The wheel and tire look good, did it loose any air..?

 

its probably blasphemous for me to say this but....
why not use some wireless / bluetooth digital speedo?

I know it wouldn't be "period" or retro correct but theyre small and can be hidden/removed.

 

I honestly haven't checked yet. Need to but I'm more concerned with the false promises this bike shop keeps giving me. Called me Wed and said they were going to find out whats going on and call me back later that day. No call since then. Looks like I am going to have to drive over there and find out in person what is going on. So far they have a 1 star rating from me considering the lies and false promises they keep giving me.

I got my front fork assembled and installed but now I am afraid it is angled too much on the link bar as one guy said the link bars are to be level well mine are at the extreme down position. Only way to resolve that would be to lose out on the $65 VO stem I bought and buy another VO Stem without the built in rise and install a spacer of that same height under the spring plate to raise the suspension up. I am kind of afraid the bike is going to be jacked up in the front. I just wont know till I get the rear tire installed. If its minor enough of a lift in the front I would try compressing the springs some more but don't want to compress them too much as then they would have no bounce.

I had already bought this one. But I resolved the issue I was able to bend the ear flat and bend it to fit my wheel.

 

This is what I am working on resolving now. I think I will wait till I get my rear wheel in so I can set the bike on ground and see how level it sits. I hear the link bars are supposed to be level but I don't know. I might have to get a new stem and play with spacers to raise the spring perch to the right level to get the link bars level.

 

Nothing to update other than I am going to the bike shop tomorrow to raise hell with them. I'm done calling and I am done playing nice. They might be the only shop close to me that has a on site mechanic but I dropped my wheel off on July 1 at 10:15am and now here it is July 20th and still no call from them. Only call they ever made to me was on Wed last week asking me some questions and that they were gong to find out whats going on and get back with me later that night.

Really need to get my front wheel checked out but at this rate I think they would keep my front wheel for a month as well nearly just to true it up and adjust the bearing preload. Would do It myself but I don't have a thin 1/8" thick flat wrench to hold the bearing adjustment nut in place while I crank down on the jam nut.

 

Well the wheel was finished when I went in today. Apparently it was finished earlier in the week but no one called. No big deal. I got it all put together only thing is the stupid drop kick stand wont fit the frame without modifications as the locking ears to lock it around the drop out plates doesn't line up fully. So I have to pull it back off and tweak it some and bend some ears up or just simply remove them to get the bracket to lay flat. Right now because its not able to sit flat I cant get the rear axle to slide forward its currently bolted down at the rear most position.

In any case I had the bike out side today for a good 3 hours as I used my Meguiars Ultimate compound on the entire frame still got a few spots I need to work by hand some more before I can start applying polish and wax for protection.

I'm still awaiting the new threadless stem I bought that is 41mm tall and the 20mm and 15mm gloss black aluminum spacers so I can raise my spring perch up 20mm to see how that is if need more I will raise it the full 35mm. I how ever right now am fixing to hit up some stores online and order some more parts. I got out of the bike shop today for $115, the wheel was $56 they charged me $6 more than they quoted and didn't charge me for the spokes I guess they decided keep the old spokes and the coaster brake hub and cut me a deal on it. I did how ever buy a 15mm and 17mm axle cone wrench so I can adjust the front bearing pre load, I also want to take it apart and clean the ball bearings off and apply my Lucas red and tacky over the thin grease that is in there already. I also bought for $29 a 7 paw freewheel cog with 16 tooth count. Its noisy as hell and loud as it has strong ratcheting on it so I will have to see how it goes if not I at least know the axle is a british thread so I can always replace it for a weaker ratcheting one that is quieter.

The 17mm worth of spacers on each side of the axle centered the hub in the frame perfectly but to center the rim the wheel should be dished about 1/8" to the left as the tire is slightly off to the right. I wont be worrying about that unless the tire is rubbing the fender when I order them. My disc brake rotor how ever is with in one finger width from the brake caliper mount just like it is on my front fork so I don't have to do any shimming what so ever. Just need to buy some more cheap parts so I can do more and continue saving up for the more expensive parts such as the engine and saddle.

I'm still kicking around what to go with for my crank and chain ring. My freewheel sprocket is chrome but its not real shiny chrome just like a silver color. Not sure if I should go with a silver colored chain ring with black crank and pedals or just go with my gut and go black on everything if possible.

Anyways here are some photos I took today.

First one is with flash



Second one is without flash

 

Well I cant upload the two bottom photos on here so I have to link them via Flickr as it keeps saying they are too large to upload here. The next two pics are with the bike out in the sun.

 

You should put your pictures in email view format on your computer and upload them from there, it's a lot easier than using a third party and your pictures are always on your computer..

 

Ill have to give that a try. I have the pictures on my computer already in my external harddrive for safety so I don't lose them but I rather embed them like I did the others vs going to flikr. I'm sure Flikr is going to pull a photobucket sooner or later.

 

I put all my pictures in a file in email size, actually it's my wife that does that for me, they load fast and don't make the pages last forever to load...lol

 

well I bought a few more things just now from Bicycle-Engine, they had on sale 10% off 415 HD chain, and a chrome chain guard. I also got their silver fuel cap for their built bike. Hope it is taller like it appears in the photo cause I hope it threads down farther on my tank if not I guess I am stuck with the plastic weed whacker fuel cap.

Color wise I am not sure I will like a silver fuel cap so I probably am going to spray it black or have it powder coated black.

 

That's amazing! Really nice work. Yeah the plastic fuel cap sort of catches the eye, because it looks out of place with the rest. Try to find a brass cap? Or CNC machined aluminum or? Thinking out loud here, not trying to second guess. The fuel filter looks to my eye that it should be roughly plumb level, maybe an angled fitting could accomplish this. Sure looks great.

I always wanted a pair of those World War I era pilot goggles. You have an excuse to wear those, with a bike like that, in fact it's the law I think

 

I might get a 45* angled fitting at a later date for now its functional and doesn't bother me that much.

I did get in today my new Dimension black threadless stem this one unlike the VO one I have installed in the pictures is its not 75mm tall its just 41mm tall. I also got in my gloss black powder coated aluminum 20mm and 15mm spacers and installed both under my spring perch and raised it up. I now can physically press the front suspension down 2 to 3 inches down with weight on the handle bars. With the other setup with the secondary fork extended all the way down it would lock up after 1/8" movement. So now I have functional suspension in the front. It also lowered the front down some so the bike sits more level off the kick stand.

I'm waiting on the black 1 piece chain ring and crank, the black bottom bracket, the vintage style rubber black and chrome pedals, the chrome chain guard for the engine, a 415HD heavy duty drive chain, and a filler cap.

Fuel Cap for In-Frame Tank | Bicycle-Engines.com

This one here is not a polished silver so I might end up painting it a gloss black. But reason I bought this is, it appears taller than the plastic cap and being metal it doesn't look like a string trimmer gas cap.

Price wise I just figured up what I have in the bike so far and including the VO stem and other parts I bought that I wont be able to use it puts me right at $1,124.58 as of right now including the items I bought last night. The cost also includes the price of some tools as well. My goal was $1,000 or less but I decided to do something a little more professional looking which added to the cost.

As of now the following parts is what I still need to buy to finish this.

1) engine
2) chain from pedal to freewheel cog
3) twist throttle set
4) throttle cable
5) clutch cable
6) dual cable brake lever
7) clutch lever
8) front and rear brake calipers
9) front and rear brake cables
10) front and rear fenders
11) seat post and saddle

That should be all I need left to finish the bike. The engine is going to be the most expensive as I am looking at buying a hot rod balanced 66cc engine which is priced at $380. If I don't have it balanced I can pick it up for $280. But it appears by time I am finished the bike is going to be more around $2500. Which honestly I could have bought the bike that was sold locally that I showed in my first post that sold for $2,500. Big thing is this bike is way more of a bike than that.

 

Well I finally got a email back from CR Machining. They are the ones that have this MPG-38 complete engine for $280, $380 if you opt out for the precision balanced crank option.

This engine is built to maximize low end torque and is designed for economy and reliability. Also state the engine has a RPM operating range of 1,800 - 7,000 rpm which makes it excellent for single speed street builds. Also states it can bring you up to speeds of 45 mph. Recommends a 30T to 35T sprocket to allow the engine to hum along at a lower RPM.

Well with all that said I asked about the use of the Jake Diamond head as its a huge chunk of billet aluminum CNC`ed out. Its a high compression head and it has thick beefy cooling fins whish in my eyes should cool better than any other high compression head ive seen in my climiate with 100 - 105 degree summers. I also asked if that engine could benefit from a Mikumi 18mm carb, long muffler 2 piece exhaust, and if it could be capable of 50 mph. I also asked about a aftermarket CDI to retard the timing.

Well long story short he recommended to me to go with the GT-5 SuperHammer racing engine which is $539 and the description implies that its a torque motor that builds it lower in the power band. Problem is I really cant justify spending $539 on an engine. Sure I am pushing $1,200 on the bike right now but the most I can justify for the engine is about $380 - $390. I don't want to spend more than $400 including shipping on the whole engine. With his $380 priced engine I would still have to spend $80 on the Mikumi 18mm carb, then spend another $40 on the exhaust, then another $100 on the aftermarket CDI system.

So as of right now I am not sure still what to do about the engine.

I could buy his precision balanced bottom end kit known as the GT5 bottom end kit for $239. Then buy the other pieces and build the engine myself. I probably could get the cost below $400 for the complete engine doing this way. But I have to talk with the guy and find out if his balanced bottom end kit requires special cylinders that only he sells or if any top end components can be installed.

 

It's looking good so far Rusty