Chopper Style (fat rear tire)

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BigDaddy, Spenmcor and Luke... thanks for dropping by and offering some encouragements!

I took the wheel apart today, I needed to fix up a couple of things, the counterbore on the inside of the flange was not deep enough and caused the rear spokes to bend instead of seating in... lesson learned :) I'm learning, the best lessons are the ones that cost time and money :) lol.

I was hoping to get this part of the wheel in primer today, but that just was not going to happen. Tomorrow is another days.

The shop is coming together though, its still a mess, but far less of one than when I started. I used to have a small cabinet shop here 15 years back... they get messy quick don't they hehehe Nice to have some metalworking equipment with the woodworking equipment... still need to get rid of some of this stuff...

More to come.

Rich
 
Man! Shame about the spoke issue, happy you know how to fix it though...

Guess that can be the issue when pushing the envelope, your going to find the little glitches on the way. Awesome job on the wheel all the same, got the wheels turning in my head for a future build at some point (I found a wheel shop the can get me a 20x8 steel rim hoop. :shock: Going to need looooong spokes for that one!) Just been thinking, is your frame a single sided rear? If so what is your plan for mounting the axle, wheel, tire assembly to the frame?

Luke.
 
It's really not a biggie, leason learned, another scar on the ole body to remind not to do something a certain way, nothing more :) I knew I had some issues there, but I also knew it was just a dry run install, so I went forward and saw where it went and what would work and what would not. I do not think I can do a 3 cross pattern, I might only be able to go 2 cross... But tomorrow it will be ready for some primer and we'll see in a couple of days what works the best.

I found a place that sells 15" x 7 steel rims shells, 35.00 usd so I do not have to go out and canibalize anymore rims :) That is one dirty and messy job lol. 20x8 sounds great though, what type of tire goes on something like that?

The tire I am running on this guy is a 195/50/15 cost 73.00 usd it has a pretty cool tread pattern also. That is the biggest problem with doing something like this, the motorcycle tire and rim combo can easily go over 500.00 and 1000 is not a stretch. I know a guy who uses golf cart rims and wheels, that keeps you in the 12" rim area though, though the tires are taller.

Not a sngle, it is a fake, I ran the tube behind the tire and than around :) It fools alot of people, we'll see how practical it is though :). One of the next builds is single swing arm though, Seeing builds like your own and others around the web, I can visualize how I would do it now, Befere I was wondering if I would have to use too many custom parts. I do not have the fab shop to handle all the custom stuff... yet :)

As for your own bike:
You could always make your own custom billets for the center of the rims. On that subject, want to loose 50 lbs from your own, take out the center webs and make your own, I bet those guys are stamped 3/8" to 1/2" steel :) The ones from my truck rims were at least 1/4" and they had some heft to them :) lol

Talk to you later.

Rich
 
Ah, the old coming around from behind trick 99! Had a thought about that myself regarding the taillight placement on the Cadillac, was thinking of putting one light each side with the off drive side supported by a band around behind the tire which also holds a numberplate... Mocked it up and it didn't flow with the rest of the bike, ah well...

As to a 20x8 rim, I would either go a 225/20/20 for about $120 or try find a used 265/40/20 to really go over the top, would have to be used though, cant afford the new ones in that size... The good thing about a 225/20/20 on a 8 inch rim is that the sidewalls are forced to flex out to meet the rim, should provide a nice curve for cornering...

I know what you mean about motorbike tires and pricing, if I wanted to put a new Meltzer 240/50/16 tire on the back of the Cadillac it would be $400 :shock: Thankfully I just used old car rims for the wheel so that was cheap enough. I have heard of a 360/40/18 motorbike tire recently released for the same money but finding a 18x12 to fit it on would be very expensive!

I have actually been tossing up on removing the centres from the rims, problem now is that all the hubs are made to suit the ford 5 stud pattern, changing them out would be a fair amount of work, plus using the Cadillac hubcaps on the non drive side would look weird without full centres I think... Thankfully those centres are only 1/8th thick, still heavy but not as bad as a heavy duty rim like you had...

As to a future build being single sided swing arm, have you thought about how to do your hub yet? More than happy if you use my idea, feel free to experiment with it, I can imagine it with just 5 or 6 spokes out from one of the hub bosses to the rim, would look real nice...

Looking forward to more updates, and the modern muscle bike idea too! :wink:

Luke.
 
LukeTheJoker said:
As to a future build being single sided swing arm, have you thought about how to do your hub yet? More than happy if you use my idea, feel free to experiment with it, I can imagine it with just 5 or 6 spokes out from one of the hub bosses to the rim, would look real nice...

Looking forward to more updates, and the modern muscle bike idea too! :wink:

Luke.

As for the how I will do the single swing axle, I was most concerned on having enough heft to hold the rest of the bike, this build completely eases my mind on that. I feel I can just run a 1" axle thru a custom made hub. I think I can even work with spokes, though the first one will be a custom made billet. I need to run some calculations on this though. When I get this one done and I am ready I'll pass more solidified ideas by you if you have the time.

Looking forward to more posts and idea swapping :_ Thanks.

Rich
 
LukeTheJoker said:
Ah, the old coming around from behind trick 99! Had a thought about that myself regarding the taillight placement on the Cadillac, was thinking of putting one light each side with the off drive side supported by a band around behind the tire which also holds a numberplate... Mocked it up and it didn't flow with the rest of the bike, ah well...

Luke.

The beauty of this hobby, the costs of mistakes are minimal, you can really screw something up on the frame and what does it really cost you, 40.00, and 6-12 hours... not bad. Beats chopping the top on a car than realizing you did it wrong ;)

Fun times...
Rich
 
RichL said:
The beauty of this hobby, the costs of mistakes are minimal, you can really screw something up on the frame and what does it really cost you, 40.00, and 6-12 hours... not bad. Beats chopping the top on a car than realizing you did it wrong ;)

Fun times...
Rich
Too true! The redesign on the rear of the Cadillac frame was maybe 3 hours and $10 for steel... I have spent far more on my Austin truck than on all my bikes put together and it is still a bare unfinished cab and a bare chassis with a motor and gearbox sitting on the ground... Wont be long now till I do start the chop top on the truck, been putting a lot of thought into how to do it, thankfully it has straight up and down side pillars and only very slightly leant back screen so should be fairly easy...

I'm hoping that you comment does not mean you have chopped a top and messed it? :shock:

Luke.
 
It started to snow just after I got a thin coat on the rim :) I brought the hub and the rim inside for the night. Trying this primer and paint, I read on another forum this was fairly durable Rustoleum enamel... we'll see :) Shot on with a 13.00 Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun and a 2 gallon pancake compressor. Mix ratio 2:1 (primer to mineral spirits). It needs more coats, just wanted to play a bit.
riminprimer_zpsc39ba2b1.jpg


Rich
 
Snow! It boggles the mind for me at the moment, sweltered through another scorcher yesterday here! Never actually even seen snow, grew up in the tropics and though my wife and I live only 60miles from the snow where we live now, we have never been... Maybe this year we will make the trip... :D

Rim is looking good! As is the whole bike for that matter! Big fan of your work...

Luke.
 
LukeTheJoker said:
Ah, the old coming around from behind trick 99! Had a thought about that myself regarding the taillight placement on the Cadillac, was thinking of putting one light each side with the off drive side supported by a band around behind the tire which also holds a numberplate... Mocked it up and it didn't flow with the rest of the bike, ah well...

Luke.

I did not pay too much attention to this statement at first, I have spent almost no time thinking in terms of the rear end of the bike, I have spent a fair bit of time considering front end details... I always liked your Cadillac light idea for the rear on your own build, I was not sure how you would pull it off... but... now you mentioned it over here, finally the light in my own dense head went on! I may look into customizing something along those lines, if you don't mind, copying is the sincerest form of flattery :) you have a devilishy evil noodle my friend!

As for the top chop on your truck, as you mention, it is very squarish, should be easy to get it together, I saw on one of the customizing shows they placed a nice tilt on one of their chops, I had never done anything like that, it worked well on the truck they did it on an F100 mid 50's.

Rich
 
RichL said:
I did not pay too much attention to this statement at first, I have spent almost no time thinking in terms of the rear end of the bike, I have spent a fair bit of time considering front end details... I always liked your Cadillac light idea for the rear on your own build, I was not sure how you would pull it off... but... now you mentioned it over here, finally the light in my own dense head went on! I may look into customizing something along those lines, if you don't mind, copying is the sincerest form of flattery :) you have a devilishy evil noodle my friend!

As for the top chop on your truck, as you mention, it is very squarish, should be easy to get it together, I saw on one of the customizing shows they placed a nice tilt on one of their chops, I had never done anything like that, it worked well on the truck they did it on an F100 mid 50's.

Rich
Go for it Rich! You already are planning the rear brace so may as well add plate and lights to it!

Yeah the truck should be easy, is the truck you were mentioning do you mean like a wedge chop? More at the front than the back to make it more aggressive looking? I have thought about that on this one, but it has these lovely curved door tops and window openings that I am loath to mess with, they were the whole reason for buying this particular cab...

Luke.
 
Thanks! Don't want to borrow ideas and than have someone feeluings hurt.

As for the chop, yea I was talking lower in the front, a wedge as you say... but you know the vehicle better than I, I am only passing around thoughts, always go with you own vision :) I haven't done a chop in a couple decades, too much fun! Wish you were a little closer than 1/2 a world away!.

Rich
 
All good! Looking forward to this build off, should be some cool ideas and designs coming out... This extra week before building seems to be both a blessing and a curse, I'm not liking waiting because I just want to get out there and build it, but at the same time the extra time has let me come up with some cool ideas to try out on the bike... :mrgreen:

I'm taking a much different approach to the muscle bike than I have to the Cadillac, the Cadillac is think, think, think, build. The muscle bike is get a basic idea, see what happens...
It's a lot freer build process for me... I guess I am investing a lot of myself and new ideas into the Cadillac and wanting it to work, and be successful, where-as the Muscle bike is mainly proven designs just done a little differently...

How is your planning coming along?

Luke.
 
Pretty much the same as yours. I am thinking simple, easy, fast build. A couple of days to get the design taped onto a piece of plywood, bend the metal and mockit up on the plywood, tack, verify than go to town with the welder. There are only a couple of things I am goignt o take some time on, the forks are a custom made springer, I have an older 20" one I can pull some of the parts off of :) the rest will be made here on site :) I luv this hobby!

I have most everything for the muscle bike here, I can canibilize a couple of bikes for some parts, than I only need a rear rim, I want to have 3 1/2" tire on the rear, and only 2.25 on the front. I think I have all the metal in the garage, I am only using 1 1/2" and 1 1/4" on the stays... might have to get some material for the forks though.. ya know, I am short on 1", I better order some. I won't be around this weekend, I'm going to North Carolina to visit my sister, her daughter and her son for his birthday. I made the design easy enough for quick builds, only 3 piece of metal to go thru the roller... hehehe, that 1 1/2" cromo don't roll up so easy :) I purposefully made sure the curves were less than on the chop, those son of guns took some time to bend up! And for the record, it is really hard not to go and do the setup already! But I'll wait till next week...

OK, I better order a wheel, and a couple of pieces of 1" erw, I think I have everything else.

BTW; thanks Lucas for the kudos, didn't mean to slight you there :)
 
:shock: :shock: :shock: I think I may need to up the ante a little on my design to keep up with what you have planned! I read, springer and cro-mo and my eyes nearly popped out of my head!

Nah, just kidding, I have a few tricks too! :wink: I will be using normal steel though and no springer but I have a cool bridge truss design for my forks in mind. (Like the seat support on the Cadillac bike.)

I have used the higher tensile r.h.s. on the Cadillac, simply because I can, but this one will be plain, everyday tubing... It will still end up far, far lighter than the Cadillac, as it wont have those heavy rims and tires or the single sided hubs...

Fun, fun, fun!

Luke.
 
Hey Luke, I am only using the cromo because I have it, in my neviatee' I bought cromo because that was what all my previous steel bikes had... I have learned a few things since :)
1) 1" cromo does not roll well, it has too much tension in it and when released slowly in a tubing roller... well, it rarely ever rolls the way you envision :) The 1 1/4" and larger seems to behave well though.
The springers is just because I think I can build one. The rest of the bike is quite plan though, The bike designs by you and the kids look more radical than mine :) I think it is going to be fun to see the very contrasting styles together and how each builder handles the task with the tools they have on hand! :) I think this is goign to be the most interesting part. I am really looking forward to it! Bring on your A game! hehehe

Rich
 

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