Well its coming down to the wire and not for lack of trying I'm starting to loose sleep on getting her finished up. A really good friend once told me that I'm the kind of guy that turns out the best work under pressure and I guess to some extent that's true. Well the day before yesterday I had the fork completely finished with the new springs attached and I went to pick it up I realized I had totally over built it. The darn thing weighed almost 30lbs. So I started drilling lightening holes everywhere turning the legs into Swiss cheese. Although I though it looked OK, the end result still weighed almost 25lbs., way too heavy.
So the night before last I couldn't sleep and I knew I still had to spend several hours cleaning my shop and organizing to set up my paint booth. Well I got the paint booth together, and I rebuilt the main legs of the fork in a 1.25" diameter X .065 wall tubing instead of the 1.5"X.095 tubing of the first set. The legs are noticeably lighter and I'm hoping the all built weight will be about 17lbs. The lower rocker plates are still about the heaviest parts at nearly 4 lbs each but I'm afraid to hollow them out too much and loose the strength.
So this morning I've got to run to my friend's machine shop and fab up a few last minute parts and also turn the ball joint plates on the lathe, then come back here and paint all night which gives me two days for paint to harden up before packing late Thursday night and catch an early flight Friday morning to SF, CA for the SF Bike Expo. Well I guess I'll finally get some sleep when I'm dead. :mrgreen:
Sorry I took pictures late last night but I forgot my camera in my shop and its 43 degrees outside right now. I'm going to wait for it to warm up a little before going out to turn up the heaters in my shop. Temp is supposed to be in the low 70's today but I need it to be closer to 80-85F for painting to be optimal so I'm cranking up the heat! I'll be sure to update with paint step pictures late tonight or even tomorrow if I'm not too high on paint fumes, I do have a respirator that I plan on using but it never fails that you end up breathing in some of the fumes. :mrgreen: I really like the way catalyzed enamel smells, just something about it makes me feel all warm inside. Like I'm actually getting finished with a project!
I'll update El Jeffe soon too as I'll be painting that one up early next week as well. I decided after riding El Jeffe in the Austin "Tour De Fat" that I needed to make some design changes. First off the seat was simply too low to the ground! So that's getting a new platform welded to the frame that gives me a leaf spring mount about 4-6 inches higher. I don't think it takes anything away from the smooth lowered lines but it definitely makes the ride a bit more bearable. After the 12 mile shakedown ride my bum was numb and my legs were burning from lack of leverage on the hills of Austin. I hate those Schwinn 24" knockoff tires. Those things are going in the trash first thing I can get them off and order a new set.
Alright I've blabbled enough, its warmed up to 48F. Woo Hoo! Back to work. Later Travis
So the night before last I couldn't sleep and I knew I still had to spend several hours cleaning my shop and organizing to set up my paint booth. Well I got the paint booth together, and I rebuilt the main legs of the fork in a 1.25" diameter X .065 wall tubing instead of the 1.5"X.095 tubing of the first set. The legs are noticeably lighter and I'm hoping the all built weight will be about 17lbs. The lower rocker plates are still about the heaviest parts at nearly 4 lbs each but I'm afraid to hollow them out too much and loose the strength.
So this morning I've got to run to my friend's machine shop and fab up a few last minute parts and also turn the ball joint plates on the lathe, then come back here and paint all night which gives me two days for paint to harden up before packing late Thursday night and catch an early flight Friday morning to SF, CA for the SF Bike Expo. Well I guess I'll finally get some sleep when I'm dead. :mrgreen:
Sorry I took pictures late last night but I forgot my camera in my shop and its 43 degrees outside right now. I'm going to wait for it to warm up a little before going out to turn up the heaters in my shop. Temp is supposed to be in the low 70's today but I need it to be closer to 80-85F for painting to be optimal so I'm cranking up the heat! I'll be sure to update with paint step pictures late tonight or even tomorrow if I'm not too high on paint fumes, I do have a respirator that I plan on using but it never fails that you end up breathing in some of the fumes. :mrgreen: I really like the way catalyzed enamel smells, just something about it makes me feel all warm inside. Like I'm actually getting finished with a project!
I'll update El Jeffe soon too as I'll be painting that one up early next week as well. I decided after riding El Jeffe in the Austin "Tour De Fat" that I needed to make some design changes. First off the seat was simply too low to the ground! So that's getting a new platform welded to the frame that gives me a leaf spring mount about 4-6 inches higher. I don't think it takes anything away from the smooth lowered lines but it definitely makes the ride a bit more bearable. After the 12 mile shakedown ride my bum was numb and my legs were burning from lack of leverage on the hills of Austin. I hate those Schwinn 24" knockoff tires. Those things are going in the trash first thing I can get them off and order a new set.
Alright I've blabbled enough, its warmed up to 48F. Woo Hoo! Back to work. Later Travis
