Gs450 cafe flat track bobber thingy

[pete]

Agreed, from what you said you wanted, you definitely need that rear end up higher. Is the rake out front going to stop you getting the front high enough? I think once you've lifted the rear it will be ok, but not sure...

[mlc216]

holy crap the roadie costs like three times as much as the GS. (nice bikes though all of them) and the rat rod has some potential too. I think you have more toys than me and that is definately saying something.

this is pretty interesting though i have never seen one go from rigid back to sprung. looks cool.

That road bike is my wife's! And the mountain bike underneath it is too... my $5000 steel framed singlespeed is chilling against the wall on the other side of the car. Helps that I used to manage a bike shop before I decided to actually use my engineering degree haha. And PLEASE don't call the car a rat rod! It will be a super classy late 50's styled kustom when I get done!

Agreed, from what you said you wanted, you definitely need that rear end up higher. Is the rake out front going to stop you getting the front high enough? I think once you've lifted the rear it will be ok, but not sure...

Yeah I'm thinking it needs to go up, but I had already folded up the hoist and was also running out of things to put underneath the frame haha

It's stock rake up front... as you lower the back, it gives you more and more rake the lower you go. Most hardtails are slammed in the back, giving a lot of extra rake... Once I get the back end up high enough, (stock height or so) the extra rake will magically vanish haha

[Tim Tom]

This is a cool (re)build. I liked the chopper and I think I'm gonna like the cafe thingy too.

Since the frame is cut up in half and you've gotta remake the rear anyways you cold use this to actually get less rake than stock. If my understanding of this is correct you'd have a quicker turn in and steering response due to the smaller rake.

Of course this would also cant your engine a little bit more forwards, and so I'm not sure how it would affect that.

Just some potential food for thought. You're the one with the engineering degree after all .

Either way I like it.

PS the skateboard seat pan mock up is very cool.

[mlc216]

You're right, if I was to lift the rear more (or lower the front) I could effectively get slightly less rake than stock. Most flat track bikes that were designed to actually race do have less than stock rake for quicker steering to allow them to be thrown over on there side and stand up quicker too coming out of turns.

Since I'm trying to build something that will handle well and have a lot of suspension travel for the crap roads... I will probably shoot for close to a stock stance, and then make small changes with the suspension to get the feel I want.

I looked and looked and couldn't find anything suitable for seat pan mock up... and then I gazed into the corner and saw a couple of old decks laying there... voila! haha

[pete]

Cool... having that big wheel in the front probably helps lift the front a bit too.

If you went back to an 18" wheel, that should drop the front which means you don't have to lift the back as much.

One thing Mike-S found with raising his GSX250 is you need to be careful using longer shocks on the rear as there's not a lot of room for the chain over the swingarm and it can rub on it if you put it on too severe an angle.

[mlc216]

Pete, I'm going to put the stock 19 back up front... and I only want to lift it back to stock height or so... so hopefully I won't have any trouble with the chain/swingarm

[pete]

Cool, that should work nicely then!

Is it done yet?

[mlc216]

Not quite Pete, but getting closer!

Progress:


Nothing is welded yet, just working on fitment right now

[pete]

Cool, height of the rear looks much better there.

My only comment is if you drop the front now with the stock wheel, the seat area above the back wheel may angle up towards the back a little weirdly, if that makes sense...

Other than that, yes coming along nicely

[mlc216]

Getting closer

[pete]

Nicely done! Definitely looking good... and I see you were able to reuse the original rear part of the frame there too which is pretty cool.

I see my concern about dropping the front/lifting the rear in my previous post is a non-event... nice

[bleed gasoline]

so what did you end up doing with the spoker?

[mlc216]

Nicely done! Definitely looking good... and I see you were able to reuse the original rear part of the frame there too which is pretty cool.

I see my concern about dropping the front/lifting the rear in my previous post is a non-event... nice

I was able to reuse the rear part of the frame I removed from the other frame, but I moved it forward a couple inches to shorten up the rear a little and add a little angle to the rear shocks. If I lower the front any it would only be an inch or so

so what did you end up doing with the spoker?

Probably just save it for another day...

[mlc216]

Sooooo tired...

[pete]

Sooooooo impressed