A Lengthy Insanity

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OK, back to the mongoose build….

I determined today that the longer stingray seat was putting so much leverage against the sissy bar and the seat post that there was no way it was gonna stay straight as soon as I put power to the pedals.

Anyhow it is definitely time to reinforce my temporary sissy bar.
 
I have been messing around with plans for the new sissy bar but I haven’t started yet. Instead I’ve been working on bits of a shifter.

Here’s a picture of the bike with the big seat.
image.jpg

I also put the big handlebars back on the bike.
33CBA6C5-76F1-4608-8431-1E8B5B698865.jpeg

The quality of these handlebars is second rate.

They’re not perfectly symmetrical. They didn’t buff the things well before they chromed them.

I only paid 30 bucks so what can you expect?
 
I had to reverse the gooseneck. The bike was uncomfortable. I think a zero offset neck would be the thing. I haven’t found one to fit these bars yet.
B01109D2-3F5D-45C3-B1D9-1E634D394C60.jpeg

293FACAB-B1D7-43F6-AB67-20005AE0FC99.jpeg

I may make a tool to bore the short neck lthat I bought, but I’m not going to do what I did with the West Coast choppers neck which was to ream it on the drill press with a 1”bit.

I really want to shine up this 32 inch wheel for the front, and shave the knobs off of the tire. The corners on this big tire are so square.

Back about 1986 I had a set of tires shaved at a Fresno tire shop. They did it with a diamond wheel on an electric high speed motor, and they ran that against the spinning tire on a tire lathe.

I don’t know any place that does that work nowadays.

I might set up something just to do my bicycle tire. I have a high-speed pneumatic die grinder and and a diamond coated cutting wheel (really designed for ceramics.)

I may try this procedure wet, because an old four-wheel-drive legend is that a wet tire always gets cut the easiest. If you try cutting rubber with a knife you will find that it works better if it’s wet.

As much as I want to go do this right now I’m going to wait until after I modify the frame.

That will give me time to disassemble the hoop and strip it, paint it red, polish the hub as well, order stainless steel spokes, and install them.

BTW, that is not a 32”wheel. That’s a nominal size, but it’s about 31.5” OD at the tread. Probably about 27.5” at the bead.
00D83FF9-5E80-4EAA-8610-D940DB8BF203.jpeg
 
I had to reverse the gooseneck. The bike was uncomfortable. I think a zero offset neck would be the thing. I haven’t found one to fit these bars yet.
View attachment 198870
View attachment 198871
I may make a tool to bore the short neck lthat I bought, but I’m not going to do what I did with the West Coast choppers neck which was to ream it on the drill press with a 1”bit.

I really want to shine up this 32 inch wheel for the front, and shave the knobs off of the tire. The corners on this big tire are so square.

Back about 1986 I had a set of tires shaved at a Fresno tire shop. They did it with a diamond wheel on an electric high speed motor, and they ran that against the spinning tire on a tire lathe.

I don’t know any place that does that work nowadays.

I might set up something just to do my bicycle tire. I have a high-speed pneumatic die grinder and and a diamond coated cutting wheel (really designed for ceramics.)

I may try this procedure wet, because an old four-wheel-drive legend is that a wet tire always gets cut the easiest. If you try cutting rubber with a knife you will find that it works better if it’s wet.

As much as I want to go do this right now I’m going to wait until after I modify the frame.

That will give me time to disassemble the hoop and strip it, paint it red, polish the hub as well, order stainless steel spokes, and install them.

BTW, that is not a 32”wheel. That’s a nominal size, but it’s about 31.5” OD at the tread. Probably about 27.5” at the bead.
View attachment 198873
@LukeTheJoker did a few shaved tires

https://ratrodbikes.com/forum/threads/120-tooth-mini-velo.81029/
 
Offroaders do it with hot knives.


Thank You Matti. I had not thought about that in many years. Dad had a grooving knife.

Because of my father, I read Four Wheeler since I was 9 years old. Grooving was quite common before the proliferation of modern tire styles for offroad.

Back then there was no such thing as Desert Duelers. It was before radial tires. Even before Tiger Paws and Wide Ovals.

We were cutting into airplane tires to go on the sand and snow.
 

Thanks Cap’n.
Awesome advice as always.

I took a look at those threads about shaving tires with sanders and grinders.

Rather than try and shave it by hand I might make a dedicated tool To knock off both corners of the tread at one time without affecting the center, and set it up on a jig so I can let the tools do the work.

I have cut and ground and sanded rubber before, and yes it does make a big mess, so if I have it set up to run by itself then I can just hold the Shopvac to catch the dust & crumbs.
 
There are no zero offset stems, not anything affordable anyway. 35mm is about the shortest reach. Most are for 31.8mm bars and would need a shim reducer between the clamp and bars. Unfortunately the steering tube is 1-1/8. There are short reach piston quill stems available for 1'' steerers. You'd have get a bit creative covering the steering tube extending past the top plate with a quill stem inserted.
shim.jpg


Just flingin' stuff at you.
 
I am considering several different ways to do the handlebars. I certainly wouldn’t want any handlebars longer than these, as I don’t think they would stay straight very long.

I think I can make this work by boring (grinding) the aluminum shorty stem.

I won’t bore straight through the way I did the West Coast choppers neck. That ended up looking pretty awful, and it’s gonna take some modifications to make it look better.
EFC4BD28-A501-4563-AD19-4C91052953C3.jpeg

You get a noticeable gap right here, and if I stripped the black paint and buffed the whole thing out, it would be less noticeable. I think I’ll do some major relieving on this piece in the future.
 
I am considering several different ways to do the handlebars. I certainly wouldn’t want any handlebars longer than these, as I don’t think they would stay straight very long.

I think I can make this work by boring (grinding) the aluminum shorty stem.

I won’t bore straight through the way I did the West Coast choppers neck. That ended up looking pretty awful, and it’s gonna take some modifications to make it look better.
View attachment 199138
You get a noticeable gap right here, and if I stripped the black paint and buffed the whole thing out, it would be less noticeable. I think I’ll do some major relieving on this piece in the future.
yeah, the gap although small doesn't look right.

this Azonic aluminum stem fits 1 1/8" threadless steering tubes, and fits 1' bars.
https://bmxmuseum.com/forsale/385156
 
yeah, the gap although small doesn't look right.

this Azonic aluminum stem fits 1 1/8" threadless steering tubes, and fits 1' bars.
https://bmxmuseum.com/forsale/385156
It appears that would fit, but it is a straight through before and you will see the same gap. It might appear to be slightly less because of the shape of the stem.

I don’t know if I can bore them so that it doesn’t appear that way, but it will require a custom-made tool/setup to do.
 
Foam test:
Original black versus new blue foam. Under equal pressure, the original foam squishes down to from 20mm to 2mm. The blue foam only squishs 2 mm.
From 22 mm to 20 mm.
4EEE3978-B7BB-440B-AB1E-5C8508C317C6.jpeg
I think I can get this in the seat.

This is the same type of foam I put in the black and white seat, but it is even thicker.
 
NAME:….LowRider

AGE:…....too young to be like this

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: dark, scabby and slender, square nose, heavily scarred and bent. Probably the victim of abuse.

PROGNOSIS: Will improve w/ much TLC

TREATMENTS ORDERED: Beat it over a cheap wrench with hammers. Weld shut every orifice w/ E70 & pure Argon, then grind into submission.
888E512B-F080-465D-84A1-8A203B09F9F0.jpeg
15BFB12F-7E39-472F-8CD6-75E78D985953.jpeg

6F09DF3D-8646-49A0-A785-2043D5987EC5.jpeg
ACE147A8-C1B2-4788-A803-AE832FA24EFE.jpeg
 
I took a while to shape that foam but it was remarkably easy to do.
D971957A-A15E-40E1-BC6E-7FFB12F7221F.jpeg

I put some extra welds on the seat bracket, directly to the stamped spine.
4D12479C-35B3-49E0-A4B7-05AA33C10F68.jpeg
I got the nose rounded out neatly, but it is dangerously thin after I sanded off all the ragged edges. I welded it up.
A3E882EA-A829-490C-B107-90C0D3F054B4.jpeg
You can see where the original stamping had folds in the metal. I tightened them up and made them much neater, with a little hammer and 22mm dolly work.
7BC85C0C-8868-4122-BE8E-2D34945E2D9B.jpeg
 
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