𝙏𝙍𝙈 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚 𝘽𝙍𝘼𝙏

[The Renaissance Man]

Started fitting the saddle over the carrier. Had to shave the 'shoulders' at the widest section. Easy to do with fiberglass!


First I covered the work area with white adhesive vinyl so I could mark my guidelines with a pencil. This also makes it easier to measure each side to keep the surgery symmetrical.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Is that a Carbonite workbench? I hear it's durable

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Yes @MattiThundrrr it is carbonite. I picked it up on facebook marketplace from some guy called Boba Fett. You have a good eye.

 

[OddJob]

I've got a name for your saddle. How 'bout, Na-polo-ean Solo? I mean we already have an U.N.C.L.E. Stretch, it only seems right.

Or you could paint it chocolate brown, strawberry red, and vanilla white and call it Nea-polo-tin.

You're welcome.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got the Na-polo... Neo-po... um... groovy?... saddle fitting over the rack.

It might still need a little adjustment when it goes on the bike but it looks pretty close at this point.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Here's a profile view:

 

[OddJob]

Neapolitan flavored ice cream? You never heard of it?

 

[kingfish254]

Looks cool
Are you planning to incorporate the Peter Max color vibe with the build, or do you plan to recover/paint the seat?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Neapolitan flavored ice cream? You never heard of it?

View attachment 204733

Of course! Wouldn't want to sit on it though.

Looks cool
Are you planning to incorporate the Peter Max color vibe with the build, or do you plan to recover/paint the seat?

If there's enough time it will get covered in leather but to get across the finish line I'll probably just give it a quick coat of black vinyl paint.

 

[kingfish254]

If there's enough time it will get covered in leather but to get across the finish line I'll probably just give it a quick coat of black vinyl paint.

Good, it seemed like a big leap to go full yellow submarine on this one.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Playing connect the dots with the Yellow Submarine. I made this bracket yesterday afternoon.

Still more to do but it's getting stronger every day.

 

[kingfish254]

Playing connect the dots with the Yellow Submarine. I made this bracket yesterday afternoon.

Still more to do but it's getting stronger every day.

View attachment 204889
View attachment 204890

I love how you are melding the saddle and the rack together. Slick work.
The yellow submarine reference was about the PeterMax/YellowSubmarine like patterns on the saddle. I am glad you plan for it to be black, otherwise, it would be a ton of work to make the rest of the bike match the seat. This is going to be a sleek integration.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Thanks. The colors and graphics definitely have an undeniable 60's/70's pop art vibe to it.

I can't imagine making a 1930's art deco Shelby conform to that style!

 

[kingfish254]

Thanks. The colors and graphics definitely have an undeniable 60's/70's pop art vibe to it.

I can't imagine making a 1930's art deco Shelby conform to that style!

Exactly!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

To get the saddle as low as possible (without cutting the frame), it sits directly on top of the seat tube. And because of this I will not be using a seat post.

I cut notches in the carrier to hook over the fender brace on the frame creating a fulcrum so that the new bracket will push up against the seat post bracket when weight is applied to the carrier. This is just the first part of the mount but is already pretty strong even without being fastened to the frame. At this point it will not come off of the frame without removing the bracket.

Here's what is going on under the saddle.

Peek under the covers:

X-ray vision:

A gentleman never tells:

The padding makes it look like there is space left to drop it lower but the inner pan is actually touching the top of the seat post.

 

[Pondo]

Fantastic bike! I love the repro stuff you're making for these. A brat style build with this is inspired. And the seat seems almost like it was made for this application. Nice work, love it!

 

[kingfish254]

Cool solution and great use of your X-Ray Specs!

 

[Karate Chicken Industries]

To get the saddle as low as possible (without cutting the frame), it sits directly on top of the seat tube. And because of this I will not be using a seat post.

Outstanding

I have a build in my brain that will be doing the same thing in order to keep me as low as possible.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Fantastic bike! I love the repro stuff you're making for these. A brat style build with this is inspired. And the seat seems almost like it was made for this application. Nice work, love it!

Thanks so much!
The 'brat style' was not even on my radar when I first started thinking about jumping in. After discovering that I would have to choose between the fenders or the Felt wheelset, I found myself google searching brat style motorcycles. The more I searched the more I started imagining the possibilities. Having that saddle in the stash was the final nudge that pushed me in. As you pointed out it looked like a perfect fit!

Cool solution and great use of your X-Ray Specs!


View attachment 204998

I always wanted to order those as a kid.

Outstanding

I have a build in my brain that will be doing the same thing in order to keep me as low as possible.

Thanks! It's always fun to work through the challenges of something like mounting all of these pieces in the simplest and least intrusive way. Kind of like Tetris in 3D.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Got part two of the saddle mounting brackets made yesterday.

This bracket has the single machine screw that holds the whole set up in place. Seems like a lot to ask of one 10-24 screw but I'm hopeful that my plan will work in the end.

The latest bracket on the underside of the carrier will fasten through the frame at the 'bridge' across the seat stays. That bridge would normally be used for mounting a fender. You can also see the notches in the fiberglass that hook over the bridge.

The two brackets (so far) bolt together with the carrier sandwiched between. The 8-32 screws will be upgraded to 1/4-20 bolts after everything is finished. I'm using the small screws at this point so that in the event that I have to make adjustments to the hole placements, there will be enough fiberglass material to move a hole without opening up a larger hole than needed. The extra holes in the bracket were from a miscalculation. There was a lot of eyeballing and guesswork involved in making everything fit the way it needed to.

This screw will hold everything in place but wont actually have a lot of stress directly applied to it. All of the rider's weight will instead be transfered through the steel brackets to the frame, not the bolts.

There are still more parts of this yet to be made.