Project Lipuch

Hey guys, It's been a while since I've had a project on here, I've just been collecting ideas and...well lots of ideas. Latest project will be the accumulation of these ideas into one project. I introduce to you, Project Lipuch, or Pufan if you prefer...



It's not much right now, but it's everything that I'm looking for. A little backstory:

I've always been touched by the classic 50cc GP racers of the 60's and 70's ever since seeing them in person at the Gugenheim exhibit when it was held in Las Vegas in 2001. Since then, the Honda Dream 50R was released, but I don't have that kind of budget. So having steeped in all those awesome pictures of CR110s and other classic racy bike, I was offered a Puch Magnum roller in exchange for some light carb tuning.

Perfect! I have a nice starting point, a straight frame. But the original 50cc motor is a little weedy, and the California moped speed limit of 30mph is a little pokey for some of the faster streets around these parts.

Thankfully Honda CRF50s, CT90s, S90s, etc. etc. are plentiful. Chinese copies replace Honda Engineering with extra cc's.

The Plan: Build an homage to 50cc GP bikes, but swap in a 125cc Lifan motor. Custom tank, new forks, shocks, removal of the pedals, new everything pretty much, and register it as a full on motorcycle.

Oh and also not completely bankrupting me

Cheers,

-BR

The story so far:
new hydraulic forks
new rear dampers
new bars
new grips
new levers
rear brake conversion pedal
el cheapo fiberglass bump stop
foam to shape tank

The foam is extruded poly-styrene, they are sold in one inch sheets, I bought a few and glued them together with Super77 (bad idea).
I found dimensions for the CR110 tank, and transferred them onto the foam block I found that the original width was a little too wide to fit the scale of the bike, also the tank was a little long, so I guess this will be slightly scaled down replica. It fits the bike a little better however as the stock spoked wheels come in a 17x 2.25 trim, and the factory racers of the day used an 18x2.25 wheel.

The tank is fairly squarish so it has been pretty easy thus far. The best tool for material removal in the rougher stages have been wire brushes and the wire wheel. They make a mess, but are really fast at cutting material (short of a hot wire cutter). The top side is mostly done, just some contouring and symmetry issues to solve, and I've hogged out most the material needed for the underside. I made great progress and started mocking up the seat and tank to get the overall look correct.

The main point to look at is how straight and near horizontal the line is silhouetting the underside of the tank and going into the seat. That was a defining feature on a lot of these early bikes. The task will be made more difficult because the foam represents the inside of the tank. the foam will be encapsulated in GRP and then dissolved out. This means the whole think has to be made slightly undersized if I want the visual appeal to remain perfect.

Oh, and in the background is my little Arciero daily

-Cheers!