful

 

[silverbear]

Thanks Charlie,
The bikes are tucked away and in hibernation for the winter. I wish I had a nice warm garage with a wood stove in it so I could keep working on them, but that's OK. All things in their seasons. You're now in back to school mode and no doubt gearing up for hunting and then ice fishing. Summer is a long time coming, but it will get here and when it does... woohoo!

The firewood is accumulating. People wonder why I split with an ax when I could rent a log splitter, but this is also my exercise plan. There's a lot of work in felling, bucking the wood up to length, hauling it out of the woods with a wheelbarrow, splitting it and stacking it away. Since I'm cutting standing dead birch it is a slow process, but cleans up the woodlot and gives me free heat at the same time. Some days I'm pretty well beat from this work, but it is good for me and keeps me strong. Use it or lose it. Breathe deep and give thanks for being a tough old bear. And while I'm in hibernation mode this winter with snow falling outside my window I'll be dreaming about the tri-car and the warmth of summer. It's all good; both the work time and the dream time. Keep up with your school studies, bud, and thanks for your nice comments.
SB

 

[Mr.B.]

As my grandfather said- Wood, the fuel that warms you twice!

“-)

 

[charliechaindrive.]

We're allso getting firewood, and there are some humungus spiders hiding in iron wood trees, do you get those blighter's up there, sb? About the size of an average key ring?

 

[silverbear]

Mr. B,
Yes, in that sense I get a whole lot of heat out of my firewood. Ha!

Charlie,
No iron wood trees around here, but plenty of big spiders... not in the trees, though they will hide out in the woodpile. I've referred to them as "wolf spiders" which is what we called them when I was a kid, but my neighbor says they are "dock spiders". Whoever they are I leave them alone unless they are in my space in my place.. or say in the outhouse. Spider bites are no fun I hear.
SB

 

[charliechaindrive.]

Oh jeeze, today we split a old poplar log and probably thirty of the freaks of nature swarmed out. It was enough to make my 53 year old dad turn and run! Then we got a thing of brake kleen and showed them what's happening

 

[Allen_Wrench]

@ charlie: I learned a couple times, down home in Mansfield, that there are a bunch of different animals that will gladly live in a poplar, especially after carpenter ants have quietly hollowed it out. Bees being one kind (yikes!).

@SB: The tadpole project is really looking good! BTW: I'm watching this like a hawk. First chance I get to set aside some of my income tax refund, I'm going to start on my own three-wheeler. But it's going to have a bit more bodywork.

The only place I could probably post it, being NOT a motorized bike, would probably be in the Tavern. But I plan to soon (i.e. before I die) work on an early-twenties styled three-wheel roadster/cycle car. I like the Morgans, but I'd rather enclose the motor and give her cleaner lines. I like the look of a car called the Darmont.

SB, the stuff you're doing with the tadpole is very definitely useful to me. All your effort, as you record it here, is being appreciated and remembered. Keep up the good work.