Bikes?
For those who haven't seen it before, here's my 30-year-old, 100% original (except battery, chain, and tires!) '82 GS1000SZ Suzuki Katana. The first Suzuki to carry the Katana name, designed by Hans Muth and Target Design. Just turned 10K miles last month and still a fast, stable express train of a ride.
But, on the non-shiny side of the coin, lies this...is it a bicycle of a motorcycle? It's a Schwinn cantilever frame made on April 15, 1955, with a 1948 Columbia springer front fork and coaster brake on the rear. Wheels are Schwinn S2 rims with 26" X 2.125" whitewall brick patterned tires.
The seat is a 1970s Columbia lightweight.
The engine-turned aluminum "dashboard" was originally built by a farmer from central Indiana for his son's Schwinn Phantom bicycle. It has a clock and will eventually house a speedo and tach, I think. The front wheel will be respoked for an NOS drum brake.
Providing the non-bicycle motive power is a reproduction 1950-ish 148cc Whizzer motor and belt drive. The Whizzer motor is a 4-stroke valve-in-head design putting out about 3.5 HP. The motor will be rubber-mounted. The mounts for the Whizzer motor were prototyped in card stock, then laid out in Adobe Illustrator and cut out on our CNC plasma cutter.
Here my assistant Michael holds up a bracket prior to TIG-welding it into place...
The design brief for this long-term project is that it be constructed entirely from found parts adapted to the frame. I've been accumulating balloon tire bike stuff for years... So, no paint except for what might remain on the found parts themselves, no slick, shiny over-restored typical bike show stuff. Mechanically, though, it will be new and as safe as it's possible to make it.
