Villiers beach cruiser

[AKB]

I'd be curious to see what would happen if a belt was placed directly from the engine pulley to the rear sheave.. I wonder if that little engine would be able to handle it.

 

[harry76]

Try restricting the intake a bit. These engines don't want a lot of air. Put some tape over the filter housing and see what it does for you.

You also need to figure out what your ratio is. To do this, mark you drive gear and set the mark on the bottom pointing towards the ground. Put the valve stem of you tire at the bottom so it it near the ground. Then push the bike and count how many time your drive gear moves with one revolution of the wheel. It will give you some sort of idea rather than just buying parts.

Thanks i will try the restricting the airflow to see if it affects it.

There is a gear calculator on motorbicycling.com and i geared it with a reduction of 8:1 which i had heard was about right. I have bought a smaller pulley which wasnt dear. I just have to get a quality belt for it

 

[harry76]

I'd be curious to see what would happen if a belt was placed directly from the engine pulley to the rear sheave.. I wonder if that little engine would be able to handle it.

Thats what i had planned to do initially, but that comes down to a matter of alignment, and my pully didnt line up with my sheave, hence the jackshaft. Many early motorcycles were set up like you describe.

 

[harry76]

I have to wait until monday to get my front pulley done as the machinist didnt have the right size tap, i have since thought i should just buy the tap myself.... oh well. Then i can fit it and get the right sized belt. Hopefully i can get a good one without ordering one. I will also go to the bike shop Monday and buy a longer brake cable. I also have to get my kickstarter working. It needs a little work....... I ve also been questioning my decision to keep it bare metal. I still like it but i dont know if i should do an aged effect paintjob on the bike the same color as the rims. Id say ill end up painting it like that, just wondering if i should do that now or wait a little while. Dunno!

Heres how it looks now.... needs a few little touches but looks mostly finished. Thoughts?

 

[harry76]

 

[murraymadman]

looks good! i do like the color of the wheels, that would be a good color to go with. :wink:

 

[cobrafreak]

I rode my Indian around for a few weeks bare metal. It was fun for a while. I ended up convincing myself it was too plain and started researching colors. You will probably go through the same process. They had many of the same colors back then they had today. You will pick something nice.

 

[harry76]

If i do paint it, it will be the same color i used to paint the rims.... "mocha" i think it was. That was my original color scheme. That Mocha color with a white inlay on the tank. But if i do that i think i will go for an aged effect.

Having said that its nice when im wheeling it through my garage and i bang into something i dont even look for damage on my bike, it adds to the patina

 

[SectionEightLife]

Wow man I really like your shifter, its got so much attitude... >.> aussie style...

 

[harry76]

Well today was a schmozzle!!!!!!! I went back to the machinist (not the same machinist i first used, his lathe was broken) that had my front 3" pulley and was meant to put a thread in it to suit the engine. He said its all good......I picked it up and took a look, NOT HAPPY AT ALL!!!!!!!!!! He stuffed up the thread, it looked useless. He said he could weld it up, and redo.....i said dont bother ill buy another. So i went and bought another, down $20. I gave it back to him to redo, but now im regretting that move. I should have just taken it to someone else, we will see how he does this time. DAMN i should have just bought the tap and did it myself :x :x :x

And it didnt end there..... today i also picked up the pillow bearings/pulleys fromt the bearing shop and the so called 5/8 shaft i had done for my Briggs Ladies bike build, from the same machinist. When i got it home and tried to fit the 5/8 shaft into the 5/8 bearing i was dissapointed to say the least that it didnt fit. Whacked the micrometres out and its over 16mm (5/8 = 15.785), so i took it back and he tried saying he made it to my dimensions..... well i asked for 5/8 and this aint 5/8..... FIX IT!!!!!!!!!!!! And to make matters worse i look at my pillow bearings and the mounts they supplied..... guess what?....................... Wrong size bearings for those mounts....... Dammit i usually check these things, now i got a 30 minute drive each way to return em

So today i hoped to have the new lower gearing on my bike and have a test ride...... well theres 2 things i wasnt responsible for on this bike: machining and bearings for the jackshaft...... and both the bearing shop and machinist have stuffed up. Whats that saying?..... If you want somethimg done right....... DO IT YOURSELF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[cobrafreak]

I hear you. Sorry about your dilemma with the machine shop. Now you know why I said to my Wife, "can I get a metal lathe for Christmas"? It's better to do things yourself, yes.

 

[stocksucks]

Right on. Do it yourself
I also wanted a lathe for Christmas, but they'r too expensive. I think I'm gonna get one of those mig welders though
Sorry to hear about that. Never give up.

 

[cobrafreak]

Right now Harbor Freight has their $500 metal lathe on sale for %400 and they you can use a 20% off coupon. They don't get much less than this.

 

[harry76]

I'd love a lathe also.... Only problem is I have no idea how to use one, but apparantly neither does my machinist. Lol! If I could get a lathe that cheap I'd happily own one. That's hard to pass up and would pay itself off in no time. I keep an eye out on Ebay for secondhand ones but unfortunately I can't afford one at the moment, but if I keep dealing with these chimps I can't afford not to have one

 

[harry76]

Well it just gets better..... I went back to the machinist today, who was meant to fix my oversized 5/8 keyway shaft (for Briggs build) and the 3" pulley (Villiers build) he was meant to put a thread in, again!!!!!!!

So ive asked is my stuff ready....... he said yes, sorta..... he said he fixed my keyway shaft but needed my motor back to recheck the offset for the pulley. He already had the 4" another machinist did, so not sure he really needed it but i said ok........ while im talking to him i realise the 5/8 bearing doesnt slide all the way down the shaft. I point that out to him and he angrily replies "nobody had 5/8 rod"..... not really my problem but i said "if you couldnt make a 5/8 shaft you should have said so and i could have gone elsewhere"..... he goes all red and tells me to get my stuff and get out with a few expletives thrown in.

Now wait a minute, i asked for a 5/8 keyway shaft and gave dimensions for length of rod and keyway. Now he just used 16mm (bigger then 5/8) rod and cut a keyway in it, and screwed up a $20 pulley and he has the hyde to yell at me and order me from his shop. I used all the restraint i had not to just grab this guy by his throat and shake some sense into him. I did feel a little better by calling him a few choice names that i thought applied to someone as stupid as he was. And he didnt appreciate me telling him to read up on his lathe skills, but maybe start with the basics til hes got a clue.

So now i have to find another machinist (may go back to original guy and see if his lathe is fixed now) and get all this work finished, probably wont get a chance to do that until Monday. :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x :x

RANT OVER i fell a little better now.....

 

[stocksucks]

Man that sucks...
Take it easy though.. You'll get it done..
Keep goin'

 

[cobrafreak]

He sounds like a DIK. Post his business and the next time I am in Australia I won't go there.

 

[harry76]

Funny you called him that because im thinking of going back after hours and spraypainting one of those on his front fence, just because :idea: lol

 

[harry76]

I thought id take some pics of this guys "handy work". I dont know how well it shows up in pictures but its not good at all. And im being kind there.

Heres what the first machinist did. Very nice threads full distance

Heres the so called "machinists" "attempt". This site frowns on profanities so i will refrain.

He did have this threaded on the motor when i turned up, and said it was right to go. Now if i hadnt checked and trusted him or known to check (some people mightnt) how long would it have lasted do you think? Thats pretty dangerous and irresponsible of him to say the least!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dont you think?

And YES you are indeed seeing what you think you are on the below picture. The threads on one side are nearly non existant.

 

[harry76]

Another thing i wasnt happy with, among others, was he machined the outside of the pulley. The first machinist didnt :x