1912 HD Belt Twin (AKA EVIL TWIN)

[Slojo]

Cory

How observant , actually the seat suspension had fallen apart and required some attention. Pat brought the Henderson for its first meet and it experienced a seat failure.

joe

[c.o.]

It just doesn't look like you felt at home on it Joe...

[Slojo]

No Trade

IT AINT SO Robby. Busted again (on the Pat Murphy Henderson) this time mixing with the enemy Mark Hill and the always pesky Wolfe Pack. It appears Mark has dedicated his life to developing an abundance of Detroit built Hendersons and those other brand X fours from Chi. Town in an attempt to prove their capable of keeping up with a certain little silent gray fellow by targeting my back. Good thing because that is where I would like to keep them.

Oley was another fine example that good parts are still waiting to be purchase for those all important projects. To bad flat tank Harley parts were slim to almost none and heavily priced. I did find a few trinkets, its always a good meet when you don't leave empty handed.

joe

[rwm]

Turn coat amongst us

stop the okuma and bar the door. anybody hear that big groan for oely this weekend? the redheaded step child (the evil twin) sat home while joe paraded around on his new canon ball ride. say it aint so joe.

[c.o.]

Winter just wants to hang around this year.... drove through a beauty snow storm on the way home from work.... lovely...

Sorry for the less than timely photo posting!

[rwm]

. The last of the snow disappeared finally time to celebrate.

joe

i drove from rhinebeck ny to norwalk ct. on wensday. a lot of places had a fresh inch of snow. wtf.

[Slojo]

The beat goes on

New arrivals.
1) The second original left hand spiral grip completing the handle bar assembly.
2) The seat crossover handle / brace appeared Friday.
3) Sun Steel treating called Friday, " your steel is ready for pickup" Sun also blasted it clean for handling.

The right hand bearing carrier for the rear hub is now complete and the Okuma is nearly set up for the next hub part, the internally splined coaster slide. It is difficult finding just the right device to generate friction in the hub to operate the slide so I may change my design slightly to allow for a different friction generator. The friction generator plays an important roll in braking and pedal starting processes. Without a positive acting friction generator the pedaling and braking will not function reliably.

Still dealing with cold weather, the shop was 40 degrees the last couple days while it warmed outside to the mid fifties today. The last of the snow disappeared finally time to celebrate.

joe

[c.o.]

[Slojo]

Forged steel

Weather report again , its worth a mention . 1882 Snow recored shattered in Michigan yesterday , 48 f in shop today.

Cory, Numbers add up !

New arrivals

1) Intake and exhaust valves arrived today they are beautiful. The Ghost uses titanium valves from Trick Titanium in Holt Michigan they take good care of me, in return I service their Okuma Turning centers

2) A road trip into Metro Detroit to pick up 60 pounds of Flexor forged steel bars. Enough steel to make four connecting rods where only one female rod is required. This material can be purchased from Pennsylvania Steel in Redford Michigan.

The Ghost used Quadco XR material for connecting rods and they work excellent. Quadco closed their doors a year ago so , Flexor is the best choice of material by specification I could find. A trip to Sun Steel for heat treat and tempering to bring the four bars up to 34 to 36 C Rockwell hardness.
Those who remember the Ghost rod set posts may recall my error overlooking inverting the Y axis (a button push) and subsequently scraping the female rod. This scrap piece (still on hand) will be reworked becoming a male rod for this Twin project.

The seat project is near completion , Nickel plating and paint on the seat frame and suspension hardware will have the seat finished.

Finally back on the Okuma Turning center to process R.H. bearing carriers. Tonight , one more operation completed with two remaining. Due to the close tolerance I must hold for bearing bores , extra operations have been added to remove all the steel (and internal stresses) prior to finishing the bores.

joe

[c.o.]

Well.... was the geometry verified?

[Slojo]

10 9 8 .....

A trip to Apollo EDM today to confirm their ability to burn an internal multi start thread for the operating device that shifts the hub from brake to pedal operation. Bob evaluated my sample part and confirmed their capability. Now its time to design the finished component with all the data and submit a print so they can make the carbon electrode to burn the internal form .

New arrivals, today from Pennsylvania Jerry sent most of the Troxel hardware necessary to complete my seating arraignment. Missing is the curved U shaped crossover brace used to maintain the spread of the seat hardware and as a handle to assist in lifting the bike onto the rear stand. Does anyone have one of these items?

Tomorrow it's off to Marks (Sparks) shop to use his optical comparator for geometry verification , gauging slowed production tonight.

joe

[Slojo]

The long and winding build

Bike building season was tough , now with outside weather up to 76F today and the shop door open for several hours the interior temperature raised to a balmy 51 degrees. Several stubborn mounds of snow still hanging around as a reminder of what we tolerated this past winter. Today's programing and machine work on the right bearing carrier for the rear hub have me one step closer to a complete hub assembly.

joe

[c.o.]

[Slojo]

The Hunt

While waiting for the weather to break other issues have been eating away at my time. Chasing Parts!
This bike is in need of many items and they have been trickling in at a slow pace ("Trickle Down" bike building , often using previously rejected parts).

Oil tank / tool box , I have a remanufactured box ordered and an original box in the works. Fox twist grips arrived this week. My current focus is original seat parts . With a package of seat parts on its way from Pennsylvania, the seat assembly should be complete. I use a Messenger half pan seat attached to a sprung frame Troxel suspension . As far as comfort and suspension Its doubtful a better seat combo exists for this early bike application !

In stock , an original rear belt sheave and belt drive clutch drum , no spokes. Although , the original belt drum will not be used for this 2014 event due to time restraints (the shuffle to free it up from a wheel). I will be using one of my personally remanufactured belt drums from many years ago. Spokes always an issue in my builds, out of preference / aesthetics , carbon steel is all I will use so , one small problem exists....
Buchanan wheel specializes in stainless steel spokes and wheels and does not have in inventory the carbon steel required for my spoke needs.

Checking with an old friend turned up a stash of old spokes (light patina) and nipples (N.O.S.) to fit my exact application except the overall length of the spoke. After a conversation with a Buchanan representative and samples mailed Buchanan agreed to cut and re-thread the carbon steel spokes to the required length and thread pitch (40 TPI) for the clutch belt sheave assembly. The belt sheave spokes are one uniform diameter which simplified this conversion. A couple weeks later and I have the spokes in hand.

Meanwhile , pistons from CP came in a while ago for the 37 Knuckle motor currently in process. A trip today to my Cannonball teammate Chris's shop to hone the cylinders and after a washing they are ready for assembly..

Stay tuned ....

joe

[c.o.]

Sorry for the delay folks. I think we should go with seedlings....