Project Intro: Scraps

Since I've been taking care of so many little loose ends on older projects lately, I thought I would start the process of dreaming up a new project.  This time, I'm going to pull as much from the parts bins as I can, which is why I'm calling it Scraps.  The basic rundown is:

-Honda C110 frame I got for free a couple years ago

-Freshly rebuilt C100 leading link front suspension I had modified for use on the trials bike

-Scrap rear adjustable shocks I got for free when I bought the rear wheel for El Guapo

-Set of lightly used 2.75x17 Trials tires (no longer used by the Trials bike since I went with the 18" setup

-Gas tank from the parts bin

-I'll build up a pushrod 50cc Honda motor, in fact I have a couple runners on the shelf

-handlebars, seat, pegs, brackets etc., all pulled from the parts bin

As with my other recent projects, I'm going to do a complete assembly with the crusty parts, before making everything all pretty with paint and polish.  I've decided to go with a very simple Scramlber type look.  Slightly raised suspension, high-pipe, maybe a solo seat, luggage rack, fairly stripped down.  I have no idea what color I'll paint it.  

Trials Bike gets some Beef

I splurged last month, and got myself a Lifan 125cc engine for the Trials bike. There were too many hills and adventures the original 4hp 49cc pushrod motor just couldn't handle. So thanks to Tbolt, I had a new 125cc motor in two days. I forget the exact power numbers, but it was something like double the HP, and four times the tq, at lower rpm numbers.

I had to fab up a new exhaust, which I had been wanting to do anyways. I tucked it up high, and much closer to the frame:

It runs great. I can doddle along at nearly a dead stop in second gear at low rpm, and have more than enough oomph to lift the front tire up and over curbs with a slight blip of the throttle. No more 8,000rpm in first gear going up a gentle hill.

I still need to fit the skidplate and wire in an off switch.

Trials Day: Trophies 1, Crashes 0

I ran up to the PITS facility outside Nevada City, for the annual "Kraut Cup" event today. Got there early enough to walk all the sections before registration opened, so I decided to give the 3 line a try, which is harder than the 4 line I ran last year.

I had a great time. I improved each round through the sections, even netting a few "clean" scores with no feet down. As luck would have it, I pitted next to a gentlemen from Chico, and another guy that put the event on. So I even helped with the layout of a few sections that were confusing.

I was the only one in Premier Lightweight Intermediate, but that didn't stop them from giving me a trophy!

C'

Random Saturday Morning Happenings

I was wide awake at 6am, but managed to relax until at least 7am. Then I sprung into action, to beat the heat. I ran over to Safeway to fill up the 5-gal gas can with petrol for the various bikes and lawnmower, and grabbed a fresh 5-gal refill of propane, for the bbq. Yes, we have bbq plans this 4th of July weekend.

Then I took most of my bikes out for short trips around the block, just to air them out, move some fuel through them, and clear out a space in the garage.

A few of my bikes enjoying some shade after a bit of running:

Then I finished honing the spare set of FV cylinders, in preparation of shipping them up to Mr. A to join all the new engine parts he should be receiving next week:

I also realized I had never snapped pics of the Trials bike, in its full glory. I also changed the oil and topped up the tank, in preparation for next weekend trials event at the PITS facility:

I also snapped a few pics of Salty, since I don't think I had since finishing up a few small detail graphics on him:

And now I'm polishing off an ice coffee, and getting ready for an afternoon of great nothingness.

C'

Trials day: Trophies 0, Crashes 5

What's that old saying? A bad day racing is better than a good day at work. In my case, it was a bad day of trialing. Well, sorta. The day itself was beautiful. 65 degrees, sunny, light breeze, and a fantastic facility just west of Orland called Rocky Ridge.

I had decided to jump up into the #3 line today, after riding the easier #4 line at my first two events. For the most part, I made the right decision. I actually rode quite well on the technical stuff, manging to bound over boulders, wheelie over stumps, and keep my balance on tight turns. But what killed me was the hilly terrain.

At the PITS facility I've ridden on, most of the sections are more rocky, without much elevation change. Out at Rocky Ridge the terrain isn't as rocky, so many of the sections are built on top of little knolls, or in a gully, or up a hill side. So in many ways, the #3 lane was pretty easy, as the obstacles weren't as bad. But I couldn't get my fat ass up several of the short but steep hills. Apparently 4.5hp is a limitation. Who knew?

I found this out after having to bail on a steep hill on the second section. Followed by a steep hill on the third section. Oh yeah, and the fifth and sixth sections too. I would get through the first 80% of the section, mastering the boulders and trees, only to find myself powering up a smooth, clean hill screaming my little 4.5hp monster away. I would almost get to the top and just flat out run out of steam. Which meant both feet down, which means a "5" score, which is essentially a dnf.

I took five spills, three rather epic ones. Part of my problem was the fact I knew I had to keep the throttle pinned up the hills, so if I got offline at all, look out. I got loose on a section while powering up a hill, got turned a little, and just flat out took a screamer off a #1 line boulder resulting in me and the bike tumbling down a hillside. I also managed to loose steam up a hill, get crossed up trying to save it, and somehow did a wrestling federation style move off the top ropes straight into a creek.

I got through two full loops, but just didn't have the gumption to finish my third loop. I was the only one in my class, so I decided to dnf so the club didn't have to give me a sympathy trophy.

In between the spills and chills, I did manage to have fun. Section 7 and 8 were a blast. Both quite hilly, but with the pull of the moon's gravity, I could just crest the top of the hill at about 0.0001mph with the front tire off the ground, get the bike turned, and then finish the stage. I rode the technical stuff very well, and the changes to the bike (suspension stuff) worked great.

Luckily the rest of the events I'll be going to this year are at the PITS facility, so hopefully I won't have to worry about these damn hills! Or I'll try to find a Trail 90 or Trail 110 engine to put in the bike. Or both.

Oh, and I forgot one very interesting part of the day! Rattlesnakes. I saw two of them. Little guys, trying to warm themselves on the rocks. Luckily by the time the bikes got going, most crawled down into their holes.

C'

Trials Practice

Tomorrow is my first Trials event of the year, and today they had the event site open for practice. it also gave me a chance to walk a few of the sections, and see if I'm up to the task of trying the #3 line this time (as opposed to the #4 line I ran at my first two events.) I'm going to give it a try, and see if I can hack the harder line.

This site is on public property, and is beautiful. Nice sloping hillside to the west of Black Butte Lake, which is west of Orland. Great views overlooking the entire valley. But...there are some hills I'll need to climb in order to get to a few of the sections, and I can tell already my 4.5hp 50cc beast won't have much reserve power should I lose momentum.

Many of the sections are up in the hills to the left of the photo:

C'

Trials Bike Lives

Roughly 10 after days after breaking in half, the Trials bike rides again. This time with a beefed-up frame, and CL90 telescopic front end. It rides better than ever, with a much smoother front end feel. And thankfully, it gained a whopping 2 pounds in the transformation.

Upgraded front end features CL90 telescopic forks and 18" whee/tire:

C'

Beefed-Up Backbone

I started working on the Trials bike yesterday morning, and made pretty good progress. I decided to see if I could beef-up the original frame. As it happens, the ID of the main downtube is roughly 1.68". The OD of a piece of Schedule 40 steel pipe is 1.6", and has a much thicker wall thickness. So I cleaned up the ends of the downtube, cut a section of the schedule 40 pipe, and persuaded it inside the downtube with the help of a 5# sledge and some cussing. I plug welded the steel pipe in 20 different places before seem welding the downtube pipe back in place. I also added a thin brace on the underside of the downtube, using a piece of 1/4" thick, 3/4" wide strap material. I can't imagine the frame is going to break again.

Another project I wanted to work through was to see if a telescopic front end from a Honda CL90/S90 would mount up. As luck would have it, all of these small old Hondas use the same size steering stem and steering bearings, so the CL90 front end bolted right in place.

The stock setup was the old leading link system, which had a 14" distance when measured from the lower bearing race to the center of the front axle. I had made up a set of lengthened leading links that made that distance 18". This setup has been working fine, but it was another small non-stock part that could cause problems. The CL90 telescopic front end also had an 18" distance, so I had the ride height I wanted.

The only "issue" I had with the front end swap, was that the CL90 front axle was bigger in diameter, and wouldn't fit through the hub/bearings on the C100 wheel setup. As luck would have it, one of the CL90 parts bikes had what looked like brand spankin new 2.75"x18" trials tires mounted front and rear. So I grabbed the front setup, gave it a good cleaning, and mounted it up. That netted me another 1/2" of ride height up front since the original wheel was 17" diameter.

Today I got the freshly painted chassis, front end, rear end, engine, wiring, fuel tank, and exhaust all mounted up. I need to order a new chain, as the old nasty chain that was on the bike broke apart during my pile drive move.

Random pics below.






C'

Mud Bogging

I got home a bit early today, so I decided to take the Trials bike out for a short ride. We have a large plot of land east of our house a few blocks with all kinds of trails. With the recent rains, things were a bit muddy. Luckily the Trials bike can journey through some rather deep puddles.

The end.

C'

Week 1 of Vacation at Home

Since Susan had her surgery scheduled for this past Wednesday, I decided to take a full 10 days off work, which sees me at home until after Thanksgiving. I knew the first few days would be me just hanging out caring for Susan, but I had hoped to get a few little projects finished up after that.

Luckily, Susan is up and running much sooner than anticipated. So much so, that I was off riding motorcycles this weekend, and decided to jump into a few projects early. In no particular order, here is a quick recap:

Beer brewing

I'm on my tenth Mr. Beer brew. I bottled an Irish Red and a Christmas Ale on Saturday. Sunday I brewed a new batch of Oatmeal Stout and a rip of a Anchorsteam. This is on top of the Coffee Stout I have in the bottle, and something I call a "Hoppy Magnum Alexander" which as the name suggest used some Magnum hops and Alexander Pale Extract. This led too...

Beer storage redo

I've been using an old coffee table and bookcase to attempt to organize all my bottled beer and brewing equipment. It wasn't working. So I put together three new bookcases together that will work magic for cleaning up the spare room, as witnessed below:

Kickstand and Number Plate for the Trials Bike

I used a bicycle kickstand as the basis for a new kickstand. It fits nicely under the skidplate using stock mounting holes, and is tucked up and under the swingarm. I also made a new fron number plate, since my old one no longer fit after using a different handlebar mount. I broke everything in with a 45-minute ride around a huge vacant bit of property near our house. Lots of bumps, jumps, puddles and mud.

Helmet Mods and Paint

I took an old open face helmet I had laying around and drilled some vent holes in it, lined with screen mesh, and added a bit of extra padding in key areas so it fits better. I couldn't let it remain boring white, so I decided to give it a quick paint job. I'm not quite done yet, but it is basically some simple red scallops running back and over the helmet, like a Rams football helmet. Here is me working on it:

Tune in next time for more exciting stay-at-home vacation news.

C'

Wheelie Machine

I've managed to get through a short list of modifications to the Trials bike this weekend. In no particular order:

I wanted to move the footpegs back, to get some weight off the nose of the bike. This side of the bike was the most difficult spot to get pegs to fit into, as the exhaust bracket, swingarm, rear brake lever, and kick starter all need to be friendly. As it turns out, I had a set of spare pillion foot pegs that pivoted up. This allows the kick start lever to clear. I mounted them to a stout piece of aluminum (the same 1"x5/8" piece I made the extended front leading links with) that mounts to the lower frame section:


I also had several spare rear brake foot levers, so with a bit of cutting and welding, I managed to get one that fit around the exhaust and was sitting in the correct location for my foot to reach.

The new handlebar was a spare Hodaka piece I had in the parts bin. Much wider, a bit taller, and fits standard 7/8" throttle and grips. I still need to route the throttle cable properly, and likely fit it inside tidy looking sleeve:


Looking a bit 4x4-ish, I've gained roughly 2.5" of ground clearance:


One of the big benefits of the new handlebars and rear-set footpegs, is a dramatic change on "corner" weights. In this case, the amount of weight on the front and rear wheel. With me standing on the bike in a normal riding position on the old setup, the weights were:

Front: 125#
Rear: 180#

With the new bars and footpegs, the weights are:

Front: 110#
Rear: 195#

I've managed to shift 15 pounds off the nose and onto the rear tire. The end result? Wheelies. It is very easy to lift the front tire up and over curbs now without much effort. I'm also much more comfortable standing on the bike, with a less crouched position.

C'

Spanish Shocks from England

My Betor Expert Trials shocks arrived from England today, after spending a whopping 3 days in transit. Thank you FedEx. I ordered from England because most of the US Trials/Vintage bike companies were more expensive for the same part, and/or didn't have them in stock. As it happens, Sammy Miller Products had the exact pair I wanted in stock, and shipped the same day I submitted my order.

That's right, Competicion


Mmmmm, so pretty


I had to modify the upper and lower bushings to fit the bike, using bushing collars from the spares bins to fit the 10mm lower bolt and 14mm upper bolts/ But other than that, they bolted right on. What's nice is that they have adjustable lower spring perches and a nitrogen valve for adding gas under the piston. I've currently got ride height set at the second snap ring from the bottom, with three more rings above to increase preload.

Roughly 2.5" increased height front and rear


Upper mounts needed new 14mm sleeves to fit over the larger Trail 55 upper mounts:


Next project is to get the new bars installs, with a new throttle assembly I've ordered for 7/8" bars. And then I need to think about moving the footpegs back a bit, as they are too far forward for getting the front wheel up and over obstacles.

C'

More work on the Trials bike

I needed to make a little tab for the "passenger" side front leading link, that would hold the front drum brake backing plate from spinning. I cut a short piece of the same aluminum I made the arms out of, shaped it to fit the slot, drilled and tapped it, then attached it to the leading link. Long story short, it fits. It still needs some smoothing and finish work:



The 49-tooth rear sprocket off the parts bike cleaned up well:


And it mounted up on the Trials bike. I had to shorten the chain a few links too:


I had been running the 72-tooth rear sprocket overlay from the Trail 55, but I found it produced gearing that was WAY too short. I actually ran some trials sections in 2nd gear, as using 1st gear found me running in the upper rpm range which was more difficult to be smooth with. I'm hoping this slightly taller gearing will let me use 1st gear for all sections, and give me better gearing for the short burst on gravel lanes to get from section to section.

C'

Extended shocks and leading links for the Trials bike

In an attempt to get more ground clearance, I fashioned up a set of temporary rear shock extensions, and a pair of permanent front leading links. I was hoping to gain around 2-inches both front and rear, which should help me get up and over a few more robust obstacles on the #3 lane.

The rear shock extensions were fairly simple, made out of a 2" block of aluminum. Drilled and tapped on both ends to thread onto the shock rod, and to accept a stud that would thread into the upper eyelet. these are temporary, because I actually have my eye on a pair of Betor trials shocks. These spacers mimic the length of the Betors.

Simple rear shocks extensions just to check height:

Up front, these old Hondas use a leading link that pivots in the rear, and acts on a vertically mounted coilover shock/spring combo. All of the gubbins are housed inside the front fork sheetmetal. Which means I had to be sneaky when creating new leading links, as I didn't want to have to cut away any sheet metal to gain access or provide more room for longer shocks.

Pair of leading links in unfinished form:

The results was a pair of aluminum (same material as the stock leading links) links with a gentle curve in them to clear the sheet metal housing. This relocates the front axle roughly 2-inches down. I'm going to put around with this setup a bit to see how it feels. If all seem right with the world, I will order up the rear shocks, and spend some time making the front links pretty. I figure an hour with the die grinder to slim them and knock over all the sharp edges will go a long way toward making them disappear. Right now they just look like chunks of aluminum.

C'

New Manifold and Carb for the Trials Bike

I was having issues with the original carb on the Trials bike. Yes, I can get rebuild kits, but they are damn near as much as a new carb. So I decided to splurge and picked up a 19mm Keihn for something like $29. I also got a new air filter for it, some fuel like, a couple small filters, and a on/off valve.

But the hard part was making an intake manifold to mount up the carb. The original is a downdraft style, while all the newer small carbs are sidedraft. Luckily I had some old washers, pipe, and a few old pipe fittings laying around. The pipe fittings proved a great way to make the 90-degree bend, and are rather hefty. After an hour or so of cutting, drilling, and welding, I make a rather ugly intake manifold that luckily is masked by some black paint.

The entire thing assembly mounted up quite nicely:






I combined both the normal and reserve fuel lines from the later model C102 fuel tank to a "Y" fitting, then to a on/off valve, then a small fuel filter. This way I don't have to spill fuel everytime I mess with the carb or filter:


The best part is, it fired right up and seems to run great. I have the mixture screw set 1 turn out, and the idle screw maintains a perfect idle speed. It runs much cleaner through the range, and seems to have more poke. Maybe 4.6hp instead of 4.5hp.

C'