Finished my bike Sunday at the stroke of midnight. The list of things to finish included a registration, re-dyed the brown leather seat and tool container BLACK, installed head and tail lights, a twelve volt 1.5 amp. car horn with a custom built 8-AA rechargeable battery holder (giving me the needed 12 V), analog old school speedometer (then removed), lengthened stock chain guard, ran and secured all brake and fuel lines,
Yesterday, was "bittersweet" as I was mixing the 20:1 fuel, my inspiration for building the bike, drove his car into my driveway to tell me, someone stole his chained-up motorbike. (Reinforces my support for the death penalty!) That was a huge heads-up for me! Well, I poured in only 16 oz. of the fuel. I could mark the low level next to my fuel-tube-sight-gauge. If there was going to be an engine problem, I would only have to drain one pint of fuel. So, I opened the valve and saw the fuel progress through the line; blue in the vitta fuel line, green in the filter.... and blue again. Hopped on the bike and started pedaling. It took about 4 tries with the clutch and China Girl fired up and I have to say, after reading about the roughness of the new engine, I was actually surprised how smoothly and quietly she ran. I was also a little surprised that there was little noticeable smoke.... (which I also expected from the rich mixture)
After the test ride
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My fuel gauge. Shows 1 pint of fuel (in an 18 pint fuel tank) Time to head for a station (within 6 miles) BTW, the bike is on the center duel-stand and tilted onto the front wheel in this photo. There are actually three indicated fuel levels; When leaning backward, forward, and when both wheels are on the ground. As you see here, when the bike is tilted onto the front wheel, the fuel level is very deceptive.
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The 12V car horn a la Roadrunner "Beep Beep" (It's as loud as any car horn with the small rechargeable 8-AA batteries seen mounted below.
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I found out immediately, how important the tension is, as I had to scrub grease off of the white wall. With only 1/4" of space on both sides of the chain, tension is critical. I'm interested in changing the tensioner to a spring loaded version possibly mounted to two frame supports. Any advice for a good system would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I hope some of you have enjoyed my build.
Jim
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