It's been like hell trying to get the front end to work the way it should on my bike. First I took a quick look at the stem and thought it was a 1 inch big twin stem. So Paul at Bare Knuckle Choppers hooked me up with some big twin cups with internal stops. I'm dealing with a Paughco frame and for some reason just figured it was a big twin neck. It's a sporty neck so after hitting it with a "REALLY" big hammer for a while......... just kidding, Paul said "send them back and I will turn them down on the lathe". So I got them back but realized I was actually dealing with a metric front end. I could get a bearing that would fit the stem but couldn't get a race that would fit the cup and bearing or I could get a race that fit the cup but not a bearing that would fit both the bearing and the stem. Apparently Timken does make a bearing that would bridge the gab but it's only made for use in Africa and I it would take a act of god to get two of those bearings to the U.S. I can only imagine what purpose that bearing is serving in Africa. I toyed with the idea of sleeves or shim stock but after running back and forth to the bearing store 10 times I decided I should just do it right and cut out the old stem and replace it with a big twin stem. Sweet a friend had one about a hundred miles away. Drove up.... got it.... drove back...... removed the old one but the new one went in to easily. got out the caliper and it was under. I was about to make a new one and said fuck it. So I gobbed on some weld and put it on the lathe and took it back down. The bearings fits really snug now. This is just a temporary fix....... I just want to ride the sum bitch!
3 comments:
i love hearin little stories like that...and i love more seeing beautiful shots like that man....there is so much info in shots like that...thanks
matt
www.machineshed.blogspot.com
Fuck....... I don't know what the hell I'm doing. This is my first bike. It's my first everything. My first welds were on the frame, first engravings on the rocker boxes and primary cover, first time using a lathe and mill.... first everything. I'm that type of person that doesn't practice on a scrap piece or read up on it first..... I don't have time for that. I just try to figure it out and fudge out the little mistakes later. My goal is to not outsource anything. I'm glad you liked it. The bike should be done in the next week if things don't keep going like they are. You're building some sweet shit too. Keep it up!
for sure....and dont worry...you have the best of the best around you....man sometimes i feel so far away from the action in australia....cheers man.
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