Worksman Boardtracker

[sportscarpat]

Is it alright to bump my own thread? I have been so busy I still don't have this thing running. Still working out the final details and also came up with some graphics with help from Journeyman. The guy is an artist! I will post the details later, but for now here are a couple fresh pictures. 72tx340, your "Flyer" frame package is boxed up and ready to ship. Whitey and Mike, your next. Look closely at that stainless work. No bondo on that sheet metal! Naked gas tanks, try that at home. If you look closely you can also see the Typhoon intake manifold (who makes those, anyway?) and stainless full port exhaust flange.

 

[Kevron99]

Awesome....Pat.

 

[K.i.p]

Gosh that is pretty. Nice stuff.

 

[RedB66]

Turned out "Great"... nice clean look.

 

[Archduke Chocula]

Beautiful bike!! I hope you get it running soon, a video would be great

 

[Crazy Horse]

This is OUTSTANDING true craftmanship Pat, can't wait to see your first Drop Loop Period Correct Board track Racer. That is if and when you do decide to build one!

I hope you keep this build #1 encased in glass display for austerity, then all the other builds after this can be ridden as regular production builds!!!

C.H.

 

[sportscarpat]

Thanks everybody. The reality is I plan to ride the sh*t out of this thing. It is a test bed to work out production details. Most everything is already proven stuff from my Panther builds but the Works has it's differences. I am considering adapting the INB frame to carry a Morini engine and have another interesting project in the works for a very special four stroke engine. We will see how it all pans out but one thing for sure is that any Sportsman Flyer that I build can always be shipped back to the Flyer Factory and be reconfigured to carry any engine I care to fit! There are no limits here. I sure am glad I went to welding school 20 years ago.

 

[72tx340]

Pat has me thinking how about a build like this 1916 Indian?

Check out the tank....kinda looks like Pat was around in 1916!!!

So what do you guys think of a build like this one?

 

[silverbear]

Is it alright to bump my own thread? I have been so busy I still don't have this thing running. Still working out the final details and also came up with some graphics with help from Journeyman. The guy is an artist! I will post the details later, but for now here are a couple fresh pictures. 72tx340, your "Flyer" frame package is boxed up and ready to ship. Whitey and Mike, your next. Look closely at that stainless work. No bondo on that sheet metal! Naked gas tanks, try that at home. If you look closely you can also see the Typhoon intake manifold (who makes those, anyway?) and stainless full port exhaust flange.

Hey Pat,
I love this thread and as has been said before, your Worksman is an inspiration. This summer I'm working on my own kind of poor boy version of the Worksman. It is getting a PK-80 engine and I made note of your comment on the mounts being 1 1/8" while the frame is 1". Is that a reference to just the rear mounts needing to be adapted? I don't have the engine in hand yet, so don't know. I'd like to order the right stuff now so that I can get going on mounting the engine as soon as it comes. I see in the top photo that you have an expansion pipe on your engine. I also have an SBP expansion pipe coming for this build and am hoping it is a pretty straight forward bolt on. Is yours by chance an SBP pipe and if so did you need to modify anything to make it fit?
Mine is not going to be a tribute board tracker, but will look vintage and be a 'silverbear' cruiser. I like fenders and a comfortable seat for me bony old butt. I made a cylindrical tank to fit in the frame and covered it in harness leather and it will get my hand made headlight and tail light to match. Nothing fabulous like what you do, but cool enough for an old guy. This will be my first build since the fire took everything and I'm excited about this "firebird" which will be a kind of tribute to all the good folks here who have helped me rebuild. The engine and pipe are being donated for the effort by Pirate and SBP... how cool is that? There are some great people on this forum, some wonderful builders and you are one of them. Many thanks for the information here. This thread is my reference book for this build. Thanks also to RB66 for his experienced input. You guys rock.
SB

 

[silverbear]

In looking at the photo again, I'm thinking that is the Panther pictured and not a Worksman and that's what you meant by saying you were bumping your own thread. Anyway, my question on the mount adapters remains and I'll rephrase the pipe question to anyone who has tried mounting the SBP pipe on a china girl... will it fit and what modifications are needed? I want to run it in the down position under the pedal crank as in your photo of the Panther. I'm also wondering about a drop stand for the Worksman. Has anyone made one?
SB

 

[silverbear]

I'm referring specifically to an SBP pipe mounted to a HT motor in the down position on a Worksman newsboy frame.

 

[sportscarpat]

Silverbear,
Lots of good questions. I do need to post some finished pictures of my "Sportsman Flyer" as it is being called. The PK80 will fit. I use a bushing I make from a cut down bronze bushing to adapt the front mount from 1 1/2" to 1" for the PK motors. In the rear use two stacked engine mounts. Use one stacked from the PK kit first against the engine, then add a grubee mount on top of that which has a 1" mount. The pipes I have been using are modified Grubee expansion chambers. I cut the restrictive stock exhaust flange off and replace with one of my laser cut full port flanges. I relocate the pipe relative to the flange so I clear the front tire, left side pedal, and the frame. I have drawn up a drop stand and even purchased the channel material to build it, but just haven't found the time to finish it up. Drop stand will be very heavy duty and will mount to the rear wheel axle. Better pictures soon. Brass head badges coming! Oh, and I mounted up my first "Bairdco" style gas tank straps last night. These straps match the ones on the oil tank/tool box. I call them "Bairdco" straps because he emailed me one time saying "nice tanks, but the straps look too Home Depot". Check out this head badge, cool huh?

 

[LouieMCman]

I like your work on the frame, tank, and tool box. Since it looks a lot like my Monroe I finished up back in 2008. I don't see why more people don't use the Worksmans, they are great to modify. Here's some pics of mine for comparison. Good job.

 

[LouieMCman]

Damn forgot the picture again.......duh

 

[J Docherty]

Louie, I love your bike, really nice build.

Pat, that head badge logo is amazing, really captures the essence of a BTR! Pat you are a real craftsman!

 

[Egor]

The workmanship coming to this forum is over the top. A few years ago all you saw were a few bikes that were good looking, and now you see works of art. Thanks for the inspiration and happy dreams. I have been saving parts for the ultimate MB and I am getting close, I just need a few more parts to get it going. My vision is of a Prototype Flying Merkel 4 cylinder, there is a pic of the bike part way done but never finished, I want to finish. I just got a Worksman frame and I have an old 4 cyl mercury outboard engine. The engine has an old mag sticking out the side and uses 90 degree firing, so there is a piston at top every 90. I will build a fin head for the engine and fill the water jacket with coolant, will have to see if I need to add extra cooling, if so I was thinking of using the corrugated dryer gas line that would give an antique look. I will extend the handle bars and use footboards, the early Henderson looks something like the idea. It will defiantly use a Leaf spring front end and there is an early spring rear wheel that would be easy to use, looks like a front fork with added small lever at the bottom and the spring at the top replacing the neck going to the seat post bolt, it also extends the bike and makes it look cool. The one pic is of two cyl but you get the idea. Have fun, Dave
PS: The prototype is at the top of the page. http://theflyingmerkel.com/ogphotos/photo08.htm

 

[LouieMCman]

Egor, that's going to be one HEAVY bike. I'm not sure if the workman frame will handle that without some heavy modifications. You may have to put two downtube on it to hold the weight, and the forks will be under a real heavy load and will need to be heavy duty also. Attached is pics of my latest creation with a Wisconsin cast iron motor that I had to beef up the forks after riding for a month or so because of the weight. I also have an original 1916 Miami Power cycle that made the Flying Merkels untill they went out of business.

 

[Egor]

Louie - Yea I need to weigh the engine. I will strip a lot of stuff off. I was going to use double down tubes and a fork affair like the Merkel for the seat tube. The only way I think is to use the engine as a stressed member also. I have one of the schwinn blade forks and was going to insert and extra tube inside extending out the bottom to pick up the spring affair. Worksman uses good tubing and I will make inserts at the extensions, and I may add gussets at the steering head. Ill have to see if it gets too heavy, Ill have to go to a frame like your Arrow. I got to ride an arrow years ago, you never get over a thing like that. Have fun, Dave
PS: I love your work, over the top. I have one of those cast Iron engines, they look clean

PSS: I AM EDITING THE POST
I have striped the engine down to the basics, and I am not happy with the look of the engine. It doesn't look old enough and the exhaust will be night mare, so I think it is going into the dust bin. I am now looking for a replacement.

 

[silverbear]

Silverbear,
Lots of good questions. I do need to post some finished pictures of my "Sportsman Flyer" as it is being called. The PK80 will fit. I use a bushing I make from a cut down bronze bushing to adapt the front mount from 1 1/2" to 1" for the PK motors. In the rear use two stacked engine mounts. Use one stacked from the PK kit first against the engine, then add a grubee mount on top of that which has a 1" mount. The pipes I have been using are modified Grubee expansion chambers. I cut the restrictive stock exhaust flange off and replace with one of my laser cut full port flanges. I relocate the pipe relative to the flange so I clear the front tire, left side pedal, and the frame. I have drawn up a drop stand and even purchased the channel material to build it, but just haven't found the time to finish it up. Drop stand will be very heavy duty and will mount to the rear wheel axle. Better pictures soon. Brass head badges coming! Oh, and I mounted up my first "Bairdco" style gas tank straps last night. These straps match the ones on the oil tank/tool box. I call them "Bairdco" straps because he emailed me one time saying "nice tanks, but the straps look too Home Depot". Check out this head badge, cool huh?

Pat,
The head badge looks perfect. We're so lucky to have Terry and his son's great work at Jezusjonz. I agree that it is in the details that a bike really gets finished. I expressed to Terry my admiration for his artistry and in particular admired his "Indian" head badge and he very kindly contributed one to my Worksman build. I have it now and look forward to replacing the cheezy looking Worksman badge which is glued on and has a "WWW" on it... the Indian badge will be so much better and has special meaning for me as you might imagine. I'm glad to hear the PK-80 will fit and have used the doubled up stock mount in back on a couple of Schwinn builds. Good to know about the need to reduce to !". I'll find something to use as a reducer up front. Any idea what that bushing was for that you used? Once I have the SBP in hand and the engine mounted I'll figure out what I need to do for mounting it. I will PM you regarding the manifold you made. I may end up cutting tabs for the dropstand along the lines of what Barelyawake did for his Rollfast build and having them welded on to the dropouts. The rear drop stand is practical in that it is a secure way of standing the bike and frees up real estate where the expansion tank exhaust would go. It also looks right for that vintage look. Have you thought out the catch for holding it in the up position?
SB

 

[worksmanFL]

Niiice build Sportscarpat!!!

Do you build the tank and tool box for resale?

It looks super clean as naked metal. With your logo it looks good as well.

Thanks.