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latest project: "Old Cro" the R-evolution

OldCro tango

1 step back, 2 steps forward
One always hopes that a project can proceed quickly & smoothly to it's conclusion ... RIGHT !

There's always a demon lurking somewhere in the shadows to thwart the best of plans and attempts ! No project runs to completion without glitches, eh ? The front shock mount worked perfectly with the donor-Duc-mock-up shock ... Not so with the first Ohlins intended to replace it ÔÇô interference with the perpendicular reservoir. Not so with the second ÔÇô parallel reservoir and adjusters, but still a poor fit ...

so the entire back of the frame comes off ...

new brackets made ...

frame rails re-cut and re-placed ...

and, finally, we are back on track to "make it right" and just about almost to that stage of finish ... where we were 2 weeks ago ...

I thank "the gods of speed" that Randy is a patient man and a consummate professional.

1 step back, and 2 steps forward ÔÇô swing your partner, and here we go.

The Ohlins is now at home with a "new & improved" front mount, the cross-brace above the swing-arm will be re-placed ... and soon ... on to the sub-frame !

vanzenohlinsfit005.jpg
 
main frame complete

Is that a reference to Team Incomplete ?
Glitches and dance steps be damned. We have a main frame ...
and a big dog whos name is not known to me ... yet.
vanzenJan20001A.jpg

vanzenJan20004A.jpg

vanzenfinframe003.jpg
 
Vanzen, at least your project is well protected... but I thought it would be by a boxer... :laugh :laugh :laugh looks lit a mix of great protection, maybe boxer/pit mix....:laugh
I love it!!:whistle :dance :lurk
 
mailed Randy to get the dog's name

so I could give the pooch some credit on the website.


LOL. but, yes. a boxer would be most appropriate !
 
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WARNING! This is supposed to be humor!

How come it always looks so easy on Orange County Choppers? :bolt
 
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consider what they build ...

WARNING! This is supposed to he humor!

How come it always looks so easy on Orange County Choppers? :bolt

I watched those clowns cut the backbone out of a frame on one episode ...
No frame table ...
Not even fixture or clamp one to hold the headstock in a vertical plane ...
let alone ANYTHING to hold an alignment of any sort ...
JUST SITTING THERE ON THE LIFT !
They whacked it apart with a sawz-all, and welded in a curved replacement ...

"Now THAT looks AWESOME !" Pauly says ...

ROTFLMAO

I'm not much of a "chopper" fan, but I do actually appreciate the "art form" ... and there ARE some good builders out there contributing to that genre – but these OCC jokers aren't them ! ! !
 
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Small production run

I am interested in the idea of a boxer motor in a modern frame like you are haveing fabricated. Would your builder consider making a small production run if folks are interested? I would like to hear what your riding impressions after you get it running.
 
limited production

I am interested in the idea of a boxer motor in a modern frame like you are haveing fabricated. Would your builder consider making a small production run if folks are interested? I would like to hear what your riding impressions after you get it running.

Yes, I would think that could be arranged, ping me off-line with specifics and I'll put together some facts.
 
Possible small frame run

Great Vanzen,

I am following your build with great interest and when you have it on the road or track and can evaluate the results I will try and round interest for a small production run. This is a great idea you are going to realize.
 
all in due time

First order of business is the aluminum sub-frame (to carry the rear mount for the gas tank, Yam TZ125 FRP seat-base, electrics, and 160#s of my sorry a$$). Now in progress.

Then the frame comes home. At this time, I'll do a comparative weight analysis with a stocker, preliminary assembly for fit, and consider misc. brackets, and etc.

Apart once again for a trip to powder (Exotic Coatings, Romulus, Mi http://www.exoticcoatings.com/index2.html ...)

I'll continue to post pics & progress here.
 
now back at home

OldCro says farewell to Union Ill.
My gratitude & appreciation to Randy, Carson, & FRAMECRAFTERS for a JOB WELL DONE !
vanzenX-comp001.jpg
 
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at the SCHOOLHAUS

...finally, back at home and in the "living room" where it is warm even on the coldest of Michigan winter days ... the OldCro gets fitted with an Airtech Duc F1 fairing ... some major cutting and re-shaping required to get the FRP to skin the OldCro's skeleton ... kinda painful to take a cut-off wheel to all that expensive new glass ! NOT ! What they say about broken eggs and omelettes is true !

The established relationship of the fairing and the frame will be necessary to devise a mounting:

Croatschoolhouse.jpg


.. so where to get aluminum tubing stock to fab a fairing mount – uh, without buying it, eh ?

Bearing in mind that I am the consumate pack-rat, I thought and remembered:
13 years ago when I first moved into the schoolhaus, the previous owner had left some "crap" in the garage, stuff he just didn't want to haul away, I suppose. There were some bundles of shingles, 1/2 cans of paint, misc. lumber, the usual crap ... and in the rafters, hanging in a jumble, the remnants of a badly landed hang-glider that the PO had flown and crashed and resolved to save and repair and never did ... now where did I trashstash that damn thing ?

... Right where I had dropped it when I first cleared the garage 13 years ago as it luckily turns out, in the weeds, next to an old ceramic kiln and a barrel of coal used to fire the forge.
Enough straight and salvageable alloy tubing to do the job + a few more, I suspect !
Sometimes, life is good, and then there's just no stoppin' you !
 
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Since Vanzen doesn't post here very often, I hope he won't mind me speaking for him (he posts a bit more in another forum where I hang out). The short story is that he's been pretty busy with work lately. He's in trades and the work can be feast-or-famine. The upside is that once the work slacks off again, he might have some more cash to spend on getting the bike closer to finished.
 
I shuddered when I saw what you were suggesting to do to this icon of engineering. Not because it was sacrilege, but in anticipation of the response of the guardians of purity. Wasn't disappointed either.

Good job, fine work. Let the sparks fly! Twenty years from now, the collectors will be ho-hum at yet another garden tractor, but bidding high for an authentic piece of "in the day" racer mods, ie, the HD "board trackers"
 
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