Pawel's build thread.

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

You know when you tell yourself, I shouldnt do this. And you do it..and then you have a huge mess that takes you back a million steps from where you were well thats my issue now lol. I went about fiberglassing the tank, bad call its gonna be SO much sanding and body filler to get it anywhere close to where it looks like a tank / filler that I dont wanna even touch the bike any more haha.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

Back to plan R lol I started sanding and made a huge mess....three showers and I'm still itching gonna cut it out tomorrow....at this rate I'm never gonna finish.

 

[Rusty]

Re: My Build.

hit a road block...the wheel hub dosent fit on the fork...

I am building a bike with the same forks right now. There are probably lots of ways to switch the plates around but here is what I did:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=18099&start=19

As far as the tank goes - fortunately, you taped the frame before glassing. So you could easily saw a hole in the middle and just peel it off and start over. I've done a lot of work with fiberglass. What you need to do is lay it on in larger pieces and use an old credit card or something similar to squeegee out the excess resin. You don't want any puddles of resin, it should look like wet cloth when you get done. You will probably want a minimum of two or maybe three layers of 8oz or 10oz cloth. It will probably be easier to do them seperately and sand down any little spikey fibers you have sticking up before doing the next layer. When the last layer of glass has kicked, you can lay some lightweight bondo over it to fill in the weave and then sand it smooth. Again, use a squeegee to keep the bondo smooth so you have less sanding to do to finish it up.

If you are interested, here is a thread on a plane I built from scratch a few years ago, molds and all.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107084

Rusty.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

i give up lol back to square one tomorrow Ill be stripping the whole frame and starting over...90th time is the charm yea?

 

[Rusty]

Re: My Build.

Actually, fiberglass is really fairly forgiving to work with (I mean, if I can do it – well, ‘nuff said... :mrgreen: ). Seriously though, I break planes all the time and just glass them back together. A little bondo/sanding and you can’t even tell they were ever broken. You can also cover up mistakes very easily. One thing, it looks like you are using glass mat? If so, you might try using some woven fabric. It will lay down much smoother – that is, if you want to try again.

You can DOEEEEET!!!

Rusty.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

Actually, fiberglass is really fairly forgiving to work with (I mean, if I can do it – well, ‘nuff said... :mrgreen: ). Seriously though, I break planes all the time and just glass them back together. A little bondo/sanding and you can’t even tell they were ever broken. You can also cover up mistakes very easily. One thing, it looks like you are using glass mat? If so, you might try using some woven fabric. It will lay down much smoother – that is, if you want to try again.

You can DOEEEEET!!!

Rusty.

i could dooooeeeeet cause i did it, ripped off all the fiberglass and started sanding the frame, waiting to get some chemical gloves from work so I could use chemical stripper.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

started cleaning off the frame. its officale im back to square one lol..will probably start primeing the frame tomorrow once I get the remaining primer off.

I did learn one thing today.. If you using chemical stripper make sure you clean it all off before you hit the paint with a wire brush .. your eyeball dosent like having chemical stripper on it.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

Been sick with a fever / cold yesterday and today I woke up really cold so I called out of work and now Im trying not so smash my face into my keyboard, just holding my self up hurts. So I havent done anything yet ... maybe some more work this weekend.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

sick or not im tempted to get stuff done tonihgt..pictures to come.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build. (slowly getting there 9-5-09)

sorry I dont know why the phone took such a small picture..but I messed around in the basement a little and got things rolling, I bought a new seat, I plan on going back to that bike shop ... they have a old penny bicycle type seat for 35$ i want to pick up..thing is cool, big and has HUGE springs ... i picked up a black viynal polo banana seat just like this one at the same store.

and I plan on fixing the plate I got it mocked up but its not centered like I want it so Im gonna talk to my dad about giving me a hand with that and possibily cutting me a new plate, seeing how I drilled random holes in it to get it where it is now..still some progress is better then none!!

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

everything is on hold..what started as a low budget build is turning into a money pit lol. I gotta go out and spend another 100$ on a new saddle / fork and headset.. fun

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

Got a new seat

Dosent fit and looks weird but thats why I love it hahaha

next week ill order a new fork .. gonna run the springer from the springer repop but ditch the fork itself and mod an existing one Im ordering next thursday.

 

[IronSpadeCycles]

Re: My Build.

Not to pee in your oatmeal but your going to love that seat! LOL I had one on a McCargi stretch and you bum will go numb after 20 minutes of riding. They look great but the ride is terrible!

Good luck, Later Travis

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

Not to pee in your oatmeal but your going to love that seat! LOL I had one on a McCargi stretch and you bum will go numb after 20 minutes of riding. They look great but the ride is terrible!

Good luck, Later Travis

lol I think I might get rid of it, not sure what I wanna run for a seat any more .. leaning back to a banana seat but this time one that isnt riveted with with 2 rivets .. and bends like its made in china bought in the dollar store ..

so well see..


on another note I went and ordered my fork .. gonna pick up new headset when I pick up the fork and get back to work on putting this thing together .. still not sure what I want to do with the rims and painting them..well see.

 

[onelesspedestrian]

Re: My Build.

Not to pee in your oatmeal but your going to love that seat! LOL I had one on a McCargi stretch and you bum will go numb after 20 minutes of riding. They look great but the ride is terrible!

Good luck, Later Travis

REALLY?!? it looks so much like a brooks b17 though, which I have and love. I find it's almost as comfortable as a Selle Italia Flite. bear in mind I am a former racer, but are these saddles really all that bad? Because I totally want one, it looks so cool.

Now to un-hijack the thread a bit... I agree with what was said about your fiberglass difficulties. I made a front end for a racecar out of fiberglass, my first experience with it. I made the mold using matt. it didn't go too bad, but it wasn't pretty by any means, but I didn't need it to be. I used the cloth (as has been suggested for your tank) to make the actual part, and I must say, after struggling with matt, the cloth is an absolute joy to work with. it lays into contours much easier, you'll probably just need a light skim of bondo and/or just paint on another coat or two of resin (which I don't think will itch you when sanded) and then sand smooth. cloth will also come out SIGNIFICANTLY lighter, if that matters to you.

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

New fork came in..gotta wait for headset..and still need to plate the tank..waiting for buddy to buy a new welder, he has one but it dosent take small wire and is to strong, would easily burn through the bike tubes, so hes using me as an excuse to buy a 2nd welder for sheetmetal work ..need to paint the rims assemble everything chop the seat post and order a new banana seat...I also came across some freebies off CL .. Gonna use the green banana seat for my brothers trike build .. once I finish mine..hes fav color is green so I dont know if it was a sign to get working on his bike or what lol..anyways bars will be used on a 20" "Lowrider / cruiser" ill be building with some black 160 spoke free wheel rims I found, and the frame Ill be getting from a buddy when ever I get my butt up to RI .. while the sissy bar Ill make work somewhere, thats for sure, possibily on the trike as well..

This seat is WAY better quality then the black one I bought, the one I bought is riveted with two rivets, this one looks and feels like its made out of solid metal, and the piece of metal thats riveted to the seat pan on my black seat, looks to be welded, motivated me to get a banana seat, ill be ordering more parts once i put some money aside.


Anyone know if I could just paint over the chrome or should i scuff it first? either way i think scuffing with a high grit will make it better to paint? but I never painted over new chrome..any one have advice?

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Re: My Build.

So, it looks like you're going to replace the 'main' fork, the one that's prone to failure, with the 'BMX style' cruiser fork?
My concern is, the bottom of the cruiser fork is open where it bolts to the wheel, how will you stop it from falling off the piece that attached to the axle (drawing a blank on it's name)?
I haven't installed my Monark (non-repop) fork yet, but I think there needs to be some 'play' on both the bolts that hold the rigid and the springer fork in order to move when you hit a bump. If you crank those bolts tight, you may lose the 'springer' action and be left with a really cool looking double rigid fork. I hope I'm wrong on this. :roll:

Good luck!

Dr. T

 

[Pawel]

Re: My Build.

To be honest I was just gonna make it tight and hope it dosent come lose and fall off. The dropout is to small for the bolt, so I might drill it / file it down some so the bolt fits snug.

 

[SSG]

Re: My Build.

How are those seats once they are broken in? I've heard they're a bit on the thick side, which might take a while for them to break in fully. As for the fork you could weld up the open part of the dropout and use some shoulder bolts. Shoulder bolts are the key to allowing the rocker to move after the nut is fully tightened down because its tightening against the shoulder, not the head of the nut (and the rocker). Any extra side to side play in the rocker can be shimmed up with a thin washer.

 

[IronSpadeCycles]

Re: My Build.

I think the main problem with the knock off "Brooks" style seat is that the originals were made with a much higher quality spring steel and the spring rate was more accurately designed for a given average riders weight. The reproduction ones look very much like the originals but I'm a heavy guy at 250 and I couldn't get the seat to break in after a few weeks of riding the darn thing for 20-30 miles per trip. The ride felt like the seat was totally rigid! My cheaper Chinese made Dyno seat was more comfortable right out of the box. Luckily the Micargi was stolen from me before I had the chance to throw that seat away. I fell sorry for the bum that took my bike and left me the Trek mtn bike in its place. Not kidding! I imaging after a brief ride maybe he left the Micargi to some other poor fool.

Later T