BSA motorcycle inspired first build
- Thread starter Little_Will
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Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
A little update from this weekend. I've pretty much finished the tank. It now needs a good clean/tidy up and some filler here and there to even things out. I also fitted a double kickstand to the bike. I especially like how it lifts the rear wheel an inch or so off the ground
I now need to extend that rear brake caliper..any ideas anyone??...It's steel though, so I might be able to weld some extensions to it?
I also tried the handlebars on "boardtracker" style to see how it looked..not sure whether or not to keep them this way?
I finished my saddle too! There's more to follow on that though. I had to reshape it and wetform some leather, but don't have the pics at hand to upload.
P.S Thanks for all the positive comments.
Will
A little update from this weekend. I've pretty much finished the tank. It now needs a good clean/tidy up and some filler here and there to even things out. I also fitted a double kickstand to the bike. I especially like how it lifts the rear wheel an inch or so off the ground
I now need to extend that rear brake caliper..any ideas anyone??...It's steel though, so I might be able to weld some extensions to it?
I also tried the handlebars on "boardtracker" style to see how it looked..not sure whether or not to keep them this way?
I finished my saddle too! There's more to follow on that though. I had to reshape it and wetform some leather, but don't have the pics at hand to upload.
P.S Thanks for all the positive comments.
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Cheers man!
Boris said:Fantastic work Will! I absolutely love it!!
Cheers man!
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Thanks , I hadn't even thought of that. Too busy dreaming up other wacky ideas :lol: . I tried your suggestion today but unfortunately the caliper still isn't long enough! grrr...i'm now in the process of extending the calipers :roll:
^ Hopefully this'll work ^
Today I also made up a rear light mounting bracket for the fender
..and converted the lights to LEDs..sooo much better
(viewed from above)
Will
jackdaw said:
Thanks , I hadn't even thought of that. Too busy dreaming up other wacky ideas :lol: . I tried your suggestion today but unfortunately the caliper still isn't long enough! grrr...i'm now in the process of extending the calipers :roll:
^ Hopefully this'll work ^
Today I also made up a rear light mounting bracket for the fender
..and converted the lights to LEDs..sooo much better
(viewed from above)
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Yep! It's a nice ride along there. The bike's starting to come together now so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to have it finished soon.
Will
Boris said:
Yep! It's a nice ride along there. The bike's starting to come together now so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) to have it finished soon.
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Haha, they certainly are. Mind you, I have to use my Dads garage though as I live in a flat. At the moment it's weekends only on the bike.
Boris said:
Haha, they certainly are. Mind you, I have to use my Dads garage though as I live in a flat. At the moment it's weekends only on the bike.
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
A few photos to add of the saddle.
I started with this old Huffy Persons saddle. I wanted to use this mainly because it was pressed steel and I could cut it to shape/weld etc
I added some mounting brackets as I didn't want to use a seatpost
Then i tacked on some steel sheet to give the saddle some extra shape..Cut and reshaped the nose of the saddle.
..cut off some of the seat rim to shorten the height
..filled the gaps around the tack welds (also to give more shape to the seat base)
sanded smooth (at this point i also primered and painted the seat gloss black)
A few photos to add of the saddle.
I started with this old Huffy Persons saddle. I wanted to use this mainly because it was pressed steel and I could cut it to shape/weld etc
I added some mounting brackets as I didn't want to use a seatpost
Then i tacked on some steel sheet to give the saddle some extra shape..Cut and reshaped the nose of the saddle.
..cut off some of the seat rim to shorten the height
..filled the gaps around the tack welds (also to give more shape to the seat base)
sanded smooth (at this point i also primered and painted the seat gloss black)
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
The next step was to form some leather to fit to the saddle.
First I covered the seat in clingfilm
Then I soaked some hide in water and covered the seat. I don't have photos of this as my phone battery died :roll:
You can see from the above photos where the leather was pegged to hold it in place until it dried. It took two attempts to get the leather to form how I wanted. First time I didn't leave the leather to soak in water long enough. Second time I soaked the leather overnight then let it drip dry slightly before forming it. It worked out much better.
Next I drilled/punched holes in the leather and seat base before adding the padding
The padding looked like eyebrows and a nose so I couldn't resist a photo with glasses :lol:
Then I glued the leather over the padding, added rivets and a saddle badge in keeping with the BSA theme
and marked it up for drilling and lacing
I had to use pop rivets though! I couldn't fit the rivet tool in place to hammer in the nicer rivets i'd bought! grr
The mounting brackets for the frame. The saddle height is adjustable by flipping these either way
Will
The next step was to form some leather to fit to the saddle.
First I covered the seat in clingfilm
Then I soaked some hide in water and covered the seat. I don't have photos of this as my phone battery died :roll:
You can see from the above photos where the leather was pegged to hold it in place until it dried. It took two attempts to get the leather to form how I wanted. First time I didn't leave the leather to soak in water long enough. Second time I soaked the leather overnight then let it drip dry slightly before forming it. It worked out much better.
Next I drilled/punched holes in the leather and seat base before adding the padding
The padding looked like eyebrows and a nose so I couldn't resist a photo with glasses :lol:
Then I glued the leather over the padding, added rivets and a saddle badge in keeping with the BSA theme
and marked it up for drilling and lacing
I had to use pop rivets though! I couldn't fit the rivet tool in place to hammer in the nicer rivets i'd bought! grr
The mounting brackets for the frame. The saddle height is adjustable by flipping these either way
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Thanks! The thing weighs a ton though with all this extra steel I'm adding! :lol:
Will
Carbon said:
Thanks! The thing weighs a ton though with all this extra steel I'm adding! :lol:
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Its been said before on this thread and I have to say it again! THIS IS YOUR FIRST BUILD???? Fantastic stuff and very informative! You give me some great ideas here!
Sent from my BlackBerry 9320 using Tapatalk
Its been said before on this thread and I have to say it again! THIS IS YOUR FIRST BUILD???? Fantastic stuff and very informative! You give me some great ideas here!
Sent from my BlackBerry 9320 using Tapatalk
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
Haha, well you know what they say, "in for a penny, in for a pound"! Once i'd started I thought I may aswell go the whole hog. One thing's for sure though, my next build won't be as complicated :lol: (and I've already started collecting parts!)
Will
Boris said:
Haha, well you know what they say, "in for a penny, in for a pound"! Once i'd started I thought I may aswell go the whole hog. One thing's for sure though, my next build won't be as complicated :lol: (and I've already started collecting parts!)
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
The finished saddle with stitching:
I finished it last weekend but neglected to take a photo
as my 6 year old nephew pointed out, "it looks like one of those things you play baseball with?" :lol: I guess it does
The finished saddle with stitching:
I finished it last weekend but neglected to take a photo
as my 6 year old nephew pointed out, "it looks like one of those things you play baseball with?" :lol: I guess it does
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
I've just spent most of my Sunday extending the rear brake caliper. At least I now have a working rear caliper . Although it does look a little ugly :x
I started by cutting off the mounting lugs for the brake blocks, then welding on some steel tubing before adding the lugs to the ends of the tube. Then I built up the welds on the ends to give more strength.
Then basically just ground back the welds and blended them into the calipers with a lot of filing
..and refitted the caliper
Will
I've just spent most of my Sunday extending the rear brake caliper. At least I now have a working rear caliper
. Although it does look a little ugly :x I started by cutting off the mounting lugs for the brake blocks, then welding on some steel tubing before adding the lugs to the ends of the tube. Then I built up the welds on the ends to give more strength.
Then basically just ground back the welds and blended them into the calipers with a lot of filing
..and refitted the caliper
Will
Re: My First ever rat rod build..now I'm hooked!
..and here's a few progress shots of the bike. I feel like I'm getting somewhere now but it still hasn't quite got the look i had envisioned..
Will
..and here's a few progress shots of the bike. I feel like I'm getting somewhere now but it still hasn't quite got the look i had envisioned..
Will
Well it's been a while since I last posted because I got pretty fed up with the way this build was going. I was never truly happy with how the fake tank looked, and I just couldn't quite get the thing to fit right!..SO (sigh) in a "calculated" fit of rage :x :x I jumped up and down on it 'til it was irreparable :lol: .That way I knew I wouldn't go back to it and it meant I could start afresh with a new fake tank. A couple of weekends ago I did this to replace it:
I'm a LOT happier with how this looks . I was trying too hard to emulate the 1930's bikes I was using as inspiration..and at the end of the day this IS a custom job ..
I also finished making a battery box with switch to mount on the frame. As you can guess I'll be wiring both front and rear lights to this, then I can control them via the single switch:
Last weekend I made a rear mudguard/fender reflector mount using a piece of pipe shaped to the mudguard profile. I used a motorcycle license plate reflector for this:
The progress on this build has been very slow of late as work commitments have taken over, but Xmas is coming up and I need the overtime pay! :lol: ..
I'm a LOT happier with how this looks
. I was trying too hard to emulate the 1930's bikes I was using as inspiration..and at the end of the day this IS a custom job ..I also finished making a battery box with switch to mount on the frame. As you can guess I'll be wiring both front and rear lights to this, then I can control them via the single switch:
Last weekend I made a rear mudguard/fender reflector mount using a piece of pipe shaped to the mudguard profile. I used a motorcycle license plate reflector for this:
The progress on this build has been very slow of late as work commitments have taken over, but Xmas is coming up and I need the overtime pay! :lol: ..
