Rusty Red Transporter

[Scrap Wolf]

Last night was final round of hay. Over the last 3 days we managed to harvest 1610 square bales and 67 large round bales. This weekend I have time to work on extending the steerer tube and the spring mounting bracket.

And the most beautiful part of harvest is having my son around.

 

[Scrap Wolf]

Added 45 mm. to the steerer tube. Plenty length now. Maybe even a little too much.

 

[Scrap Wolf]

The bottom ring of the headset, that goes on the steerer tube did not want to fit. I know it is a press fit, but in this case, the difference between the inner diameter ring and the outer diameter steerer tube was almost 1mm. I chucked the ring in my mini-lathe and tried to increase the inner diameter with a turning tool first. The material is so hard, the tool had little effect. I managed to make it work the unconventional way by grinding out the ID of the ring with my rotary tool. Now the fit is perfectly tight.

 

[SwissGuy]

It's all these little things, tweaks, corrections that eat up time....
But as always, it's worth the effort and time!

 

[Scrap Wolf]

Next up was extending the front-end spring mount. I used the originals mount and first chopped it in half. The only thing to do was welding a piece of flat bar in between. The "tricky" bit was getting the threaded hole aligned with the spring bolt. Long story short, it turned out great.

 

[Scrap Wolf]

It's all these little things, tweaks, corrections that eat up time....
But as always, it's worth the effort and time!

Yeah, you are so right. For me personally, the details are very important. I'm not able to cut corners. And sometimes that is frustrating during the build, but in the end, it always benefits the end result.

 

[GeePig]

Well, your farm is certainly bigger than mine, and that was a lot of bales to haul over three days!

 

[Captain Awesome]

The bottom ring of the headset, that goes on the steerer tube did not want to fit. I know it is a press fit, but in this case, the difference between the inner diameter ring and the outer diameter steerer tube was almost 1mm. I chucked the ring in my mini-lathe and tried to increase the inner diameter with a turning tool first. The material is so hard, the tool had little effect. I managed to make it work the unconventional way by grinding out the ID of the ring with my rotary tool. Now the fit is perfectly tight.

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put the race in the oven and the stem in the freezer. usually drops right on

 

[Scrap Wolf]

put the race in the oven and the stem in the freezer. usually drops right on

That is a good solution as well! Did not think of that. I know they build car wheels like this.

 

[Captain Awesome]

That is a good solution as well! Did not think of that. I know they build car wheels like this.

it's my go to solution in opposite order for motorcycle bearings. bearings in the freezer and heat gun to the bearing cup area. usually sealed bearings will drop right in if cold enough with no pressure or tapping

 

[Captain Awesome]

BTW, love the fab work on that springer bracket. Very nice

 

[Scrap Wolf]

The tires are on. For the rear wheel, the question is: with or without dork disk? I like that it gives the rear end visually a little more weight, making the front end looks sleeker. I also shortened the stem. Now it goes in all the way. A small thing I need to do is make a notch in the chain tensioners.

And when I was digging around for a shorter stem bolt, I came across this half link chain. I think this one will look good on the bike.

 

[GeePig]

I really want to buy a metal dork disk for one of my builds...

Your disk has that very contained 1970s style, do you think it is going to marry well with the almost animal-head of a fork? I am really looking forward to seeing this come together.

 

[MattiThundrrr]

Pie plate style dork disks are less dorky than the plastic one. I pie. Therefore, keep it?

 

[Scrap Wolf]

Sissy bar time! I used a piece of round bar to mock up the sissy bar and get a feeling for the angle. I ended up with 3 options.

1. Straight up vertical. Looks good, only concerned about the space between my back and the sissy bar.
2. Eye balled / free angle. Looks okayish. The thing is, it is too random for me. It is not a conscious choice and that's what I dislike.
3. Same angle as seat tube. Like this a lot! It gives the whole bike a lean stance. And the fact that is based on an exciting frame angle makes it a conscious choice.

One other question is: a rear fender or not a rear fender? I'm leaning towards "Yes". The fender gives the bike visually weight in the back and the sissy bar becomes functional by holding up the fender.

 

[OddJob]

I like matching the seat tube angle for your sissy bar / seat rail.

 

[AndyA]

Pie plate style dork disks are less dorky than the plastic one. I pie. Therefore, keep it?

Uncle Matti:
You're right about the relative aesthetics of metal vs. plastic; however, there is a reason that they are called dork disks.

 

[toro1978]

Awesome. I would say yes on the dork disk, yes on the fenders, and sisy bar position in the first pic.
I love the bigger rear wheel and smaller front wheel andthe long wheel base.

 

[GeePig]

I like your thinking on sissy bar positioning. I was just trying to figure out how tall it would have to be for the lines through the fork, seat stem and sissy bar to meet at one common point?

 

[Scrap Wolf]

Uncle Matti:
You're right about the relative aesthetics of metal vs. plastic; however, there is a reason that they are called dork disks.

Hahaha