I should probably start on the build report before the trike is finished!
Ok, that being said, here's the story. My neighbor called me out one evening telling me I had to see this bike he acquired. I almost couldn't believe my eyes!, I've been looking for a differentially configured trike forever. When it comes to delta trikes these are the best for handling, as the powerflow is very smooth when cornering. While I tried not to appear too estatic, this guy really needed the help, and I paid him top dollar for it.
The Hub.
It came with a Sturmey-Archer S3C hub. I have a Love/Hate relationship with these things. The last one I had skipped continously no matter how much adjusting or fiddling I did with it. The planitaries were just whoopped, and it was from a girl's bike!
Now this one was BONE DRY and the planetarys were rusted. The back bearing was roaring from lack of lube, and I really didn't want to take it apart, but guess what? I tried just cracking it open but it was just too far gone, spent 4 hours on it. It's spinning much freer now, but I'm waiting for an index chain to check the shifting part.
I give it three months before it explodes.
The Diff.
Although dirty and oosing grease out of every pore,this part is in great shape based on the fact that this thing was designed for a lawn tractor, and I'm sure the hub would bomb long before this component would feel enough torque to break it. 3/4"(19mm) axles?! that's a lotta' beef, most trike axles are 5/8"(16mm). Took about an hour of searching to find these oddball bearings. The right hand bearing was so bad the balls were riding on the axle, the race split in two! I had to cut the races off with a Dremmel.
The Frame.
I originally was thinking about flipping the headtube and having a lowslung chopper, almost Burrito-esqe. But in mockup I really wanted to have the chainstays level with the ground so I can run long(I'm old)cranks and go to 20"x4.25" wheels from 24". So I set it on it's own rear basket which put it about the right height. For kicks I set the front wheel, a 20 spoke front from a very flowery Murray "muscle bike". I went straight down the headtube centerline and propped it up there.
Now I normally dislike this type of chopper, where the forks are very vertical, but this just seems different.
I sometimes force myself to try other things like white walls, I used to hate them. But they will sometimes "complete a look" that would not have worked with black only. I think my Bling Ray is a good example of this.
The Parts.
Here's where it really starts to go downhill.
Aztlan Cycle has a lot of the fluff I need like apes and blue chain. But when I put stuff in the shopping basket,it created 2 completely different shopping carts, on different sites and double handling charges! No Way Dude!
When Choppers U.S. says something like "extremely limited availibility" they mean it. 'cause I'm not getting the rims I originally wanted. But they did call right away and told me about it and that they had hopes of purchasing more. Cudos. If you've done any reading lately about how things are going in the world shipping wise, you can see I need a plan "B".
They have complete wheels with aluminium rims and I might go for those.
The Mission.
To try to build light for once.
Have a somewhat "show finish" but without the "retentiveness"
Build a shifter from scratch.
Improve my brazing "skills".
Pay homage to "Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch" Thanx to Wikipedia for the name research.
The Pics.
I left the seat stays on to help line up the jig.
The seat that came with it is not original, but I like it, it'll be recovered with black sparkle vinyl.
Axle bearings arrived today.
Ok, that being said, here's the story. My neighbor called me out one evening telling me I had to see this bike he acquired. I almost couldn't believe my eyes!, I've been looking for a differentially configured trike forever. When it comes to delta trikes these are the best for handling, as the powerflow is very smooth when cornering. While I tried not to appear too estatic, this guy really needed the help, and I paid him top dollar for it.
The Hub.
It came with a Sturmey-Archer S3C hub. I have a Love/Hate relationship with these things. The last one I had skipped continously no matter how much adjusting or fiddling I did with it. The planitaries were just whoopped, and it was from a girl's bike!
Now this one was BONE DRY and the planetarys were rusted. The back bearing was roaring from lack of lube, and I really didn't want to take it apart, but guess what? I tried just cracking it open but it was just too far gone, spent 4 hours on it. It's spinning much freer now, but I'm waiting for an index chain to check the shifting part.
I give it three months before it explodes.
The Diff.
Although dirty and oosing grease out of every pore,this part is in great shape based on the fact that this thing was designed for a lawn tractor, and I'm sure the hub would bomb long before this component would feel enough torque to break it. 3/4"(19mm) axles?! that's a lotta' beef, most trike axles are 5/8"(16mm). Took about an hour of searching to find these oddball bearings. The right hand bearing was so bad the balls were riding on the axle, the race split in two! I had to cut the races off with a Dremmel.
The Frame.
I originally was thinking about flipping the headtube and having a lowslung chopper, almost Burrito-esqe. But in mockup I really wanted to have the chainstays level with the ground so I can run long(I'm old)cranks and go to 20"x4.25" wheels from 24". So I set it on it's own rear basket which put it about the right height. For kicks I set the front wheel, a 20 spoke front from a very flowery Murray "muscle bike". I went straight down the headtube centerline and propped it up there.
Now I normally dislike this type of chopper, where the forks are very vertical, but this just seems different.
I sometimes force myself to try other things like white walls, I used to hate them. But they will sometimes "complete a look" that would not have worked with black only. I think my Bling Ray is a good example of this.
The Parts.
Here's where it really starts to go downhill.
Aztlan Cycle has a lot of the fluff I need like apes and blue chain. But when I put stuff in the shopping basket,it created 2 completely different shopping carts, on different sites and double handling charges! No Way Dude!
When Choppers U.S. says something like "extremely limited availibility" they mean it. 'cause I'm not getting the rims I originally wanted. But they did call right away and told me about it and that they had hopes of purchasing more. Cudos. If you've done any reading lately about how things are going in the world shipping wise, you can see I need a plan "B".
They have complete wheels with aluminium rims and I might go for those.
The Mission.
To try to build light for once.
Have a somewhat "show finish" but without the "retentiveness"
Build a shifter from scratch.
Improve my brazing "skills".
Pay homage to "Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch" Thanx to Wikipedia for the name research.
The Pics.
I left the seat stays on to help line up the jig.
The seat that came with it is not original, but I like it, it'll be recovered with black sparkle vinyl.
Axle bearings arrived today.
