The last message was supposed to post yesterday but apparently it didn't happen. Since I worked so hard on it I went ahead and posted it anyway.
Now for today's post, which may not come until Wednesday.
I had a minor problem with the shift detents with the new spring and ball even though the ball was identical. The spring was longer, so I cut it down until it fit the same but still had a problem. I thought the balls were binding on the plate so I tried a taper in the holes in the rear plate surface. That only compounded the problem so tomorrow (Tuesday) I am going to try the factory plate again. If that solves the problem I am going to make another plate. If one hole is even .020 off it could be the problem.
It does work sometimes so I left it alone and took a couple photos.
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I also got the plate mounted to the frame. I ground up 2 lawn mower handle wingnuts to make wedges, tapped the block and made spacers from a piece of threshold carpet joiner. It sits pretty much like I had wanted although I wish the shifters could go back an inch or so. With a short frame there isn't much real estate.
I made temporary shifter balls from a pair of red bungi balls. Mainly because they fit and they were free.
I found some clamps on a bike I need to restore anyway so I could clean up the rear brake cable mounting. I think I will unsolder the fitting and shorten the cable a couple inches so it follows the lines better.
Still no mounts on the chainguard. I have to spend the day searching for the chainguard I want to remove the mounts from.
The headbadge, not exactly what I set out to do but no time to learn acid etching right now. A friend, Don Fogler who owns Fogler Signs in Bloomington Illinois
(
[email protected] ) made the decals for me and I promised him I would share that. Don was a BMX racer in the 80s/90s and used to make repro BMX decals to sell at meets. He does small runs like this that most shops will not do. He is selective on what he does, but he is good & reasonable.
The box at the bottom of the first photo, same as the one being held up by my fat hand in the last is my battery box and taillight assembly. I made them from a battery box from an Ash Flash 6 volt lantern and the red light from the Delta 6 volt lantern that I also made the headlamp from. It didn't fit where I wanted it so this will be a dry place and accessible to charge the 6 volt emergency light battery I am fitting in it. I have separate switches for front and rear lights, which I can reach toward the front of the seat. I will install a 1/8" jack to plug in a 6 volt wall charger when I can.
Photos below
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