I have what is kind of a dilemma... OK, a fun dilemma, but a dilemma, nonetheless.
What happened was, well, my dad left me his unfinished - make that unstarted - project bike. I looked at this with some trepidation (and absolutely positively no space whatsoever to start working on this - having my 3/4 car garage (seriously, my car would not fit in the thing!) and this buncha parts and an old bike. I've been doing a little research (darned little - hard to believe there's not much info on the IOE bikes...) and, well... Having a new shop (a real shop to work in!!) it's time. (No, make that about time!!)
What this consists of... a '21 FD. Pretty much all there, but in some places rough rough rough - not rusty rough, but a frame welded in 2 places (and a front end welded in one!), The motor looks pretty good, but won't turn over (at least with the kicker), missing some bits and pieces as of yet undetermined (including lights - bwahhh!!!)... wheels are there (and surprisingly good - even the rims aren't sharp, and one has a tire with air in it, tho I don't think it'd do 60 MPH for very long...)... Even has a set of tanks (dented and bondoed, with this sickly semi-olive green paint (-shudder-) brushed on... and rusty...)... So yeah, I can see about 80+ % of a bike...
Add to all of this... a sidecar tub in surprisingly great shape (tho I ask where's the frame??!!), a fairly complete '27 JD motor (with broken off front tab - um, maybe that's where the frame broke, tho I dunno why they had an early frame with a later motor... hmmm... maybe the *next* bike, tho maybe I should concentrate on one at a time, eh?) and a set of cases and matching number barrels that are, from what I have discrned 1915ish... A spare trans and clutch basket, and an old 5 ga oil can of miscellaneous parts...
So I guess what I'm saying is... um... HELLLLPPPP!!! --grins-- I spent last night opening up the "other" clutch (question 1 - the basket on the one on the bike has holes around the outside, the other one... doesn't... so what's the dif?), cleaning out solidified and/or coagulated dinosaur, dusting off the mushrooming on the teeth (tho none on the drum - yay!!!) and likely breathing tsome fine aged asbestos dust... (koff koff)... coming apart everythnig was stiff and sticking, back together it was much smoother... and for about an hour (at 10 last night - mind you, I get up before 4 for work... I think I'm bit!) was looking at the bike, and thinking... Darn, this seems possible...
The question is... where do I begin? While I've had bikes before (my latest was a 91 FL with some "goodies" (big bore, mikuni carb, cammed, new blackbox, alost-open pipes can you say "zoom zoom?) , Before that was a couple goldwings, an old Kawi cop bike, etc... (How do you say "etc." in Japanese?) but this is totally beyond anything I've done... Even when I was a kid with the folk's old car hobby, this is, um... pretty different. What kind of trouble am I (and my wallet?) in for? And, um... what kind of information is out there to help me figure out what is right, wrong, indifferent, or just ugly?
I'll try to put some pictures up later... until then...
Thanks!
Susanne
What happened was, well, my dad left me his unfinished - make that unstarted - project bike. I looked at this with some trepidation (and absolutely positively no space whatsoever to start working on this - having my 3/4 car garage (seriously, my car would not fit in the thing!) and this buncha parts and an old bike. I've been doing a little research (darned little - hard to believe there's not much info on the IOE bikes...) and, well... Having a new shop (a real shop to work in!!) it's time. (No, make that about time!!)
What this consists of... a '21 FD. Pretty much all there, but in some places rough rough rough - not rusty rough, but a frame welded in 2 places (and a front end welded in one!), The motor looks pretty good, but won't turn over (at least with the kicker), missing some bits and pieces as of yet undetermined (including lights - bwahhh!!!)... wheels are there (and surprisingly good - even the rims aren't sharp, and one has a tire with air in it, tho I don't think it'd do 60 MPH for very long...)... Even has a set of tanks (dented and bondoed, with this sickly semi-olive green paint (-shudder-) brushed on... and rusty...)... So yeah, I can see about 80+ % of a bike...
Add to all of this... a sidecar tub in surprisingly great shape (tho I ask where's the frame??!!), a fairly complete '27 JD motor (with broken off front tab - um, maybe that's where the frame broke, tho I dunno why they had an early frame with a later motor... hmmm... maybe the *next* bike, tho maybe I should concentrate on one at a time, eh?) and a set of cases and matching number barrels that are, from what I have discrned 1915ish... A spare trans and clutch basket, and an old 5 ga oil can of miscellaneous parts...
So I guess what I'm saying is... um... HELLLLPPPP!!! --grins-- I spent last night opening up the "other" clutch (question 1 - the basket on the one on the bike has holes around the outside, the other one... doesn't... so what's the dif?), cleaning out solidified and/or coagulated dinosaur, dusting off the mushrooming on the teeth (tho none on the drum - yay!!!) and likely breathing tsome fine aged asbestos dust... (koff koff)... coming apart everythnig was stiff and sticking, back together it was much smoother... and for about an hour (at 10 last night - mind you, I get up before 4 for work... I think I'm bit!) was looking at the bike, and thinking... Darn, this seems possible...
The question is... where do I begin? While I've had bikes before (my latest was a 91 FL with some "goodies" (big bore, mikuni carb, cammed, new blackbox, alost-open pipes can you say "zoom zoom?) , Before that was a couple goldwings, an old Kawi cop bike, etc... (How do you say "etc." in Japanese?) but this is totally beyond anything I've done... Even when I was a kid with the folk's old car hobby, this is, um... pretty different. What kind of trouble am I (and my wallet?) in for? And, um... what kind of information is out there to help me figure out what is right, wrong, indifferent, or just ugly?
I'll try to put some pictures up later... until then...
Thanks!
Susanne
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