Thanks guys, your attentiveness, suggestions and comments are in fact also responsible for the detail - while I ofc care about my work, your questions - even requests, the appreciation expressed every time I provided a pic or a tut pushing me to do just that much more
The Rollfast is
far from done, although some have mentioned my patience - the long-awaited promise of spring finally arriving proved just too much for me to bear. In a frantic explosion of single-minded devotion I spent all of Saturday going over every last nut, bolt & bearing, frantically cobbling what few things remained preventing me from fuel & fire... or so I thought lol, I did in fact overlook the silly seat fasteners - their abandonment of the bike mid-ride proved... interesting if inconsequential
Typical of a new engine, it was somewhat reluctant at first yet as is the case with so many, the more I rode the better it got - no doubt part of why I spent so much time puttin' around yesterday heh, examining the plug reveled the CNS was feeding the engine a healthy diet of both fuel and air although the idle is still somewhat schizophrenic. I'd be concerned if I didn't remember just how poorly my Schwinn performed those first few miles, in fact the Rollfast is improving far faster than the Schwinn build did with little to no four-stroking, the Schwinn still exhibits more of that symptom now (with almost 5000 miles on it) then the Rollfast even during it's first run. I'm 99% certain the CNS is primarily responsible for that with the port & polish and the SBP expansion merely helping. (pipe and P&P weren't done till much later on the Schwinn, still has the NT carb on it).
The shiftkit? Not to gush - but without even the slightest reservation I SWEAR I WILL NEVER EVEN
THINK OF A BUILD W/O ONE!!! I can't even
begin to describe the overwhelming superiority of a bike with that kit. I've always known, but never fully appreciated just how
much of the undue vibration stemmed from the engine's chain, tensioner, sprockets & their alignment and positioning. While I've spent countless hours dialing in the Schwinn to be as perfect as humanly possible - there's just no eliminating the vibration caused by those components. Despite the fact I still have rock-hard hand grips, in fact that seat itself is nought but raw steel with NO padding at all and even after an epic seven hours of riding a bike with an engine still being broken in - there was almost
no felt vibration, very little difference between engine running and simply pedaling. Remember that although I did extensive "surgery" to the engine - I never even attempted any sort of "balancing" or suchlike, the vibration is obviously almost all from the stock drivetrain components.
It gets even better - as you may well know I'm
not fond of loud bikes. Ima cranky ol' bastid whom gets up far too early to face a daily commute, the last thing I desire is the ringing ears and headache caused by even a stock pipe & intake. You may be familiar with the extremes I've gone through in my quest to get these things to just shut up a lil, although I've been somewhat successful - simply being able to have the engine at about 3000rpm (or prolly less, it'sa guesstimate) at approximately 30mph instead of 7000+ means that were a pedal bike powered by some frantic spandexer able to keep up with me - I could have a pleasant conversation in a normal tone with them... dependent on only their attitude towards my scruffy, chain-smoking self ofc
Problems with my bike? Other than the loose & forgotten fasteners holding the seat together - there's the inevitable chain "stretch" of a new system necessitating frequent enough adjustment that the chain guard was left at home, a minuscule fuel leak caused by the mis-tapping of just one fitting (the stem that supports & feeds the fuel filter), the not so minuscule gush of fuel from the old, used, & slightly rusted fill cap I'd neglected to replace (the seal in it... isn't)... and... um... uh... I
think that's it? So far anyway lol - Murphy is lurkin' and waiting his opportunity I'm sure, but so far so good FTW
weekend-fun, the "ornaments" you like so much are mounted to the barn where my ol' Rollfast resided for so long previous to it's adoption by yours truly, a fantastical playland
filled with wonderful examples of vintage craftsmanship - I'm honored and consider myself lucky to have been allowed to buy the one I have, the owner normally refusing to part with
any of his treasures - relenting only due to his open-mindedness and interest in motorizing such a bike, his sons as well as he dabbling with such, I was deeply flattered when he said the only reasons he parted with the Rollfast were out of respect for the job I'd done with the Schwinn and the obvious fact that I'd never just turn around and sell it... which in all honesty wouldn't be a possibility were I even remotely tempted to - I'd never recoup the cost of the parts used, let alone the "labor" entailed lol
Here's a better pic of the mounted bikes - the "tandem" on the right was not originally so, someone long ago really wanted to be able to pedal around with their better half and got creative;
...and a tiny fraction of the treasures within, should you wish to play "Where's Waldo" - my Rollfast is in this pic, I hadn't picked it out yet heh
...and as usual, I'm now late for work lol
all i can say is