one more 40's Colson to add to the fleet.

suicide brake lever would be pretty scary on a motored bike. looks cool for a rat, though.

sam, i got my 24" when i went to look at another bike that was on craigslist. didn't like the one he had advertised, but he offered me the colson, and i took it.

the copper bike and this bike i got from ebay as just frames and forks.

the Imperial frame i got from a member here, and the parts were off a colson Vogue ladies bike from ebay.

out of all the bikes, i paid the most for the 1938 Vogue. it was a complete, stored inna basement since 1940, all original bike. all the parts were interchangeable with the man's frame. i paid 99.99 for that and $160 for shipping from New York.
 
finally getting back to work on this one. i've been pedaling the bike all summer as a beach cruiser, but it's cold now, so it's time to hot rod it out.

installed a 30t steel motorcycle sprocket for a 41 chain and mocked up the motor with my new mount.

it's getting the backwards treatment, the aermacchi head with tiny squish band, and a Mikuni carb (after i make a custom intake).

a buddy of mine said he wanted to weld me up a tank, so i'm waiting on building a copper one for now.

if i can make it work, this bike's gonna have gears. nothing like you've seen or thought of before, neither...;)

i'm thinkin', this bike might be going to Bonneville next year. seriously...
 

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just realized i've changed a lot of this since i last posted, so here's the list:

the rear shimano hub got changed out to an NOS Sachs Komet Super hub with a skiptooth sprocket. then i added an NOS sprocket up front and an NOS Diamond skiptooth chain, too.

i dumped the futile front coaster brake mod and re-laced a new Sturmey Archer 70mm drum/Dynohub into it, so i can run lights with no batteries.

added some fenders, since it was my daily beach pedaler, i didn't want my back all splashed up with scum. they're the same aluminum fenders i used on the black and Copper Colson Flyer i built. i like them, so they're staying.

i think that's it. now you're up-to-date.
 
got the tank almost done, just gotta do a little more clean-up work and blow it up a little to pop the top back out.

the petcock's up front because the carb's going in the front, so the fuel line is gonna run along the downtube.
it holds a little less than a half gallon, but i wanted it more streamlined than my other colson tanks.


need to get longer studs for the aermacchi head and finish the intake manifold for a Mikuni. also plan on making a motor mount for the head, and changing all the motor mount studs to 8mmx1.25.

not sure what i'm gonna use for an exhaust. the one that came with the kit was unusable. one of the mounting holes was made out of a weld, and wouldn't bolt up to the engine. i kinda want to go with the stock exhaust and the supertrapp again. works great and has a mean sound. might just break down and get an expansion chamber...

anyways...
 

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Tank looks perfect and your paint compliments it nicely. Love the cool looking head... has kind of an art deco look to it and sure sets it apart from the standard China Girl. Another piece of art taking form here...
SB
 
silverbear said:
Tank looks perfect and your paint compliments it nicely. Love the cool looking head... has kind of an art deco look to it and sure sets it apart from the standard China Girl. Another piece of art taking form here...
SB
Click to expand...

Dang SB I didnt even notice that. Bairdco what type of head is that and is it made to be a 3rd mount like some of the old Harley heads were?
 
it's from an old Harley M50 Aermacchi bike. got it off ebay for 10 bucks. same mounting holes, but it's got a way smaller squish band.

here's an aermacchi:

harley-davidson-m50-aermacchi-scooter.jpeg


and here's the squish compared to the stock head:

19845d1265250148-hybrid-chinese-motors-performance-tuning-heads-002.jpg
 
Mark, i use silver solder. i've experimented with the cheap acid-core no flux stuff, it'd work, but it seems to turn a dull color, and doesn't seem to flow as well.
 
bairdco said:
Mark, i use silver solder. i've experimented with the cheap acid-core no flux stuff, it'd work, but it seems to turn a dull color, and doesn't seem to flow as well.
Click to expand...
Yea high content lead does dull up pretty bad. I have made several roof caps from copper for chimneys and it would be too expensive to use silver solder so we used 50tin/50lead or 70 tin/ 40 lead with paste acid as a flux. It still dulls but not so bad and flows well if you have a good surface that is fluxed well.

Here is a link:

70% tin / 30% lead solder

Thanks for the info bairdco.
 
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built a manifold for a 14mm Mikuni today.

cut the flanges from 1/4" aluminum plate and heated and bent an aluminum pipe.

alumiwelded it all together.

messed up on the angle, the carb points downward slightly. it should still run, but i'll probably fix it. i think i can just heat up one of the flanges and turn it a little. i dunno, though. alumiweld doesn't seem to like being re-worked. if i have to, i'll cut another one out.

clears my cranks, feet, and fender by a few inches.

if all this stuff works, this bike's gonna scream...
 

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got it running today.

fired up first try, even without a choke or a tickler (the choke on the Mikuni is cable operated and not hooked up.)

it won't idle at all, probably because the carb is pointing down and all the gas pours out of the throat. but when i took a wide right turn, i thought the thing was gonna powerslide out! it's got a ton of power, a ton of compression, and once it's dialed in, it should go at least... well... really really fast.

it'll pull off the line without pedaling, even with the 30t rear. and i mean pull, not just sputter away. can't wait till the carb's jetted right.

when i got home, my petcock was jammed, then the knob broke off so i had to change it out. this put a hairline crack in the tank, so i gotta re-solder that.

once i get it all dialed in, then it's getting stripped back down, the frame's getting polished and the fenders are getting dulled.

going for a speed/show bike.

i'm holding off on pictures till it's all pretty'd up.
 
Do you have a flat topped or dome piston with that motor Bairdco? Reason I ask is I am curious if you are going to run into any detonation problems? I bet it's perfect with a flat topped piston.
 
I am up at a higher elevation than you 5000 foot above sea level. You will certainly get away with more than me at sea level!. My MM billet head has a little bigger hemi shape in it. I would have to post a pict of it I guess to covey what I mean.
 
it's a dome top piston. and it hits. or hit, anyways. so i grinded the head out a little so it wouldn't hit no more. total backyard experimentation style.

i built another manifold today so the carb sits level, but i think it's too much carb for the bike. i thought it was a 14mm mikuni, but it's a 16mm. i dunno what it came off of, i found it at a swap meet fo 5 bucks, new.

i had it up and running just before dark, but it bogs at anything more than half throttle.

with the carb and the head, i've got too many variables at once to troubleshoot, so tomorrow i think i'm gonna put the stock head back on. if it runs any better, then i can tune the carb so it stays running, then swap the head back and re-tune for that.

if it doesn't run better, i'll build a manifold for the stock carb, put the stock head on, and tune it, then add the head, and then the carb.

i know the carb's probably gotta be re-jetted and adjusted, but i need to make sure the bike runs fine and eliminate any other possible problems.

y'know, gotta do it the right way, instead of slapping a bunch of different parts on, then asking "why doesn't my bike run?"
 
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