Top Fool

[Psychographic]

Construction of the wheelie bars is done, now it's on to clean up, body work and paint.

Tacking up the left and right side bars for final welding,

Close up of the bends to clear the derailleur,

To make the crossbar/ axles, I used allen bolts and ground the heads to fit the inside of the tubing, then cut notches to weld them in place,

After some grinding I put the caster mounts on, I decided against welding them to the crossbar in case I ever need to remove the wheels,

The completed construction of the bars,

Now to start grinding and sanding.

 

[SpikeFC]

Believe it or not, I'm still building! I started building the wheelie bars about 6pm and 3 hours later have them about 7/8 of the way done. The drive side took a while as it needed 4 notches cut in the lower tube to go around the derailleur. I need some bolts and threaded rod to finish them. I'll be at the hardware store bright and early to get what I need. They should be in paint in the morning and ready for pics late in the afternoon.

The drive side parts,

View attachment 112854

The non drive side almost completed, and a sneak peek of the paint,

View attachment 112855

OMG!!!

And those golden cable casings... Oh man...

 

[Psychographic]

I'm a little behind schedule, just put the black base and gold pearl on. I'll wait about 30 minutes and go clear it.

I will make the deadline! Although I really need a sunny day to show off the paint and it doesn't look like mother nature is on my side.

 

[Psychographic]

Wheelie bars are done.

 

[SpikeFC]

 

[Psychographic]

Finished pics are up!

 

[HuffnPuff]

Love that paintwork. Especially the way the stripes flow through the chain guard.

 

[Psychographic]

Love that paintwork. Especially the way the stripes flow through the chain guard.

Thank you for the compliment.

 

[Psychographic]

Finishing up some details. This is the bottom half of my 2 piece kickstand. It attaches to the top half with a thumbscrew so it can be removed to ride the bike.

All together.

As the front wheel wants to sit sideways when parked. I'm going to drill a very small hole through the head and steering tube to insert a removable pin to keep it straight. I found this and thought it would be perfect to mount to the pin.

 

[Psychographic]

I had a heck of a time drilling the head for the pin that will hold the front wheel straight while parked. It winds up I was just nicking the end of the bearing cup. After grinding a small notch in the cup, all is good. Now I need to make a nice looking pin for it. The "Remove before flight" ribbon looks cool on it.

Another thing I didn't finish is the cover for the inside of the chainguard. I was hoping the tensioner would clear the cover, but it's going to hit. I've decided to try to make a domed cover. I'm not sure if I should be posting this as I think there is a very high chance of failure, but what the heck, so here goes,,,,,,,,,,,,,

The cover is 1/8" Lexan. The frame for blowing the dome shape is 1/4"MDF and a scrap of 3/4" for an airline fitting to screw into.

 

[Psychographic]

I had to make a trip to the hardware store for bolts. Now you can see how this works. I cut and drilled the Lexan and MDF using the chainguard as a template. The small bolts around the opening are the mounts for the guard. I will use these to properly positiong the Lexan, then use the outer bolts, to clamp the parts together and remove the inner ones (I'm worried about them drawing and holding the heat when I heat the assembly to blow the bubble.
The front view.

The back view shows the block I glued to mount the air fitting. It needs to dry for 24 hours before I can drill it. I will screw a regulator into the hole, I want to be able to open it slowly as I don't think it will take much pressure to make the bubble. I only want a small curve (no more than 1/2") to it so it clears the tensioner.

I have a small auto body panel heater that I will put under the jig and slowly heat everything, then turn on the air and keep my fingers crossed!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I can't wait to see how it goes!

 

[Psychographic]

I've got an old regulator mounted.

And I dug out my panel heater.

I'm debating if I should try one of my airbrush compressors or my big compressor to blow the bubble.

 

[Psychographic]

I've been trying to figure out a way to monitor the temp as I heat the Lexan. I had one hole drilled for bolting the MDF together that I didn't use. A digital cooking thermometer fits in the hole so just the tip pokes through. I'm hoping it will read properly.

 

[Psychographic]

Attempt number 1,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,FAIL!

I took the panel heater off it's stand and set it facing up, about 6" under a set of sawhorses. I laid the assembly on top of the horses and hooked the regulator up to the tank of my airbrush compressor.

At about 160 degrees, the Lexan started to soften. At 170, I opened the valve and had a lot of air leaking. I Did get a small bubble, but also some tiny bubbles formed at the peak of the bubble.

When I researched "Heat forming Lexan" I found out that it absorbs water and you should bake it at 250 degrees for a few hours, before forming it at 275 degrees. This is supposed to evaporate the water, I think this is way too hot for my piece.

If I'm careful, I can get 2 pieces out of what's left. I think I will try adding a foam seal between the Leaxn and MDF for the next try.

 

[Psychographic]

Attempt number 2,,,,,,,,, partial success. This is giving me hope that I can pull this off.

On this attempt, I added foam tape the back side MDF. I opened the air valve before even attempting to add the heat and could see the top MDF pushing outward, but it was still leaking quite a bit of air. At about 135 degrees, I opened up the air and got about a 1/4", and fairly even bubble.

I reused the first piece of Lexan to save the remaining pice, should I have a complete 2nd failure. This piece had a bad bow in it after it cooled, I might not have let it cool long enough on the first try. The second heating still has the bow, and I let this cool much longer.

A couple of things I noticed, air leaks out of the actual mounting holes I used to center the Lexan. I think I should have used a much thicker MDF to make the frame, or used a LOT more screws to bolt it together. I have some left over MDO which is much stronger, I might try to make new parts out of it for the next try. I did see some high strength/high heat tape at the hardware store, that might cure the leaking air problem.

I also might blow the piece (insert your own joke or wisecrack here) before cutting it to fit the guard as I now have a template using the front piece of MDF to drill and cut for fitment.