Porter Bicycles – Made in New Mexico, USA

Gentlemen,

Here is the problem..

burned through gasket

click on foto to enlarge

With the laminated gaskets the copper layers are quite thin. Probably .003-.004″ so what happens is that the very hot, I call them kernels of gas, begin to burn through the thin layer of copper and before too long, a year with daily driving, the kernels will burn across the very narrow area between the bores. What does one do? As, mentioned by others, deck the block and head surfaces. Use a solid copper gasket and a thick one at that, say .010-.030″. Use new head studs!. Use Triumph like figure 8 gaskets  (.002-.003″) around the bore holes for extra squish (technical term) in those areas. The Healey head was/is notorious for poor clamping, especially above the spark plug holes.

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Can any of you experts tell me the country of origin of this wonderful kids bike. And why don’t we see more like this as popular collector items?

Kids bike

click to enlarge

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..and you thought the banking at Talledega was steep..

Click here:
to see a few laps around the new Boulder indoor 143 meter track.  It’s short and not nearly enough banking for high speeds.

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Perhaps we should all send this bit of wisdom/sage advice to our legislators…

” When  considering any proposed governmental action, the first question must always be: “Where in the constitution do you find the authority for the proposed action?”  If that question cannot be satisfactorily answered there is no justification for further inquiry. ”

Byrum Lee, esq.

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Jefferson’s logic was superb and he turned out to be a  prophet.

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in  Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.
Thomas Jefferson

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from  those who are willing to work and give to those who would  not.
Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as  it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half  the wars of the world.
Thomas Jefferson

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can  prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people  under the pretense of taking care of them.
Thomas Jefferson

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government  results from too much government.
Thomas Jefferson

No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
Thomas Jefferson

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to  keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect  themselves against tyranny in government.
Thomas Jefferson

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time  with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Thomas Jefferson

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation  of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and  tyrannical.
Thomas Jefferson

Very Interesting Quote

In light of the present financial crisis, it’s  interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802:

‘I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous  to our liberties than standing armies. If the American  people ever allow private banks to control the issue of  their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the  banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks  will deprive the people of all property until their children  wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers  conquered.’

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No self respecting frame builder should be without a selection of ” Campy” tools.  The Italians have a wonderful penchant for making things that not only work well but look really cool.  Here’s the “complete” tool set for a builder.

I’ve a friend who bought the kit and turned the box into a coffee table. It’s probably going to be worth a fortune on e-Bay some day.

Also available from Campagnolo was a kit specifically to rebuild and maintain the company’s light weight freewheels… seen here (click on images to magnify)

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Click pictures to enlarge
Here is a project that I have been seriously dragging my feet on. It’s a pretty loosely done replica of a Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix car. The radiator, steering wheel and gas tank are authentic. As are the Marchal headlights (not shown). It was done with a Triumph Spitfire front suspension.

In this picture the coil over shocks, double A-arms and rack and pinion steering and the disc brakes have been removed. It was pretty hideous and the 13 inch wheels really looked out of place. I will say that it did work pretty well, though in typical Spitfire tradition it turned too far at full lock and just pushed down the road.

The owner asked “can you make it look a bit more like the original car?”

Well, silly me, how hard can that be? As it turns out, a lot!

I’ll jump ahead about 12 months and here it is as of now.

Here I’ve installed a 6 inch drop Ford axle. The hubs are also Ford, but they are upside down so I ended up with a manageable 4 degrees of positive camber. The originals had a ton more, but this at least looks right and won’t tear up the tires too fast (I hope) The parallel leafs are 26 inch hot rod springs with nearly all the arch removed. I added rear shackles from a MK 7 Jaguar. Originally the longest leaf just slid through a slotted receiver. I think there was less than a 1/2″ of spring flex. I think the only suspension was tire pressure!

The brakes are from an Austin Healey 100. That took a bit of machining! The wheels are MG TC wires and the tires are replicas from Coker Tire. This was the first screw up. I never considered the lack of offset in the wheels to accept the drum brakes. So track is wider than the rear axle. We can get some correct wheels made at a later date.

Here is some more hot rod stuff. Friction shocks. I’ll do some final shaping of the axle cap and other rough stage installations after it looks like it will all work.

This has been the most frustrating part. The steering gearbox. It must exit the engine cowling on the right side and connect to the steering arm at hub with a drag link off a Pittman arm. After scouring the world via Internet (as some of you know) I found a Volkswagen box that when rotated 90 degrees seems to fit the bill. A custom Pittman arm will have to be made. The connection from the steering column to the gear box was done with a couple bicycle cogs and some chain! The column now floats since it doesn’t terminate at the rack anymore. So I need to address that so it doesn’t derail the chain. Engineering at it’s finest…

I’ll measure up some numbers for the tie rod and drag link next week.

here’s the look I’m trying to achieve within reason and cost constraints..

Well, I got a bit side tracked with the track tandem bicycle project, sorry.

I have progressed a bit more towards making this project steer. I’m waiting for my machinist to produce a collar for the VW steering box to which I’ll attach the custom Pittman arm (also in the machinists hands).

I’ve got the tie rod arms and the steering arms attached to the hubs and the faux hand crank installed.

Here I have fabricated a chain guide between the column gear and the steering gear box input. I’ve also made retaining collars with roll pins through the column at the distal support. Would not want that chain to fall off at speed!

need more sheet metal

Now just need to make some more sheet metal panels  to cover the bare chassis and connect new brake lines.

Finally getting pretty close. The brakes and brake lines are installed and functional. The original like spring clamps are installed. Only thing lacking now is the Pittman arm and the two connecting rods to make it all work.  Should know next week if the work was successful.

Hooray!  The car made it’s debut on the mean streets of Albuquerque yesterday. I must say that I’m pleased with the overall results. As expected, there isn’t much compliance in the suspension, but it goes straight and turns on demand. Seems to be about the right amount of caster to give the very light front end some “feel”.

The fenders are mounted such that they now turn with the wheels. Need some new leather straps for the hood and still have to mount the Marscal headlamps somehow. The rear fenders also need to be moved so they fit the new 19 inch wheels. The brake master is bleeding by and makes for a very nervous test driver.  I’ll rebuild it tomorrow and venture a little farther away from home base.

I came across this picture, in the bowels of my computer, of the original configuration of the car. I must say the new version is a lot  more original in appearance.

The good news is that the owner was by today and was thoroughly pleased with the results to date. I’ll try to post a last photo or two after the lights are installed and the final dressing up is finished.

Here are the last pictures of the “Buggatti”  It still needs the leather hood straps, but the owner will take care of that. Hope you enjoyed following along.

Time for a drive!

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THE FRENCH IMITATE NO ONE! (And no one imitates the French)

This in today from another frame builder. He must be an American.

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Here1www.ABQKeirin.com is a link to my life time goal of bringing true Japanese style Keirin to NM.

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As promised, I’ve reunited frame and fork of a frame set that I always liked. It, unfortunately, never reached it’s possible potential. The rider, while on a Sunday training ride (his road bike) with the T-town guys, either crashed on his own or was helped ( I like to always add some speculation). So, his Olympic Pursuit trial the following day  was done in a good deal of pain. The bright spot, I guess, is that he managed a 6th in the Points race later in the week, which is all the more tribute to the rider and what is clearly not the best choice of bike for that event. It went to State track finals last year (2010), but was viewed in a poor light by the commissar’s. I was told that it “spanked” a lot of newer and lighter equipment. That is pretty reliable hearsay.

Here’s the general idea. It is Columbus EGO tubing. Mostly wing shaped. The chain stays, as I recall, were available in a couple of different shapes. I choose to use the triangular and have the fattest  side up, so it would help with the chokes, (actually these are venturis-note the cable guide air intakes on stays and the “calibrated” air jets in the choke tubes. Got to love those fat seat stays, even when they’re upside down.

It has a 101cm wheelbase, 77 degree seat, 74 degree head tube, 1.5″ rake (for stable steering on the measurement line) and a 10″ BB height.

These stays are wonderful for track use. They are so stiff, I was able to get the wheel very close to enhance the chokes effectiveness but, not worry that frame flex would cause tire rub. Luckily, that’s not much of an issue on a relatively smooth track. The tire shown is not original. We used Falcon ACCEL stretched Kevlar wheels with Continental Olympic tires.

Everything was done to keep the frontal presentation to the wind to a minimum. The top tube was kept as flat (parallel to ground) to decrease frontal area as the overall seat length would permit under a powerful rider. This is a constant in my racing designs, where the stays and top top rarely meet at the same point on the seat tube.

Here’s one of the old 60mm hubs. A Suntour Superbe. Double discs were used for the actual event.

Here’s the skinny frontal area. This has always troubled me some. Is it better to widen the spacing and just let the air pass through or close it down and use mechanical means to control drag?

This is the “business end” shot of the multi-choke concept. By the way, inserting tubes through tubes like this makes for a really stiff fork and decreases splaying in hard turns, Be careful if you try this, though. It can pull the insertion welds apart if you don’t use the right stuff, and I’m not giving any of those secrets away to my competitors. This one is illegal nowadays, so copy away if you want.

One can see the “calibrated” holes inside the chokes and the air inlets behind the BB shell. Well, they were, looks like some rust has changed the shape a bit.. It was painted black to help hide some of the trickery. Too bad because black looks heavy. A nice light blue metallic always helps the rider psychologically.

Well that’s about it. Have at it guys. Show me your better mouse trap. Incidentally, the frame was nicknamed “Squirt”  in reference to, well, one more squirt, if you get the drift…

One more caveat, This sort of bike is not for the casual customer. To make the details function, the bike must be ridden at over 28MPH.  Turbulent air starts at about 60MPH. So, that means at least 30MPH to get turbulence at the top of the spinning wheel.  I can just manage 26-27MPH for a couple of miles with someone chasing me. Not my cup of tea anymore. I should clarify a bit here, air can be turbulent at lower speeds, but it can remain laminar or in contact with the frame up to 60-ish MPH. All you theorists will argue that point , but my source was one of the smartest Indy car designers ever. I trusted him then and now, so get over it.. ;~)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and oh, I’m working towards another unique frame set for a rather obscure record attempt. Know any really strong riders? See “new tandem project” herein..

Dave 11/23/08

Here’s another in the same vein. It has 45 holes through various and sundry locations. This was one of the, “well let’s just let the air pass though” versions. There’s another around here somewhere that had an eccentric BB so we could change the relative seat angle. I think that Kent Bostick’s wife set a Kilo record with it but the guys never liked it too much.. I’ll dig it out anon.

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