Even after my 14 day quarantine is over, I won't be able to travel to Manila for awhile, so I've put out feelers for a frame nearby. In the meantime, I have some parts already arrived here to tinker around with. My old Ross and Hawthorne sprockets make nice window decorations in my office.
I also am considering using a 1972 SA S3C hub for the front brake instead of the skiptooth setup I had planned. The old skiptooth Bendix SS hub works great and I want to use it along with the chain and the Hawthorne sprocket on another build, maybe an old lightweight frame of some kind. So, on this bike I would have 2 rear wheels that could be interchanged if need be. I can't think of a scenario that would require that, unless the drive gave out on the new two speed, then the old three speed could be swapped right in. With no shifter or cable, it would be stuck in high gear, so it'll get a 22 tooth cog. That will give me more leverage for the front brake also.
So I gave it a try. The writeup said they only replaced one shim to add a sprocket. Sure enough that was right. The retaining ring didn't seat 100% of the way, but I'll have to clean up the parts better when I have something setup other than my desktop. I used 18 and 16 tooth cogs. They show plenty of room for the chain. My hub will get 22 and 18 teeth.
I also worked on the heavier springs for the seat. This seat is the one I'll use with the bike that should be arriving early next month. It has the same kind of springs as my new seat, so this is a dry run of how to make the bigger springs work. I picked them up cheap, about 6 dollars on Amazon last year, but shipping took 2 months. They are for a motorcycle seat. The springs that come with these seats bottom out too easily and let the seat float around too much. These big springs stablize the seat. I used them last year but they were never lined up perfectly with the parts I had then.
Been there on updating to motorcycle springs. My biggest challenge was tightening the nuts.
It’s a small working space. I’ll try to find a pic of the finished job
Been there on updating to motorcycle springs. My biggest challenge was tightening the nuts.
It’s a small working space. I’ll try to find a pic of the finished job
Thanks for the link! My needs are very specific; even the torsion spring you had pictured would not suffice without significant modification. I'll check around, all options are on the table, especially the cost effective ones. I'll just order in pairs assuming 1 will be damaged beyond reasonable use.
When I add the springs to the new seat, it will definitely get nylocks. It's ready for my folder as it is though, hopefully the nuts are tight enough to last a month or so.
A box of my parts showed up. The new seat has heavier springs than the older one, so I'll leave that sleeping dog lie.
I needed to see what I need to widen the springer for the 3" tire. I attached the arms and struts on the outside of the spring housing to get some width. I can add a couple washers on either side later if need be. I mounted my Bendix and Sturmey Archer hubs to get a look, they are the same width, 110 mm. To fit the 3" tire, I'll need two spacers at the crown, each side 3/8ths inch for a total of an inch and a half. I have a ton of nylon washers in the last box of parts due to show up later.
Still no frame. Getting parts here is tougher than before, many bike shops are still closed. The open ones are selling mountain bikes as fast as they can get them. I may not be able to have my wheels made up for quite awhile, so I may get a 26 x 1.75 SS wheelset to ride on until my 2 speed and SA front hub brake is built. If there are any. I'll still have 2 speeds with my dual lucky sevens.
Then to top it off, there are further restrictions on seniors here, of which I'm one. 60 and over along with under 20 are restricted from going to places like stores, the market and places where lots of people meet. I can ride a bike though and go walking around which is my plan anyway. So it works in my favor that I'm not trapped at the mall standing around waiting for everyone else to finish shopping. But getting parts is the problem. There's still over a month left so I'm not calling it quits yet.
That new seat has killer springs on it!
Glad to see the test run on the double cog works on your hub. That is pretty cool.
Have you checked with some of the RRB guys in the P.I. to see if they have any parts contacts in your area? @Joe Conde and @PINOYRATRODDER
The rear springs are coil, I thought they were the same as others until I compared them together. It's one of those cheaper Brooks style seats from Amazon.
Joe is already looking for a frame and I've emailed BZKleta. I've got people looking around town here for a frame. I'll check PINOYRATRODDER today. I might get a whole bike just for the wheels, then have parts for the next bike!
My wheel building guy has been busy putting new bikes together since the bike boom took off a couple months ago. He has no extra time for any side projects, so I'll need to find another good wheel builder here in my town. I can lace them up as I've seen on youtube but the final adjustments and truing might be outside my ability.
I want to support the economy here anyway so I'm not building any wheels. I'm not going to comprimise by getting a regular wheelset for the time being, I'm sticking to the original plan, 2 speeds with 2 cogs on wide rim on the rear, ss hub for brakes on the front wheel, matching rim. Old bars and stem. I noticed the stem has a W in a recessed square. I wonder if that dates this stem or if that is common for Wald stems.
I did have some luck finding a longer bolt for my springer. Exactly what I was looking for, 1 1/2 " longer just the right length, same threads too, that has never happened here before, for me anyway.
I always wind up having to redo everything to make parts fit. Usually with results that aren't what I had in mind. I've got a ton of nylon washers due to show up, so I may not need spacers to fill in the gaps. I may need to widen the spring cage to allow the extra width. That will be handled by a fabrication shop along with the dropout extensions front and rear.
I went ahead and tried the big springs on the new seat afterall. I needed something to do. I took the good springs off the new seat and added them to the old seat because they are a step up from the original springs.
Everything worked! When my old bike shows up this week, it'll get the red colored seat.
I dug out my spring from an early Schwinn springer. It was on a 59 Schwinn I bought in the 70's, but was the older style that was used until 1954. I compared it (the gold one) to the new Taiwan made spring, it is slightly longer. It went in ok and I'll use it on this build.
Another box of stuff showed up today. My SA kickback hub and vise were the main items, along with some small stuff. I still have a couple chain wheels in the last box due sometime this month.
I have the biggest bike parts place around checking on a cruiser frame to see if they can order one from a supplier. They also do wheel work, but the cities are quarantined again, no travel unless necessary. "Bike parts acquisition" won't fly with the checkpoints set up, so how I'm going to get parts or even get wheels made up is up in the air.
First I mounted my new vise on a folding table in my temporary workshop. Working with the c rings on hubs requires a solid base to work with. I tried my 2 cog concept on the kickback hub. The dustcover was making it difficult until I tried the 19 tooth cog off the Sram auto hub. Even then the c clip is a tight fit. But it seems to work. I checked the chain clearance. Plenty of space between cogs.
This gives it 19 and 22 tooth cogs
Then I worked on the fork. I used nylon washers to make the 1/2 space on either side and sized it up. The spring assembly needed spacers too, but when I tightened down the bolts it seems nice and solid. So it has plenty of side to side clearance for the 3" tire. I still have to have the extensions made up to clear the tire on the crown.
After looking at it for awhile, I made a couple changes. I wanted more range in the gears, so now it's got 16 and 22 tooth cogs. With the 36 and 42 chain wheels, that will give 8 speeds, manually shifted, that are more spread out. In reality, I'll probably always be in the lowest range with the weight of the bike. Those two speeds will serve all my needs. But I'll still have the option of all the other gears. My 8 speeds in gear inches will be: 46, 54, 63, 64, 74, 75, 87, 102. (36 chainwheel with 22 cog will give me 46 and 64.) I'll be good with that.
Then I decided to go back with the old Bendix SS skipt tooth hub up front. The 3 speed was too heavy and the skip tooth looks better to me.
Checking the alignment of the fork, the upper bolts will need to be longer afterall. I tried it with 4 washers per side to get a good fit for the hub and spindle. The nuts are barely on there in this pic.
All the bike shops say they have no parts or anything available. The local government is further tightening restictions on travel. So it's not looking good, unless I have a used bike show up that I can make use of. My 3 inch tires will fit on a standard 26 x 1.75 rim so as long as it's 26" I can use it. I can now lace up wheels so I have hubs, just no spokes or rims.
I also need the last box of household goods to show up to get my chain wheels.
Still more than 2 weeks left so it's still possible to get it finished. Just a frame and wheels are needed.
I redid the front spring on my new seat. I mounted it lower. That's about all I've done on the build lately.
We are all pulling for you to get the frame, spokes, and rims you need in time. This is turning into a cliffhanger. I really want to see this cool idea come to fruition! GOOD LUCK!!!!
I had joked about cutting up my 42 Hawthorne frame so it would fit in the shipping boxes we were able to use. I have access to welders over here and could have had it welded back together. I didn't want to cut up a good frame though. The lady that bought it in Hawaii really got a steal but that's okay by me as long as she enjoys the bike.
But the 4-4-2 will happen regardless of a deadline. If the parts I need show up, then I'll work on it straight through to beat the deadline.
I found a couple things to work on. It dawned on me that the little nub that holds the chain wheel may not be long enough for two chain wheels. The big washer usually goes on the inside of the sprocket. My lucky 7s aren't here yet so I tried on a couple of older chain wheels to see. It doesn't go all the way through the hole but I think it's enough to hold. I can drill some holes and bolt them together otherwise.
Just for fun, I tried out the copper backing plate I got back from Kingfish with my Hawthorne chain wheel. It's just the right size and looks good to me. The copper needs shined up, but it will stay with this skiptooth chain wheel. It will go on a frame I don't have yet, just like 4-4-2. I have a name for it already but that would be two named bikes with no actual frame. I'll have to find something else for the lucky 7s on this build.
The last of my stuff from Hawaii showed up. Just some chain wheels and a few tools. I mounted the lucky 7s on the crank. Without a washer between the chain wheels, there was enough room for the chain, but it was touching the other chain wheel. It didn't seem to make a difference as it sat all the way in the teeth. I added a washer between the two and that gave it plenty of room, but the nub didn't contact the inner chain wheel. I could drill a couple holes, get spacers and bolt them into one chain wheel, but I'll try them without the washer first to see if there are any problems. I won't know until I do a road test. Bottom line is that it will work.
I then made some mockups for the springer extensions. They didn't need to be as big as I thought. This will give the top of the tire an inch clearance to the crown. The spring can be adjusted to move the front wheel angle in relation to the bike somewhat so I'm going to have these made up with 10mm holes using 3mm steel. That should take care of the front, just need a wheel made up and fab up the brake system.
