Yeah! I liked the tractor spring with the nanner, but the Monark spring fork is pretty unique. Also, like I said, when this is finished and you used the Monark spring and it looks fabulous, I'll say to myself, "he was right."
BO15 SteamRoller - Finished 1st THANKS!! - CompareTwinWinsVerBotenSteamRoller
- Thread starter kingfish254
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Have you tried flipping the tractor spring around, with the opening towards the front? I think you could probably get it to follow the frame and then either tilt the seat up in the front a bit, or a bit of a wedge on top of the spring under the seat to level it back out...
GC.
GC.
We need to work on our "heart of it all, buckeye state" telepathy, Falstaff.
Flipping the tractor spring could work, but that would place the seat farther forward in the more normal position for these frames, which is opposite of what I am trying to achieve.
If I was going to stick with the tractor spring, then I would use the high back nanner.
MattiThundrrr
Rattus All Terrainus
High back/monarch spring is the most "King-ish" version yet! After that it's a tossup, slammed nanner, or the steel skull pan. A few dozen more mock ups, and we should see the final seat choice
The mockups are fun and productive, but I'm ready to start actually wrenching on the build, so I sure hope it doesn't take a few dozen more mockups.
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What I particularly liked about this arrangement is the way the saddle appears to float over the bike, rather than be supported by it. The tractor spring itself gets almost hidden and doesn't take away from the modded Higgins fender/rack.
Forget the seat. It's not a mistake, its a feature.
Well, I didn't want to be a Page 2 Slacker any longer, so I jumped on SteamRoller this morning.
I am going with the Monark sissy bar. I am not positive on the seat mounting on the front just yet, but it may be a modification of the tractor spring.
Here is a reference mockup.
First thing is that I need to do a little work on the Monark sissy bar. I want more clearance near the top so that I am free to place it where i please.
So I came up with this.
And while I was at it, I tested my idea of maybe using my Gaskill speedo.
I am going with the Monark sissy bar. I am not positive on the seat mounting on the front just yet, but it may be a modification of the tractor spring.
Here is a reference mockup.
First thing is that I need to do a little work on the Monark sissy bar. I want more clearance near the top so that I am free to place it where i please.
So I came up with this.
And while I was at it, I tested my idea of maybe using my Gaskill speedo.
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The frame , fork, and wheels made me instantly see a Buell in my mind which is a territory best left unexplored.
I am also going to try and tackle the trueness of the wheel. It currently rubbs the frame on one side for about 6 inches. Obviously, i don't have a big enough spoke wrench for this.
I mapped out the wheel with my caliper depth gauge. It looks like there is a 4-4.5mm total swing of the rim. So 2-2.3mm out of true in two different stretches. About a 6" section that is 2.3mm too far to the drive side and scrapes. And a 12" section that is 2mm too far to the brake side.
I have my own ideas of applying some persuasion to this wheel without damaging it, but I have also been chatting with the wheel build Francisco in Mexico City, Mexico on his thoughts. I believe we are on the same page, but he is going to send me some diagrams of his thoughts to eliminate translation issues.
Here is my trueness mapping.
I mapped out the wheel with my caliper depth gauge. It looks like there is a 4-4.5mm total swing of the rim. So 2-2.3mm out of true in two different stretches. About a 6" section that is 2.3mm too far to the drive side and scrapes. And a 12" section that is 2mm too far to the brake side.
I have my own ideas of applying some persuasion to this wheel without damaging it, but I have also been chatting with the wheel build Francisco in Mexico City, Mexico on his thoughts. I believe we are on the same page, but he is going to send me some diagrams of his thoughts to eliminate translation issues.
Here is my trueness mapping.
Continued working on the sissy bar while waiting on the wheel diagram.
I got the width that i needed. Now i just have to torque the rest of the sissy bar and springs back into a uniform and centered allignment.
I got the width that i needed. Now i just have to torque the rest of the sissy bar and springs back into a uniform and centered allignment.
These may be the last mockups using the tractor seat spring. While I know I can make it work, the scale of it just hasn't felt good to me.
I like the gap between the seat and top tubes, but not the size of the spring.
So after those mockups, I took a break and went over to @Dr. Tankenstein 's to get my drill press so that I would be able to drill mounting holes in the Monark sissy bar legs. (He really needs to post up some pics of the long term build he has going on with the Oldster frame I sold him a while back. Nudge Nudge.......) Anyway, we talked bikes a good while over a beer and he loaned me a saddle front spring to test for my nanner. I would have mocked it up, but I swung by my bike stash to get some "attitude adjustment" lumber to torque on the rear wheel. In the process, I also pulled this ratty springer seat from a prewar Elgin.
One final look at the tractor springer
Scale test with the ratty springer
I saw enough potential to take it apart. I was quite surprise at how easily all of the nuts and bolts came free on this rusty saddle.
One final look at the tractor springer
Scale test with the ratty springer
I saw enough potential to take it apart. I was quite surprise at how easily all of the nuts and bolts came free on this rusty saddle.
Proof of concept looks promising, so I removed the rear springs too. and mocked it on the nanner pan.
That what happened today. Last thing I did was toss the Gaskill speedo back on for some parting shots for the day.
One thing that was super cool today was the fact that I was able to reach out to the person that built the wheels in Mexico City, Mexico for assistance. Francisco is francbikes on Instagram so I sent him a message via IG and throughout the day we had a few chats. Neither one of us know the other's language, but with some cutting and pasting into translators, we were communicating close to real time. What a talented and great bike dude! With his help, I have a few ideas on how to "adjust" the wheel into alignment without damaging it. The bike life world is a lot smaller than you think!!!!
