Technical & Reference Section > Tech and Restoration
Four Bike Co Battletech
Midschoolfool:
Hub and seat clamp etc came in earlier. Had a rough night (banging headache) so was only up for 10 mins. They wouldn't have put them through the letter box, so I am glad I rushed down.
Wheels are in later apparently, "wheel see" *groan*
Midschoolfool:
OK. Recap.
I found out why the crank bearing cups were smashed :LolLolLolLol: They jam with about 3mm left and you need to smash them home with a hammer :LolLolLolLol: This damaged the paint, and was hard work. God I hate things like that. Have ordered a touch up pen because mine got lost.
The headset was a twat too. Just not as much of a twat. I got the bars and fork on last night, seat bits arrived today so I did that earlier. As you can see, I been working hard on the frame. The marks and scratches are all gone, and it looks fantastic even without the final polish on.
The bearing conversion to female failed for the first time. The Fly hub is wider, and I could not get the bearings into the hub more than about 3mm per side. Which even I know is dangerous at best. So, I took the axle into the loft and got out the belt file. Not only did I get slapped by my first flying belt (god when they snap it is terrifying tbh) but I also burnt the absolute crap out of my leg with the sparks. Cleaned the injuries with isoprop (ouch is all I will say) and then covered them in cream.
So here is where I am at.
I am usually stoked by like, one part choice. This time? I am stoked at all of them. The white 3M shipped out earlier, and I have ordered some Oven Pride to strip the gyro and top plate. Gold would look awful. Back wheel and chain will likely go on tomorrow, or Sunday. Don't matter too much now as I am stuck here due to timing. I switched mum's internet after the bastuds doubled it in price and it is arriving after I was due to leave. I don't like the idea of her having no internet or phone, so yeah I will hang on and sort that. Which also gives me enough time to complete it, winner winner etc.
I think the most annoying part was the scratches got worse. I then clocked that they were filled with muck, grease and black polish remnants (well, Tcut, not polish) and so I went around them all with a cotton bud soaked in alcohol. When they then vanished, leaving the frame looking how it should.
Midschoolfool:
OK. So there is now a back wheel and chain, where there was not a back wheel and chain before :LolLolLolLol:
Was a breeze. Very well designed frame tbh. Even has a London mod built in.
So I had a look over the two gyros. The SNAFU is just a plastic sliding collet thing. The Stolen? has bearings. As such I did not want to dip it in caustic, as I can't get it apart to grease them and caustic soda and bearings don't go well. So I decided to use the SNAFU. But of course, it is red. I also have a Proper top plate, but it is dark gold. No good. And so, once again it is...
Time. Or, as I quipped last year (but none of you lot got the joke, I am ashamed of you being 80s kids !) :LolLolLolLol: "That's, what my heart yearns for now"
I bet you a tenner you have that stuck in your head all day now lmao.
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GET YOUR BOOTS ON !
:LolLolLolLol:
The KHE sticker fell off over night. It is tacky paper shite, and the adhesive has gone being 30 years old. So I made a new one. Will get some photos later. I can tune the rear brake pads now later too when it cools down a bit.
Midschoolfool:
Again I am stuck. Which is highly irritating, given that it all goes together very well. Unlike a lot of other experimental mid school frames I have fought in the past, this one seems to have been designed really, really well.
OK, so what has been done...
Back wheel, tyre and Gsport gland fitted last night. I was hoping to put one on the front wheel, and I could, but the peg bosses extend out a little too far toward the hub and foul the gland. Booo. I also tried it on the freewheel side of the back wheel, but again it stopped the freewheel going on. If I had a smaller thread freewheel it may clear the body, but sod that noise. Shame, as it adds a lot of beef to the look. I might look into whether I could use my CNC machine to take out the centre hole to clear the freewheel, but that would be a lot of planning, drawing in 3D and then executing.
The chain went on earlier. Easiest chain I have ever fitted.
I have run the dual lower cables. Obviously can't set them up as there is still no gyro on there (oven pride delayed, boo) and so on. The bars and stem need to come back off so I am limited in what I can do.
Found a SNAFU linear dual upper cable, forgot what it was actually for.. It was BNIP, and I bought it to fit to the Morales. The lever was also modified (cut out at the back) to allow it to work. Unfortunately for the levers and the cable I then got 6 piece Standard Strips, which need a 1" over sized lever. Hence why it was all left over. I will probably change the outers to black, IDK. We will see when I can actually start to get it to the correct size and etc.
So aye, quite a lot done in quite a small chunk of time. Like I say, this bike just seems to flow really well and hasn't fought back at all. This one? will be 100% ride ready, unlike the Pork (which still needs the wheels trued and the gyro sorting) and the Morales, which still needs buttoning down and so on. All small things on the Morales, but I wouldn't ride any of them any way given they will be stored in my bedroom.
It's heavy. And when I say heavy? I reckon this is my heaviest bike. I read that one guy who built one weighed it, and it came in at a whopping FORTY EIGHT pounds. And his build did not even use terribly heavy parts. What you may not see is that the top and down tubes, like the Morales, are 2". It has many braces the Morales does not, and a ton of extra tubing to join it together, also unlike the Morales. The rear stays, like the Morales, are 1". Why it doesn't look like it? IDK. Maybe it is the colour throwing light. But when Mike told me it was a tank? he was absolutely correct.
Another oddity is that the chain stays are not one bent tube. They intersect in the middle, and make a V rather than a swooped curve. Very, very nice tbh.
I would imagine though that like the Morales and many other bikes of this era things changed quite fast and pretty radically which resigned them to the annals of time.
Chilli Rinse:
Looking good there man. 48 pounds, are you serious :popcorn: on yours :LolLolLolLol:
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