SPACELINER CONVERTIBLE (A Non-Invasive Sex Reassignment)

[The Renaissance Man]

Thanks guys.

For the head tube opening, I first put the bike on it's side and laid the tank on the frame in the proper position. Then, I marked the center of the head tube on the tank (top and bottom). After bolting the tank halves back together, I added some 200 mph duct tape to make sure nothing could move and then drilled a 1/4" pilot hole at the marks.

To make the hole saw line up at the correct angle, I mounted the saw on a section of 1/4' rod long enough to pass through both pilot holes thus keeping the saw fixed in position as it cut. I only allowed the saw hole to penetrate about 2/3 of the way through then swapped ends and cut the bottom out completely. By not cutting completely through the top side, the 1/4" hole for centering was still usable for the second cut. Then when I swapped back, the 2/3 cut was sufficient enough to guide the blade on through.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Rafael, I'm working on determining the cost to make these. I won't be factoring in the cost of the tooling, just the actual parts.

I would be scared to figure the actual cost up to this point! Fortunately all of the tooling for the molds have been either my own labor and materials, or through bartering when others have been involved. I have no idea how many hours have actually gone into it, but I do know that it's a lot!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Didn't really do much today, but here's one half of the tank in it's position. I plan to get both parts fitted together on the bike tomorrow.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Fitting the tanks to the bike turned out to be trickier than I expected. Each side requires six openings that each have to be in the correct location and angle. I got everything very close, but had to use my Dremel rotary tool to make adjustments until it fit. I learned that with fiberglass, you can't force it into place, so I kept trimming small amounts and checking it over and over. It should get easier the more I do (hopefully).

Here's the first one on the bike!FINALLY!

 

[kingfish254]

Oh Yeah!!!!

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

WICKED

 

[slowriderz]

WOWZA!!! super work man. your detailed work paid off very very well!

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

Your an Innovator Sir ; I would be Honored Too own one
let me know !


~RafaeL~

 

[kingfish254]

I think the value of lady liners just went up.

 

[highwheelerboy25]

Gorgeous!!! Awesome work!!!

 

[LukeTheJoker]

Wow! That is truly beautiful!

Luke.

 

[raggedjim]

Great design and the execution was flawless!

Rg

 

[dracothered]

If you sell these you will need to let the end user do the final fitting. Otherwise it will be to costly to make and sell. Plus not all the bikes that this will go on are 100% the same.

Great work you did here....

 

[Olys45]

Wow... that is an awesome job!

I learned a lot from this thread.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

this might be my favorite thread ever.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Thanks everyone for all of the kind words! It really means a lot after all of the work put into this little idea of mine.

If you sell these you will need to let the end user do the final fitting. Otherwise it will be to costly to make and sell. Plus not all the bikes that this will go on are 100% the same.

Great work you did here....

This is something I've been wrestling with over the past several days as I have been trying to calculate a fair price for selling them. And you're also right about the frames. The chances of any two 50 year old frames being exactly the same is slim to none!
I'm thinking that I could notch the ends but leave the head tube and seat tube cut-outs to be marked and cut later. I've also thought that I could provide stick on templates for cutting those holes after the centers are marked if needed. A hole saw is not absolutely necessary. A Dremel rotary tool works very well for cutting fiberglass. The people here are mostly the DIY types anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem. Actually, most people would probably rather do it themselves!

Thanks for the input.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The wiring is left to be done, but the 12 volt LED lights are fitted. I picked up a small slider switch from Radio Shack like the old tank bikes used, but I'm still not completely sure if I'll use it or not. If I mount the switch somewhere on the top, it will look more period correct, but I'm thinking about possibly mounting something under the tank.

Here's the lights...

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

Murrays had the slide switch underneath. My vote is for that. Although a tasteful round rotary switch on top might be nice.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dracothered]

It's your tank, but I think under would be the better place.

 

[GuitarlCarl]

A slide switch will work fine, but a cool magnetic switch activated by a wand will allow the switch to be completely inside, not showing at all! I've never seen it done on a bike. But I have seen it on a smaller scale inside models. Just thinkin' out loud here, research would be needed...

Carl