BonniRocket - Pretty much done at this point

[MplsCoaster]

Re: BonniRocket

Really cool old pics. Think I'd go with the Monark rocket frame, sticks to the theme and not a complete bike, just my $.02
Good Luck!

 

[rickpaulos]

Re: BonniRocket

One of my bikes:

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

I saw a bike at a show a couple of months ago where the guy had shot clear over the patina to preserve it. Had a funky look to it, but it was also a little cool.

I've thought about that. But I wonder how well it would adhere if you can't properly prep the surface. A surface rusted area is more or less a loose surface, doesn't make a good foundation...

BTW, nice organization skillz!

Not sure where you're getting that...I'm the most disorganized person I know. It directly conflicts with a compulisve need for clean. I'm basically a disorganized neat freak... :wink:

 

[kingfish254]

Re: BonniRocket

Watching while M.I.A. in Southeast Asia.

 

[Heavy Pedal]

Re: BonniRocket

I was just referring to how you keep you're parts on the wall for easy access. No diss... My parts are in totes, boxes, on the workbench....

 

[DaytonaRat]

Re: BonniRocket

Love the ideas being an Ormond Beach native always loved the old racing bikes... Keep it up!

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

Love the ideas being an Ormond Beach native always loved the old racing bikes... Keep it up!

That's kinda funny; Curtiss set his speed record there, but he's from here (or at least nearby). Kind of a small world thing. A replica of the V8 motorcycle is on display at the Glenn Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY, about an hour from where I live.

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

I had an idea earlier for a tank-mounted double-lever quadrant that would combine the shift lever and a brake lever. All the cabling could (I think) be routed within the tank and then back to inside the rear triangle. Granted, not having the brake on the handlebar might be problematic, but it would look cool as all anything. I drew up a rough sketch at lunchtime; I'll start creating the CAD model once I have some of the parts in my hands to measure.

I'm also debating drum brake versus disc brake. The S-A eight speed hub I'm planning to use has either as an option, but the disc hub is available in a narrower OLD size. I'd have to respace the frame to run the drum hub, but might be able to get away with just springing it open to install a wheel with the disc hub. Also, the disc brake probably has less overall mass and less inertial mass. The drum might have less rotating drag, though, since discs are a constant-contact design and drums are not.

The brake choice is kind of important, since the bike will only have the rear brake. I don't want to fit it with a marginal rim brake, so that's out of the question, not to mention asthetically undesireable. The drum would be nearly completely hidden by the wheel covers, but a disc would be visible. I'm not sure if it visually adds or detracts at this point.

 

[kingfish254]

Re: BonniRocket

Enough drawings, lets see something!!!

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

I'll see what I can do... I have two other bikes that have a more pressing deadline. I have to finish those before I can put too much into this project. Hopefully I can start making some real progress mid-June timeframe...

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

OK, here's an update that might be at least somewhat meaningful. Even though I haven't gotten to do much in the way of actual work on this project, I have been gathering parts. Here's my frame:

You can see that the headbadge is still intact on it, this definately stays with the bike for this:

I came across a suitable tank. It's labeled "Coronet" rather than Rocket, but it fits the frame.

The inside of the tank is pretty clean. It has a Delta horn unit in it, which I'll remove. I think I can use it on another project. I just have to figure out a way to make the hole look useful...

I also found the chainguard I want to use. The one I had before had a seatpost clamp mount, but my frame has a mounting tab on the BB. This chain guard fits that. For this, I wanted to stick with the stock style guard because I like the teardrop shape. It's suitable for the theme I'm working with here.

I ordered a pair of disc wheel covers from US Choppers.

I just can't justify the cost of the real spun aluminum Mooneye covers. These are vacuum-formed plastic, but they are pretty light. I'll finish them to look passible as aluminum, at least at a glance. "Modeled" on of of the Monark wheels:

Lastly, I found a 44T Monark sprocket that I can use in place of the original 52T piece.

That's handy because the SA 8-speed hub I plan to use is geared so tall on the top end that I doubt I'd be able to crank 8th gear readily. Even with the 44T, it'll be geared similar to a road bike in 1 thru 7, but with one more top gear over and above. Bonus: the 44T sprocket is aluminum, so I can at least claim that it saves weight. On a perfomance-themed build, I at least have to think about that...

 

[kingfish254]

Re: BonniRocket

An image is starting to form and I like it.

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

An image is starting to form and I like it.

Well, I hope so. But we'll see how close to that image I can make the end product. I forgot to mention that I also recently picked this up:

I'll seperate the lights from the base and use as tail lights. I think I'll find a second red lens, though. I think the green light might make a cool tail light on my green/white Schwinn bobber though, at least for show purposes...

 

[kingfish254]

Re: BonniRocket

You Rick, where ya been??
This bike and ideas are so cool, you need to give us an update of where you are at with your build.
That's why you a Marvin the Martian Rocket Ship back page bump.
Tell us what's been cookin'

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

Sorry, I haven't had any spare time lately, so not much progress has taken place. I haven't even gotten on this site in couple weeks.

I'm still in the middle of three other bike projects at the moment that I need to get out of the way first. That, and I've been trying to fix the AC in my truck (successfully, finally). Between that and customer visits at work, extra hours, and such, time has been a premium of late. It doesn't help that I'll be gone on vacation for the last week in June and first one in July. I may not get back to this build until after that...

 

[kingfish254]

Re: BonniRocket

Yo Rick, are you back from vacation yet?

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

I am now, I'll have to post on that seperately. I'm in the process of putting my shop back together, since I actually brought a lot of it with me (I had to look after a dozen bikes while traveling). So, I should be jumping back into this presently...

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

Ok, things are underway now, slowly but surely - and very late (in typical jawa fashion). But, to quote Frank Bullitt, "time starts now".

I actually have my shop cleaned up enough to make another mess. I had to fix a couple of other bikes in the process, but I am now working on the build off project officially. I finally ordered the parts to build up my wheelset, including the S-A 8-speed hub that's the basis of my (theoretical) higher top speed ability. I'll be building that up next weekend, although these will be my first complete wheel builds, so we'll see...

Now for something with pictures that actually prove I'm doing something constructive. I started stripping the paint from my tank:

The tank halves are in pretty good shape, with only minor surface rust that lead to a little bit of pitting. I've no intention of smoothing it out, though, I think that it adds natural character that's key to a rat rod. After striping the tank, I dug out a fender that will fit the frame, since I didn't want to chop up the original Monark fenders.

This one was the front fender from my American, but I have no plan to put it back on that bike. But being a front, it's already short enough to give a bobbed look. After removing the lower (and unneeded) fender stay, I straightened it a bit and rechecked it:

The last one there with a sample wheel in place to verify that it shouldn't have clearance issues.

After that, I proceeded to strip the paint from the fender and the chain guard as well:

My intent with these parts is to paint scallops on the leading edges, but leave the balance of the parts raw with tool marks (but clear coated). I'd planned to have louvers stamped into te tank, but I have to find someone local that does them. If not, I might think of something else. Lastly, for the evening, I dug out a Schwinn-Huret speedo with a 60 mph display. A bit optimistic, to be sure, but hey, it fits the theme.

The plan for this weekend is to also get the frameset stripped, then in primer. I may look at masking and painting the scallops on the other parts, but I'll probably hold off on painting the tank until I can find out about the louvering. I'll also make the templates needed for my fairing pieces, so I can figure out how much aluminum sheet stock I'll need to scrounge up. I think that if I can get the big items taken care of over the next two weekends, I'll have just enough time to fab up my shifter & brake lever quadrant and a few other custom bits and get it all put together...

 

[expjawa]

Re: BonniRocket

Alright, a progress report. After stripping the paint off of the fender, chain guard & tank yesterday, today I set about making templates for the aluminum fairing panels I intend to make. So, mocked up the fender and guard in place so I could place the cardboard that I was going to use.

Then, I fitted and trimmed the templates, and taped them on:

And next, I put the tank (half) in place to get a fuller sense of it.

That done, I set decided it was necessary to respace the rear frame to accomodate the 8-speed hub. The S-A 8 speed has a 135 OLD width, and since this is a vintage frame, it isn't anywhere close to that.

So, using Sheldon Brown's 2x4 procedure, I opened it up one side at a time. I bent out the left side till it was about 125mm, then bent the right side to come up to 135. Or roughly there abouts. I took a little more monkeying around in and out then I would've guessed, but that's in part because it bent somewhat easier than I anticipated.

After that, I set about stripping the paint from the frame:

and proceeded such until I wore out my wire brush wheel:

So, a trip to the Depot was necessary. I didn't go right away, because I decided to wait till it was closer to dinner time, as there's a Moe's right near there. So, I went about a putting a new tube in the front tire of my road bike. The tube literally exploded on me yesterday at work. I was at my desk and heard a bang, and went out to the machine shop where my bike was parked to find that the tube had literally blown up, and blew the tire half off the rim. Anyway, while I had the wheel off, I decided that it was a good time to install the Velo Orange zepplin-style fenders that I bought for it a while back. And then as I got into it, decided to run new brake cables on it. I bring this up because it highlights how easy a jawa can get side tracked...but the fenders do look good on it.

OK, so back on task with new wire wheel, I finished stripping off the paint on the frame.

It looks like this bike had been quasi-restored once some time ago, but the paint work was poor. It did come right off, though. There was a surprising amount of pitting on the frame under the paint, which seemed odd, since the finish itself has been fairly smooth. Anyway, I'll go after the fork on Sunday, and hopefully can get the whole frameset primed...

 

[kingfish254]

Re: BonniRocket

The fairing panels are gonna be sweet!