Swagger
Putting boot to ass since 1967!
So a few days ago my buddy shows up at the shop on the goofiest bike. He's got this ratty old Honda C90....and by ratty I don't mean rattle-canned flat black and pasted with stickers. I mean it nasty. The upholstery on the seat is got, the lighting is all cobbled together from various bits including a rubber implement light for his headlight. The rims are rusty, the body work (what metal there is) and frame are rusty.....and it's a step thru. Ugh.
It didn't sound bad though when he pulled up, kinda had a nice note to the exhaust. Turns out the bike was his granddads and when the little motor puked it got parked behind a shed for years.....lots of them. Stan got it a few weeks back with the mind to restore it. Not worth it was his final judgment, however it's pretty solid so why not run it as is. A couple new tires, repacked bearings, knock the worst rust off and of course get the engine running. Well, the original lump was well and truly pooched so off the the interwebs looking for a suitable replacement.
He settled on a Chinese Lifan 128cc motor for it.
http://dratv.com/lifan120cc.html
He got two of them fresh and complete for $500(US) so one is waiting for another project.
Without going too much into the gritty details, I rode it. I wheelied the stinking thing....in the first two gears. No shit.
Now, it won't beat up on many other bikes on the road but I have to admit it was kinda fun and it got me thinking. We're all relatively familiar with small displacement race bike, so why not? The S90 chassis is...well.....marginal on a good day and a bit chubby for this application however......
Consider this: You can pick up a complete chassis kit based on Aermachi architecture:
http://www.aermacchi-racing.com/image/Framekits/Framekit_Drixton_B.jpg
This 'kit' weighs 26kilos......!!!!!....for those us us in the US that's a hair over 57 pounds. The motors weighs just under 50 pounds (21.4kilos) so thus far you're looking at roughly 107 pounds...say....49kilos. Add some allow rims on light hubs with modern discs...let's face it, nothing beats good light brakes, figure 30 pounds. Add say 20 pounds for misc. cables, minimal lighting, grips, bars etc. and suddenly you've got something pretty interesting. Let's be generous and say it's a total ready to ride weight of 160lbs or 73likos!
I've not seen dyno numbers for the bigger Lifan motors but it was a torquer and was relatively willing to wind up too.
Let's say it makes 15 ponys pushing 160 pounds down the road. That's pretty acceptable for in town or really tight canyon stuff and lets face it......that body/frame kit doesn't look too shabby.
Thoughts?
It didn't sound bad though when he pulled up, kinda had a nice note to the exhaust. Turns out the bike was his granddads and when the little motor puked it got parked behind a shed for years.....lots of them. Stan got it a few weeks back with the mind to restore it. Not worth it was his final judgment, however it's pretty solid so why not run it as is. A couple new tires, repacked bearings, knock the worst rust off and of course get the engine running. Well, the original lump was well and truly pooched so off the the interwebs looking for a suitable replacement.
He settled on a Chinese Lifan 128cc motor for it.
http://dratv.com/lifan120cc.html
He got two of them fresh and complete for $500(US) so one is waiting for another project.
Without going too much into the gritty details, I rode it. I wheelied the stinking thing....in the first two gears. No shit.
Now, it won't beat up on many other bikes on the road but I have to admit it was kinda fun and it got me thinking. We're all relatively familiar with small displacement race bike, so why not? The S90 chassis is...well.....marginal on a good day and a bit chubby for this application however......
Consider this: You can pick up a complete chassis kit based on Aermachi architecture:
http://www.aermacchi-racing.com/image/Framekits/Framekit_Drixton_B.jpg
This 'kit' weighs 26kilos......!!!!!....for those us us in the US that's a hair over 57 pounds. The motors weighs just under 50 pounds (21.4kilos) so thus far you're looking at roughly 107 pounds...say....49kilos. Add some allow rims on light hubs with modern discs...let's face it, nothing beats good light brakes, figure 30 pounds. Add say 20 pounds for misc. cables, minimal lighting, grips, bars etc. and suddenly you've got something pretty interesting. Let's be generous and say it's a total ready to ride weight of 160lbs or 73likos!
I've not seen dyno numbers for the bigger Lifan motors but it was a torquer and was relatively willing to wind up too.
Let's say it makes 15 ponys pushing 160 pounds down the road. That's pretty acceptable for in town or really tight canyon stuff and lets face it......that body/frame kit doesn't look too shabby.
Thoughts?
. It was about 3/4 complete. I ended up giving all of the parts and jig to a buddy when I got out of the vintage stuff.
