Long ago I saw some pics of a yellow Cyclone motorcycle. It's a board tracker. No headlight, no tail light. It did retain it's fender and drop stand for some reason. Joerns manufacturing was knocking these units out in the nineteen teens and humbling its competition on the board tracks.
This is not the same exact bike or photo that I saw but you get the idea. Photo courtesy of motorcycle-usa.com
Initially, I planned to use an aluminum Felt Cruiselite frame and just duplicate as much as I could without Matafying the frame and adding extra brackets for fenders. That plan went out the window after I built my two speedsters: "Switch-a-roo" and "The Speedster." Those bikes look right and feel right. In concert with that, the wheels that I wanted to use are backordered and likely will be for a century and I can't seem to locate project 346 tires in the 26" form factor. But, I have to say "the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places." Thanks to Norm from venicemotorbikes.com I now have a nice Felt tank frame to start with.
I am quite fond of money green but this paint has to go. The rims, seat, fork, handlebars, shifter, stem, chainwheel, crank, seat post, pedals, bearings, and seat clamp will go too.
The forks are right out. I won't use them. I had a beautiful build a few years ago that used them and they worked great but it doesn't jibe with my theme. What about the rims? Nope. I also purchased a nearly pristine Felt 1909 from Norm a few weeks before I picked this up from him. The flawless 1909 rims will be broken down, and powder coated in some shade of YELLow. A Sturmey-Archer 5speed is on order for the rear and I am using some restraint not to throw a Sturmei-Archer front dyno hub on it. That keeps the cost down a bit. Since the bike will be rear brake only, I'm picking a pretty sweet lever treatment by inverting it. In fact, the handlebars and all attachments will be treated with great care. Velo Orange bars will be attached to an inverted stem from Sunday. As you'll witness, inverting is a theme that will be used in various places on the bike. I'm gonna skip the grips and mimic "The Speedster" by using black grip tape. Unlike the numerous board trackers that I studied, I'll be laying down the grip tape in two places. Certainly, some will go in the traditional area but I'll also place in on either side of the stem.
I strongly encourage you to check out the ratrodbikes.com swap meet section. There are many great parts available there - including hard
to find goodies. Forum member, CoryKip, had some great stuff. I went there to see if I could afford one of his sweet Mooneyes seats for another build and I saw this massive chain wheel. PM sent. Deal struck. Product shipped. It was just like that and I bolted to a set of chrome rant cranks with a Redline sealed bottom bracket. The pedals are from Wellgo. They look very old-timey and that is just what I'm going for. The Cyclone sports a lot of chrome. I generally avoid chrome and prefer polished aluminum and don't mind paying for it. I am not going to keep the costs down on this one. With the exception of the front hub it is unavoidable. Forum member, Jake Sensi can keep costs down, Sting can play the bass but I can't do either. It is really going to cost me.
The plan is to sell this bike when finished. A "normal-sized" chainwheel, chain, and "regular" handlebars will be included. Most people decorate their offices with the bikes they buy from me and hardly ride them. I was surprised to learn that.
I went to WAAG Automotive for a little local color. They stripped the bike and added a healthy hue of YELLow to the parts I dropped off. This bike also exceeds my normal 2 pieces of chrome maximum. I generally like using parts that don't rust at all.
As I've written before, I don't have a welder. I don't know how to weld but my neighbor works at a shop where he has access to a welder. He can weld. He can weld things for me. I dropped off some parts to my neighbor, Eric. I have a specific fender that I will be using for YELLow Belly. That fender had some extra mounting holes that I just would've had to live with. Eric volunteered to fill those holes for me. When I asked if I could drop a few more fenders his way he was happy to help but the metal was so thin that it didn't work. Luckily, I had an unused rear fender left over from "The Speedster." Normally, I roll with the duck tail up and sometimes hide a light inside. This time I am doing the exact opposite of how the fender was designed. As you can see - it's kinda cool.
This is not the same exact bike or photo that I saw but you get the idea. Photo courtesy of motorcycle-usa.com
I am quite fond of money green but this paint has to go. The rims, seat, fork, handlebars, shifter, stem, chainwheel, crank, seat post, pedals, bearings, and seat clamp will go too.
The forks are right out. I won't use them. I had a beautiful build a few years ago that used them and they worked great but it doesn't jibe with my theme. What about the rims? Nope. I also purchased a nearly pristine Felt 1909 from Norm a few weeks before I picked this up from him. The flawless 1909 rims will be broken down, and powder coated in some shade of YELLow. A Sturmey-Archer 5speed is on order for the rear and I am using some restraint not to throw a Sturmei-Archer front dyno hub on it. That keeps the cost down a bit. Since the bike will be rear brake only, I'm picking a pretty sweet lever treatment by inverting it. In fact, the handlebars and all attachments will be treated with great care. Velo Orange bars will be attached to an inverted stem from Sunday. As you'll witness, inverting is a theme that will be used in various places on the bike. I'm gonna skip the grips and mimic "The Speedster" by using black grip tape. Unlike the numerous board trackers that I studied, I'll be laying down the grip tape in two places. Certainly, some will go in the traditional area but I'll also place in on either side of the stem.
A Sunday stem will connect the Velo Orange bars to a Firebikes fork.
I strongly encourage you to check out the ratrodbikes.com swap meet section. There are many great parts available there - including hard
to find goodies. Forum member, CoryKip, had some great stuff. I went there to see if I could afford one of his sweet Mooneyes seats for another build and I saw this massive chain wheel. PM sent. Deal struck. Product shipped. It was just like that and I bolted to a set of chrome rant cranks with a Redline sealed bottom bracket. The pedals are from Wellgo. They look very old-timey and that is just what I'm going for. The Cyclone sports a lot of chrome. I generally avoid chrome and prefer polished aluminum and don't mind paying for it. I am not going to keep the costs down on this one. With the exception of the front hub it is unavoidable. Forum member, Jake Sensi can keep costs down, Sting can play the bass but I can't do either. It is really going to cost me.
The plan is to sell this bike when finished. A "normal-sized" chainwheel, chain, and "regular" handlebars will be included. Most people decorate their offices with the bikes they buy from me and hardly ride them. I was surprised to learn that.
I went to WAAG Automotive for a little local color. They stripped the bike and added a healthy hue of YELLow to the parts I dropped off. This bike also exceeds my normal 2 pieces of chrome maximum. I generally like using parts that don't rust at all.
PHOTO FORTHCOMING
As I've written before, I don't have a welder. I don't know how to weld but my neighbor works at a shop where he has access to a welder. He can weld. He can weld things for me. I dropped off some parts to my neighbor, Eric. I have a specific fender that I will be using for YELLow Belly. That fender had some extra mounting holes that I just would've had to live with. Eric volunteered to fill those holes for me. When I asked if I could drop a few more fenders his way he was happy to help but the metal was so thin that it didn't work. Luckily, I had an unused rear fender left over from "The Speedster." Normally, I roll with the duck tail up and sometimes hide a light inside. This time I am doing the exact opposite of how the fender was designed. As you can see - it's kinda cool.
PHOTO FORTHCOMING
Lacking the 26" Project 346 tires that I was lusting for, I've turned to my tire closet and pulled out a lightly used set of Felt's Circuit tires. I've always liked the tread pattern of them and haven't been able to log on to Felt's website when they had them in stock. My 1909 will be donating it's seat to YELLow Belly. As you can see the seat is very nice. I disassembled the bike prior to sitting on it. For all I know, it is unbearable to sit on. The seat post is a sweet RedLine seat post of a stripe that I had never seen before. It's chrome. As I mentioned I generally will polish up some aluminum before going near chrome but as you can tell it is going to look great.
PHOTO FORTHCOMING
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