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Discussion starter · #42 ·
Spent some time getting the tools up on the pegboard.
Feels really go to have my own shop for the first time.

Also nice to have my expensive tools NOT stored in bins, bags and scattered around.


I still have to hang better lights and run some electrical boxes to the benches.
Hope to get some time this weekend to really get cracking on the bike.
 
Do you have a walkout basement or bulkhead access? How easy is it to get a bike in and out?
 
Discussion starter · #44 ·
Nope, standard flight of stairs......

It is suboptimal, but will work for what I need.
 
Discussion starter · #46 ·
chopper weighs 300lbs. It's like carrying a drunk uncle up a flight of stairs.

MAKE IT RUN FIRST, THEN MAKE IT PRETTY.
yelling it isn't going to make it make more sense!
 
Discussion starter · #47 ·
Took a few pictures to better show the how the "patina" has kinda of crossed the line.









Fairly large pieces of paint are flaking off the frame now.
Unsure about painting or Powdercoating the frame.

There is a decent amount of filler molding the frame, don't think you can do that and then coat it.
So I guess it will need to be painted.

Need to figure out the rear fender as the wheel is not sitting centered.
When looking at it quick the other night I think the wheel is centered in the frame, so the issue must be a bent fender.

Started to lay out all the engine pieces.
Think I want to have the cases vapor blasted.
Never used that service, so the results I have seen are amazing. Have a few sets of motor covers, will pick the best and blast those.

Since the bike is stone axe simple, my list of needed service items is relatively short.
Was thinking about tires a little bit.
Is this the only bike that a Firestone rep makes sense (rear)?
 
i like it like that
they always went that way if the owner rode a good amount of miles and for a few years
it is authentic now and original
i dare you to leave it be cosmetic wise
you could glue down the edges and pinstripe cobwebs or your weddiong dangles in those flake zones
a keep on truckin deal or moon eyes sticker bullet hole stickers



 
dig this groovy info,,.on wheel alighnment
check the vertical situation out first ......far out man
as long as your tires have no bumps in sidewalls i just use a long carpenters level
you need a helper or lash it down so rear wheel is vertical zero bubble
then check front making sure the level is straight up on the other axis and front wheel pointed straight down the mescaline road,,,,,,,man
 
There's the option of replacing the body filler with tin... that should accept powder coat
 
So here is my 2 cents since I was the bike's second owner and bought it from the original owner in the early 2000s and knew the guy who built it/painted it.

Paint: it was a special blend HOK that used copper powder in the paint. The "green" streaks were actually the copper oxidizing and at one point the coolest part. I have the base/candy that was used and its a more common HOK gold (its not pagan gold, but I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment). I doubt you will be able to replicate the green streaks without paint since that took years to show up and was an unintended consequence of trying to get gold micro flake in the paint. The closest you could probably get is HOK lime gold which is fine.

that's old school molding and while done with quality materials at the time, there are more modern things right now that work better. However, it takes hours upon hours of sanding to properly mold a frame right so my suggestion is to hand sand the frame being careful not to take off the original molding, and then giving it all a skim coat of something modern like marglass and painting over that. It's still going to take hours upon hours of body work (or several hundred dollars if you send it out) but it won't be as bad as starting from scratch.

The only way to do that bike is in candy over flake and all one color. IMHO it also needs to be gold. When it was painted original it was candy over a metallic mica, if it were up to me I would go lowrider/bassboat levels of flake so the thing just glimmers in the sun. I had the tank painted flake silver and was going to have it candy coated in gold when I had the money but I never had the money.

The original tires on the bike were a 2.75 avon speedmaster (which is no longer made) and a Mag Mopus rear (which replaced the original Dunlop K81). It has on it right now a dunlop Elite from Dad's fatboy which was perfectly serviceable at the time but has probably aged out being a "good" tire. The front is a 3.00 avon speedmaster I put on the bike months before I sold it to jaguar.

I bent the rear fender by accident when transporting the bike from New Orleans to NY. It loosened up in the truck and rolled backward into the back wall. Just grab the edge of the fender and pull as hard as you can to align it. It's a cheap trailer fender FWIW I would consider replacing it with a ribbed rear fender. The original tank was a ribbed avon tank that I did not get with the bike. It would look cool and period with a ribbed tank and a ribbed rear fender. Jag, did I give you the ribbed chopper tank I had for it?
 
Avon still makes the Speedmaster. It’s an MKII. Speedmaster front, Safety Mileage rear.
yes but not in a 2.75 x 21 size which is what was on the bike when I got it. It has a brand new (for 2010? I think) 3.00 x 21 speedmaster MKII
 
Discussion starter · #59 ·
So here is my 2 cents since I was the bike's second owner and bought it from the original owner in the early 2000s and knew the guy who built it/painted it.

Paint: it was a special blend HOK that used copper powder in the paint. The "green" streaks were actually the copper oxidizing and at one point the coolest part. I have the base/candy that was used and its a more common HOK gold (its not pagan gold, but I can't remember off the top of my head at the moment). I doubt you will be able to replicate the green streaks without paint since that took years to show up and was an unintended consequence of trying to get gold micro flake in the paint. The closest you could probably get is HOK lime gold which is fine.

that's old school molding and while done with quality materials at the time, there are more modern things right now that work better. However, it takes hours upon hours of sanding to properly mold a frame right so my suggestion is to hand sand the frame being careful not to take off the original molding, and then giving it all a skim coat of something modern like marglass and painting over that. It's still going to take hours upon hours of body work (or several hundred dollars if you send it out) but it won't be as bad as starting from scratch.

The only way to do that bike is in candy over flake and all one color. IMHO it also needs to be gold. When it was painted original it was candy over a metallic mica, if it were up to me I would go lowrider/bassboat levels of flake so the thing just glimmers in the sun. I had the tank painted flake silver and was going to have it candy coated in gold when I had the money but I never had the money.

The original tires on the bike were a 2.75 avon speedmaster (which is no longer made) and a Mag Mopus rear (which replaced the original Dunlop K81). It has on it right now a dunlop Elite from Dad's fatboy which was perfectly serviceable at the time but has probably aged out being a "good" tire. The front is a 3.00 avon speedmaster I put on the bike months before I sold it to jaguar.

I bent the rear fender by accident when transporting the bike from New Orleans to NY. It loosened up in the truck and rolled backward into the back wall. Just grab the edge of the fender and pull as hard as you can to align it. It's a cheap trailer fender FWIW I would consider replacing it with a ribbed rear fender. The original tank was a ribbed avon tank that I did not get with the bike. It would look cool and period with a ribbed tank and a ribbed rear fender. Jag, did I give you the ribbed chopper tank I had for it?

Might look at replacing the rear fender, love the way the rib looks.
Yeah I have the ribbed tank, needs new/different mounts to work with the bike.

100% agree if painting the frame, an absurd amount of flake needs to be used.
 
Choppers and scoooters. Oh my, what is this world (or at least, this forum) coming to???
Almost as bad as bikes that could never do the ton, on "Do The Ton" forum...

...and now some of those people are saying that doing the ton is dangerous and irresponsible. That it's more about "the spirit" of doing the ton. Oh, my...
 
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