Old Guys Simplex moto-peddle bike

EZL said:
I can't wait to see the photos of this one!
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This is how it turned out.
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One BIG problem with a mega thread is that context and content get buried in the thread. To those who just now are signing in old builds such as this one require some study of this thread to find photos and info, but since I continually modify past projects such as this Simplex style race profile that I call the "Copper gator" I feel it necessary to keep the thread material in one place. Even this Simplex build has been modified several times over the years. The photo shown above is over a year behind the actual bikes current presentation. The "Sportsman Flyer's Indian style handlebars are now mounted on a stem that is much lower than shown above and I've made mods to mount a sidecar in the future...so stay tuned 'cause the "Copper gator" is an ongoing effort as are five of my other bikes displayed in this thread. I have another half dozen bikes that aren't really described in any great, if any, detail in this thread and I don't plan to add them in the future. All run well but I've relegated them to display status for now. Even the electric V-Twin is in the house for the winter. Though I ride my bikes daily I've decided to trim my every day bikes down to four until next spring these include my Grubee hybrid, fat tire electric, full suspension mountain bike electric and one non-motorized single speed pedal bike.

All my bikes have been ridden extensively through the years. I don't build trailer queens for bike shows. Nothing wrong with show bikes or those that produce them I'm just saying that's not what I do. I don't sell my motos either so they accumulate over the years and I'd prefer to place them on display in my home than let them gather dust in storage. I enjoy looking at them and my guests seem to gravitate to them, no matter how many times they've seen them. They seem to really enjoy not only the bikes but the history and stories I have about each one.

I hope this post isn't taken as boasting rather as a simple explanation, especially to the friends I've made on this forum, of my intent. Building moto bikes is a great hobby at any level, yet riding daily and year round is my passion.

Thanksgiving blessings from the Old Guy once more, have a safe, enjoyable time on this very special day of thanks.

I plan on a table full of turkey and fixings & eating my fill while enjoying the company of family and friends.

Rick C.
 
My favorite quote from the movie Escanaba in da Moonlight by the character Albert Soady.
"If you don't know where to start, go back to da beginnin"
To late followers, indian22 as he says is a anthology One hundred and thirty two pages of a man on a two wheel mission.
Go back to the beginning. You won't regret it, and you might learn something.
Tom
 
Tom from Rubicon said:
My favorite quote from the movie Escanaba in da Moonlight by the character Albert Soady.
"If you don't know where to start, go back to da beginnin"
To late followers, indian22 as he says is a anthology One hundred and thirty two pages of a man on a two wheel mission.
Go back to the beginning. You won't regret it, and you might learn something.
Tom
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Thanks Tom it is a long read and yes it became a mission along the way, just happened. I do hope that my insights, many gained by my own mistakes, can help both beginners and old hands building motor bikes with tips and trips along the way. Many such as yourself started with great tools and metal working skill sets yet most begin with bare minimal hand tools and varying mechanical aptitude. I hope to inspire both and present some examples of basic assembly of off the shelf bicycles with kit motors both gas and electric power. There are a few advanced level builds presented, in some detail, as well.

The main things I'd like to pass along is encouragement to get involved and start on a build at the level you feel confident of completing. The how to is available in this great forum if you read old threads from ten years or so you will pick up basic bike kit assembly with off the shelf bicycles and basic China girl 2 stroke kit motors & parts. It's fun reading for anyone and reveals both how to and what not to try as well.

During the years many great parts were manufactured that really simplified the process of building a more dependable and safer bike. Now you can buy these parts on line for far less than I can fabricate in a machine shop.

To borrow Tom's quote here going back to the beginning of my thread is just a part of the study. Go back to the threads of the forum as well.
Building a motor bike with poor foundations will not be a great experience for you. innovate only after you've investigated what comprises a good basic bike build and completed at least one fully functional motor bicycle.

Building and riding are equally important rewards for getting started in riding motorized bikes of any style and powered by your choice of motor gas, electric, 2 stroke or 4, hub drive electric or mid drive with gears or without. Big horsepower or minimal all are fun to build and ride when well fabricated.

Blessings to all and enjoy the process of making this a big part of your lifestyle. I ride daily year round and in this time of closure and the general anxiety that surrounds many of us having a pastime that allows me the open air freedom of a daily ride and a positive shop time engagement in designing and building a new bike or in making alterations to an old build are activities that lift my spirits and empower me to broaden my skills to create whatever I can imagine. These are positive mood boosters that I can encourage anyone to do.

Build and ride safe and have a great day of Thanksgiving!

Rick C.
 
EZL said:
Thanks for the photo! That's a real nice build done expertly have a nice Thanksgiving and Christmas!
PS, I've been eating turkey for the last two days and I will be working on the bird tonight after that it's
going into the freezer for Christmas.:)
Dennis
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Thanks Dennis my thought on reading your post and those of others around the time of Thanksgiving were and are focused on the daily blessings of this life. We are inundated with negative commentary regarding every aspect of living absolutely hammered daily by press and individuals on subject matter regarding our health, society, politics and economics. To pause for just a single day to consider how blessed we truly are even during really bad situations was refreshing & being refreshed I determined to daily give thanks for the great things of life and to discount the gloom and doom mentality that we are being force fed. I'm not discounting the reality of what is occurring in our collective lives yet I am refusing to constantly and dwell on the negative preferring the peace that that focusing on the many positive blessings of life brings. Being happy is really only possible in the absence of fear.

Peace and joy to you all and keep on riding and building or at least occupy yourself in the planning and collecting parts or for future rides on days that allow you to get outside

I'm still having fun.

Rick C.
 
The "great conjunction" of 2020 eve was brilliant on 12-20 2020 at 20:00 hr. last evening with the ultra clear sky. The main event tonight and I'll go for a ride to coincide again. Winter soltice 2020 is one I think merits some notice, though I see little merit in reading anything into it's significance except for it's actually reality. I'll need to be about a mile west of town to get a few hundred feet of elevation to observe it just above the horizon and to avoid town lights as it sets in the west. Would be nice to have a Celestron scope with full camera setup as it is cell phone is what I've got and binoculars for viewing. Just a good opportunity to get out on a nice evening ride actually. I'll take my ol' electric "Pug Ugly" as transport so I can hear the Coyotes sing.

This celestial event is a definite highlight for astronomical viewing. Looking up is a wonderful thing to lift ones spirits!

Have a great Christmas season.

Rick C.
 
I wanted to get my custom seats for my boats, with the foam I cut with the hot wire jig going as I last said in my thread. So as to get starting to sew up using one of two machines I have, I got side tracked with BBQing and other. Finally, yesterday I was getting all the material & tools and cleaning up while the pair, Jupiter and 4 major moons coinciding closely with Saturn and when I went to look, I only saw Mars. Yep, I even heard on the local radio station to get outside right away and view it, as I kept cleaning. Oh well. But I just came in from outside now after viewing my Orion Schmidt Cassegrain the event. Clouds were taking a bit of time to pass, but I just used the time to get the 1 tracking motor going at the right speed and focus in right as intermittently I could see. Yesterday I never broke it down and put in the case, just left it all assembled. The correlation between the cross hairs in the finder scope to the main tube stayed in sync, so that saved me time. All the major moons of Jupiter seen as well. My pictures with a cell phone don’t do justice to what I saw, but at least 2 of Jupiter’s moons can be seen near it. And rings of Saturn make an oblong cigar shape on a tilt. Hope things going right for all.
 

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I finally cleared some space in the garage by moving a half dozen bikes into my home. I primarily ride the hybrid Grubee, "Pug ugly", fat electric and the electric mountain bike, yet people are always stopping by to show friends what I build and it's gotten to be a hassle to pull them all outside so often so they can photograph them. I've plenty of room to display them in my house so that's my "why" and with four bikes which I can now easily get to in the single car garage I can ride them all more often and I've enough room to also work inside the garage more often.

I drained all the fuel from the bikes I moved indoors. I do enjoy looking at them as well, memories with each on from fabricating and fun rides etc.
for me this was a better solution than remote storage and no one getting to view them. If I get to the point of wanting to ride one it's a simple to
move one out for awhile.

I'll group them better eventually, but this is it for now in one room, others here and there till I get some interior painting completed on woodwork.

Rick C.



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house bikes.jpg
 
Nothing like a climate controlled storage space Rick.
Mona let me build my Huffy-Davidson on the snack bar of our walkout downstairs family room, and later through various stages of the Flyer build. The latter was banished to my machine shop never to return when her lady friends came for a visit. Wall rack full of guns, no problamo, artfully displayed knife collection, no problamo. Motored bikes banished from the house for good. I really don't regret Mona's position. except I don't keep a supply of of cold beer in the shop.
Minor electrical miss management thang, I have worked around for fourteens years now.
But now I am on the Bum. I have everything in shop to go from using a 2phase to 3phase converter, to driving a big a$$ 3phase motor with full 3phase output. Beer refrigerator will wait.
Modine furnace is set at 60F in the shop. Doable with leather gloves on. Splitting kindling also gets the circulation going.
I may have to cut and paste so of this to my Tavern thread to keep it current.
Stay well Amigos
Tom
 
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