Indian Tadpole

[fasteddy]

Hi Ralph,

Thank you. I hadn't seen that photo before. I do know they put the "Torpedo" tank on their board track racers to extend the distance they could travel.

I'll add a link to that style as well as a little information tri cars. The bike you pictured is a rare one with the tank and rear seat. I have a photo somewhere that shows the added rear seat on a single cylinder Indian with a tri car. That poor little motor must have been straining when carrying a full load of passengers.

Steve.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...rd-straight/&usg=AOvVaw1t4s6uyE7Zzs4mjQBjeAJ3

 

[Ralph hop]

After once another look of that picture I posted. It looks to me like they added the tanks post era. They don't look quite right to me but being hand built they could all be different.

 

[Ralph hop]

"That poor little motor must have been straining when carrying a full load of passengers." That's a very funny thought to me, haha!

 

[fasteddy]

The bike in the photo you sent doesn't have the usual torpedo tank they added to the board track racers. It may have been made by a metal shop and added. Normally they didn't have a cut out for the front cylinder on any I've seen.

Found a link to the tri car with the rear seat. Scroll down the photos. Click on them to expand them.

Steve.

http://miracleofamericamuseum.org/iron-steeds-and-leather-britches/#

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Interesting Link Steve, in the belt photo frame I have the middle one.
Tom

 

[fasteddy]

Here is the Tri Car as it sits. I'm wondering how it would look with the auxiliary seat added on the back.

Steve

 

[fasteddy]

More photos.

 

[fasteddy]

Always one more photo than allowed. These photos were taken last summer so the gas tank has been changed for the new one and the lettering is on it. I'll get some photos of the new tank with the lettering and compare this tank to the new one.

Small difference but noticeable when they are together.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Hi Tom,

When I was wandering through the previous posts I saw that you mentioned the Thor motorcycles. Thor made engines for early Indian motorcycles. When they wanted to start selling motorcycles Indian sold them their motorcycles and Thor added their own name to them.

Steve.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Steve, just perusing Facebook and saw this.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...rM-PL74LLmuRrTmqp3hX3ZqL4A9TU4uSEuoJS4XeAZtm1

 

[curtisfox]

Some pretty Kool builds for china girl engines, Like then, and the detail.........Curt

 

[fasteddy]

Thank you, Tom. They are some nicely done builds. He blended the China Girl engines into them really well.

Steve.

 

[fasteddy]

Hi Curt,

They are really well done.

Steve.

 

[mason_man]

Always one more photo than allowed. These photos were taken last summer so the gas tank has been changed for the new one and the lettering is on it. I'll get some photos of the new tank with the lettering and compare this tank to the new one.

Small difference but noticeable when they are together.

Steve.

NICE !!!

Ray

 

[fasteddy]

Weather has slowed things down even further. It was 18F last Sunday and didn't get any better for a few days. On Tuesday night we received 6" of snow which tied up the city and us pretty tight. Even the public transit could barely move and the highways and major streets were blocked off. It doesn't take much snow out here.

Wednesday night into Thursday there were gale force winds. We didn't get a lot of that fortunately. The story is that this weekend we will get temperatures of up to 50F and rain. We did see some sun today.

I did get a few photos of the changes in the gas tank. I make three at a time just to use up the tank liner. Made them slightly taller on the sides where it meets the bike frame and lowered the bottom of the tank 5/8" to improve the lines where the tank meets the fender. Lowered the fender 3/4" to make the fender to tire gap closer.

I mover the filler cap further back in the new tanks and added a longer mounting tad where the back of the tank meets the fender.

The tank cap and the gas filler neck are Home Depot items found in the plumbing section. The filler neck is a pipe reducer bushing. I smoothed the inside threads off. The cap is a cap used to close off garden hoses when they are not in use so nothing can get inside them.

That's part of why the build has taken so long. I can't leave well enough alone. It's done and if it does warm up I cut some metal to make the lever to hold the clutch lever open and it just a wait until we get a decent sunny day to get it outside to run it.

Steve.

 

[PeteMcP]

Steve, your "can't leave well enough alone" statement just translates as "if a job's worth doing, do it right". We're pretty much all guilty of back-tracking and re-doing stuff to a better standard on our builds - especially us folks who build stuff from a picture in our head, or a photo, rather than from a set of blueprints. I know for certain I've done exactly that on most every thing I've ever built. Nothing to feel guilty about. Your Tadpole will be all the better for all the tweaks it's had along the way.
Waiting for your weather window in anticipation... but be assured none of us following along with your build are holding you to any deadline.

 

[Mr.B.]

The bike in the photo you sent doesn't have the usual torpedo tank they added to the board track racers. It may have been made by a metal shop and added. Normally they didn't have a cut out for the front cylinder on any I've seen.

Found a link to the tri car with the rear seat. Scroll down the photos. Click on them to expand them.

Steve.

http://miracleofamericamuseum.org/iron-steeds-and-leather-britches/#

Pete Youngs article about Pillion seats-
https://occhiolungo.wordpress.com/2012/08/16/pre-wwi-pillion-seats/

 

[fasteddy]

I just watched this.

Steve.

https://www.youtube.com/attribution...u=/watch?v=lf_M1BYBiZc&feature=em-uploademail

 

[fasteddy]

Steve, your "can't leave well enough alone" statement just translates as "if a job's worth doing, do it right". We're pretty much all guilty of back-tracking and re-doing stuff to a better standard on our builds - especially us folks who build stuff from a picture in our head, or a photo, rather than from a set of blueprints. I know for certain I've done exactly that on most every thing I've ever built. Nothing to feel guilty about. Your Tadpole will be all the better for all the tweaks it's had along the way.
Waiting for your weather window in anticipation... but be assured none of us following along with your build are holding you to any deadline.

Thanks Pete. My mother was from Birmingham and she always said the weather here in the winter was like England. Looked at the 14 day forecast and other than a couple of days {maybe} it will rain until the end of the month. At least the snow is melting.

We had a commercial back East in the early 1960's for a muffler/silencer shop and the owner would be on camera wiping his hands and saying "It not finished until Mother says it's finished." then they would pan the camera over to Mother who was inspecting his work with a clip board in one hand and a pen in the other.

Steve.

 

[Tom from Rubicon]

Tuned by ear, love it. Thanks Steve.
My grandfathers WD Allis Chalmers died in the field when we were trans planting tobacco seedlings. The distributor must have shifted and it would not run. Being horse power people it stayed inert until a local mechanic came and adjusted the timing. It was all magic to us, but ran perfectly there after to complete my grandfathers 1 acre cash crop.
Tom