A Lengthy Insanity

[Ulu]

There must be a Rat Fink in my future.

You know what they say about creative muses. They lead us by the nose.

Meanwhile I got my stingray seat
back together with the heavy duty foam.

I decided to work on that upholstery instead of the motorcycle because I thought it would be a little easier on my arthritis. Boy was I wrong. Stretching out upholstery tight over all that foam was a chore.

Of course I re-stitched the part that I had unstitched, and I re-stitchd it by hand. Twice, with 4 threads, As I did not have any good upholstery thread but only dressmaking thread.

I got to break out the dressmaking machine anyway and do a little bit of embroidery stitching, because I put a small cut in the upholstery at the tail of the seat just as I was doing the assembly.

It handled the thin upholstery quite well. I saved the upholstry, and it’s up underneath the seat where you really can’t see it unless you stick your nose under there like some Rat fink.

Now that I know I can do this, I can work on some fancier upholstery.

 

[Ulu]

Massive frankenbike seatpost?

 

[Ulu]

The seat is far more comfortable now.

I am too happy about this and I'm going to hesitate to take it apart.

But custom upholstery is on the list,

 

[Ulu]

Well still no motorcycle.

Years ago, when I realized that they were getting difficult to find, I went to various Walmarts and bought over a dozen oil filters for my bike. Every one I could find.

They had a terrific oil filter for only two dollars when the Kawasaki filter was $14 and not much better. Engineers in our motorcycle club actually tested these things and posted the results on YouTube.

I used the last one When I installed the clutch, And so today I finally had to go and buy an oil filter for my bike, for the first time in about 10 years. $15 for a NAPA.

Anyhow I’m all set to put it back together tomorrow morning. If everything seems to work OK I’m gonna be really happy.

 

[Ulu]

I had a rotten night last night guys, and I just wasn’t feeling well yesterday from lunchtime on. I didn’t get three hours of sleep, I was up walking around the house half the night, and I was up by 6; half dead but then all jacked up on Green tea, french toast & maple syrup.

Some days I feel like I’m going to live long enough to finish all these cars and bicycles and motorcycles and other projects.

Last night I was feeling like none of this was likely to happen.

This morning I was not inclined to go out in the garage and crawl on the floor, But I did it and the motorcycle is completely back together and on the ground.

I’m a little bit sore from all of the wrenching, and I did it all by myself, so I took a little while propping things up temporarily as I bolted them on to the bike.

The clutch certainly feels a lot better, and it is well oiled. Still it is hot out, and I’m tired, and so I will wait until tomorrow to do a test ride.

I feel like I will be lucky to just keep riding in the future, because the arthritis in my wrist is getting worse. I don’t think I’ll be able to ride the Nomad much right now, without binding my wrist so I can work the clutch. Maybe tomorrow morning it will feel better.

For now I am going to go celebrate the completed reassembly and complete rearrangement of my garage. Maybe just a couple shots of J. Beam with dinner and then I will pass out from exhaustion.

But, First I got a wash the dirt and sweat offa me and cook that dinner.

I will break out the expensive liquor after I find out whether or not the clutch works right. I’m gonna want it either way it turns out.

Crossing my fingers that I will be back on my bicycle projects tomorrow. I just got a new aluminum 24 inch coaster wheel and tire to play with today.

 

[RustyGold]

There are a few automatic bikes out there.

...or, fab up a foot clutch. Makes your bike more theft proof.

 

[Ulu]

Oh no, Cap’n, I’m done with interstate touring. And this is definitely not the motorcycle to try and chop to make it light. It’s over 800 pounds wet right now.
if you want to hold the throttle open on the interstate highway, this is the bike.

If you want to ride around town casually, or do a little twisty road riding, this is not the bike.

I’ll find out what kind of bike it is in a little bit because I’m ready to go lite the engine off soon and take it for a ride.

It was a good commuter bike for me for 50,000 miles because I did stop and go traffic cross town every day, in a straight line. Torque off the line is phenomenal, and ordinary traffic doesn’t stand a chance at the stop light.

It was a great touring bike too. Mostly It’s a handful for a man my size and age to deal with, when it’s not under power. Just moving it around in my garage is a struggle.

But there are better motorcycles, and I’ll probably be looking for one more appropriate to my current lifestyle. Short joy rides and random trips to the minimart.

 

[Captain Awesome]

Anything is a sportbike if you try hard enough

Somewhere I have a photo of me dragging knee (and case savers) on US129 on a Valkyrie

 

[Ulu]

It has been almost 4 years since I took the Nomad apart to do the output bearings and then the clutch. I was pretty anxious about the bearing setup, and it was made much worse when I rebuilt the clutch & it didn't work correctly. I was so upset that it didn't work well, I was discouraged from working on it, & It ended up sitting another 2 years.

Until today.

Holly Moses! I forgot how this beast launches with a good clutch setup. I had so much fun I forgot to stop and take photos.

In the end I realize that I made several mistakes that caused me a lot of grief. First I put a taller and heavier tire on the back. This was too much extra load on the drivetrain. I've done the driveshaft 3 times. Increasing the torque from 81 to 90ft-lb made that worse. I should have kept the stock tire size or gone even shorter. This bike is already geared rather high.

Second, both the Lucas oil treatment and the 20-w50 oil were a bad idea. I should have just let it leak and tick. I certainly don't need the heavier oil with the new clutch. It didn't really leak. Not like a regular motorcycle.

Third I changed clutch fluid and changed the slave piston seal at the same time I dd the plates. I thought I had all the air out, but clearly I didn't. Time and gravity solved that issue eventually without my help. The hydraulics feel perfect, and with Barnett plates and a Meanstreak spring the lockup is solid and slippage is easy to modulate. I was very afraid I would have to change that spring, but I am able to work the clutch OK. For a while. I should have bound the wrist.

Finally, I didn't realize Delo had added some moly to it's oil. I put it on a new clutch and I was lucky that it only has about 10% as much moly as car oils now. Not only didn't it release correctly, it slipped under lockup at high RPM. After two clutch flushings and two oil changes it is normal again.

And by normal, I mean stronger than stock.

I thought the first flush did nothing, but that was because I still had air in the line.

I forgot to pump up the tires today. They were like big squishy donuts riding around. It was probably about 25 psi instead of 40.

So much grip! I wasn't liking the new front tire much before, but now I think it just wants less air.

 

[Ulu]

Anything is a sportbike if you try hard enough

Somewhere I have a photo of me dragging knee (and case savers) on US129 on a Valkyrie

Toss it down, & hoist it up with the throttle.

I have drug the muffler bolts half thru, until I had to use vise grips when I wanted to repack the 'glass.

 

[Ulu]

Today I ordered the fatbike Sturmey Archer hub kit. Should be here in a week.
I will turn the front fatwheel into a rear. I will figure out the spokes later.

I tore down the new hi-stop coaster hub. It was brand new, but I don't like chinese grease.
I flushed it thoroughly and repacked it. Looks identical to the one I did on the Elektra bike.
It came with a bent axle. It was only bent about 1/16", but I had to straighten it.

I also glued up the cracked turn signal stem on my Nomad. Then I ordered a new one and went for some fresh gas. The clutch is well seated in now, so I blew it out on the highway and I did a crazy fishtailing burnout on the edge of town. It wasn't planned that way. The engine hiccupped and I flinched.

Enough fun. I have spokes to clean.

 

[Ulu]

The Sturmey fat kit came today.


I was encouraged to tear down the fatwheel. The Mongoose disk and screws will fit OK.

It’s much too hot to work outdoors right now. I did it in the kitchen.



I’m trying to figure out what this rim liner is.

It looks kinda like the PVC/fabric is shrunk on. I’ve seen videos of guys that just replaced this with duct tape but I don’t know what I’m going to do. I know I had to cut it off and so I did.

 

[Tallbikeman]

I had a rotten night last night guys, and I just wasn’t feeling well yesterday from lunchtime on. I didn’t get three hours of sleep, I was up walking around the house half the night, and I was up by 6; half dead but then all jacked up on Green tea, french toast & maple syrup.

Some days I feel like I’m going to live long enough to finish all these cars and bicycles and motorcycles and other projects.

Last night I was feeling like none of this was likely to happen.

This morning I was not inclined to go out in the garage and crawl on the floor, But I did it and the motorcycle is completely back together and on the ground.

I’m a little bit sore from all of the wrenching, and I did it all by myself, so I took a little while propping things up temporarily as I bolted them on to the bike.

The clutch certainly feels a lot better, and it is well oiled. Still it is hot out, and I’m tired, and so I will wait until tomorrow to do a test ride.

I feel like I will be lucky to just keep riding in the future, because the arthritis in my wrist is getting worse. I don’t think I’ll be able to ride the Nomad much right now, without binding my wrist so I can work the clutch. Maybe tomorrow morning it will feel better.

For now I am going to go celebrate the completed reassembly and complete rearrangement of my garage. Maybe just a couple shots of J. Beam with dinner and then I will pass out from exhaustion.

But, First I got a wash the dirt and sweat offa me and cook that dinner.

I will break out the expensive liquor after I find out whether or not the clutch works right. I’m gonna want it either way it turns out.

Crossing my fingers that I will be back on my bicycle projects tomorrow. I just got a new aluminum 24 inch coaster wheel and tire to play with today.

Ach, age, sore body parts, feeling crappy, must be going around.

 

[Ulu]

Baggins the Nomad is back on the road.

I got my wife to dress up in her motorcycle gear and I took her out for breakfast this morning. This is the first time she’s been on the motorcycle in about three years.

It’s funny how having the motorcycle all fixed up and shiny improved my assessment of my own riding abilities.

After 50,000 miles riding and wrenching on the same machine, it was just a matter of seconds before I felt comfortable, and my mood changed from one of mild trepidation to hooligan throttle lust.

Also it helps a lot that the clutch works very well and that it’s not over taxing my wrist to ride it around town in stop and go traffic (if I am cautious about not hanging onto it for minutes at a time at the stoplights.)

I really hate to sit in neutral after stop lights but when it’s hot out and it’s taking a long time I don’t wanna overheat the clutch. And I put a good heat on it today.

I showed the machine very little mercy as I rocketed around from stoplight to stoplight, barking the mufflers and counting on the fact that all the cops were out late last night busting DUIs and they wouldn’t be up before brunch.

With my wife on the bike, the little extra load made it more consistent to launch the bike under power.

I think the bottom line is, I can’t sell this bike for enough to make me wanna part with it. I paid cash for it. No other mechanic has ever touched this bike. It was a bit of a strain for me to allow myself to hire somebody to polish it.

With all the wrenching my wrists were too sore to do all the polishing myself too.

 

[Ulu]

I got the fat bike wheel completely stripped down, and now I need to figure out what spoke lengths I need.

The last time I looked at the spoke calculator, it wouldn’t handle this wheel, but then I realized that all I had to do was subtract an inch of both the rim and hub width, and the calculations would run.

So tomorrow I will fire up the Calculator,
run it, and see what I get.



EDIT:
I couldn't sleep without knowing so I ran it.

The calculator yields 254mm

I ran the dimensions of the OEM hub, and got 260mm
Which is exactly what my spokes measure.

Before I order I will build the wheel with inverted nipples.
They should engage 5mm.
I will then measure how much too long the stock spokes are.

If I get 6mm I will order 254

 

[Ulu]

Those nipples are not well threaded through, and they will not invert on the spoke as I expected.

I will just order a set of 254s and a bag of new nipples and put it together.

 

[Ulu]

It appears that my spokes have shipped and will be here Monday. That means I will have wheels and tires to set up for three more bicycles.

Once that wheel is laced, I want to put it aside, and get my frame jig straightened up and welded together. It’s all just sitting in my boat yard held together with a bunch of clamps and I need my welding clamps back!

But I got some much heavier tubing to use for the main backbone. A while back I was asking myself rhetorically if I should build a jig heavy enough to do motorcycle frames.

I’m not necessarily looking to go into the frame manufacturing business, but I am keen to build some custom cycles. If I was just gonna do this one bike, I wouldn’t bother to make a jig for it.

 

[Ulu]

No spokes yet so I decided to tear down the other little pink and blue wheel, strip it, and rebuild the coaster brake.

Unfortunately the axle had quite a bit of hammering damage when somebody put training wheels on this bike, and they got loose.

I spent some time cleaning up the threads but I don’t have a proper die.

The spokes went in some brake fluid and out in the hot sun.

 

[Ulu]

I am showing you here the wheel rehab of the LOL Surprise bicycle. These wheels are not really a part of the lengthy insanity.


I showed this already in my thread about stripping paint with brake fluid. But that is the front wheel, which is already completely rebuilt (without the ugly pink and blue paint!)

The baby coaster brake being cleaned up, and the spokes have been soaked and stripped, and now just need a polish.


The little blue hoop had some surface rust & a “soft” dent in it.

I carved out a little wooden block to fit in my vise, and I knocked it out with a rubber mallet.


I was trying to save the blue paint so I didn’t use the steel hammers.

It worked out pretty well, and I just need to polish some rubber off of the rim. The whole rim measures 1.295” to 1.325”, So it’s within 1/32”, which is better than a millimeter.

Spoke points to the spot where the dent was. We’ll see how straight it comes out when I lace it.


Most of this little wheel work is just prefatory to my rebuilding the fat bike Sturmey Archer combo.

That little 16” silver wheel was the first wheel I have laced since 1968. I wanted some practice before I go scratch up an expensive fatwheel.

I had to start over twice because I didn’t understand the 2-cross pattern. The fat wheel will be 3-cross and that I can do without looking at the book. (Yeah right…)

The coaster wheel will go back together just fine, and I will be ready to lace the monster wheel Monday when my spokes show up.

 

[Ulu]

I flipped that gooseneck around again, because I just didn’t like the handlebar position. I don’t think it looks good now, but it rides more comfortably.



Repositioning the weight of the handlebars also made it slightly more stable, and I actually rode this bike without my hands on the bars for the first time today. It was still too wobbly to be confidence inspiring, If I can’t ride no-hands then the bike is not stable enough for me.

2 degrees extra rake here could make all the difference.

I need to rework the headlight mount because it’s just a single bolt mount right now, and it’s not very secure, with a tendency to come loose.

The old Kryptonics skateboard helmet is still with me.


I am still really digging the bio pace Shimano cog set, and although there is no derailleur, I can shift chain up by hand, and down with my toe, as I ride.

The 52 tooth cog with a 14 on the rear gives me some pretty good speed.

I do have a nice front derailleur for these cogs, but it’s not gonna mount on my bike without extreme modification. (It’s going to get some.)

You can see here the paint damage from me jamming the chain carelessly, when I blew a shift.

Clearance is minimal.