ππππ ππ§ππ₯π πππ«ππππ‘ ππ¨π₯π¬π¨π§ ππππ - BO17 Build Journal - Finished in 3rd Place - 1937 Uncle Stretch Colson XLWB
- Thread starter kingfish254
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As I posted yesterday, I discovered that the seatstays are solid rod. I moved forward with drilling deep into it, and then decided to try and use a cheap #8 wood screw foolishly thinking it would groove it's way into the stay. It went most of the way in but then I tried to tighten it too far and the head sheared off. I couldn't get it torked out with visegrips and I can't remember where my easyout set is.
So I pivoted to a second plan and decided to make an offset bracket that could attach to an existing hole in the dropout.
I broke out my trusty yard sale rollaway cot spring steel that I've continued to use for every build off. Also broke out the yard sale vise I grabbed from some old garage. I've got great use out of this as both a vise as an improvised sheet metal brake. I just secure the workpiece in the vise and use the pavers as the brake to bend the piece.
So I pivoted to a second plan and decided to make an offset bracket that could attach to an existing hole in the dropout.
I broke out my trusty yard sale rollaway cot spring steel that I've continued to use for every build off. Also broke out the yard sale vise I grabbed from some old garage. I've got great use out of this as both a vise as an improvised sheet metal brake. I just secure the workpiece in the vise and use the pavers as the brake to bend the piece.
I also used some of my trusty foil tape double over so it was like two sided tape and made this nut holder to place the nut onto the screw for the bracket.
Yesterday and today as I layed out the placement and clearance of the guard, I made sure it was level and of course tested a few full turns of the cranks to check for clearance or rubbing issues. The tests went well yesterday.
As I was bolting up the new rear bracket, I looked along the guard to check levelness and I noticed it looked like the guard bowed in some just about the halfway point of the length. No problem. I unbolted front and back. Massaged the bow back out to be stratight, then bolted it all back on. Checked a spin of the crank and could tell the chain was rubbing at the entirety of the chainring. Took off the guard and drilled out the front bracket holes to allow for some left right adjustment. Bolted it back together and tested again. Rubbing not as bad but still there. Took the bike to the lane and rode it down and back.
Definitely the guard was too close to the chain at the front. Got off the bike and eyeballed down the line of the guard and can easily see that by having the guard on the outside of the seatstays, it kicks the rear end out a good bit away from the chainling in the rear. The end result is that it pivots the front of the guard against the chain and chainring.
So I need to do some thinking and testing, but I was running out of daylight by now. There are a few options. The guard is long enough that I could put the bend back in it and it would probably be fine. But I plan to use the skirt guard fins. So I need the rear of the guard to play well with the fins where they mesh together. My guess is that I will keep the guard straight and trim it so that it doesn't hit the seatstay. Then I will be free to allign it with the centerline of the frame and chainline. The skirt needs to be on the outside of the seatstay, so I'll probably just have a slight stepped transition from the skirt to the guard. I'll also need to make a different rear guard bracket, but that wont be a big deal. I still posted all the work above so that people could see my redneck sheet metal brake for reference.
As I was bolting up the new rear bracket, I looked along the guard to check levelness and I noticed it looked like the guard bowed in some just about the halfway point of the length. No problem. I unbolted front and back. Massaged the bow back out to be stratight, then bolted it all back on. Checked a spin of the crank and could tell the chain was rubbing at the entirety of the chainring. Took off the guard and drilled out the front bracket holes to allow for some left right adjustment. Bolted it back together and tested again. Rubbing not as bad but still there. Took the bike to the lane and rode it down and back.
Definitely the guard was too close to the chain at the front. Got off the bike and eyeballed down the line of the guard and can easily see that by having the guard on the outside of the seatstays, it kicks the rear end out a good bit away from the chainling in the rear. The end result is that it pivots the front of the guard against the chain and chainring.
So I need to do some thinking and testing, but I was running out of daylight by now. There are a few options. The guard is long enough that I could put the bend back in it and it would probably be fine. But I plan to use the skirt guard fins. So I need the rear of the guard to play well with the fins where they mesh together. My guess is that I will keep the guard straight and trim it so that it doesn't hit the seatstay. Then I will be free to allign it with the centerline of the frame and chainline. The skirt needs to be on the outside of the seatstay, so I'll probably just have a slight stepped transition from the skirt to the guard. I'll also need to make a different rear guard bracket, but that wont be a big deal. I still posted all the work above so that people could see my redneck sheet metal brake for reference.
I still definitely plan to use the skirtguard fins. I had already planned to use some additional roof flashing filler to dress up a smoother transition of the lower rear curve of the skirt into the dropouts. I'm not to bummed about the guard work I need to do. Everyone knows that's how it is when you blend parts together from five different bikes across multiple decades. It's actually a big part of the fun of build offs for me. The challenge of make stuff work together and hopefully look like they should have always been together. We'll see.
I took these pics just to give me some reference points to dwell and noodle on.
I took these pics just to give me some reference points to dwell and noodle on.
HOLY BAT FINS!!
Your redneck sheet metal press still has more finesse than my two pairs of vice grips l.
. . . and the 40s Batmobile had wheel skirts.
Dug this up from page 7 of this build thread.
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This proves you can find practically anything on the internet.
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
Batmobile ain't all that, the thing is always loosing a wheel. You know how that story ends. Now you're stuck with me.
Ha. Ha.
Hee hee.
Ha.
Ha. Ha.
Hee hee.
Ha.
That was fun going down that batmobile rabbit hole last night for inspiration and thought generation, but no, I don't plan on making a batman themed build. But it was very cool to see different styling cues over the decades for fins and stuff associated with the different versions in comics, movies, animation, and artwork.
I still really don't know what my finished build is going to look like, so I'm easily distracted as I work through what the parts tell me to do.
I still really don't know what my finished build is going to look like, so I'm easily distracted as I work through what the parts tell me to do.
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I don't expect to have any more chainslap problems with my current setup, but I went ahead and ordered two of these to have on hand as a backup for this build and to have in my stash for future builds.
I had no idea those existed, outstanding!
Got the guard cut, alligned, and mounted. Details later.
Cleaned the chain grease from the whitewall. Gonna go test the guard and the chain clearance on a ride in this heat.
Cleaned the chain grease from the whitewall. Gonna go test the guard and the chain clearance on a ride in this heat.
