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I have a smart phone now.  Adding pictures to the blog is a PITA from my phone.  I'm not abandoning this blog completely but I pretty much put everything on instagram with my phone.  my name on instagram is  evoscot

Chopper update

     I've been layed up for 3 weeks.  It's starting to drive me crazy but I'm getting some blog posts updated.  I had surgery on my left leg to remove some scar tissue and sinus tracts that have been causing me problems for a couple years.  It's healing well but god dammit it's been hard being unable to ride a motorcycle in the middle of summer.  It'll be worth it in the long run though.

     The most recent progress on the chopper is getting the final wheel spacing done and mounting the front of the gas tank.  I cut off the tabs that would mount a rear belt guard to the frame.  I wanted as much clearance for the sprocket as possible.

     I had a selection of aluminum wheel spacers left over from when I replaced Tony's wheel bearings last year.  I selected one that was a little bit too long and carefully trimmed it with a hacksaw.  Then I filed the rest of it down as flat as I could get it until it was a tight fit into the frame.  The next time I take the wheel off I will bring it into work and have the guys in the shop give it a minor trim to square it up perfectly.  It's pretty flat right now but if they shave .010 off of it installation will be easier and it will be perfectly flat.

     Plenty of clearance to the frame and the belt lines up nicely with the front sprocket.

     I had previously set the spacing on the brake side to move the wheel as far right as possible and to keep the rotor centered on the caliper.  My step dad Roger helped me with that on his lathe last winter.  I am using an 87-99 style Softail rear caliper.  The tire is a 150-16 D401 Dunlop and a 1&1/8" wide drive belt.

     The rear wheel was originally on my 2005 Sportster.  I'm also using the original sprocket from that bike for a 32T front 68T rear gearing combination.  The chrome sprocket cover is from HD.  It reminds me of a Torque Thrust D wheel that you would commonly see on hot rods.  I put tape over it so I wouldn't scratch it up.

     After careful measuring with a micrometer eye I marked the neck gusset and drilled a pilot hole for my front gas tank mount.

     I then used a stepped uni bit to open the hole up to 3/4" and slid in my front gas tank mount.  The uni bit worked very well for this.  I made the mount from round stock to fit between the gas tank tabs and drilled and tapped it.

     What a nice view.  I still have to grind down the flat side mounting tabs on the back bone of the frame and the remaining tab under the gas tank.  I'm going to weld a tab to the tank tunnel and mount the rear of the tank straight into the back bone with a single bolt.  I love the way the width of the handlebars blends nicely with the triple trees and the gas tank.

100,000 miles Brand new bike!.

     On the trip up north my bike rolled over 100,000 miles.  I think it's pretty cool so I shot a video of it.  It is a 1996 FLHTCU.  I bought the bike in May 2010 with 54k on it.  The base gaskets were (still are) weeping a little bit of oil.  I put a new cam, cam bearing, and tappets in it at 67k miles.  It already had a different cam in it when I put in the Andrews EV23.  It had an EV27 in it when I bought it.  So someone had been into the cam cavity before me but I don't think the top end has ever been off.

     I'm going to just keep riding her until she starts smoking or making bad noises.  As of right now I have no reason to overhaul it.  Here's a short 1 minute video of the odometer rolling over

Where the Effie am I ?

     June 27th 2015 Tony and I headed north on a camping trip.  This trip was important to me for a couple of reasons.  My Electraglide was going to roll over 100,000 miles, and it would be the last time I rode a motorcycle for a while.  I was having surgery on Monday morning June 30th to correct some problems I have with my leg.

    I had to work that Saturday so we got a late start.  On the road headed north about 4:15 after a quick trip through Walmart to get some last minute supplies ( I worked until 3).  I needed some tent stakes and a new air mattress.  I like to use inflatable pool mattresses for my bed when I'm motorcycle camping.  They are cheap, small to pack, and disposable when you are done with them.  I don't buy the very cheapest one I can find though, they usually leak during the night.  I was so happy with the one I bought for this trip I actually saved it instead of throwing it away.  The label said Playdough of all things.  The brand doesn't really matter.  Get the type that has the hole pockets for a can of beer.  I've had the best luck with that style being comfortable and not going flat at 4 am.

     Our destination for the first night was a camp ground about 7 miles north of Grand Rapids on highway 39.  It was an RV park with lots of seasonal units. Most of them were empty the night we were there.  I rode right past this sign and went an extra 10 miles before I figured out I was lost and turned around.  I took this picture the next morning it was close to dark when we arrived.

     We took a couple detours on the way to Grand Rapids so we could ride the river road a little bit.  Instead of getting on the river road in Palisade I had the idea to just go west from 169 on Hwy 200 and head south on the smooth part and make a u turn when the pavement got rough and ride back on the same stretch of road.  I wouldn't do it that way again.  It's a lot more fun riding that road from the south heading north.  I don't know why.

     Once we got into the camp ground and set up camp we headed back into town to find a burger and a liquor store.

     We had a nice view from the campsite.  Tony has a hanging hammock tent.  It's a good thing he picked up that tarp when we were at Walmart because it rained about 3 or 4 in the morning.  Next time he sets it up he is going to pick trees farther apart.  He had quite a bit of sag and wasn't comfortable at all.  He did stay dry with the tarp though.  My little 6' x 6' kept me dry as well.  I used the pool toy air mattress with a t-shirt over the pillow area for a pillow case and my Swiss gear sleeping bag.

   In the morning we headed back into Grand Rapids to get a replacement pair of riding glasses for Tony.  He lost them in the night .  It was a blessing in disguise I think.  The delay kept us behind the rain most of the day.  We headed up Hwy 39 to Effie and that's where we had an amazing lunch at the Effie cafe.  Biggest omelet I've ever been served.

  

     Unfortunately after Effie we got into some rain and wet roads.  Nothing real terrible but Tony was pretty wet riding his chopper.  We altered our course in Cook and started heading south on 53 to avoid the thunderstorms.  Hwy 1 from Cook to Ely to the North Shore will have to wait for another trip.  We took another long break at a McDonalds in Virginia to let the storms move through.  We kept traveling south towards Cloquet so I could pick up Bradley from his mom's house and headed for home on Hwy 210.  550 miles in 28 hours not to shabby.

Suicide clutch, Jockey shift

     I hear people say suicide shift all the time but it's the clutch pedal that deserves the moniker.  I was at work about a month ago and a fellow came into the store to get machine work done on a 4.6 V8 from a Lincoln.  He had this gnarly looking bent connecting rod he was looking to replace to fix the engine in the car.  The head gasket had leaked a bunch of coolant into the cylinder and when the car tried to start it hydra locked and bent the connecting rod.

     John was back in the store again on Friday and I asked him about the bent connecting rod. He said he was just going to hang it up in has garage on the wall.  I told him I thought it would make a great clutch pedal on my chopper.  I traded him a case of Bud Light for it.

     When I was at my folks house today I brought it with me and told Roger what my plan was and asked him to help me make it.  I already had a nice chrome bracket to use as the pivot point I just needed to re do the big end of the rod to size it correctly.

     Roger had a nice piece of 1 3/4" shaft in his stash and he used his portable band saw to cut a chuck of it off.

     He chucked it up in the lathe, trimmed it to length, and drilled a 1 inch hole through it to match the pivot shaft.  It fits perfectly on there.

He used the bandsaw to cut the big end of the connecting rod off and welded the two pieces together.  I now have a perfectly bent connecting rod suicide clutch pedal.  I would like to find some small I beam stock to make my fender support struts out of to keep a matching look.

And then there were 2...

     Last Sunday, the day after our long ride to Grand Rapids,  Troy texted us that he would not be riding today because he scorched his face with sunburn the previous day.  Tony and I were also pretty beat up but did not want to punk out and just stay home.  We decided to go to Jordie's Trail Side cafe in Bowlus http://www.jordiestrailside.com/ for lunch and decide where to go from there.  It was the perfect opportunity to take my old '74 out for an easy Sunday ride.

     So Tony and I were in my garage talking about where to go and I said "I should take my old Ironhead out today."  Then I realized I would have to move a lawn chair to gain access to the bike and said "fuck that  I'm riding my hot rod."  I decided right then and there that it was time to sell the bike.  I listed it on craigslist the next day.  The money from the sale is going to fund finishing my chopper.  Riding with Tony and Troy on their choppers has lit a fire under me to get mine completed.

     I got a couple calls even had a guy come check the bike out this morning but still no sale.  I was down to Mom n Rogers today for family photos and dinner.  I was talking about selling the bike.  My step dad said for $2200 he might as well park it in his barn and wrote me a check on the spot.  I'm going to deliver it to him tomorrow night after work.  It's nice to have it sold, but even nicer to sell it to him because I know he will take good care of it.

Pierz first Thursday car show

     The city of Pierz has a car show once a month.  The first one of the year was a couple days ago.  We rode over there and checked it out.  It was pretty cool.  I had My Ironhead for sale so I rode it over there in case anyone wanted to buy it.

Random Photos

     Last Saturday we left semi early, had a big breakfast and took all the curvy roads we could find between Little Falls and Grand Rapids.  It was a 340 mile day and the first time Troy had ridden his chopper more than 15 miles.  It was also his first ride this year since tearing a ligament in his shoulder a few months ago.

Out with the old and in with the new.

     I'm proud to say Ton'y bike is finished!  He took it home tonight and is probably freezing his ass off riding in the crap misty weather we have had for the last week or so.  It might be 45 degrees out at the warmest.   We (Tony, Troy, and myself) got the bike running Saturday and I finished up the last few things Sunday afternoon.

     The finished wiring job:

     A shot of the bike.  2001 Buell motor in a Paughco frame.  I think it is +6 in the down tubes and 40 degree neck.  So far I have rebuilt the front end, replaced the rear wheel bearings, rewired the whole bike, and serviced it a couple times.  I'm pretty familiar with it now.

     I rode it around the block in the rain yesterday and put 12 miles on it tonight before I returned it to Tony.  It sure is a fun bike.

     My next project belongs to another friend.  Troy's bike needs a stator and voltage regulator replacement, a new front tire and a few changes that he has in mind.  He just bought the bike this spring and this will be his first summer with it.

We've got spark!

     Last Friday night we quit for the night a little disappointed.  The headlight works, the oil light works but the bike didn't have spark when we cranked it over and the neutral light does not work.

     I traced the neutral light wiring all the way back to the switch behind the front sprocket and when I ground it i get the N to light up.  Bad neutral switch bad.

     Then we tested for spark.  I had not completely by passed the bank angle sensor at the ignition control module.  I did some google research and found that the green/yellow wire at the ICM needs a path to ground for the bike to have spark.  By connecting that wire to chassis ground voila we have spark.

     After I verified the ICM was functioning  I spent the rest of the night routing and installing the wire loom for the back half of the harness.  Everything is coming together nicely.

     This is where I left off for the evening.  Back at it again tomorrow