Ryan's A.M.C.A. Giveaway bike build!

[schmittm]

It was an NOS WLA front rim that I donated to the project.
Here is how the MoCo laced them. Outside spokes goung left and inside going right.

Well, there ya are, that pretty much confirms it. You don't even need Palmer's book when you have a good clear photo of an original wheel still in the shipping crate from the factory.

I have 2 unmolested original front wheels and they are both laced exactly like that.

Thanks for posting that Chris!

mike

[Ryan Mackey]

After a day of flying yesterday, I am now home in Ohio.
In my inexperience lacing wheels, I see I made a mistake. I apologize and will be sure to fix it as soon as I get back in July.

[1945UL]

one of the wheels wouldn't fit in your carryon?

[schmittm]

After a day of flying yesterday, I am now home in Ohio.
In my inexperience lacing wheels, I see I made a mistake. I apologize and will be sure to fix it as soon as I get back in July.

Ryan,
Glad to hear that you made it home safe.

There is absolutely no need to apologize. All of us have made far more, and much worse, mistakes. It is part of the learning experience. Just be glad it is not one of those costly mistakes, all of us have made those too, they just make the “lesson” sink in a little deeper. Your spoke lesson is easily reversible and will only cost you a little time.

The reason I pointed it out is because the front wheel on a springer should be as perfect as you can get it, it should be true and balanced and have a properly inflated tire mounted. The old springers were prone to a condition known as high speed wobble and believe me when I say that you DON’T want to experience it. Lots of things can lead to the violent shaking that suddenly occurs at highway speed, seemingly for no reason, and throws you in the ditch. Its usually a combination of things like worn rockers, weak springs, bent fork, bad bearings, etc., etc., but it can also be triggered by a front wheel that is not round anymore because the spokes loosened up.
Keep up the great work on your project, don’t lose any of the enthusiasm you have demonstrated to all of us, and by all means don’t forget to write. We love following your progress on this project.
Mike

[Paps]

Ditto what Mike said Ryan. And welcome back home to Ohio. Paps

[Ohio-Rider]

Yes,Yes... Welcome home Ryan. I'll bet it will feel good sleeping in your own bed tonight.

[Ryan Mackey]

one of the wheels wouldn't fit in your carryon?

no it was hard enough to get passed security with my motor and frame. I made the poor guy next to me hold my carburator!

Thanks guys there definitely is no place like your own bed. I hopefully will be starting with Larry soon so I will keep you posted!

[Matthew N. Olse]

Life is back to normal in South Dakota, I shipped Ryan's sheet metal off to Larry Medwig on tuesday. The last five weeks were a lot of work and fun. I am very pleased with how well Ryan did on everything. Thanks for all of your interest, input and enthusiasm.

[Ohio-Rider]

Matt, Thanks to you and your Dad for providing Ryan the place and experiance to do a great job and to let us all watch you guys do it.

Lets not forget to thank all the guys who donated the parts as well.
-Steve

[Matthew N. Olse]

Steve,
You are 100 percent correct, this whole project has been a community project. It took a lot of hard work from AMCA members and businesses all over the world. I think that this contest did an amazing job of showing other people how neat the AMCA members are and that our club is taking a proactive approach to getting younger people involved in the motorcycle hobby.

[DaveSwanson]

Matt, what you and your dad did for Ryan was nothing short of amazing! My hat is off to you forever. What a gift to a great young man!

[Ryan Mackey]

I went to Larry's for the first time yesterday!

The first thing we did was get the battery box all finished up. We ran out of time to weld in the new tin box in South Dakota.

The bottom of the box had to be welded on to the sides. Larry showed me a cool way to keep everything from distorting from heat. We clamped a piece of aluminum onto it to help absorb the heat. Here it is tacked in place.


And here it is all welded up.


The next step was to spot weld the tin to the frame of the battery box. Here I am using the spot welder.


Normally the mount for the fender also has a loop for the speedometer cable to run through. Since the mounts are all custom, we had to figure out a way to run the cable. We silver soldered a nut on the side of the right mount that a loop will bolt to.

[Ryan Mackey]

Well I have been really busy with school and work and didn't get a chance to get back to Larry's this past week. Hopefully I will be able to this week. While I was there last time, we also made a new center tank strip. Larry thought it would be a lot better to just make one from scratch than to use the stock one.


Here I am starting to bend it into shape.


Larry had a frame for another project that he let me use to mount the tanks on to check the fitment of the strip.


Once we got it close to the right shape, we rolled a bead on either side.


And then I had to make the indents for the bolts using a die that Larry had.




Here is the old strip and the new one that we made.


And here it is on the tanks!

[Ryan Mackey]

Well I got back to Larry's the other day and we started prepping things for paint!

The first thing he showed me was a sweet way to remove paint...with fire!


It worked really good and only took a minute or 2 in the blaster to get everything off after it burned off.

Once the dash was all clean, I sprayed it with some self-etching primer.


After that was all done and drying, we started to lay some bondo on the tanks. I had never done it before but luckily Larry has once or twice and was able to give me some advice.


Today Larry and I are leaving for Cincinnati to meet up with Matt at the V-twin expo. Hopefully I will meet some of you there!

[Ryan Mackey]

I got back from Cincinnati a little bit ago. I had a lot of fun meeting a ton of really cool people and seeing some killer bikes....and babes.







They were kinda like my bike...might not be all original but still look good!