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Jim's Chopper Diary - Can you smell what Jim's cooking?
June 2001 - Page 4

Bike is more together now than ever! Wayne 'Rice' Burner came and helped me hump the engine back into the frame...went very smoothly. He also brought the big mamma grease gun to ooze the brake pucks out of their housings...very cruddy and rusty, but they cleaned up OK The pistons are pitted but not too bad... not too good either.

I mounted the electrics box and started making the wiring loom. It's all done now except that I don't have handlebar controls so I am missing a bunch of wires. I now have three wire bundles waiting for the fourth bundle to arrive so I can tie them all together. I ordered a Custom Chrome basic handlebar controls kit with MC--$150.-- complete, which is great! It'll be here next Thursday, so I am basically stuck until then.

Sniff... Sniff... Sniff... Smells Like CHOPPER!!!

Forward Control Update:
To the left are the forward control bracket(s) that I am welding up to fit. Yes, I am finally getting to that stage. The brackets are now all welded and painted and awaiting installation. I will take detailed pics of how they look on the bike if anyone cares to make a set for themselves. Less than $50 total cost.

Below right are the pieces for the homemade forward controls. The long skinny levers are the movable part. There will be another hole drilled in each one, but I want to fit them to the bike first to locate that hole in the proper place. The one on the right is kinda put together so you can see what it will look like. The chrome footpegs were $9 for the pair from Toys 'R' Us bike accessories rack...they're the kind kids use to turn their BMX bikes into "stunt" or "freestyle" bikes. They come in 3 or 4 different diameters (these are the smallest) and are internally threaded...perfect for what I needed.

The assembled unit is all screwed together on a piece of threaded rod, which you can't see, since it's inside the black iron pipe piece (which is 5" long, BTW).

I hope to have them all fitted to the bike
tomorrow, and then I'll tack weld them together. Even without the welds, though, they are strong enough to take my weight.

The brackets are now all welded and painted and waiting installation tomorrow. I will take detailed pics of how they look on the bike if anyone cares to make a set for themselves. Less than $50 total cost.

Not shown in the pics, I also got the chain on...a beater I had left over -- just to see how many links I need when I order a new one. All in all, I am really excited to finally see my pile of parts all sitting in one place and looking like a motorcycle! Still about three weeks left to go, I would guess...but exciting nonetheless.

It's probably good to give the bike a rest for a few days, cause it's time to do some chores for my wife and take the kids out for the day to the Lake tomorrow...also, I stayed up til 3AM doing the wiring, and I'm a bit fried.

Thanks for listening (my wife still thinks I'm crazy).

JIM in NH