what did you do to your motorized bicycle today?

[AVroman]

Ouch....!

Hope you're ok after the hit....

People just dont watch for bikes..

People even apparently includes COPS! Who would have guessed!?!

 

[mapbike]

People even apparently includes COPS! Who would have guessed!?!

Some of them drive way to fast and think they own the raod and are above the law.. I know because. A few guys I went to school with became cops around here, most of them were the goofy type that gotpicked on a little in school but when they got a badge and a gun they thought they were a super hero who could harass whom ever they decided to and drive like a bat outta you know where......
Some are good fellas but we seem to get a pile of the goofballs around here that wont to get even with the world and act like a big shot that can drive 50 in a 30 anytime they wish.

Glad you're alright.

 

[Davezilla]

Yes, Glad you're ok after that... and yeah, the cops over here are every bit as bad doing 90+ on the freeways and 50 or so in the 30 zones, then when they wreck it turns out to be nobody's fault...

 

[Davezilla]

As far as what I'm working on today... I got me one of those old Girvin/Noleen Vector forks for my bike and I'm taking it all the way apart to clean and lube all the bushings rebuild the shock and replace the elastomer with a real spring, repainting it and getting it ready to put back together and install on the bike. Luckily all the bushings etc are in excellent condition other than being a complete mess from the elastomer melting and leaving a gooey mess all over everything so I don't need to buy any new parts, but I did need to do a LOT of cleaning and need to re lube everything before it goes back together.

 

[Dan]

Dang, AV. Scary stuff and glad your OK.

 

[Dan]

Purty cool DaveZ. I had never heard of elastomer.

https://www.google.com/search?q=ela...nuoASfroDICA&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=599

 

[mapbike]

Is this the type fork you have Dave?

I like the looks of these also with that nice spring.

 

[Davezilla]

Yup, the one I got is the same as the bottom pic, this is the older style but they work really well once ya get rid of that elastomer ... the elastomers do work but they become a gooey mess once they begin wear out, but swapping it out for a spring eliminates that problem

 

[mapbike]

Yup, the one I got is the same as the bottom pic, this is the older style but they work really well once ya get rid of that elastomer ... the elastomers do work but they become a gooey mess once they begin wear out, but swapping it out for a spring eliminates that problem

Excuse my ignorance about those forks.... but where are the elastomers?

I sure like the look of those...

 

[Davezilla]

Oh... sorry about that, the elastomers are these rubber cushions they used instead of springs, look on the first pic you posted, see that kinda clear yellow looking thing where the spring should be, kinda right behind the reflector... that's the elastomer they used to come with. They kinda mimic a spring and shock since they absorb the bumps but they don't snap back like a spring without a shock absorber so they're really good for saving weight but they have limited travel and they're a mess when they wear out. Here's a pic of the elastomers... http://www.ebay.com/itm/ProFlex-Gir.../221452083782?pt=US_Forks&hash=item338f92a246 Other brands like Rock Shocks, Manitou, and a few others used to use these back in the late 90's instead of springs and shocks inside their forks...
Basically the spring upgrade kit is just a specially wound spring that supposedly doesn't snap back and the shock has no oil damping, it's just basically a hollow tube with sliding bushings, I ended up measuring the eye to eye distance on mine and ordered a regular shock/spring combo but I'll need to drill and ream the eye holes and either make or aquire some bushings to match the original elastomer shock body.

 

[mapbike]

I guess what through me Dave is when you said you had the forks like in the second pic which already has a spring and I was thinking the ones in the first pic were the ones with the rubber type cushing, gotcha..... nice looking forks.

 

[knightscape]

Wow Davezilla, those take me back. I miss those days when suspension was still getting figured out on mountain bikes and they didn't all look the same. I've still got a NOS elastomer Girvin FlexStem I picked up for a buck after those weren't cool anymore. I was always a fan of the AMP Research forks till they went under. The elastomer to spring conversion was also huge on a certain RockShox model, I forget which though. It was just a straight swap that was a more conventional fork too. Inside the fork leg was just stacks of elastomers and you subbed in a single tall spring.

 

[Davezilla]

Thanks... That was part of the reason I decided on this front end... it's uniqueness and the type of suspension system as these ride & handle really well and they can take a beating. This suspension type is called the girder fork or front end and it's been around for decades on motorcycles like the Royal Einfield and several Harley choppers from the 70's thru the 90's (these look killer on a Harley). For ride quality, they are very hard to beat as the suspension doesn't alter the rake/trail as it compresses like telescoping forks so the geometry remains the same regardless of compresion or rebound position. The older motorcycle versions didn't use shocks either, just s set of leather or ruber washers on a pivot and the rider would adjust the "damping" by adjusting the tension on these washers... There's a decent picture of the "friction Disc" shock absorbers on wikipedia, and here's a picture of a 1939 Matchless using a girder fork... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Matchless_1939_G3L_1.jpg And here's a 1942 Norton with a girder fork and you can see the friction disk shock absorber pretty easily in this pic, it's the hand wheel nut on the lower link on the fork, on the front end of the lower pivot link below the spring... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Norton_16H_1942.JPG And in my opinion, these look best on Harley choppers like this sportster with a stretched girder front end... http://www.ironhead-bobbers.com/iro...301/1964_Harley_Sportster_Chopper_468x317.jpg

Anyway, when looking for a cool unique looking front end for my build I stumbled on these Girvin/Noleen forks from the mid 90's and decided this was the look I wanted as well as offering better ride quality and handeling. I remember back around 2000 I had a Mongoose mountain bike with full suspension and when it got stolen I went to a bike shop looking to replace this bike, the salesman was trying to sell me a Cannondale with a Rock Shock and I was asking him about the suspension, this is where I learned about elastomers because he was explaining to me how the elastomers eliminated the need for springs and shocks in the fork but I didn't trust the elastomers and ended up buying something more conventional.

Hopefully I'll have mine built up today so I can take some pics of it before and after I install it.

 

[Cruise]

Tied a little rag around my float bowl to see if the leak is from top or bottom. Not going to ride it too much until I get a chance to sort that. Petrol vs chain vs other bearings etc.
That's a whole different thread so I won't go into it here.
Aside from that it's running really well now so it's going to get some nurturing. Kind of novel driving my car to work, but I much prefer the bike - traffic sucks!

 

[Gideon_459]

Still at work at the moment, but the plan for the evening is to fabricate a new mount for my cheap led headlight, then dig through some old car parts for a better plug wire.

 

[CTripps]

I spent some time making the finishing adjustments to another one today.. tightened everything up, soldered the electrical connections and so on.. After that it was fire up and ride around the block, adjust and tweak, repeat a couple of times.

It's a CCM 'Falcon' 18 speed. No build thread on it, but here's a couple of pics:

 

[mapbike]

Got my new Kenda Kiniption 24 x 2.35 tires in the mail yesterday and I throughly cleaned one of my new 26" wheel master wheels with CRC Brake Cleaner and the mounted it onto the rear of a frame I am gonna turn into a nice bike in the near future and and sprayer several good coats of Valspar Clear Gloss enamel on wheels rim, I spin the wheels so I get an even coat and no runs in the finish, I've noticed that these new chrome rims seem to rust real easy and pretty quick since I guess the chrome is very thin on them, so several light coats of a good quality durable clear gloss finish sprayed on them after a good degreasing and cleaning will seal out the moister and makes the dust wash off easier also.
I dont like rust on my wheels if I can help it and this is a fairly quick and easy way to keep the wheels rust free, the chrome does take on a slightly textured appearance, but it is still shiny and looks just fine in my opinion, just looses a little of the extra slick look since most all enamel has a bit of an orange peel look when it dries.

Here are some pics of the rim after the clear coat and also after I mounted the Kenda k927 Cruiser tires on them that will be on the Schwinn Fleet Cruiser once I get the Frame painted and the engine built for it, by the way this bike is gonna be bright and colorful, building it to stand out and be very comfortable for so long 40+mph cruises, may not be my fastest build so far but should be close to the others and it will definitely be an eye catcher build, I'm pretty excited about this one and hoping it turns out the way I have imagined in my country boy head...LOL!

Map

 

[mapbike]

I spent some time making the finishing adjustments to another one today.. tightened everything up, soldered the electrical connections and so on.. After that it was fire up and ride around the block, adjust and tweak, repeat a couple of times.

It's a CCM 'Falcon' 18 speed. No build thread on it, but here's a couple of pics:

Nice looking old mountain bike CT, i have an older Montgomery Wards Mountain bike that lloks to be a very similar set up, it also has the center pull brakes and is a fairly heavy very solid feeling frame kinda like an older Roadmaster USA made mountain bike I also have that was my first motorized bike build.

These kinda frames make some very solid bikes....not the low down cruiser feel but overall sturdy good riding bikes.

 

[greaser_monkey_87]

Last night I fixed a stripped hole in my front motor mount (4 stroke) by tapping it with a bigger bolt. Since I don't have a tap and die set, I just force thread the bigger bolt in. It's pretty soft aluminum, so it re-threads pretty easily. It worked on the rear motor mount when it got stripped, so figured it should work fine for the front. Also adjusted my spring-loaded chain tensioner. Had to put a new clamp on for the spring because the old one finally gave up the ghost after more than a year. Hopefully my new chain doesn't stretch anymore. This is the 3rd time I've adjusted the tensioner since installing the new chain.

 

[CTripps]

Thanks, Map.. It is a nice solid frame.. the top bar is remarkably skinny, the bottom brackets for the fuel tank are almost touching the bottom of it. The shifters are old levers, but they work so all 18 speeds of the bicycle are still available and pretty easy to use.

That one you attached looks similar, yeah.. right down to the molded grips with the big ends.