Tools maniac... my english wheel

I've been thinking about getting myself an english wheel for a long time now.
Given the S&S being at the paintshop and the fact that I planned to add an aluminum insert across the rear fender, I felt it was time to plunder the savings acoount.
I'll be like a little boy for weeks now, playing around with my new toy....

Harold, buddy, here I come!

Hope he's got the coffee ready tomorrow morning early.
Time's are exiting once more, can't wait for the final result.

Final prep before paint

Its been a long time since I worked on the S&S rebuild.
For good, lets ride the wide open road, reasons. Needed to get the final things done before I drop the bike off with the painter. Harold from South East is going to do his magic (he'd better, hahaha....)
Fitted a brand new chain to make sure the mounting and the clearance of the rear fender is correct. With some playing around with the brackets and the sissybar, I think its DONE. Last pictures in its raw appearance.

Shaft drive in Hardtail frame, continued!

Have seen that there is quite some interest in how I made myself the mounting brackets for the shaft drive construction in my hardtail frame, here are some more details.

The basics are pretty simple. Get yourselves some thick mild steel plate. Mine are 12mm thick. With some cardboard you make yourselves some templates, copying the holes from the axle and the mounting bolds of the shaft drive bell. Since you must be able to move the drive shaft a bit when mounting the rear wheel into the frame, I made the 2 plates detachable by drilling and tapping some mounting holes into the side plate.
If you keep these 2 plates nice and square you will have a strong supporting structure to be added to your hardtail frame.
The reason for making the sideplate (welded to the frame) as long as I did is that this allowed me to weld alongside the pipes (frame tube notched around the plate). This way the twisting forces of the shaft drive bell are supported by the full frame triangle which is about 65cm long in my frame. When you make the length of this triangle very short (by welding the 90 degree support bracket directly to the frame), the vibrations will eventually break your frame.

Hope this helps a bit and enjoy building your own.

Back from Holiday in France

All the preparation paid off, the bikes performed wonderfull. NO issue's at all.
We had a great 2 weeks holiday riding our bikes through the south of France. For you who are interested, we rode our bikes through the Cevennes and the Haut Languedoc mountains. We took it easy riding the bikes from campsite to campsite through little back roads meeting the local frenchies on the way. Always funny and interesting having a conversation about our chops without really speaking the language, but somehow we always manage.

It is a shame its over, but.... like a big Austrian guy once said. I'll be back...

Getting the chops ready for the biketrip

Had a great few days working on the Yamaha chops. Working alongside John from JJ Suspension I got to fix all the little annoyances that surfaced the past few weeks, Some minor oil leaks, carburetor alignment, ceased cables…... and both bikes got a full service, all the fluids and filters replaced, starter engine cleaned etc.
Having an experienced mechanic in the neighborhood is a great benefit.
DO NOT know how to fix things does not exist anymore......and easy access to spare parts of course.

T-shirts

Since it has been raining all morning I spend some time on designing some T-shirts
The first ones, what do you think

Fuck Harleydag Mill

What can I say,
How a bunch of 50+ year old harley "Bro's", some Old fuck's, can be the example of the sadness of the Harley movement today. Only Harleys allowed, ghegheghe.
You should have seen this, The smallest bike event in the neighborhood and we were not allowed to park our Chops on the 200 meter holy ground????
And then...it rained...There must be a higher power somewhere.
Time to get some offensive T-shirts printed.

Millse Harleydag

Can't afford NOT to go there. With the weather forecast being very nice, this will be another successfull event. Will post some pictures tomorrow evening.

UPDATE, Not my style event anymore,
harleys only, hahahahahaha

New puppy in the family

Yep, an extension to the family, got ourselves a Bulldog today. This bike will reduce travel time for my wife getting to work. The engine is almost equal to our yamaha chops. Have ordered a stage 1 kit and airfilter from K&N today, so it will breathe a bit easier. Don't tell her about it, its our little secret, gheghe.....

Pain in the But!

Made myself another seat pan, the old one was hurting me to much. I must be getting old, haha...... Hopefully this one gives me more support. Powdercoat here I come again.

This and That!

Spend most of the weekend on the bike, No major trips just a few hundred km to and from bars, the tattoo shop and my friends place. The Yamaha chops have now done almost 3000 km since I put them on the road again last year. It was time to fix some little things like a clutch cable, lighting issues, foot rests and a fork brace.
Next week I need to get some oil seals to stop some minor oil leaks and then their ready for the holiday trip. Can't wait

Sidemount

Just a few more pics, its ready

The final stretch, Little things!

Made myself a list of final things to do. Its a bit of a funny time, on one hand I am full of anticipation getting the bike ready and on the other hand I know by experience that the "little" things are going to take quite some time to get fixed.
2 things got of the list, The chain tensioner and the sidemount licenseplate bracket. One step closer to getting the bike ready for paint.
I am going to update my todo list now........mmm more things todo.

No sleep weekend!

This riding season seems to have the best start ever. We had the annual party of the chopperstyle.nl forum this weekend. All bike building enthusiasts and all great people. This year's event was done at my place, which meant I had the pleasure of organising it, which I enjoyed doing. You know, the basic stuff, a good mix of good food, drinks, venue you name it. All this preparation must have influenced the weather gods in a pleasant way because the weather was fantastic. Conclusion.... a great weekend
and now.......................I SLEEP