A Lengthy Insanity
- Thread starter Ulu
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Just curious. I don’t know what EE’s are into but structurals in CA all had to submit AutoCAD. The state would have made that official long ago, except certain well-to-do firms would’ve had to downgrade and they didn’t like that idea.
They just had to wait until AutoCAD got more expensive, LOL
(When I retired they were moving all the structural stuff over to Revit.)
Quadruple tourniquet cold bending method reduces point stress at any particular spot where you apply force.
Last time it didn’t get bent enough, and I needed another 1/2”.
Last time it didn’t get bent enough, and I needed another 1/2”.
That thing is under a lot of force right now and I expect it’s going to spring back 1.5” of the 2” it is pulled in here.
Here I’m using a little tube and a bolt to press the dropouts back into parallel alignment. There’s a lot of pressure going on here. We’ll see how it tracks when I’m done.
Back together with the dropouts neatly aligned. It’s within 1/16” now.
I picked up this nice used sissy bar at the Lowrider shop. I don’t know if it’s gonna work for me or not yet.
I picked up this nice used sissy bar at the Lowrider shop. I don’t know if it’s gonna work for me or not yet.
I put the Sunrace chain tensioner on to see how it would look. If it works OK I will remove the black paint.
You can see that the chrome sissy bar is going to interfere with my shifter cable, if I let it stick down this far.
You can see that the chrome sissy bar is going to interfere with my shifter cable, if I let it stick down this far.
The last two days have been mostly a lesson in prevarication, procrastination, and several other irritable-ations.
I am coming to grips with the fact that so far I love to ride this bike Much More than any bicycle I’ve ever owned, by a wide margin, and now I’m getting ready to cut it and weld on it. It is hard to do. I don’t want to screw it up.
I don’t know 100% how it’s gonna come out handling-wise.
The bike steers very fast right now because there’s little trail and a steep head angle. If I just drop it at the rear axle, the head angle will relax, the CG will drop, and the wheelbase will lengthen slightly.
I think this will make the bike even easier to power slide, but I don’t know if it will be more controllable or less. It will not wheelie as easily unless I push the seat back.
It should be more stable in a straight line. Right now I would not say it unstable, but it is close to the edge.
I didn’t know exactly how it was going to come out when I did any of the modifications, but this one is not quite so reversible.
I am coming to grips with the fact that so far I love to ride this bike Much More than any bicycle I’ve ever owned, by a wide margin, and now I’m getting ready to cut it and weld on it. It is hard to do. I don’t want to screw it up.
I don’t know 100% how it’s gonna come out handling-wise.
The bike steers very fast right now because there’s little trail and a steep head angle. If I just drop it at the rear axle, the head angle will relax, the CG will drop, and the wheelbase will lengthen slightly.
I think this will make the bike even easier to power slide, but I don’t know if it will be more controllable or less. It will not wheelie as easily unless I push the seat back.
It should be more stable in a straight line. Right now I would not say it unstable, but it is close to the edge.
I didn’t know exactly how it was going to come out when I did any of the modifications, but this one is not quite so reversible.
Well this was the last ride out ever with the primitive zinc plated sissy bar.
That was three days ago.
I have been rather sick the past couple days and I haven’t really gone out to ride at all. I wasn’t feeling good the day I went out to move furniture for my sister-in-law and it turned out to be an absolute debacle in the heat.
I’m starting to feel recovered this morning so maybe I’ll get out and ride the townie bike. But the build off bike is down in parts right now.
I haven’t been much motivated to work on the bike, but I did tear it down last night and start jigging.
I can afford to buy a used aluminum frame mongoose on craigslist and swap all my parts over, if I decide that cutting this frame was a mistake or I just plain destroy it.
I’m almost tempted to do that instead of the welding on the steel frame but I have to stop and realize that my purpose is not to make this bike lighter and lighter. This is an exercycle. It’s going to get heavier.
I’ll post another picture when I get this thing set up in the jig and ready to cut. So far I’ve just braced the rear stays across the drop outs and marked the cuts with the scribe.
That was three days ago.
I have been rather sick the past couple days and I haven’t really gone out to ride at all. I wasn’t feeling good the day I went out to move furniture for my sister-in-law and it turned out to be an absolute debacle in the heat.
I’m starting to feel recovered this morning so maybe I’ll get out and ride the townie bike. But the build off bike is down in parts right now.
I haven’t been much motivated to work on the bike, but I did tear it down last night and start jigging.
I can afford to buy a used aluminum frame mongoose on craigslist and swap all my parts over, if I decide that cutting this frame was a mistake or I just plain destroy it.
I’m almost tempted to do that instead of the welding on the steel frame but I have to stop and realize that my purpose is not to make this bike lighter and lighter. This is an exercycle. It’s going to get heavier.
I’ll post another picture when I get this thing set up in the jig and ready to cut. So far I’ve just braced the rear stays across the drop outs and marked the cuts with the scribe.
I tore down all those little bicycles I drug home and stored away the parts.
The gardeners are coming today and I couldn’t get very far before they showed up and I put everything away.
I need to chase my wife out of the garage so I can do the welding in there. I need to do some work on my garage door as well.
There are too many distractions this week. And I expect will have a memorial service soon. Arranging that turned out to be a postcovid Pita. But they were still plenty of days to do what I must do, it’s not gonna be that much more. Plus I spent all the big bucks and now all I need is some candy apple red.
The gardeners are coming today and I couldn’t get very far before they showed up and I put everything away.
I need to chase my wife out of the garage so I can do the welding in there. I need to do some work on my garage door as well.
There are too many distractions this week. And I expect will have a memorial service soon. Arranging that turned out to be a postcovid Pita. But they were still plenty of days to do what I must do, it’s not gonna be that much more. Plus I spent all the big bucks and now all I need is some candy apple red.
Still no candy apple red paint. But I’m nowhere near ready to paint anything right now.
I had pushed my in process frame jig aside, and brought in a lot more steel, and now I am building a much heavier duty jig that will accommodate longer, heavier frames.
I am not going to make it too elaborate, because I don’t intend to build frames for a living. For now it just has to be nice enough to finish the project bike.
I might just make it by the deadline.
I didn’t touch the bike, except that I did put these little chrome covers on the valve stems. I put O-rings on the stem to keep everything tight and square.
I still haven’t figured out how to put a detent on this without a lot of trouble.
You can see how I took out the rivet from the original brake lever and replaced it with a long SS hex head cap screw (allen bolt.)
That one bolt holds the whole shifter to the base, and the spring in place as well.
I had pushed my in process frame jig aside, and brought in a lot more steel, and now I am building a much heavier duty jig that will accommodate longer, heavier frames.
I am not going to make it too elaborate, because I don’t intend to build frames for a living. For now it just has to be nice enough to finish the project bike.
I might just make it by the deadline.
I didn’t touch the bike, except that I did put these little chrome covers on the valve stems. I put O-rings on the stem to keep everything tight and square.
I still haven’t figured out how to put a detent on this without a lot of trouble.
You can see how I took out the rivet from the original brake lever and replaced it with a long SS hex head cap screw (allen bolt.)
That one bolt holds the whole shifter to the base, and the spring in place as well.
Here’s the picture I should’ve posted.
Hope you're feeling better. Looking forward to seeing the paint!
Thank you. The sun and exercise helps a lot, And in spite of the brutal temperatures outside it is very dry and there’s a slight breeze where I am working.
I did not get out to ride yesterday or today, but I did get a lot done in the welding area.
It is much cleaner, and I can finally see my welding table. First time in about three years since it’s been clear.
I have my stock rack assembled and all loaded. It’s all braced, squared up and clamped together, and it is ready to weld.
I arranged the bike frame jig so that it can be removed and replaced using bolts or clamps. It does not hang on the stock rack, but stands on its own legs and is only only braced to the rack in four spots.
This will prevent me having to weld on it and distort the jig. It is extremely straight right now instead in spite of the welding which was previously done, because this is some thick tubing. 7’-6” long. (About 2285 mm.)
Here you can see how I addressed the problem:
And it was about the same with the fake Schwinn bike. I added a bracket to push the sissy bar back into position.
This time I have something different in mind if I can pull it off. The sissy bar functions as a back rest (or at least a butt rest) and I want to maintain that functionality with the chrome sissy bar.
I will probably drill at least four more holes in the seat for the attachment of an alloy bracket, supporting seat sissy bar and back rest together.
If I can get out there tomorrow morning, blow out all that leaf litter, and burn some rod on that stock rack, I can take all my clamps off, and I will actually be able to build something with them.
Right now almost every clamp and magnet I own is holding that rack together.
There is a lot of sunglare in the photo but it gives you a good idea that the jig is 90” long while the rack is only 70”.
As it turns up, my determination to repair the motorcycle before I finished my project bike was less of a infringement than my necessity to clean out the boat yard. It was just such a mess I could not work out there any longer.
Now things are starting to come into alignment. With a little bit of forbearance on the part of the bicycle gods, I will be loading my project bike on the jig sometime tomorrow. It will be a big relief when I am finished and the contest is over.
I promised myself I would have the fake Jaguar back together before Christmas. This means I’m gonna have to lay off on the bicycles pretty soon anyway. I have some serious welding challenges there.
I’m gonna use one end of that stock rack as a support, so I can flip this chassis upside down to weld on the bottom of it.
Between now and Christmas I also need to pull the engine of the Scout and send it to the machine shop.
There’s no rest for the wicked wrench.
Right now almost every clamp and magnet I own is holding that rack together.
There is a lot of sunglare in the photo but it gives you a good idea that the jig is 90” long while the rack is only 70”.
As it turns up, my determination to repair the motorcycle before I finished my project bike was less of a infringement than my necessity to clean out the boat yard. It was just such a mess I could not work out there any longer.
Now things are starting to come into alignment. With a little bit of forbearance on the part of the bicycle gods, I will be loading my project bike on the jig sometime tomorrow. It will be a big relief when I am finished and the contest is over.
I promised myself I would have the fake Jaguar back together before Christmas. This means I’m gonna have to lay off on the bicycles pretty soon anyway. I have some serious welding challenges there.
I’m gonna use one end of that stock rack as a support, so I can flip this chassis upside down to weld on the bottom of it.
Between now and Christmas I also need to pull the engine of the Scout and send it to the machine shop.
There’s no rest for the wicked wrench.
Actually, I got a lot of rest and yet made zero progress on the bike. I gave up working outdoors about the time it hit 102F.
I had lots of cleanup to do if I am to avoid setting fires, and there were other unrelated cleanup chores, battery charging, & more heavy metal moving.
I removed the locks & chiseled 75 rivets off the screen of an old security door, which I recycled for my wife’s garden.
By the time I got done I was too tired for grinding and welding. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
I had lots of cleanup to do if I am to avoid setting fires, and there were other unrelated cleanup chores, battery charging, & more heavy metal moving.
I removed the locks & chiseled 75 rivets off the screen of an old security door, which I recycled for my wife’s garden.
By the time I got done I was too tired for grinding and welding. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
Sneak look under the covers, at the transaxle for my future electric trike project.
