Silverbear's American Flyer #2

[silverbear]

Silver Bear, the bike is apart. No trouble and that surprised me.
Hope to have the new compressor hooked up and running in a couple of days.

Thanksgiving here today but I'll get someone to help me get the pictures on Picasa tonight. Found a lot of new parts so I can save on the chrome.

Steve.

A new compressor, cool! I have a kind of small one, a 3 hsp pancake type with a too small air tank. Still, it is handy for blowing part clean, airing up the tires and I did paint one bike with a smallish paint gun. Yeah, I know that having chroming done is really expensive, so it's good you found parts.
If you need any help with the picasa, let me know and I'll try to help. It's like math problems when I was a kid... once you know how to do it its easy.
I'm hoping for some clear weather tomorrow in order to finish up a couple things outside with the bikes. I have a little bit of frame stripping yet on the 39 Elgin and would like to strip the chain guard for the 50 DX Schwinn. It came in the mail Saturday and is in pretty good shape... a few bends and dinks to address. I'm hoping to shoot both with primer before the day is out. Also have to shut down my plumbing line for the season and pull the well pump, so I'm trying to beat winter weather which has been in evidence with snow and lots of wind the past few days. I finished covering the gas tank in leather for the DX and I also covered both hand grips in leather to match. I like them and am thinking that I may paint the Elgin in something close to the original color. Under the yellow camouflage it was a creamy beige color with dark brown or black trim. I was trying to picture that with a black engine, brown elk hide seat, a brwon leather covered cylindrical tank behind the seat and matching hand grips. I think it might look pretty classy.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear, my bro, God Bless him took some of his severance pay when his company folded and he retired and bought some heavy duty tools. This thing has an 80 gal tank and three piston pump. It could run a service station.

Yes I can imagine the weather is about done there. At least you have a place to leave to that is a little less harsh. Do the bikes go with you?

Like the colour your planning for the other bike. That is to me restfull.

I figured that what the chrome bits will cost me to buy is a fair bit less that having them done. The nest egg has about hatched and flown off. The last couple of hundred and then it's over but the work.

Had a lot of trouble with the sight the last day and a half. I couldn't log on because it said I wasn't a member and then didn't like my pass word. Got a new pass word, tried to use it and no go then another one, barely got on then that was no good then tried tonight and it worked so I think the Mods worked it over for me. Everything else worked. Could get messages but couldn't answer them. Strange doings.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Silver Bear, my bro, God Bless him took some of his severance pay when his company folded and he retired and bought some heavy duty tools. This thing has an 80 gal tank and three piston pump. It could run a service station.

Yes I can imagine the weather is about done there. At least you have a place to leave to that is a little less harsh. Do the bikes go with you?

Like the colour your planning for the other bike. That is to me restfull.

I figured that what the chrome bits will cost me to buy is a fair bit less that having them done. The nest egg has about hatched and flown off. The last couple of hundred and then it's over but the work.

Had a lot of trouble with the sight the last day and a half. I couldn't log on because it said I wasn't a member and then didn't like my pass word. Got a new pass word, tried to use it and no go then another one, barely got on then that was no good then tried tonight and it worked so I think the Mods worked it over for me. Everything else worked. Could get messages but couldn't answer them. Strange doings.

Steve.

Yes, these computers and the internet are great unless something doesn't work. I've come to depend upon this machine which is my substitute telephone for communicating with people, my sorta tv set, where I watch DVDs, my electronic newspaper and my own public library. When it is down, so am I. Kinda like these bikes with the HT motor... fun while riding, not so fun pedaling a short crank single speed heavyweight home with a broken this or that. Let me know about the picasa if you have trouble with it. I recently taught myself how to lift bike pictures off of eBay. They came up with something to discourage that, but I found a way. Sneaky old fart.
I'll take a picture later of the grips and tank in leather. Your compressor sounds pretty serious. My oldest brother had a body shop and a really nice compressor that was his baby... treated that thing right, he did. He died a good many years ago. I think he would have found what I'm doing of interest. I sure could use his welding and painting skills.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear, looked up the Workman wheels and could not find them. Any special place to look?

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

130336715593

130336716374

Above are the eBay item numbers for the two wheels. Paste or type the first set of numbers into the little 'search' spot and one will come up. Then do it with the other set of numbers and the second item will come up.
Another way to do it is to type in Worksman bicycle 26" wheel and it should bring up both of them. There are two days left and no bids so far, but typically the bids will come up right near the end.
I use a sniping tool which places my bid automatically in the last few seconds of the auction. That way if I am distracted or something has come up or I just plain forgot I can bid without watching the item until the last minute or so, hoping my internet connection doesn't crap out on me. Much less stressful this way. If you want the sniping site, let me know. I can snipe bid on three items per week for free. I imagine it has also saved me a good deal of money. Your bid works the same way as placing it manually. You put in your maximum bid and may be outbid already or you will pay the next increment up from the second highest bidder. In a sense it is similar to a silent bid auction. In the end it is as always... the highest bidder wins. Let me know if you have trouble finding the items.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear, thank you. I talked to the fellow with the Workman wheels and he is good enough to box them and send them to me. Takes a little extra paper work. Are you going to buy any?

Now things are a little quieter here I can try and explain the idea I have for the side car.
First look up McMaster-Carr they are an incredable company. You will see why if you have never looked them up. Go to power transmission on the side bar. I'm going to use the ball joint rod ends as the pivot point for the side car. They will,I hope provide an up and down and back and forth motion.

Going with the plan the guy in England had on the side car site. My nephew has a bunch of 1 1/2 in. square tubing that would be perfect for the frame. I will try and plug the ends with square steel stock that has a threaded hole in it and turn the tie rod ends into it so I have some ability to adjust the side car if it isn't running true.
Thinking a bar from the seat post to the side car with a tie rod end at each end and a pipe inside a pipe with a stop on it to limit the travel would allow you to lean in either direction and prevent me from falling over.

To attach the side car to the bike I'm thinking a vertical U shaped channel on the rear wheel axle and one just behind pedals held in place by a U bolt. Put a small piece of pipe through the tie rod end and a bolt through that and the U channel. Maybe some grease fittings and I think your in business.

The side car that I have planned will be a box about 3' long x2 1/2' wide x 2 1/2' high with a lift lid and some fastners to hold it shut from the 50s era and painted a creame and black to match the bike. Maybe letter it as if it was a service/delivery bike for a Monark Bike dealer.
Should be able to carry a lot of stuff in it

Well Sir thats my plan for better or worse. If you see room for improvement please say so.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Silver Bear, thank you. I talked to the fellow with the Workman wheels and he is good enough to box them and send them to me. Takes a little extra paper work. Are you going to buy any?

Now things are a little quieter here I can try and explain the idea I have for the side car.
First look up McMaster-Carr they are an incredable company. You will see why if you have never looked them up. Go to power transmission on the side bar. I'm going to use the ball joint rod ends as the pivot point for the side car. They will,I hope provide an up and down and back and forth motion.

Going with the plan the guy in England had on the side car site. My nephew has a bunch of 1 1/2 in. square tubing that would be perfect for the frame. I will try and plug the ends with square steel stock that has a threaded hole in it and turn the tie rod ends into it so I have some ability to adjust the side car if it isn't running true.
Thinking a bar from the seat post to the side car with a tie rod end at each end and a pipe inside a pipe with a stop on it to limit the travel would allow you to lean in either direction and prevent me from falling over.

To attach the side car to the bike I'm thinking a vertical U shaped channel on the rear wheel axle and one just behind pedals held in place by a U bolt. Put a small piece of pipe through the tie rod end and a bolt through that and the U channel. Maybe some grease fittings and I think your in business.

The side car that I have planned will be a box about 3' long x2 1/2' wide x 2 1/2' high with a lift lid and some fastners to hold it shut from the 50s era and painted a creame and black to match the bike. Maybe letter it as if it was a service/delivery bike for a Monark Bike dealer.
Should be able to carry a lot of stuff in it

Well Sir thats my plan for better or worse. If you see room for improvement please say so.

Steve.

No, I'm not buying anything right now, but trying to get together enough for travel money to drive 1200 miles east to western Maryland in another few weeks. Bikeworldusa is more within my budget. I'm glad to hear that you have things arranged with the seller.
The sidecar sounds very interesting and well thought out. I'll be very interested to follow your progress with both the Monarch and the side car. The combination will be a real head turner. Cream and black sounds good.
My brass fire extinguisher came today and it would be fine if it were bigger. But it isn't and won't work out. Looks like Rockenstein's apple juice gas tank approach is the way to go. I'll be fabricating this winter, working on stripping elgin fenders today. Back to work.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear, any idea what the workman wheels are worth new?

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Silver Bear, any idea what the workman wheels are worth new?

Steve.

I don't, but I do know that you pay a fair amount extra for the drum brake on a new bike from worksman. The new front wheel with drum brake from Huffy you can look up. I think with shipping it is over a hundred. That would be a slightly lighter gauge spoke and not quite as wide a tire as a worksman. If you were to post a new thread asking, someone here can tell you what a new Worksman wheel would cost.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Hi Silver Bear, put a post up as you said, found out what the wheels were worth and emailed the owner and asked him if he open the bidding to Canada and he did and then e-bay wouldnt let me bid. They went for $46 dollars I think. New they are $105.00 ea.

I've gone a lot of rounds with Picasa but I'm not on the score board yet. Heck I 'm not even in the score boards shadow yet. I'll get my niece to tell me how.

Started mapping out the side car. This show needs to hit the road.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Hi Silver Bear, put a post up as you said, found out what the wheels were worth and emailed the owner and asked him if he open the bidding to Canada and he did and then e-bay wouldnt let me bid. They went for $46 dollars I think. New they are $105.00 ea.

I've gone a lot of rounds with Picasa but I'm not on the score board yet. Heck I 'm not even in the score boards shadow yet. I'll get my niece to tell me how.

Started mapping out the side car. This show needs to hit the road.

Steve.

Well, that's too bad, but there may be others. They went for a reasonable price, but who knows, that bidder might have placed his silent bid at $75.00 each, in which case they wouldn't have been such a good deal used and with the shipping if you had to pay 76.00 each for them. Auctions are iffy deals.
Have you been able to download your pictures into Picasa? If so, I can lead you through what to do from there. Let me know. I don't mind... used to be a teacher once upona. And when I first started doing photos on the computer and emailing pictures someone kindly helped me learn how to do it. If your niece is handy, that's good too.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Hi Silver Bear, he was rigging that auction for sure.

Thank you for your kind offer. My niece is a sweet heart but at 18 and a first year university student she has a full slate. No room for Uncle.

Being a teacher you would like her. Four.0 grade average throught high school. Speaks French ,Spanish and very good Mandarin{mainland chinese} one of her majors. She also reads and writes these languages. We have a huge Chinese population in Canada, mainly in BC. They moved here when Hong Kong returned to China.

Any one speaking Mandarin and English can write thier own ticket. If you can write it you are a treasure. The Hong Kong and Taiwan Chinese speak Cantonese. A totaly different language altogether.
She speeds through school work as if it is no problem. Her older brother and sister are no slouches but not like her.

She also plays piano and is on her way to becoming a piano teacher,also two different saxaphones and a fairly decent Fiddle and her Dad and I are going to buy a harp kit and finish it for her for christmas. Thats her dream.

I'll load it up tonight and will be calling on you I'm sure. Tegan is upstairs doing home work so other than supper I won't see her again.

Thanks

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Hi Silver Bear, he was rigging that auction for sure.

Thank you for your kind offer. My niece is a sweet heart but at 18 and a first year university student she has a full slate. No room for Uncle.

Being a teacher you would like her. Four.0 grade average throught high school. Speaks French ,Spanish and very good Mandarin{mainland chinese} one of her majors. She also reads and writes these languages. We have a huge Chinese population in Canada, mainly in BC. They moved here when Hong Kong returned to China.

Any one speaking Mandarin and English can write thier own ticket. If you can write it you are a treasure. The Hong Kong and Taiwan Chinese speak Cantonese. A totaly different language altogether.
She speeds through school work as if it is no problem. Her older brother and sister are no slouches but not like her.

She also plays piano and is on her way to becoming a piano teacher,also two different saxaphones and a fairly decent Fiddle and her Dad and I are going to buy a harp kit and finish it for her for christmas. Thats her dream.

I'll load it up tonight and will be calling on you I'm sure. Tegan is upstairs doing home work so other than supper I won't see her again.

Thanks

Steve.

Tegan sounds like quite a girl and certainly more of a student than I ever was. I was a more natural truant than student, skipping for the first time in the third grade. Getting caught that first time did not remove the sweet taste of freedom and I became much better at playing hooky as the years went by. In the end it is why I was sent off to a military school as a high schooler to get "straightened out". I did, too, thanks mainly to discovering the joy of reading. Prior to than I wanted to drop out of school since it wasn't for me, I thought. I even shocked myself by going to college and agreed to teach school upon graduation as a way of erasing student loans. Turned out I was a pretty good teacher and did that for seven or eight years before burning out. I was a high school teacher of English: mostly creative writing, theater and film making. Long time ago. Since the brain trauma resulting from being struck by lightning I've developed dyslexia and if it weren't for spell check I'd be pretty hard to read.
Anyway, I'll be very glad to help with Picasa.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear, yes she is some special. I wasn't a truant only because the parents would have been upset if I did. But I was short shift on school. In grade 8 they gave me an IQ test and the next day another one watched by 3 teachers. I heard IQ and pulled all the stops out.
Day after that I had a circle of teachers yelling at me about did I know how smart I was.
Yep. What do you want out of school. Me. That was just before Easter and after Easter I was in a new vocational school. Silver Bear the sky opened up and to this day I swear I heard Angels singing when they gave me a tour of the school. Woodworking, machine shop.auto body, metal working, auto mechanics, welding and just enough school work to be interesting.
The teachers were saints and the school was all boys. so that took the heat off because there were no girls for our fiendish little minds to dwell on.

Reading! What a joy. Our local library had a 4 book maximum per week as a kid. Guess they didn't want kids losing them so they restricted the limit. I was allowed 12 a week, and they went back every Saturday well read. No thin cheaters either.
One time as I got older I took out the complete works of O Henry, some 1,600 plus pages and was taking it back and my Mother said you haven't read that in a week.
By the time I got through telling the poor woman what the book was about her eye's had glazed over. Took 2 hours but I was never questioned again.
The house rule was I couldn't take the book in the bath room. If they couldn't find me as a kid that was the first place they looked. So ful. so quiet.

Any idea how you survived a lightning bolt? Just not you turn?

Now the odd twist.. The wheel man e-mailed me and said he thought WE could work something out. I guess the question is to who's advantage.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Yes, reading is the best. And this internet is like having the libraries of Alexandria at one's fingertips.
What's the deal with the seller? I thought the wheels were sold to someone else? Does he have more of them or did the buyer flake out? What is the seller's feedback rating? If you do something with him, be careful. If it is through an eBay auction you have some protection, but if it is just between the two of you I'd want to be pretty sure he was legitimate. Have to get moving this morning as I am to cut firewood for a neighbor.
By the way, the small brass fire extinguisher is not a go as a gas tank as it is too small. However, yesterday I was at a truck/tractor supply store and noticed a coleman fuel bottle made of aluminum. I took it with me to the plumbing department and fooled around with hard copper pipe fittings and discovered that a male fitting screwed right in to the bottle top, so that with a couple more angled fittings and then a female threaded end I can make up a gas filler tube with standard copper fittings. The threaded stopper which comes with the bottle threads into the female copper fitting. This is for a tank to go lengthwise between the crossbars on either the Worksman paperboy or the 50 Schwinn straightbar. At the other end I can drill a hole topside and bottom-side for a vent above and fuel line to carb shutoff valve below. I plan to experiment with it when there's time to see if this is a viable option. Also plan to follow Rockenstein's lead on an Applejuice can approach. Fun stuff.
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear, I stayed away from computers up until a year ago because I can and do spend day and night on this thing, keeping in touch with friends I've made, looking things up because if it ever was, someone has written about it.
Kind of a book that never ends.

I talked to the seller when I asked if he had any back wheels and he said that these were take offs from the bike and trikes he had built and he had 5 total. Think he may be or was an electric and gas bike builder and these were take offs from the electric conversions.
His e-bay rating is 100%. He may have, as you said, put a price on them and no one bit and his auto bidding took over. He is going to get a price on shipping them to me and tell me what he wants.

The best part of all this bike flury is watching my brother edge over slowly "spending all your money on the bike " to what does it take to ride one license wise? I might get one.
Here electric is easy but the gas motors are a bit harder to get through. Going up tomorrow to see just what they say about getting an as it's called here, U-bilt, moped licenced.

The aluminum bottle seems to be a great way to go. They should be a quart size I would think and if the bottom could be cut out of two of them and be rewelded, It's double the miles. The really great part is that the copper fittings fit. Super to have small victories

We're going up to the house wreckers tomorrow to get a couple of doors and I'll skim the plumbing section to look for a tank of some sort. Still think Rockensteins tank idea well, rocks. { yes I am ashamed off myself for the cheap pun}.
Had thought about the commercial size cans but that would look like over kill on the back of a bike but what mileage!

When do you leave for Maryland? Love traveling but always found getting started was the hardest. Of course finding the money was never a cinch either.

Got to go and cut some side car parts. The magic elves did not show up once again and now I have to do the work.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Silver Bear, I stayed away from computers up until a year ago because I can and do spend day and night on this thing, keeping in touch with friends I've made, looking things up because if it ever was, someone has written about it.
Kind of a book that never ends.

I talked to the seller when I asked if he had any back wheels and he said that these were take offs from the bike and trikes he had built and he had 5 total. Think he may be or was an electric and gas bike builder and these were take offs from the electric conversions.
His e-bay rating is 100%. He may have, as you said, put a price on them and no one bit and his auto bidding took over. He is going to get a price on shipping them to me and tell me what he wants.

The best part of all this bike flury is watching my brother edge over slowly "spending all your money on the bike " to what does it take to ride one license wise? I might get one.
Here electric is easy but the gas motors are a bit harder to get through. Going up tomorrow to see just what they say about getting an as it's called here, U-bilt, moped licenced.

The aluminum bottle seems to be a great way to go. They should be a quart size I would think and if the bottom could be cut out of two of them and be rewelded, It's double the miles. The really great part is that the copper fittings fit. Super to have small victories

We're going up to the house wreckers tomorrow to get a couple of doors and I'll skim the plumbing section to look for a tank of some sort. Still think Rockensteins tank idea well, rocks. { yes I am ashamed off myself for the cheap pun}.
Had thought about the commercial size cans but that would look like over kill on the back of a bike but what mileage!

When do you leave for Maryland? Love traveling but always found getting started was the hardest. Of course finding the money was never a cinch either.

Got to go and cut some side car parts. The magic elves did not show up once again and now I have to do the work.

Steve.

Yes, elves are unreliable workers, I understand.
I'll leave for Maryland sometime around the second week of November when there is a clear window of opportunity in traveling weather... no snow or ice storms along the way. It will be a long two days, napping on the bench seat of the truck in a sleeping bag at rest stops. I don't much look forward to it, especially at this time of year. Mostly it will be good to be done with, arrive safely, rest up and begin the apartment conversion for my employers.
I'm still debating what to take with me in bicycle projects. Certainly the 39 Elgin whose finders, skirts and chain guard need repair both in terms of fixing cracks in the metal and smoothing out irregularities. I expect it to be tedious and time consuming, but I know that when everything is in order the satisfaction will be worth the effort. None of it will be perfect, but it will look good anyway. It is to be ridden when all is said and done and will get new dinks and scratches. It may be the bike I take to the Sudbury rally as it will certainly be different from everything else and may turn out to be the oldest bike there. I may also take an American to tear down to bare metal and repaint.
I got a NOS rear rack for the 50 Schwinn straightbar in the mail the other day. There were a few scratches in the black paint which I have now covered in a new coat of engine enamel. The leather tank will look good on it. The old parts have such nice, heavy metal. I have yet to straighten out the feather chain guard for that bike, although it is stripped down to bare metal. It doesn't need much. I must stop hemorrhaging money on these bikes as I have spent a good bit this summer and autumn. Come spring I need money for engines if this little business venture is ever to get off the ground. Need some bikeworldusa wheels, too. Sigh.
I hope the worksman wheels work out for you. They are the best you can buy.
Let me know where you are with picasa and we can go from there. Have you downloaded it?
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver Bear the pictures are in the computer thanks to Miss Tegan. If you go to the other bike sight I put my picture on the White Zone/Are We Outlaws/ Post #117. Brace your self and mabe give your self a lot of after breakfast time.

Yes I understand about the money pit and bikes and learning more every day/e-bay auction.
Haven't heard any more about the wheels but that is on the list for tomorrow. Bought two fenders with the tail reflector and the jet on the front. The fenders are special to the super de lux and the jet was missing and my tail light the refector was bad so I'll use the best and keep the rest as spares. Cost $135 with the shipping. That is about it for the spending. Like I said my nest egg has hatched and flown.

Steve.

 

[silverbear]

Silver Bear the pictures are in the computer thanks to Miss Tegan. If you go to the other bike sight I put my picture on the White Zone/Are We Outlaws/ Post #117. Brace your self and mabe give your self a lot of after breakfast time.

Yes I understand about the money pit and bikes and learning more every day/e-bay auction.
Haven't heard any more about the wheels but that is on the list for tomorrow. Bought two fenders with the tail reflector and the jet on the front. The fenders are special to the super de lux and the jet was missing and my tail light the refector was bad so I'll use the best and keep the rest as spares. Cost $135 with the shipping. That is about it for the spending. Like I said my nest egg has hatched and flown.

Steve.

What other bike site is that? I'd like to take a look. Did you get your side car pieces cut? What are you using, aluminum?
SB

 

[fasteddy]

Silver bear, sorry it's the motored bikes .com site

My nephew bought some 11/4" square steel tube for a project he never built so I've used part of it. Not light but I don't need a whole lot of it. I will tack it together and take it to a welding shop to have it welded. Will cut it this afternoon. Have to get blades for the saw.
Going to e-mail the fellow wih the wheels right now.

Steve.