Living Room Build - Notes on taps/dies

Re: Living Room Build

progriffen said:
Yep thats me in a another ride I love the most Fixed Gear Bike. Also known as fixie. Modification of a track bike. Without any brakes, only stops with you foot pedaling backwards.
I was never interested in 4 wheels haha always two wheels. now my eyes turned from bicycle to motorcycle thats all but.
Cafe racer is such a addicting project that I can't let go.
As soon as I get her running first, I will be posting a build thread of non-loved(crappy looking frame which made all the people hate to modify into a cafe racer) cb400t to a Cafe Racer.
I will be following yours and steal some ideas from you
Is that cool? :)

Very cool! Yeah I actually ride a fixie myself, but the difference is I have front brakes! You must be pretty nuts to ride with no brakes at all! Yeah, I feel ya on the addiction bit. I used to swear against motorcycle, but once I started looking at cafe's it was all out of my hands. I had to get one. What city is that picture in?

Ok cool! I'll be keeping an eye out for it. And no. You may not in any circumstances steal ANY of my ideas[sarcasm]. Take what you want my man!
 
Re: Living Room Build

Fox said:
You must be pretty nuts to ride with no brakes at all!

I used to ride my '49 panhead with no front brakes, suicide shift and only some poor rear drum brakes...
Now i got a front drum brake on it, but i guess my death will be on the old pan :p

Sorry bout the off topic post, just had to say ???
 
Re: Living Room Build

That pic was taken from my friend at 34th between 7th and 8th avenue in New York.

I live in PA and took a bus trip to NJ with my bike and started to travel for almost 200miles to NYC last year.

Now I am planning on doing that with cafe racer I am gonna make.


Alright I should get some work done to show off some progress I am having.

Keep up the good work man!
 
Re: Living Room Build

Looking good so far!

I must admit, I am a little bit jealous of the fact that you are building this in the comfort of your living room.
I said something in passing to my landlord, that was either a really great idea, or a absolute disaster of a decision.
Long story short, it's in a buddy's garage rather than in my living room.

I bet having the bike there really helps with getting the tedious things done easier! Tinker here, tinker there.

I also wish I had a tube frame rather than the stamped steel. But hey, work with what you got right?

/end rant

I can't wait to see what your finished engine is going to look like. I like the raw material shiny bits.
 
Re: Living Room Build

Not sure if anyone else mentioned it, but keep an eye on that Kreme liner. That stuff has been known to give people all sorts of trouble after being immersed in gas for a while. It seems to be the most failure-prone liner out there.
 
Re: Living Room Build

Howdy Gents,

So, quick apology for my lacking online presence recently. School has been one big project to the next, and I've gone out of town for the past two weekends. I'm not on spring break, and I've stayed at school just so I can finish working on my bike. My goal is to have everything on the bike except for seat and handlebars(found out the ones I had were the wrong size. Go figure).

Now, on to real updates. I'll lead off with this.

ROLLING FRAME BABY! Oh yeah.
IMG_1522.jpg


Haha, I'm excited. Maybe a little too much, but hey, whatever. Got new tires mounted and cleaned up the rims as best as I could. Here are some close ups of the tires.
IMG_1523.jpg


IMG_1524.jpg


Next up is painting the top end of the engine. Working on that all tomorrow, then Monday I get the valves reinstalled and start to reassemble. Yee haw! Keep an eye out, updates should be plentiful this coming week. Hope everyones doin' well!
 
Re: Living Room Build

I just caught wind of this build you've got going on- very impressive! I thought I was pretty cool for working on my bike down in my basement- you've got me beat! Nice job so far!
 
Re: Living Room Build

It's looking great! What size tires did you end up getting for the front/back? They look like they're the perfect size. And that frame is looking all sorts of sweet. A frame in a fresh coat of black always looks nice. (especially a de-tabbed one)
 
Re: Living Room Build

madmatt1 said:
I just caught wind of this build you've got going on- very impressive! I thought I was pretty cool for working on my bike down in my basement- you've got me beat! Nice job so far!

Heh Heh. Yeah, pretty nutso. Can't say I wouldn't trade placews with you though. Living space and Garage have a hard time coexisting.

PjkF said:
It's looking great! What size tires did you end up getting for the front/back? They look like they're the perfect size. And that frame is looking all sorts of sweet. A frame in a fresh coat of black always looks nice. (especially a de-tabbed one)

Thanks! Tires are 2.75x18 front and 3.5x18 back. They came out really well actually. Pretty happy with them. Ah! I know! Puts all the parts I didn't get powder coated to shame! Some pictures of progress will be up later tonight.
 
Re: Living Room Build

Worked all day reassembling the engine and getting it back on the frame. Here's where were at now. Pretty damn good feeling.

IMG_1536.jpg


Seat isn't mounted yet, but I threw it on for the picture. I'm a little embarrassed to say that I ordered a seat from DCC instead of making my own, but being that the only workspace I have is my apartment, I decided it wasn't exactly within my capability right now and I'lll make one when I have a dedicated garage/house/workspace. Sucks, but it is what it is.

Next big project I'm planning to tackle is how to mount all my electrics(Condenser, fuse box, etc). Don't see a great way to do it, so if you have ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Alright, I'm going to crash. 8a.m.- 9p.m. of straight wrenching oddly took it out of me. See you boys on the flipside.
 
Re: Living Room Build

Builds looking great,

For mounting your electronics you should just make a simple little steel or aluminum pan that fits under the rear cowl, and is bolted down to the frame rails.

That gives you a nice flat space to bolt everything down to, and is hidden by the rear bubble.

P,s...im building my bike in a spare bedroom!
 

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Re: Living Room Build

Unfortunately, I didn't chop my frame, so I've got this big metal hump, so I can't make a flat aluminum surface to work on. I might make one that bolts on the rear hoop. and put my battery there. Wish I didn't have to drill into the frame. We'll see how it all works out. Thanks for the help!
 
Re: Living Room Build

nice work! i fell for the cl's and have a 72 175, and a 75 360 like yours. the paint on the tank is faded, looks like several gasoline overflows. looking forward to the finished product!
 
Re: Living Room Build

Hey cool! A 175? I didn't even know they made them that small. Is that a one cylinder? I'd love to see some pictured of your bikes if you've got them.

You right when you say the gas tank is in rough shape. I didn't want to paint it until I had my seat made, and I still haven't empirically decided on a paint scheme. I've got a few ideas, but can't decide my favorite. I might try and do some mock ups on Photoshop if I can figure out how to do it. Anyone got some insight on this?

Carbs/grips/controls are on. Here's an updated shot.
IMG_1540.jpg


For next week I've got to mount the electric components, mount my seat, attach 2-1 throttle cable to carbs(Not sure how to do this. Anyone have experience with doing this on Mikunis?), and mount rear brake light. I'm sure I'll have to chase down a few gremlins in the electrical system, but once I get those carbs figured out, I should be ready to fill up and give it a crank! That'll be exciting. I'm projecting two weeks until it's road worthy. I think...
 
Re: Living Room Build

Not a great update, but it's been so long. My bike got kicked out of my apartment and I've just now got done with finals, so I haven't been able to work on it at all. My brother is taking it back to my Dad's house right now, and I have all the final parts that I need to make it run and ride it, but not time to put them on. Maybe sometime in the next week. I'll post something more when something actually happens. Sorry for such a lame update!
 
Re: Living Room Build

That sucks man! But it's a good thing you got a lot of it done when you could work on it so comfortably!
You'll get 'er done!
 
Re: Living Room Build

bike is looking good! sorry to hear you've had to move out of the living room One step closer the road tho! I love the exhaust on these makes me want to build a different exhaust for mine
 
Re: Living Room Build

Fox, I'm loving this build. Everything about it is full of heart. I really just want to see it running with you on it. Get that sucker on the road!
 
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