Rebel

Hey everyone, life is good again. I was able to finish some parts of the bike, and that makes it all good. Hell I might even have a job. But this is about a bike.

I finished the rear brakes. That’s right, something is finished. I picked up the T-fitting, I told you about last time, at Earl’s Supply. Well I headed right back there and picked up the nuts and furls and jammed for the garage. I had a length of steel 3/16 brake line already, and my Summit Racing Equipment flare tool was here. I was ready to go.

First thing I did was cut the automotive ends off the tubing. I wouldn’t need them. Then I measured the distance for the first bend. It would be where the line comes out of the master cylinder. After marking the center of the bend, I wiped out my “calibrated tubing bender”. It works great, so long as you like the radius. I did.

Next, I just followed my way down the right side of the frame. Making bends as needed until I was ready to head under the engine.

There is a rectangular cross member in the Atlas frame and I ran the tubing right down the center. I cut it under the engine so I can hide the pressure switch there. Out of sight, out of ugly.

Then I just cut a short section of tube to run out to the lower frame rail, bend 90 degrees and join the braided steel line. That runs to the caliper. Task complete.

The other major thing that got started was the exhaust system. I got a buddy named Jerry Gether. He has a mobile TIG welding outfit, and knows how to use it. I talked him into coming over and helping me out with the exhaust. The plan was to tack the pieces, I hacked together, on the bike. Then we took everything off and he finishes the welds.

Jerry did a great job in bullshit, poor conditions. I didn’t cut all the pieces well, so a lot of the edges didn’t line up completely. Even on places where I forced him to fill gaps he did a great job. Not that I didn’t get the “hairy eyeball” once in a while. Take a look at the shot. One weld had proper spacing. The other weld is where Jerry joined the continents for me. Not bad eh?

And this is what it looks like back on the bike. I know, there is a bit missing still. But I don’t have anymore useable pipe. I’ll get back to this after I run some down. There is supposed to be a place in El Cajon that has 1 ¾ in. stainless tube. I might just have him replace the straight piece from the front hole. Right now it’s made up of lots of little chunks. After I have a bunch of straight tubing I might just have him replace that.

Since we are talking about finishing things, the rear axle is finally done. That’s right, it’s done and it’s a fucking work of art. Joel cut off the excess material to get it close. Then he honed the damn thing until there was a 0.0005 slip fit with the bearings. Like I said before, he is a craftsman. Don’t ask him to “just wipe something out” unless you’re ready to be shown the door. Everything he builds is as perfect as he can make it. That’s usually damn good.

Now since the frame was ordered for a 1-inch axle the swingarm slots are that big. Now that I’m using a conventional ¾- in. axle, I’m screwed. The smaller axle flopped around in the swingarm. Probably meant it would be out of camber all the time. Hummmmm. Let’s see, the axle fit’s the swingarm right, now. I thought I’d just leave a short (0.010) shoulder on the axle to seat it in the swingarm slot.

Perfect! Now with the nut for the other side built the same way the axle is stabilized and ready to go. One last thing, for safety, is cross drilling the end and using a pin to keep the nut from unscrewing. First though, is to take the nut back down to the shop and get it cut to size and shaped.

Now that the axle was done, the brake caliper could be mounted. If you remember the brake rotor has a larger ID than the hub on the wheel. I had Joel make up a spacer that both fixes the gap and also moves the brake rotor out to where it needs to be. I just used the stock 2000-and-up wheel spacer on the inside, between the caliper and the hub. Since I’ve located the caliper right in the middle of the swing arm, I’ll just fab something on the swing arm and use it to hold the caliper.

Let me see, what else wasn’t done, the rear fender. Well, actually it was done, over done. I drilled a couple extra holes in the many attempts to get the fucker on and looking good. First with the ill conceived idea of using the Buell 17-in. wheel, then with the new one. It never looked good, period. Can you say crappy designed fender? I can. Enter West Coast Choppers 10- year anniversary sale. Anything you want for $99! I got me a Diablo rear fender coming. Gotta wait though, since they sold a fuckin’ million. It’ll get here and I’m guaranteed it will look good.

When the fender gets here I’ll have everything but the speedo and my custom blinkers. Ya, I’ve gotta wait until Joel has time. That doesn’t mean I won’t fire the fucker up in my parking lot though.

Here’s an update shot.

Stay tuned.

--Rebel

P.S. I got the job. Parts are on the way again.

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