Inspiration

inspiration [ˌɪnspɪˈreɪʃən]

n

1. stimulation or arousal of the mind, feelings, etc., to special or unusual activity or creativity

2. the state or quality of being so stimulated or aroused

3. someone or something that causes this state

4. an idea or action resulting from such a state

5. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) the act or process of inhaling; breathing in

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

Deep in my hardrive, a collection of imigary:

It could be a colour, a style, a component, a modification, or just simple admiration at someone's effort.

More inspiration.

I'd already ordered an Aluminium Number board, albiet an oval shape, when I spotted this. A 100mm "Dominator" lamp will sit in it nicely. I've even found some nice billet mounting brackets for the number board, but at $40 a time, I'll keep looking for now.

 

I like the look of these drilled brake plate's

Nice short "underslung" Spannie on a DT based bobber. I've found an interesting pipe kit that allows you to make up a pipe to fit.

To quote AJS Motorcycles "Two Stroke Exhaust Kit. All you need to fabricate your own classic 2 stroke expansion chamber. Suitable for 250cc - 410cc. As used on our own Cotton replicas.
Each kit consits of:
1) Front bend. 2" Diameter.
2) Front cone.
3) Centre section.
4) rear cone.
5) Tail pipe (35mm OD ready to accept our STEALTH muffler).
All sections are seam welded. You just need to angle the sections and hold together with masking tape until you are ready to tack and weld" Sounds easy!

I'm still a bit loathed to start until I've got the paperwork back from the DVLA. The bike needed to be inspected - check the frame number was ok - which I've done, and they've located the bike, so should be all OK. Once I've got the V5 in my name, I can move a bit further. 


I've got all the parts to fabricate the seat, and lower and rebuild the forks. In fact, all I need now is a Tank and some rear dampers.

Fluid Engineering

Well, fluid in my thought's. 

My ebay sourced seat unit arrived. A nice bit of kit, and, seemingly made to fit the TS250 frame. Sitting perfectly over the rails, and married up to a cheap (as in a tenner, as in useable but in need of love) GT250 Fuel Tank also found on ebay looked pretty good. The tank will need some sheet metal work altering to fit perfectly, but that could have been easily achieved by grafting in a small section of the original ER Tanks underside. But, and it's a big but...................................


With the seat in place, the original bars dropped to give an idea of the seating position if fitted with some "Clubman" or "Ace" type bars, and my 6'2" frame (recovering from a prolapsed Disc) did not sit well on the TS250's dainty frame. Flat drag bars may help a bit, as would some rearsets - I kinda guessed where I thought my feet would end up, but concerned that I'll end up with a bike I cant ride for more than a few yards I need a re-think.


Wondering back to my thoughts about including some "Bratstyle" styling in the bike, the simple fact that I like "Street Tracker's", and the donor bike's off road pretences................................................

Clean and simple rump

and I like the use of number boards

even more so incorporating the headlamp unit

and I really like the idea of removing any factory airbox

Bratstyle seems to get it's influence from Cafe Racers, Bobbers and Trackers

Off to the Classic Jap Show at Knebworth today, mainly for it's Autojumble. I really need a fuel tank that I like as my starting point. The seat unit - if I go Bratstyle Tuck n Roll - has already been fabricated in the grey matter a dozen times, and the rest will be driven by the seat and tank.

How to Lower Front Forks

"Low Buck Garage Tech" posted on XS650 Chopper, by Mulligans Machine. Another great article giving step by step instructions on dropping front forks.

Follow the link: MULLIGAN MACHINE: Low Buck Garage Tech

 

Rake and Trail

Some thing of interest if you're new to bike building - like me.

Rake and Trail explained in layman's terms found on Bikearama's Blog

Often mentioned in the main stats when looking at a new motorbike, but what do motorcycle rake and trail actually mean and why would you need to know this? Firstly, these terms refer to steering geometry and so rake, trail and offset effect handling and are directly linked to each other, altering one will effect the other. So if you want to alter the handling, cornering ability or straight line stability, rake, trail and offset are some of the first things that you should look at.

Motorcycle rake

Rake can be described as an angle at which the headstock of the motorcycle is inclined when compared against a vertical line drawn perpendicular to the ground. The rake angle effects steering ability, the smaller the rake angle then the easier the bike is to corner but will be less stable in a straight line.

Motorcycle trail

The distance on the ground between a straight line drawn through the center of the front wheel spindle and a line drawn through the center of the headstock axis. The greater the trail distance, then the greated the straight line stability but the harder it is to make the bike corner.

Motorcycle offset

The distance between a line drawn through the centre of the steering stem/ headstock axis and the centre line of the front fork tubes. Typically the offset inversely affects trail, if offset increases then the trail will decrease.

The diagram below illustrates each of the measurements and how they are calculated:

The relationship between rake, trail and offset

• If you increase the rake, the trail increases
• If you increase the trail, the rake increases
• If you increase the offset for both yokes then the trail decreases
• If you increase the offset for only the top yoke/ triple tree then the trail will increase
• If you increase the offset for the bottom yoke/ triple tree independantly then the trail will decrease

How to alter a motorcycles rake, trail or offset

So why would you want to alter these values? Well if you plan to cruise mainly straight roads then you don’t want your arms getting tired by constantly correcting and holding the bike in a straight line, so you would want to increase the trail and decrease the rake. Which is why the American choppers have such long front forks to give great straight line stability. If you wanted handling around corners you would do the opposite to allow you to throw the bike around the corners and of course there is a fine balance to get the best of both. Also such inventions like steering dampers allow you to have a very low rake but keep the bike stable by stiffening the steering movement which you can buy as an after market part. So, love the look of the bike and the performance of the engine but hate the handling? Alter these values.

You don’t need to be a mechanic or an expert to be able to alter the steering geometry and it can be done in a variety of very easy ways, just remember that you’re the one who has to ride it, so you take your life in your own hands. So for instance with my Yamaha XS750 the front forks were originally quite long, which is pretty useless for a cafe racer, so new shorter forks were put in to lower the rake and to improve the handling around corners.

Motorbike rake and trail are also not only affected by the frame construction but by a myriad of other factors (which you can alter) such as:

• Rear suspension – lowering it will increase rake and trail
• Front forks – shorter forks will decrease rake and trail, also you can alter their position in the yokes to help shorten their distance
• Aftermarket yokes/ triple trees – alter the offset to then alter the trail without affecting rake
• Wheel diameter – smaller front wheel will decrease rake and trail, smaller rear wheel will increase rake and trail
• Tyre thickness – same as the wheel diameter

More importantly when riding the bike, braking and suspension travel will also dynamically alter the rake and trail, for instance, as you brake hard on the front, suspension will compress under dive thus decreasing trail and rake potentially inducing wobble in the bike. Bare that in mind if you make any alterations as you could end up with negative figures under extreme braking conditions. Additionally heavy luggage or pillion on the rear may also effect your rake and trail measurements slightly – which is why you should always alter your rear suspension preload.

Also remember that while any alterations may seem small and un-noticeable at slow speed at higher speeds their effect will be magnified, such as reduced straight line stability!

Starting point

Stripped down to a rolling chassis, and ready to start measuring up. The frame will only require minor mod's. Lose most of the rear seat subframe, and remove all unwanted brackets. The planned shorter front forks and 19" front wheel will decrease the rake and trail, which will quicken up the steering nicely. The donor bikes Fork tubes are behond economical repair, but will be used for some trial and error cuts. A nice pair have been sourced from ebay for £22.

What direction?

This photo has been my desktop for a while now, and for the first time, my wife - a bike hater - said, ooo, thats nice, is that what yours will be like?

 

Got me thinking though!

A few tick's on the wishlist

I've been able to make a small start. Anything with a thread is getting a good soaking with Penentrating Fluid - daily.

Tank, Seat, Bar's, Wiring Harness, Mudguards and Oil Tank are all removed.

In the meantime, the ebay search engine is getting full throttle. I've managed to find a few bit's and bob's that could be useable. (photo's all the original listing photo's)

Glass Fibre, Alloy base, and upholstered and listed "Used but as New"

It's the 1st seat I've seen wide enough to fit the subframe.

Honda CD Wheel look's salvageable, and was cheap enough.

Oil Catch Tank - 180mm high could make a decent Two Stroke Oil Tank

280pc Stainless Socket Head Set - cheap at £10

TS Chrome Headlamp case, listed as rust free - hopefully it is

Vic Camp Suzuki

While trawling the web for some parts, I've stumbled across the Vic Camp Suzuki. A club race bike based on the TS250.

 
"During 1975 the former UK Ducati importer Vic Camp created a new lightweight 250cc racer based on Suzuki's popular TS 250 trail bike. Although the choice of base motorcycle may seem somewhat strange the result was a very effective clubmans racer which proved to be popular. The basic engine, which had a five speed gearbox, was effectively half a T500 twin for which a great deal of tuning information was available. It had also formed the basis for the TM 250 Challenger which delivered 30 bhp in comparison to the 23 bhp of the TS and Suzuki had marketed a tuning kit in the States for the TS that effectively took the engine up to the TM's state of tune. The standard TS frame was fitted with shorter forks from the Suzuki range and a disc brake was fitted. A full fairing, racing tank and saddle together with clip-ons,rear-sets and an expansion chamber completed the conversion. In all it is believed that 48 Vic Camp TS 250s were built, but other specialists, inspired by the success of the Vic Camp machines created similar motorcycles"

 
Yet more inspiration.

Initial Hurdles

With so many, where to begin.


Front wheel. 21" is just too big. A smaller front wheel should quicken the steering, give me a decent tyre choice, and if I can find a wheel from another model - a road bike rather than a dirtbike - improve the braking by having a larger brake. (I really would prefer a drum brake)

Suzuki GT550 Front End. But would it fit?

Front Forks. At 85cm in overall length, are they too long? If I shorten them - possibly easier than replacing them, although a complete front end from a road bike would resolve two problems - and have a smaller diameter wheel, how will the handling be. The standard forks are 36mm in diameter, many Suzuki alternative's, such as the GT above have a smaller diameter. Again, how will this effect the handling?

Looks simple enough, does the bike need it?

Rear Suspension. The ER Model has the rear shocks at a more acute angle. If I fit a shorter rear shock to match the ride height with the front end mod's this will increase the angle further.What effect's will this have on the handling? More of a concern, what effect will it have on the strength of the shock? Will I be fabricating some alternative mounting points? As with the front, would I be better to replace the entire rear end? If so, how or where can I find a list of suitable donor bikes?
Electrics. It appears most have been removed. From battery to lights. I need to see whats missing before I decide on the best action. Is it worth replacing them? Can you still get a daylight only MOT? What are the alternatives? What do I need to buy?


Am I still convinced this is a good idea? Actually, yes. It's a challenge.

and so it begin's

From this

to this

and eventually to something like this?

Yes this is a Suzuki T500 based Cafe Racer, but you get the idea.

The second photo is of an American build, based on a TS250. It can be done.

In truth, I can't start the build until November or December this year. I simply do not have a workshop to work in. When the Bob the Builder has finished, I'll have a nice new garage, and then the build will start in earnest.

In the meantime, I'll scour the web and visit some Autojumbles, gathering the bit's n bob's I need to convert my Suzuki TS250 into a back road scratcher - I hope.