RRBBO13 J.C. Special / Sharkruiser

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I have a weekend rat rod bike ride coming up saturday
maybe I should make it a bare bones cruiser and take it for a test ride to check
Be very careful! If that tire bottoms out into the fork it will send you over the bars!
 
If you want to use the 24" fork without worry of bottoming out, it might be possible to build bigger rocker arms or a piggy back bracket between the truss rod ends and the existing rocker arms so that the axle would be moved farther from the inside of the fork crown. Since you would be making that from scratch, it could be made to meet the bare minimum needed for a safe clearance. Or so I think.
 
Yeah, be careful witth the smaller rat trap. @Critter1 bottomed out his "Lackluster" back in BO7 and went over the bars and messed up a beautifull paint job a little.
 
I decided to go ahead and start making j.c special into a rider to test out the clearance on the springer
this is what it looks like on the 24" rattrap
28772883308_26ca11f987_b.jpg


The clearance was an .25 of an inch less than the the rocker bump stop so i figured I would check the 26" rattrap
42646722641_520ee98fbd_b.jpg


but i didn't like how it sat with the bike mocked up
way too high in the front

so this may be my compromize
28772882898_5efb8e732b_b.jpg


basically the only modification I did was swap out the front truss bar for the longer one from the 26"
28772883318_5d73ab342f_b.jpg


saturday I will test ride the bike to see how well this modification performs
 
Good thinking there on the rocker fork swap.
 
I took J.C special for a test run and found some stuff out

the frame is tweeked close to the headtube
and the extended 24" didnt seem to actuate properly

I dont know if it is due to the frame being out of alignment
or if modifying the rattrap in any form renders it useless as a springer
or another unknown problem like maybe having the seat set far back
altered the weight balance enough to not allow the springer to actuate

So I will put on a standard 24" rattrap and see how it performs

Here is how i took out J.c Special this weekend
42019056484_0f7849b4a5_b.jpg


Seat not the correct seat i will be using
and is set further back then what i have planed

Sprocket style will be different
 
I decided before i hack up a rear fender i would check to see if i could use the front fender from the same set
28009345647_231fe0c576_b.jpg


first i had to trim the sides for the area where the skirts attach
28009345917_3d96006c01_b.jpg


once that was done i had a choice to make
remove the cross bracing on the frame and reweld it
or alter the fender
I want to stay away from any frame modifications so here are the 2 spots I had to open on the fender for clearence
29006188048_c15e7a089b_b.jpg
29006187648_164e50a081_b.jpg


but after all the modifying here is the end result
looks like the front is the perfect size to use
29006187888_b37e1ecf47_b.jpg


After I was satisfied I drilled the holes in the fender to bolt everything together

while i was at it I added 4 holes to the skits for another murray / j c higgins accesory
care to guess what it will be used for
28009346527_2b1dbae9da_b.jpg
 
Love how the fender skirts turned out.
Stumped on the accessory.
 
Still working on J.C. Special
but since it is july it is time for me to work on Sharkruiser
Hopefully I will have done in time for shark week on discovery

the frame Specialized Shark cruiser
41133559274_c85b22edaf_b.jpg


The pedals odyssey shark bite
28283602077_d4dc0ccf8d_b.jpg


the Handlebars occ schwinn stingray (to give that shark nose apperance
28283602097_0453529b9e_b.jpg


the steam is a tilt style that i found at local co op (fits the stingray bars perfectly)
42248852895_74ce8356fb_b.jpg
 
As for the progress on J.C Special

Here is the murray/higgins accessory

I went through many different possible locations
but this was the best spot so that all 4 of the mounts could be attached
gives it a rear engine Indycar look
43152858411_9576f89673_b.jpg


this mockup is with the standard size 24" rattrap springer
not the extended version i had on earlier
28283601277_6642b36ffe_b.jpg


luckily I also found a better gooseneck
need to clean up a bit of the headtube to get it to sit lower
41342289940_681da7b15f_b.jpg


the fender required a bit more cutting to clear the chain on upper and lower section
41342289830_d0361c7ded_b.jpg


Other side but no side pipes in this shot
28283601627_3b79eef2af_b.jpg


I was trying to have a modified murray sprocket installed at this point
but I noticed I cant go larger than 44t
Realistically I should go even smaller than that to fit inside the chainguard
 
Could be powered by an Offenhauser 4-cylinder with the "drive" facing forward as if the transmission was at the BB.
 
Could be powered by an Offenhauser 4-cylinder with the "drive" facing forward as if the transmission was at the BB

I was thinking more like a v8 powered
but i like the idea of the bb as the transmission
or maybe a turbo
 
I may have missed it but did anyone suggest flipping your rockers? 24" fork with the rockers flipped forward and left and right swapped, sits nice with a 26" wheel. Barely any chopper feel at all and it throws your front wheel out there for the long lean look. I believe in recent builds @The Renaissance Man and I have both flipped our rockers...

Carl
 
Great work on the fender and skirts. The manifold exhaust looks perfect on there.
 
I may have missed it but did anyone suggest flipping your rockers? 24" fork with the rockers flipped forward and left and right swapped, sits nice with a 26" wheel. Barely any chopper feel at all and it throws your front wheel out there for the long lean look

Carl

GuitarlCarl,

No one has suggested flipping the rockers because I believe I mentioned early in the build I was going for an operational springer

I have flipped rockers on a couple of builds and noticed that it has almost no spring action
since this is inspired by indy car racing I wanted to go for something operational even if it ment sacrificing long and lean
 

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