Old Dog, New Tricks

S

Scootmeister

Member
Several of you made constructive suggestions for improving the Red Hornet. Thank you for these great ideas. One was to lower the springer seat for a better center of gravity and improved look. Even though I am 6'2", the ride is actually better. Another suggestion was to ditch the red vintage headlight and re-install the Chrome headlight. I agree that it looks better, and I wired the dual bulbs to burn at the same time for an extra bright light. The best upgrade was to replace my homemade freewheel with a heavy duty one from Sick Bike Products. It has a sealed bearing and a rubber seal to keep dirt and crud out. I can change the sprocket for different gearing, and the 206mm lower cartridge from Sick is tight and true. To compensate for the shorter chain I installed an adjuster that pulls the engine up once the mounts are loosened to tighten the chain just right. Finally, I replaced the KMC "Z" chains with KMC 415H chains. These drive train improvements increased my top end by 3 MPH in high gear. .shft.
 

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That's a fine looking machine, sir. I'll bet it rides as good as it looks. Congratulations on a beautiful build.
Tom
 
Thanks, 2 Door. It is a lot of fun to ride, especially in local parades. The kiddies like the color and the funky horn! Other people generally don't know what to think of it because there aren't any other MBs around here. I wish there were rallies and swap meets in the area. I usually ride with the Cushmans and vintage scoots, Vespas, Whizzers. The two best things about the ride other than the uniqueness is the springer suspension and the upgraded disc brakes. Avid BB7s are fantastic and larger discs make a huge difference over 160mm ones. Thanks for your interest.
 
thats a nice looking ride , I have the same brakes on mine an stopps on a dime an gives ya 9 cents change , an sbp makes some real quality parts an accessories .
 
Thanks for your interest TheGNU. Yeh, I like to go fast, but I like to stop too. Went through enough shoe soles trying to stop when I was a kid!!!!!!! I appreciate the info on this forum related to the quality of components. It's a crap shoot when you buy stuff online, it's nice to have input on quality from folks who have actually used the stuff. Do you have a good photo of your Avatar? .wee.
 
Thanks, Mautis. Glad you like it. If I quit changing things, I might get it done one of these days!! Hey Gary, I checked out your trike, it looks great. I especially like the front wheel and the tank. Did you use 10 gauge spokes? I put a Staton engine kit (Robin Suburu) on my neighbors Sun Trike and had to convince her to take it slow in turns. She's 80+ and wanted to go faster. I'll track your progress on your thread. I'm sure your wife is anxious to hit the road with you. Scoot
 
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