AirHead Drag Bike

Looking great ! Love the air holes , very vintage :cool:

And really interesting thread, it's great when a fellow tosser takes the time to take pictures and show what they're up to cheers:beerjug: :clap:clap:clap:bow:bow:bow
 
Next up was the battery mount, based on the origonal location but just added a keeper plate plan to add a front keeper as well found a nice srap with a turn buckle which should suffice. The lithium battery is just for trial as the ingnition system is total loss and from what i have heard they are good at most things but not suitable for my application.




On the front spindle Moto-Bins could not help on this occasion - part no longer avalible so it looks like our trusty machine shop is back in business, not sure if we will make a new bush from scratch or machine out the current one to size.......leave that for another installment.
 
The rear wheel was finally done and my able assistant picked this up for me while langrished by a pool in sunny spain :bounce1

looks nice and they have managed to get the offset I needed, if I get some time now i am back will try to marry the tyre to the rim.

Spoke%2010.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]





Getting excited.......
 
Next progess update

Re fitted the swingarm with the wheel mounted, clearance seems good but until the tyre gets mounted and some final checks fingers will stay crossed.







 
Getting into a stride now... ok a brisk walk

Finished off the battery holder used the ali solder again really like this stuff.


Then after the cock up on the valve hole couldnt wait for the replacement tube to turn up ( so impatiant) so stuck the tyre on the wheel just to take a look - the drag tyre with soft sidewalls was so much easier then the front to get on. So as this was only a tempoary fit its not 100% conclusive however the clearances to the swing arm look good and there is ample room to restore a gusset arrangment to the spindle area.










Next up we had bought a universal set of rearsets quality was good and they have the ability to move the actuation point about which look as if it might be handy, the plan was to use the origonal rear peg locations to bolt these up but its never that simple. The fixing bolt which fiited within the peg was not even close to being a good fit so we made up a spacer







 
Looks great, that rear hub looks very cool, I'm sure you are aware but even those small rear slicks grow significantly in diameter at speed (well the ones i used did anyway) I'm sure you have that covered!
 
Hi Shep

Not sure yet if it is covered yet and i guess the tyre will also change shape depending on the amount of air in it but we have a cunning plan if it all goes T''ts up .....
 
New tube has arrived so this was fitted this morning and then we were on 2 wheels, tyre to swing arm tube now we have some air in there is a bit close for comfort so looks like the grinder is coming back out for some action.

The forks have been fitted but without the new bearings so very much jury rigged for this trial, forks went through various iterations as we experimented with ride height. At this stage all we wanted to acheive was the desired ride height so the faring could be mocked up and then look at making mounting brackets so dont take too much notice of the forks at this stage as the day progressed we have come up with what we hope will be the final solution just need to sort out the springs.





We also fitted up the new ace bars levers and throttle











So that fairing.... we started by pulling it passed the barrels and then spent ages getting the right stance bits of wood and boxes....ready to mark up the section which would be cut round the barrels we would keep these as small as possible at this stage and look to do teh final fitting when all the mounts are in place









Next up the front mount was made up using some already tapped holes in the headstock.



Cut outs for the barrels



And on sort of mounted to the bike



Next up we parked the faring project for the time being and made up the front brake stay, seamless tube and some fitted tubes and some welding...





Clearly still lots to do but really good day.
 
Thanks Mark for that kind word.

More fairing stuff, so not the best photo but these are the 2 tubes to secure the top of the rear fairing section better photos to follow - fixing bolts will be bespoke, the design has been drawn up just got to make them..... The concept is to design fixings so they can stay in place on the fairing when its removed and use R clips to locate these fixings to the mounts on the bike ( i know what i mean but hopefully some further photos will help)



Next up was making the mounting for the lower section of the fairing, the mounting point ends up about 150mm back from the wheel center line and will suport the main weight of the fairing. These are constructed from thin wall 18mm box tube with tubes welded into the place and using the motor bolts as the fixing points so good and strong - althought the fairing is pretty light.



And then welded up

 
JungleJim

Thanks for your kind words. You have found my inspiration, the long term plan will be to take it to europe and compete against these guys... but thats a long way off.

Latest update or few more shots for clarity

Bottom frame mounts


Top mounts and there fixings, these are tapped into the top tube.


Currently making the fixings and designing some new parts update to follow next weekend if it all goes to plan.
 
More faring action today

First up were the lower mounts using 2mm alloy folded to shape round the trusty argo bottle.



Once the holes had been drilled with a piolt drill these were opend up to take the m6 threaded inserts







For final assembly the screws can be cut down to lenght and we will use a thin rubber gasket type material between the brakets an the fiberglass

Next up the stays that support the top of the rear section needed some mounting bobbins.





These were joined together with the ali solder...these will get a final finish to blend radius.





Again final assembley with the same gasket material.
 
Got some time Sunday and progressed the front fairing stay into the instrument holder....

So we started off like this


And then this happened








And finally riders eye view with the idea that both should have the needles pointing to the top when in anger.



Frame will have some lightening holes added, been on the phone to RM who is sourcing the -3 hose from the pressure gauge to the engine and the plug leads as part of the origonal engine build now we have confirmed the length.
 
Couple of photos from last weekend

Made up the rear brake bar, it will use a rose joint at the lever end, should have some pics making up a fitted bolt.......


Silencer, we were going to make one but having been down this road before and seen how much work goes into making it from scratch this came a long at a very good price it even fits with the measurments RM has specified, some bends have been bought this week to add to some pipework left over from a previous project so its exhaust weekend coming up.....

 
So about that Exhaust weekend.............

Under strick instruction from RM on the specified lengths for the exhaust system - equipt with a magic marker, tape measure, hacksaw, file and some blind faith.....
Started off with this pile of 1 5/8 stainless steel pipe, some of which the J bends were left over from a previous project.


Part of these instructions were for a prefered 2 into 1 system so we looked at how to make 1 side the correct lenght and then how to "loose" the extra lenght on the other side and still end up at the merge pipe location......

So here's how the first side turned out





Then on to the more interesting side...part of the plan was also to keep the exhaust inside the fairing and try to turn the pipes from the head through the fairing to keep any cutouts nice and neat.


 
Then a load of welding and...






Ran out of time to get any further than cutting both pipes to the same lenght. We need to add some support and the through engine bolts look
favorite. Next up will be a merge pipe then out in 2" to the silencer which also has a specific lenght, this looks to bring the silencer almost to the back of the rear wheel so we need to make out a suitable mout for this as well..... I can almost hear it running......honest
 
More exhaust action

Made up the next section the merge pipe







We got let down on the 2" pipe so progress stopped on the exhaust so we moved on to making the fairing fit now it had some pipes to clear, lots of cardboard to make templates measure 5 times and fiberglass dust later....





 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Berin
Airhead luggage
Replies
6
Views
244
Joe Bar
Joe Bar
Looking for my first airhead - r80gs or enduro
2 3
Replies
52
Views
1,887
matsmith749
Steptoe
Airhead tools
Replies
0
Views
184
Steptoe
Steptoe
Berin
Insuring an Airhead (Basic)
Replies
17
Views
546
Berin
Berin
Posh Pete
Airhead insurance
Replies
9
Views
978
Northern jock
Northern jock


Back
Top Bottom