Where the F is my Jetpack?

With such talk about jetpacks and futuristic junk pertaining to certain builds, this little diddy popped up on my radar. And it is spectacular.

More Pictures of the New Project

These bike photos are ripped directly off of Saint Motorbikes Blog because I didn't have a camera and Jeff stole one from one of his kids.

Here we are testing out the new oil/rocket tank on Tesla, Jeff's new project. I wanted a vertical oil tank to sit between the twin carb setup on the hardtail CB frame to free up some space behind the seat post and get rid of some of the void above the transmission.


This is what I came up with. 2.5 qt's of cappuccino capacity. It looks really odd off the bike, but fits right in on the frame.

Some other things on the bike are a new girder, some bar end levers, a leaf spring seat, and a Cycle X twin carb setup. I had been wanting to build this girder for quite some time. I liked the look of the side mounted springs of the old solid leg girders, but wanted a more modern feel while riding. With that in mind, I used two air shocks set with 50 psi each. For now, that gives it a good tight feel and a travel distance of 2.5 inches. The bar end levers fit the bike nicely and the leafer seat keeps with the lines and doubles as a moon bounce.


I really like the way the oil tank turned out on the bike. The bungs follow the angle of the seat tubes and it fits perfectly between the carbs. This is Jeff's favorite angle on the bike. Looking at the header pic on his site, you can see a pattern. Hmm? New header pic?


Since I am currently banished to working in a shed, Jeff offered me some space in his garage to do some work. I left last night a little before 2 am. The day before that was 3 am. Before that, 1 am. Thanks Jeff for the space and harassment!

I have a little slice of concrete right next to Tesla, the primary patient in Jeff's stable.

After getting 3 hours of sleep I woke up exhausted but I knew it was worth it. The best thing that came out of last night was this killer Pillow Hawk! Ohh and an evil twin to my left. He's not all that bad but he does remind me of someone. I just can't put my finger on it.


No, wait. I figured it out.

First Day of Autumn

Grab your bike

Snag your friends

And hit the road (maybe with a few less windshields)

Fall is the best riding seasons in my opinion. By far the best scenery, the best weather, and the most ambition to get a few more miles in before the real cold hits.

New Project Teaser Photo

Hardtail with a new girder design. The size of my little escort is deceiving.

My GrandPappies New Toy

My Granddad called me up a little while ago and asked me if I knew anything about the old military harleys used in WWII. We talked for a while about his old bikes and the one he was looking at. In the end it turns out the bike he had found was a hodge-podge of different parts and wasn't really what he was looking for. But at the root of the conversation, he was looking for a vintage motorcycle with a sidecar to putt around in. He's going on 84 and is as sharp as a fresh edge on sheet metal.

I took a look around and found a few things within his budget. In the end, he settled on a bike that reminded him of something he saw quite often during his time in Okinawa. The bike he is picking up is a 1977 BMW R100/7 with a nice sidecar. When he was in Okinawa, there were probably quite a few knock off's of the old BMW boxer engines floating about.

The 77 beamer has full luggage, windscreens for the hack and the bike, muddies, floorboards, new rubber on all three corners, and a pile of extras. The paint is in great shape and he's pretty happy about the whole thing.

Here are a few small pictures of the bike. I have to pick it up for him so I'll snag a few more pictures then. I'm going to go through it a bit, make sure things are kosher and then take it for a spin.







Nice looking bike! In a little bit we'll get something up about John's new find, which is also a BMW... Sort of.

Souping-up a cheap seat hinge

We picked up a seat pan off eBay for the Hot-Rod Honda build. The pan is great, real thick and fits just right. It came with a free seat hinge, and the price was right but the hinge left a lot to be desired. For one thing, the tolerances were pretty sloppy with some washers to take up the slack. Secondly, the steel hinge rode on steel shoulder-bolts, which is ok for a little while but that will wear out way too fast for frequent riding. This is a budget build, and it wouldn't seem right to spend more on a seat hinge than the hardtail, so let's see what we can do with this freebie to make it usable.

Here's the patient. The shoulder bolts are very nice with precision shoulders, which will come in handy.



First order of business, if we're going to run bushings we need more room. We hogged the existing holes out to 5/8" on the mill and moved the center a bit closer to the hinge to it didn't punch through the edge. After that, we made a tube to weld in. The ends are bored to 1/2" on the lathe and it's just a bit wider than the existing hinge to leave some room for weld.


Slipped the tube into the hinge and welded around it. After the tube was fully welded we milled out the excess material in the middle until only the bearing reliefs were left. A little grinding and it looks like it was one piece again. Even though the material in the middle gets cut away, the tube ensures that both bushings will be perfectly aligned.




Now that there's enough material for a suitable bushing there needs to be room for a flange on each bushing to take care of side-thrust. The lathe made short work of reducing the width of the center piece by .060" on each end.


Whipped up some nice bushings with flanges on the lathe. Here is the new and improved kit. The end result is that it fits like a glove, and moves much much smoother. Here's a hinge that'll provide years of solid riding and didn't break the budget on this build.

James Corbett: Car Part Sculptor

James, from Ningi, Queensland, Australia has been sculpting his incredibly life like pieces since early 1999, and since that time his unique works have found homes in all capital cities in Australia, also England, Switzerland, New Zealand, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and the U.S.A.

James discovered his talent for creating his amazing pieces of art whilst running an auto recycling business in Brisbane . His first piece was an off road race buggy, inspired by a sport James had participated in for some ten years. The response from friends and customers was so positive that he was encouraged to create more pieces; cars, bikes animals and birds, all of which sold readily. James likes to incorporate old and interesting car parts into his sculptures. Nothing is bent into shape; the original integrity of each car part is maintained. “The parts themselves are often interesting, some are as much as eighty years old”, says James

To read more about James Corbett and see more of his spectacular sculptures, check out his website: http://www.jamescorbettart.com/

Here are a few pictures for those of you who don't feel as adventurous.