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The separate collar/bushing type can be used for homemade rockers just the same. Any size width rockers can be used. It's a flexible system.

For your application aluminum could be used permanently with press-in bushings. There's also a harder T6 aluminum. Shiny rockers would look awesome. Stainless can be polished as well but it's more work overall. All depends on usage.

Gluck BFTD
 
I love this discussion on springer fork fabrication tips because I plan on making my own set on my occ stingray someday. Been keeping my eye on sugar bear rockers designs. Seems to be longer and designed to make the very bottom of the tire the pivot point of turning so steering is balanced?
 
bruised said:
I love this discussion on springer fork fabrication tips because I plan on making my own set on my occ stingray someday. Been keeping my eye on sugar bear rockers designs. Seems to be longer and designed to make the very bottom of the tire the pivot point of turning so steering is balanced?
Click to expand...
there's a formula for where the contact patch of the tire should be in relation to where an imaginary line through the neck hits the ground. the faster your going, the more important this is.
 
hamppea said:
The separate collar/bushing type can be used for homemade rockers just the same. Any size width rockers can be used. It's a flexible system.

For your application aluminum could be used permanently with press-in bushings. There's also a harder T6 aluminum. Shiny rockers would look awesome. Stainless can be polished as well but it's more work overall. All depends on usage.

Gluck BFTD
Click to expand...
Cool, thanks!
The bushings would be pressed into the aluminum rockers, right? Would harder metals be better for rockers, especially if I'm going to practice wheelies on this bike? I'm not well-versed in metallurgy. I would definitely love the rockers to look nice and shiny!

Thanks hamppea!
 
Brass bushings anywhere would be longer lasting than nylon. Probably more limited sizes in what you can find though. Also "trail" is what the angle of the line thru your headtube to the distance from your front tires contact is what you want to look at, as far as easy steering is concerned. But choppers often have terrible geometry but ride fine after getting used to them.

Carl.
 
GuitarlCarl said:
Brass bushings anywhere would be longer lasting than nylon. Probably more limited sizes in what you can find though. Also "trail" is what the angle of the line thru your headtube to the distance from your front tires contact is what you want to look at, as far as easy steering is concerned. But choppers often have terrible geometry but ride fine after getting used to them.

Carl.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the tip! Yeah, after putting that crazy fork setup on my Newsboy Special a while back, I learned how changing the trail feels in its most extreme form. I don't plan to push the front wheel forward on this bike more than 2-3 inches at most, so while it might not turn as tight as it does right now, it should be easy enough to control. Yeah, choppers probably don't ride that well, but at least they look cool enough that it really doesn't matter!
 
Bike from the Dead said:
Thanks! If I can get some scrap stainless and find a way to cut it, I'd definitely like to go that route.
The fork legs are currently gloss black, but I want them to look chrome. I know they make these forks in chrome, but I just bought this one at the last bicycle swap meet I attended. If I can make do with what I have, great. If I can get a set of actual chrome forks, even better. As for the seat, I've got an old Schwinn banana I was thinking of reupholstering. I met a guy at Buddy's Pedal Fest who has recovered his own seats, and since he doesn't live too far from home, I want to see if he could teach me how to recover this banana seat I already have.
Click to expand...
Nananner seats are fairly easy and straight forward.. Take yours apart and study and lay out the new fabric and measure twice and cut once.. Iv'e done a Harley and Triumph seats before ,so these are relatively easy... Good luck Austin... Razin...
 
rat krate orange said:
Nananner seats are fairly easy and straight forward.. Take yours apart and study and lay out the new fabric and measure twice and cut once.. Iv'e done a Harley and Triumph seats before ,so these are relatively easy... Good luck Austin... Razin...
Click to expand...
I'm all for trying new things in my favorite hobbies, so if I can, I'm going to try reupholstering this seat. The original fabric is torn up though, so it might make things a little more difficult. Thanks Razin!
 
If I could find a picture...
Out of necessity, I used a chrome "landing gear" style fork with the front half of that style springer and it worked well.

GC.
 
El Chiggins was/is a bare metal build revealing bondo in the welds of the spring supports. Happy accident I got to remedy during the build, those bondo'd supports were weak. It's no wonder that the import reproductions don't recommend using them on motored bikes.
Do your rockers have an offset? I believe I flipped mine left for right, for the clearance I needed, it put the dropouts forward facing and pushed the wheel forward a bit too. Looking at your early photos I believe your rockers are already flipped. You may try flipping them back...

fin 1b.jpg
Carl.
 
Last edited:
GuitarlCarl said:
El Chiggins was/is a bare metal build revealing bondo in the welds of the spring supports. Happy accident I got to remedy during the build, those bondo'd supports were weak. It's no wonder that the import reproductions don't recommend using them on motored bikes.
Do your rockers have an offset? I believe I flipped mine left for right, for the clearance I needed, it put the dropouts forward facing and pushed the wheel forward a bit too. Looking at your early photos I believe your rockers are already flipped. You may try flipping them back...

View attachment 177138
Carl.
Click to expand...
Do you have a bigger picture of that bike? I can hardly make out anything on it. No, my rockers are completely flat. I don't think they're flipped. They look identical.
 
Okay, I finally, FINALLY got a chance to work on my bike and edit some photos for posting today! I haven't made a ton of new progress just yet. I did order the drag slick to go on the rear wheel, so that's one less part to obtain. I also collected 5 free bikes yesterday, some of which had wheels and parts I could use on this Murray. I did a few quick mockups this evening, using the handlebars I had originally planned to use on last year's MBBO entry, plus a fender and a chain guard off a couple of the free bikes I picked up yesterday. I also used some "envisioning tape" to help me get an idea of how the final tank and chain guard will look on the bike.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_mockups_117_1.jpg


Laugh all you want, but the girlier the donor bike, the easier it is to part it out. The nice thing about this chain guard is that it'll save me and my fabricator friend a ton of work and time, since half of the chain guard is already built.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_mockups_117_2.jpg


I think I'll use these handlebars, since they're the cleanest ones in my inventory. That, and the trike I was originally going to put them on is on hiatus until I can make up my mind on how I want to build it.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_mockups_117_3.jpg


I'm not sure whether I want a fender on this bike or not. I have the original fender, but it looked too long for my tastes, and the fender brace was too narrow for some reason. This fender, which I pulled off another free donor, is shorter, and requires no braces, but I'm not sure whether I want to use it or not. I kind of like the bike better without the fender, but it doesn't look too bad with the fender. If I do use it, I'll most likely paint it the same color as the frame.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_mockups_117_4.jpg


I'll might try to get some better pictures tomorrow, but my main goal is to finish painting the tank to my entry for this year's RRBBO, The Schwinn Dixie Dreamcycle. I've only got 2 more days of relatively warm weather, so I want to make it count.
 
Finally had an excuse to bust out the foam core, glue gun and foam cutter last night. I made some poster board templates for the tank, then transferred that to the foam core.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_1.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_2.jpg


It took only a few minutes for me to learn that using an old pair of scissors like an X-Acto knife to cut the foam core worked faster and better than using the "foam cutter." I cut 4 out of six sides for the tank, then hot-glued everything together.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_3.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_4.jpg


I had to trim the tank a hair to make it fit inside the frame, but once that was out of the way, I put it in place with a little painter's tape. This was also about the point I decided against the rear fender. It was just too narrow.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_5.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_6.jpg


I also mocked up one of the sissy bar reflectors I got last week. It barely fits on there, as the sissy bar is almost too wide for the reflector mounts. I'm not sure whether the reflector will stay or not, but I don't think it'd hurt to use it.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_7.jpg


I took some better shots earlier today. I've got to say, I love how this bike looks with a tank! I'm glad I opted to make the tank fit inside the frame, versus making it stick out at the sides like I had originally planned. It looks cleaner, and it gives me more options for tank graphics.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_8.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_9.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_10.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_11.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_12.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_13.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_14.jpg


I also went ahead and slapped the chain guard on to see how it'd look with the tank. I know everything's rough right now, but I'm really digging this look. I think once I can get together with my fabricator friend, this bike will really start to come together.
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_15.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_16.jpg
BftD_murray_muscle_bike_tank_mockup_17.jpg


So, what's next? Well, I'm waiting to hear back from a guy on a new sissy bar and banana seat I hope to trade some parts for. I'm also thinking of mocking up some more accurate tires on the bike to get a better idea of the stance. I've taken the tires, tubes, and rim tape off the chrome wheels I plan to use. Everything's nice and rust-free underneath. I want to disassemble the wheels so I can either steel wool the rims or dip them in some Evaporust to clean up what little surface rust they have. I also want to go through the other 20" wheels I have so I can replace all the bent spokes on the wheels I plan to use. I'm going to try lacing and truing the wheels myself this time, so I can both save some money, and learn a few new tricks in the process.
 
GeePig said:
It's coming together nicely already!

While you have the foam core out, would you be able to create a mount for the rear reflector?
Click to expand...
Thanks!

It's technically already mounted, but I could always play around with other ideas. Truth be told, I'm still not sure I want a rear reflector on this bike. I'll just have to play around with it.
 
Bike from the Dead said:
Finally had an excuse to bust out the foam core, glue gun and foam cutter last night. I made some poster board templates for the tank, then transferred that to the foam core.
View attachment 177388View attachment 177389

It took only a few minutes for me to learn that using an old pair of scissors like an X-Acto knife to cut the foam core worked faster and better than using the "foam cutter." I cut 4 out of six sides for the tank, then hot-glued everything together.
View attachment 177390View attachment 177391

I had to trim the tank a hair to make it fit inside the frame, but once that was out of the way, I put it in place with a little painter's tape. This was also about the point I decided against the rear fender. It was just too narrow.
View attachment 177392View attachment 177393

I also mocked up one of the sissy bar reflectors I got last week. It barely fits on there, as the sissy bar is almost too wide for the reflector mounts. I'm not sure whether the reflector will stay or not, but I don't think it'd hurt to use it.
View attachment 177394

I took some better shots earlier today. I've got to say, I love how this bike looks with a tank! I'm glad I opted to make the tank fit inside the frame, versus making it stick out at the sides like I had originally planned. It looks cleaner, and it gives me more options for tank graphics.
View attachment 177395View attachment 177396View attachment 177397View attachment 177398View attachment 177399View attachment 177400View attachment 177401

I also went ahead and slapped the chain guard on to see how it'd look with the tank. I know everything's rough right now, but I'm really digging this look. I think once I can get together with my fabricator friend, this bike will really start to come together.
View attachment 177402View attachment 177403View attachment 177404

So, what's next? Well, I'm waiting to hear back from a guy on a new sissy bar and banana seat I hope to trade some parts for. I'm also thinking of mocking up some more accurate tires on the bike to get a better idea of the stance. I've taken the tires, tubes, and rim tape off the chrome wheels I plan to use. Everything's nice and rust-free underneath. I want to disassemble the wheels so I can either steel wool the rims or dip them in some Evaporust to clean up what little surface rust they have. I also want to go through the other 20" wheels I have so I can replace all the bent spokes on the wheels I plan to use. I'm going to try lacing and truing the wheels myself this time, so I can both save some money, and learn a few new tricks in the process.
Click to expand...
Your vision is coming together very well. Awesome job.
 

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