Golden Pigeon Board track racer build - 2 videos!

[thinktwiceco]

we started with an old chinese made bike. called the golden pigeon. was some sort of market style bike, made very cheaply.

i decided that id like to turn it into a board track racer, with the interest of my father. We got our first project happening. we didnt have access to much fancy machines. just an angle grinder, hacksaws, drills, welder, sheet metal nibbler/cutter thing, hand tools ofcourse.

ill try to post pictures in process order. with some description.

this was pretty much day 1. the doner bike

 

[harry76]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

Looks like a good base to work from.... i like it. look forward to more

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

we sorted the rear end positioning. and built the forks. I dont have any progress pictures of the forks. and mounted the rear whizzer sheave.

we used two 27inch road forks and a mono spring. to create a one off springer/linkage front end.

rear sheave mounted, such a charm putting this on

we then bent up the top tube using a home made bender! (next time i will invest in a pipe bender, to 1. get a smooth bend, and 2. i would have also created that classic loop down tube that most board track racers have)

you can also see the 3 piece crankset, we cut down an old 10speed set so we just have the smaller gearing.

here is the seat junction all welded up (this seat gets a make over later on)

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

Looks like a good base to work from.... i like it. look forward to more

thanks! keep watching Harry, ive got many more photos to get up

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

welds all cleaned up/filled and a lil bit of primer around the top tube/seat area

you can see the front section of the new top tube here, we kept the original lugging on the frame. to try and keep it original/factory looking as much as possible.

this is the engine we are using, we somwhat position it where we would like it. its only a chinese 49cc with a 3 to 1 transmission. sitting here the crankset clears easily when we rotate them.

this is a bad photo, but the engine is mounted. we used the original top tube for this mount. the lugging was the same angle, we just had to trim the front section to suit the down tube.
take note of the 3 inch pulley. this isnt mounted as great as we would like it. but we dont have access to a lathe to produce something as perfect as we would like.

another shot of the engine in. you can also see the exhaust we sorted. i purchased a mini bike exhaust and we just modified it to fit. it works, it may not be tuned to fit. But it is very quite and still has plenty of flow.
belt is also fitted up!

another photo of the exhaust, you can see a little more clearly how it runs down to the back of the bike.

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

front disk brake, this was difficult to get right, i had alot of issues getting the clearance correct. but in the end, it works!

the rear one was much simpler. you can also see the muffler. dad stuffed this with 100% stainless steel (steelo, the stuff u use to scrub pots with) there is a perforated pipe inside to help with dampening the sound down a bit.

tanks are mocked up! Cut out of 3 inch exhaust pipe. you can also see the double brake leaver! this is a treat, and save alot of time.

rear view of the tanks

another shot

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

ok so dad had a lot of problems welding the end caps on the tanks. he ran out of gas on his welder so we just wasnt getting good coverage. we thought through some options (getting new gas isnt cheap here in australia apparently) we decided to use some product by 3m, that hardens like steel apparently, its great of hot applications and liquids. so we gave it a go, and well it was successful so far.

the filler caps are actually the top threaded section from a set of forks. with fork top Nuts. inside them is a piece of steel, then a piece of cork.
works perfectly, and is defiantly one of a kind!!

at this stage this was truly one of our favorite moments on the bike. the brass Y lines.

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

another photo of the lines. today was the last day of fabrication you could say. ofcourse pull down and paint is to come next. But we did have the bike running without fault. did some laps around the street also

and again. you can see the use of the engine mount and making sure the existing lugging was incorporated

this is the final side view. completed. However the seat is getting changed!! so keep watching.

 

[harry76]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

I was going throught the photos, i understood why you made the two toptubes so close together (to keep the lugs), but i was wondering how you could make that look alright, then i saw your pic with the two tanks.... very cool!!!!! Nice man.

A few questions.... where in Australia are you from? Where did you get the rear sheave (whizzer?) from? What fork is that? Looks cool.

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

I was going throught the photos, i understood why you made the two toptubes so close together (to keep the lugs), but i was wondering how you could make that look alright, then i saw your pic with the two tanks.... very cool!!!!! Nice man.

A few questions.... where in Australia are you from? Where did you get the rear sheave (whizzer?) from? What fork is that? Looks cool.

thanks again Harry, im from south australia. Adelaide. the sheave i bought on ebay. from a company in china who was distributing whizzer parts.http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rear...rcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item335decd5df

now im glad u like the fork. my dad and myself wanted to do a springer style, but there isnt alot available here in australia i noticed. so we just made our own. We used a mono shock spring from an old mountain bike. the spring fits perfectly over the fork steerer tube. so basically two 27inch forks and we simply cut the bottoms off and welded in some steel sleeves then continued to build up the linkages.. up top we mounted the crown for the spring to the underside of the head stem, so its one piece. (similar to those Felt forks, but felt is a separate piece from the stem and crown)

if u like i can try get u some more detailed pictures later on.

thanks for the interest too champ.

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

Hey harry, here are a couple videos. one of the engine running, and a small drive by haha

http://youtu.be/5WFcZpNrHxA

http://youtu.be/gfwaB4-F9kA

 

[thinktwiceco]

Re: Golden Pigeon Board track racer build

as mentioned, the seat was changed!! i was never a fan of the original seat. it didnt match the lines of the bike.. so we made this one up. some sheet steel, using original pieces of the old seat. its a mono spring set up. and yes it does work!

 

[thinktwiceco]

high fill primer time!!!

 

[thinktwiceco]

satin black. all the parts done!

also the frame done in the same satin. dads recommendation, and i completely agree! you can also see the engine mount in this photo! this was dads idea, and it is working great. the engine we have also has a few mounting points on the top of the motor, but i don't think we will need them because the motor just isn't pushing alot of torque or power to really need any more mounts.

all put back together, minus the engine/exhaust and tanks. we have also decided on a small 8mm foam pad on the seat. all BLACK!!!!!!!

 

[thinktwiceco]

engine got a serving of polish, gloss black and satin combination.

exhaust also got his share of gloss black.

 

[thinktwiceco]

couple last photos here now. engine got a good amount of satin black, polish and some gloss. im really happy with out it came out!

at the time of these photos we were working on the tanks to get them just right.. The bike is completed now, it just needs a final running and test right. so those few who might be watching, come past again real soon. Ill get some completed photos up, and hopefully a quick video also!

a friend of mine is working on some tank labels for us, we are wanting to keep this part also original, maybe even a little bit of nostalgia for the original condition of the bike. So we decided on the classic looking 'indian' type face from the indian motorcycles.

the color of the frame decals originally was yellow on white "golden pigeon" i will keep this theme ofcourse, but transform it into more gold with white/silver/black. anyhow here is the typeface it will be. this is just the basis.

 

[thinktwiceco]

becuase we only have adjustment on the rear wheel for the belt drive.. the chain for the cranks finished a half link shy of being tight. so today i quickly sorted a chain tensioner to stop the loose chain being sloppy. good shot of the small chain ring here too.

 

[harry76]

Very nice again mate! You do nice work. I love some of the extra touches. I like that seat with no padding and spring set up, that chain tensioner is cool also. Love the paint work on the motor..... How does that fork handle? I got an original Monark off Ebay but was pricey. Yours is equally as cool if not cooler just cause you made it.

 

[cobrafreak]

Great idea for a tank!

 

[thinktwiceco]

Great idea for a tank!

thanks buddy, originally we consider going a single tank through the middle of the two top tubes.. but we decide double is better! i love it

Very nice again mate! You do nice work. I love some of the extra touches. I like that seat with no padding and spring set up, that chain tensioner is cool also. Love the paint work on the motor..... How does that fork handle? I got an original Monark off Ebay but was pricey. Yours is equally as cool if not cooler just cause you made it.

the fork handles suprisingly well, it needs a little bit of fine tunning..and the spring is a little strong for it, with a softer spring we would probably get more travel! ive seen those monark forks, i considered them..but ofcourse the price is pretty high!

thanks for the interest guys!