Silent Blue Fellow

[ncherguy]

Its been a while since I posted anything on here but been pretty busy with bike builds. I have always wanted to build a bike around this buildoff so here goes. Silent blue fellow, inspired by early motorcycles, custom truss fork, foe tank, braces on handlebars, skiptooth sprockets, white tires?, bright blue with some pinstripes. I'm into building motorized bicycles with old motorcycle themes, but this one will be pedal powered. Its May, but deadlines are no problem. I'm also finishing up a custom Whizzer build for my dad and the final touches on my daughters sidecar.

 

[ncherguy]

Now what frame should I use? too many choices in the bicycle attic

My wife's pre-war ratbike and her JC Higgins bargain pick lives up there too

 

[ncherguy]

So I decided to use this frame. Not sure but think its an Elgin, it prewar, got the ears for the drop stand, dropouts, and the frame/seatclamp thing.

I got it in a trade from a Guy in Portland that loves pre-war 20 and 24 inchers. Found this yellow bike on craigslist and it was really old, showed up thought I got a bargain ($35), ended up having 24 inch wheels. Took it to this guy I know up in Portland, he fell in love with it, and gave me a pile of old saddles, a chainring and ....this frame. BTW the yellow bike I traded had a cancer hole in the BB and he still loved it. Antique bike dudes are crazy folks.

 

[yoothgeye]

Sidecar eh? You should check out my build, or maybe I should check out yours.

Sounds like a fun project. Welcome to the build off.

 

[ncherguy]

for those who are curious here is a shot of my sidecar build. It operates well, pivots witht he bike and turns easy (studied sidecar physics). it just needs some edge protectors, a visor, and the discbrake mounts

 

[yoothgeye]

Very cool, I thought about making a pivot, but I really wanted it old school and have the ability to lift the 3rd wheel.

 

[kingfish254]

Welcome to BO7.
Nice frame to start with and cool sidecar.

 

[ncherguy]

This was my last motorized build I "completed" (always messing with it making it better). Its completely belt driven with a HF 3.5hp motor. On the Blue Flellow I will build a front fender like this one has. I cut some 18g sheet metal, tacked them onto the fender and bondo'd the gaps. btw its an old prewar Hawthorn, didnt modify the frame outside welding tank and engine mounts. The Silent Blue Fellow will have pinstripes like these (hopefully better as my pinstrip technique gets better).

 

[kingfish254]

Nice motor bike.
The tank that Tin Machine just finished looks a lot like yours.

 

[ncherguy]

Forgot about this tank I made for another project I never finished. It almost fits the frame except the end needs to be recut and bent slightly. Its made from 18g steel and I made a buzzer horn from a radioshack "pezo" buzzer but I never wired up the switch. Perfect for the build.

 

[Xcruiser]

Sounds interesting,cant wait to see it all come together!!!!!

 

[ncherguy]

For those of you are not familiar with my name reference here is a picture of the "Silent Grey Fellow." not 100% sure how much of the motorcycle I will mimic in this build but I was thinking something like the Elgin Motorbike, a bicycle interpretation of an old motorcycle but it will be clean...and of course blue instead of grey.


Silent Grey Fellow by Øivind Raanes, on Flickr

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Looking good so far, nice frame, looks like you have some talent 8)

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

I think this is going to be one to watch folks.

 

[ncherguy]

Found some old rusty cruiser bars to convert for the project

 

[ncherguy]

Found some small half inch tubing that I spliced together then welded to the cruiser bars, gives it that old time Bracer bar look. The width of the standard Wald longhorns are pretty close to correct to the look I am going for. The tank pictures still has some hacking to do in order to fit in the frame. Next big project: Tripple tree forks!
Before

After

 

[ncherguy]

Began the Truss fork tripple tree parts. I have a Delta Shopmaster Drill press set to 500rpm and I am using a 1" bi-metal hole saw to cut into layers of 1/8 steel plate. I've built several tripple trees using hole saws, its a slow process using lost of WD40. The first time I did this I destroyed a hole saw bit. I have made a few trees in the past using 1/4-3/16 plate, but 1/8 is alot easier to cut and not as hard on the equipment. If the plates are doubled or tripple up (last photo) the tree gets pretty stiff and strong. There will be gaps between the bottom of the tree plates like the old antique bike forks had (hawthorne).

Finished product. the plates just need to be grinded and seperated. I tack weld them together so my holes will line up and I don't have to using clamps that get in the way when I'm drilled the holes.

Future fork legs. I'm using 1" .075 walled tubing. I wanted to go smaller, but I had lots of this laying around and I'm trying to keep this project cheap (rat rod style). I'm going to cut 2 tubes each will be 2' long.

I need to make individual bends that are evenly spaced out between both legs of the fork to give it the look I am going for. I don't have a tubing bender, but a pipe bender works fine it just takes alot longer and you have to pack the tubes with sand to do steep bends without pinching

well heres what I got so far, tomarrow I will work on the dropouts and the truss rods portion

 

[ncherguy]

The tripple tree design originally came from the first forks I made using the "Brain fork Plans." They were springers, but since then I have build leaf springers too. I almost thought about making leafers for this project but I want to keep it simple and springer forks are heavier.

 

[raggedjim]

Great job on the forks and tank!

I'll have to check out the motorized build, I saw those motors at HF last time I was there.

Godd luck, Rg

 

[kingfish254]

Cool job building your own forks!
That is pretty slick.