Silverbear,
Got down to the U.S. yesterday and picked up everything for the jack shaft I couldn't find here and the parts I ordered that were at the mail drop off. Went to Harbour Freight across from Lowe's where I got the bronze bearings and looked at the hand carts.
You will need to narrow the canoe down as you said and shortening it will probably be a must as well. The hand carts are a neat, inexpensive way to built a frame and if it needed widening it should be easy to cut the top of the frame and slip a inch or two of tubing and weld some tubing across the back instead of leaving the cargo blade it place or trim the blade so it is narrower and use the excess to widen the blade.
The Watsonian sidecar thread was great I thought. There is so much detail there that I've never seen in other threads that it would simplify a built and you could make it look authentic.
I think the plate that attaches the bike to the sidecar is pretty easily made as well. I may be able to tell you how easily, shortly. My sidecar was going to be a Watsonian knock off until my brother mentioned the mahogany stash he had. I would still like to make one.
Yes Sir, I'm still on the hunt for the main stand. this is getting fun! found a couple extra things. and thats a good thing. Keep us posted of missing pieces when you can SB.
Thanks for the positive comments and for your interest, you guys. I have been busy with other things lately, last big fishing trip of the season and firewood, but I have been thinking about the build. I've decided I don't have a handlebar that I both like the shape of and which is not raised in the central mounting point. This fork requires a bar of equal diameter from one end to the other which limits the options some. I like a bar with a good reach so I can ride comfortably upright. I'll order something soon.
I've also been fooling around with an idea for a lay back seat post, but have not yet pulled out the mig welder. I am a newbie welder and tend to burn holes in things or never get good enough penetration for a really strong weld, so I need to do some practice stuff. The photos show what I have in mind. A standard Schwinn type seat post is cut in half and the intent is to weld the seat post section into a cast iron water pipe elbow vertically and the other section into it horizontally. I'm grinding out the threads so that the post sections go inside the fitting a couple of inches, thinking it will make the union stronger. Hope it works. Is the seat post strong enough to hold a circus bear without bending? Don't know.
SB
I don't know about that seat post. I thought most of the laid back one's had a solid horizontal piece. If you are looking for that style scout out some old bmx bikes. A lot of the early cruiser stuff came back around when bmx came out. Looped frames, laid back seats, crossbars, fat tires. you should find a piece of pipe that fits in the seat post hole and just thread it into a 90 degree pipe union and add some thread locker. For the price of materials though you could probably buy a newer laid back post.
You may well be right and I know that a lay-back post is not a high dollar item. But now I have to find out if my screwball idea will work. Nothing lost but a little time and effort if it doesn't. I'm wondering what I might have out in the metal pile that could slip inside the horizontal section to beef it up... some sort of rod from an axle or a bolt maybe. That might do it and give some peace of mind that I won't have saddle sores I wasn't counting on... "seat, don't fail me now!" Thanks for your concern.
SB
As for the MIG welding, I can say neither of the pieces of metal is that thin, but the thickness difference has quite a variance. For my attempt to make a big gas generator with a 7hp engine less noisy, I got an automobile muffler and made connections between the output of the muffler on the gen-set to a pipe. Then the pipe eventually went to connect between a black iron water pipe connection and the automobile muffler. So that the pieces to be welded were more of a similar thickness, I used a threaded nipple screwed into the cast black iron water pipe. Then the automobile muffler fit over the nipple almost snug enough. I had to shim it with some flat sheet of steel wrapped around the nipple. I jammed it together and was ready to weld. It went fine. Only thing is that the automobile muffler required higher pressure to do much silencing so it was $15 bucks for the muffler now not returnable.
Just thought I’d mentioned this if welding was the only way and if over heating the thin part was a problem. I found a generator another person was using and noted it to be the same size of engine and some how the muffler was amazingly better. If I were to find the part I could buy from the mfr, I might weld something to make it attach to my gen-set if it does not fit otherwise. Note, neither my generator nor the other has an engine enclosure for quieting, but the different mufflers were worlds apart in how well they worked. The one on the other engine was actually smaller. I have to look to see if I can attain the muffler in the picture I took of this other generator. I may buy two of them, one also for my motor bike!
A bit of an update. The "kindalikeawhizzer" is now inside my trailer in what used to be the bedroom... now a work space for stained glass and the bike project. For the winter I will sleep on a cot near the wood stove where it will be warm even in below zero temps. At 20 or 40 below the bedroom is an icebox with the north wind blowing against it. I found an art table at the dump, so it is my worktable. At least I'll have a spot to work out of the weather... woohoo!
That feather chain guard sure looks nice, doesn't it! Schwinn had some great designs back in the day. As soon as the Indian summer weather ends and things turn phooey I'll mount the sheave to see how that looks. Need to find my zip ties so that I can locate the engine in the frame. I held it up and it will fit OK with not a lot of room to spare. There won't be much room for the air filter. Fasteddy will be sending the motor mount pretty soon (no rush, Steve).
I'm excited... this is going to be a great bike!
SB
How did you know? It is true enough it is cold and dark out here by the mailbox Why you must be psychotic! How did you know? Wow, that's awesome, dude. Really, no hurry. Hunger and thirst is not really a problem. I think of it as a kind of vision quest, waiting for the mailman lady to finally make delivery. No hurry.
SB
Thought I'd mount the sheave this afternoon just to see how it looks. Something isn't right. It appears to me that my spoke pattern is not compatible with the spoke attachment hardware or I'm doing something wrong. Any suggestions? I'm guessing that it is in the way I have laced the wheel. The rim is 26" Schwinn. Hubs are Atom, spokes are for Whizzer.
I dread the thought of re-lacing the wheel into a different pattern as the wheel is true and with another pattern I don't think the spokes would be the right length... too long . Is there another way to attach the sheave to the spokes?
SB
Hang on SB I'll post an alternate way to mount the pulley when I find the photo. I like your strong cross four pattern. It's just that the large flange hub puts the spokes at a different place than the grooves in the clips.
I use cable clips on my pulleys that won't accept the clips that come with it. I get them at the lawnmower shop and a little grinding down of one of the legs of the clips allows for a good tight clamp. You can have them face all the same direction, or turn them opposite from each other. Which ever way will reach your spokes.