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If you have not read my back story section then this section may not make a lot of sense to you. Most people will (and have) tell me to build a trike or a motorcycle with a side car on it. Personally that's just not an option for me. Although they are both valid, neither option really has the same feel as leaning into the curves that we have here in central Alabama. These are just a few items that I know I will come up against. I will update this section as I progress and run into more hurdles.
Some questions/hurdles/roadblocks and solutions if I have them.
How do you plan to raise your kick stand?
Most people do not think about the kick stand as being a problem. The kickstand on a motorcycle is attached at the left side of the frame and is usually lowered or raised using the heel of the left foot. Now think about that action. In order to raise (or lower) the kickstand I would need to lean to the right putting all of the weight of me and the bike onto the right leg. Thus the problem. My solution is simple yet it took me years of thinking about it to figure it out (sometimes I can be slow). Just remove the kickstand and move it to the right side of the frame. Then when I use it I can lean towards the good leg. By also adding an extension to the end of it I will be able to raise and lower it by bending over and using my right hand as well. Problem solved. I will also have to route the exhaust pipes to the other side of the bike as well for this solution to work.
-top-How do you plan on stopping your bike?
Making a bike go really, really fast is pretty simple. With larger surface areas on the pistons, a cam that allows the valves to stay open slightly longer at crutial times, maybe adding some higher octane juice to the fuel or even adding additional chemicals to the mix like nitro. But no matter how fast you go, stopping is always a good thing.Now for those folks that do not ride bikes, let me explain how stopping on a motorcycle works. Unlike in a car where you simply press the pedal and the car slows, on a bike you have 2 brakes. The front and the back. The front brakes are usually disc brakes operated by a lever that you squeeze using your right hand. The back brakes are generally drum brakes (on older bikes) that are used by pressing a pedal under the right foot. So the non-riding folks out there would just say "what's the problem, just use the front brakes." The problem with that is using only the front brakes on a motorcycle is very, very unsafe. To see a video example of what happens to folks who only rely on their front brakes, click on this link. Now the idiot on that video clip was trying to stop on a straight stretch of road. Stopping a bike using the front brakes alone in a curve is even more stupid.
Me and my 72 Sportster (circa `89) Now it is possible (and often done on old school bikes) to just use the back brakes alone. But with the braking foot out of commision I need to come up with a new plan. The solution is pretty simple and I actually got the idea from tearing into an old VW Beetle. Modify the rear frame section and wheel to use a disc brake in the back. Then run the brake lines to an adjustable "T" valve (like on the VWs) so that the hand brake (front) actually operates both front and back at the same time. By using an adjustable T valve I can tweak how much stopping power I have in the rear compaired to the front. This option may require a larger master cylinder but I'll need to look into that further.
-top-How do you plan on lifting your right leg?
Another problem is putting my right leg onto the foot peg/floor board. Since the throttle is operated by the right hand I can't reach down as I pull off from a stop and raise my leg onto the foot peg. I also can not leave it on the peg while I am stopped because of balance reasons. This problem is something I have not fully worked out yet and is something I need to work on a bit.
-top-
Me kick starting a 1960s era Harley How do you plan on keeping your foot on the foot peg?
Another issue that is slightly related to the foot on the footpeg problem. How to actually keep the foot on the peg once it's there. It's against the law (and really unsafe) to strap it there in any fashon. Velcro is not a wise option either. That is why I'm leaning more to floor boards over foot pegs. Although it is true that floor boards are not as "cool" looking as forward mounted foot pegs, they do offer a solution to part of the problem. Balancing a dead foot on a 1 1/4 inch round bar of polished chrome and steel is not quite as easy as resting it safely on some custom made floor boards. It is always easier to make something work, then make it look cool, than to make something cool, work. At least that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
-top-How do you plan on handling the weight of a bike?
It's true. The average bike generally weighs around 600 to 800 lbs. But you also need to remember that I will not be lifting that weight. I will be balancing that weight. But there are some things I plan on doing to handle the bike even with my bum leg. First and foremost I am borrowing something very basic from the custom bike builders from the 50s. Less is more. By not putting anything on the bike that I can get by without I can cut back on the weight. Large fairings, trunks, even full skirted fenders add unessary pounds. Another item I can cut back on is the size of the engine. The custom choppers you see rumbling down the highway usually have engines that are 100 cubic inches or more in size (over 1600 cubic centemeters). To put that into something you may understand better, that is about the same size engine that was used on the Volkswagon Beetle back in the 70s. The engine I plan on using will be around 600 cubic centemeters. That may sound like a large step down and it is. But a 600cc motorcycle is actually fast enough to handle any situtation I will need even when a passenger is riding with me.Now this does pose a problem. I love the sound of a Harley. To me a custom bike is just not complete without that sound. The problem is Harley does not make an engine that small. But a lot of that sound comes from the design of the engine. It is called a V-Twin design and a lot of engine makers such as S&S, Revtech, and TP Engenering all use that design. But like Harley none of them make a small engine either. But all of the Asian manufactures make V-Twin designed engines, and they do make engines that small. So as much as I would like to keep this an All American motorcycle, I will have to compromise in some places in order to complete it. The problem I really have using a Honda or Yahama engine is most of their smaller V-Twin engines have standard items on them that violate other design areas for my new bike. For example, they may be water cooled. That means that I will need to hang a radiator on them. That really does take away from the clean uncluttered look of the front of the bike. It also adds weight to handle not just the radiator, but also the coolant that runs through it. Another feature (they think anyway) is that some of them use a drive shaft insted of a chain or belt drive. Using a shaft drive (much like in your car) on the bike takes away from a lot of the design work I can do on the frame. So, I'll have to do a lot more research and looking at different options to see what I can come up with. If you have any answers please let me know.
Another solution I've come up with to handle the weight is also a feature I've build into all my other bikes anyway. A very low seat height. By sitting lower to the ground it makes it easier to manuver when rolling it around and (in my case) makes it easier just to get on it. By lowering the seat height I can use my thighs to handle the weight (the 5% of use I have in my right leg is in my thigh). In the past I lowered the seat height was by using a rigid frame. This option lowers the bike a lot, but you have to sacrifice by loosing comfort. A rigid frame is just that, rigid (also called hard tail). There are no shocks in the rear of the bike. The frame itself does offer some bounce, but for the most part it is a very rough ride. But even with the shape my back is in, it still may be an option. Another option is what is called a Soft tail style frame. They have the look of the rigid frame with only slightly higher seat height, but they also offer the benifit of shocks. They still are not as comfy as a swingarm style bike but it does give me another option. But I have to weigh comfort with height. If it is extremely comfortable, I may not be able to ride it because it sits to high. Yet if the height is just right, I may not be able to ride it much because of my back problems. This is going to take a lot of thought and a lot more research.
-top-I know I'll get some mail from folks (95% of which will not have done anything like this before) that will tell me I'm wrong. I dont know what I'm talking about. It will never work. Give up and go home. You name it, and I'll get it. Am I guessing? Not really, I've done projects before and posted my progress on the web. Some have not worked, most have. So I'm writing from experience folks.
Those are just some of the problems I face. But the biggest one is one I have not mentioned yet. My largest hurdle is cost. Yep, even though I plan to build something from nothing; nothing in this case costs bucks. I've come to the conclusion that a new S&S engine and Baker 6 speed tranny will not be showing up at my door anytime soon so I have to lower my standards a bit and go Japanese. A new crate S&S engine usually costs around $4,500. Add to that another $1,000 for a transmission and you can see that it just blew my budget (around $5,000). And that would not leave money for a frame which will cost about $1,500, a front end which is another $1,500, seat, gas tank, fenders, oil tank, lights, and a slew of other items that go along with a project like this.
Raising a family on my disability checks usually takes it all and then some. So this project will really be fairly long term. But I think I like it that way. To ride something that took me years of work to build is far more satisfying than just ploping down a fist full of cash at a bike shop. I look at some of these bikes in magazines like Easy Rider, or American Iron and I read that they built their $75,000 custom in 2 months and I have to wonder about just how much thought really went into the bike. But that's just me.
