'36 Elgin Osprey.

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The Renaissance Man said:
Go man go!
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Thanks for the encouragement! I was hoping to get a little further tonight but I'm happy with the results. I'd say this is pretty remarkably accurate machine work considering a basically just using an angle grinder. The bearings slip into the outer shell with almost zero slop. Tomorrow I'll add the cylinders that will allow me to bolt it all together.
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More progress. I was able to Weld up the front triangle and the chain stays using what I call the "tack and tweak" technique. I know real frame builders use a jig but I just tack it in a few srategic spots and then tweak the frame as needed to get everything to line up properly. It's a very crude but effective method. I also welded in internal logs to make assembling the frame much easier.
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What I find most interesting, is this dark red paint on the fork....

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And how it matches the dark red on your 1937 Streamline Deluxe build around 7 years ago.....


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Hmmmm....? Left-over parts? :39: :grin:

Which was an OddJob Award winner in the first year they were given out! You 'crunched timed' that one too, if I remember correctly?!
 
OddJob said:
What I find most interesting, is this dark red paint on the fork....

View attachment 186410

And how it matches the dark red on your 1937 Streamline Deluxe build around 7 years ago.....


View attachment 186411

Hmmmm....? Left-over parts? :39: :grin:

Which was an OddJob Award winner in the first year they were given out! You 'crunched timed' that one too, if I remember correctly?!
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Yeah I can't seem to get motivated until the last minute for some reason. Good eye on the pink parts. While those fenders had nothing to do with the bike that they came off of that is the rear seat stay from the bike I cut up 7 years ago for the 37 Elfman Streamline Deluxe. Not to be nit picky but that's actually the rear chain stays/swingarm, not the fork.
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It's funny looking at that head tube picture from 7 years ago, not only did I come up with the same solution but I used the same exact head tube as a donor for the patch. I guess I really am a creature of habit.
 
OK so when began this project I told myself this was mostly going to be an experiment with the suspension, don't get too carried away on the asthetics. Then I got to the long sweeping seat stays. Those long tapered seat stays is the feature on the Elgin bluebird that really makes me swoon. I was going to just overlize some 5/8 tubing to give me a little bit of taper action but I had an idea so I started experimenting... I was afraid this was going to turn into a giant time suck, which it did, but in the end I'm super happy with the results. And I discovered new ways to use my tubing roller. I found that if I just slid the tube into the bottom and spaced it up appropriately I could lift up on the tube tube and feel it give. This enabled me to be much more precise in my tweaking. I'll let the pictures tell the story of how I did it.
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I also made a bending form last night and glued up my G-10 leaf Springs. Hopefully it works. I'm totally just guessing on how much Spring action I need. This was the aspect of this project that had me stumped for the longest time because I just could not find the appropriate size steel leaf Springs. Eventually I just said "screw it" I'll use fiberglass.
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I have to admit I kind of dig the jet engine intake look I have going here but it's not the look I'm going for.
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It's a blast following the way you masterfully slice a splice metal. Flashbacks of Streamline for sure.
Love the beautiful Bluebirdesque lines tremendously! But I'm curious to see how the suspension plays with them.
Keep up the brilliant work!
 
Thanks, I was wondering if you were going to chime in on this build. This is my mock up of the leaf spring setup. I think it's relatively simple and elegant.
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The cool thing about this is I can add or reduce leaf springs as needed to adjust the spring rate. Of course there will be no dampening so it will be like a pogo stick but oh well.
 

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