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Single sided swingarm?
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“Garage built, shed built”... stable built!
- Thread starter Bewarethemoon
- Start date
Okay, enough’s enough. I’ve sourced high quality Titanium (same stuff used by the Mercedes F1 team) to have replicants of R6 front axle & wheel spacers, swingarm pivot bolt & tube and rear XS650 axle & wheel spacers.
Also 7075 Alu to make the the centre spacers between bearings in both hubs
Also 7075 Alu to make the the centre spacers between bearings in both hubs
Well that explains the cost. I just thought you got ripped off for steel tubing. 
Wanna play around a bit? Touch a piece of that titanium to your grinder and tell me what colour sparks you get.
Wanna play around a bit? Touch a piece of that titanium to your grinder and tell me what colour sparks you get.
Well that explains the cost. I just thought you got ripped off for steel tubing.
Wanna play around a bit? Touch a piece of that titanium to your grinder and tell me what colour sparks you get.
I was sure that would give it away!
What colour sparks would I get Jim? You have me intrigued?
Bright pure white sparks. Very pretty... if you're into that geeky kinda thing.
Ah, so your big dream is to reduce unsprung weight?
I thought it’d be pretty cool to have some parts made from Ti and shed a bit of weight.
Luckily for me the father-in-law of my boss has 50 years experience as a machinist and a fully equipped home workshop
You can also shed some weight by making aluminium pistons for your brake calipers. Keep up the good work.
I was hoping for fuchsia. The only titanium I ever owned were valve keepers I got from Don Vesco's shop.
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Got a bunch of small parts back from anodising.
I asked my guy to try to match the ‘tone’ of gold used in this tank badge.
I’m happy with the results, wanted a light gold so it didn’t look to ‘tacky’
I asked my guy to try to match the ‘tone’ of gold used in this tank badge.
I’m happy with the results, wanted a light gold so it didn’t look to ‘tacky’
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This bike is going to be special.
Visited my boss’s father-in-law after work tonight, he had a look at what I wanted making and although he can’t or didn’t feel it was worth doing all of it, he’s going to make a replica of the rear axle, swing arm pivot bolt & front wheel spacers for me from Titanium and wheel bearing tube spacers from 7075 Aluminium.
I thought I’d take a few photos of his machinery as I thought you guys out there may appreciate them.
I thought I’d take a few photos of his machinery as I thought you guys out there may appreciate them.
Wow! That’s an impressive collection of machines in a small space!
Hey Toglhot
Thank you for taking a interest and the kind words!
I do plan on giving the frame the same treatment (fingers crossed I’ll have it back from my fabricator in the next few weeks). Jim’s handiwork on his build impressed me and I want to emulate that.
Your heart must of broken when you dropped that fork leg?
I’ve been so so precious with all the parts I’ve polished, I’m absolutely terrified of marring anything after all the time and effort that’s gone into them!
Are these the product you use?
Great job on the hubs, they look beautiful!
Daniel.
Thank you for taking a interest and the kind words!
I do plan on giving the frame the same treatment (fingers crossed I’ll have it back from my fabricator in the next few weeks). Jim’s handiwork on his build impressed me and I want to emulate that.
Your heart must of broken when you dropped that fork leg?
I’ve been so so precious with all the parts I’ve polished, I’m absolutely terrified of marring anything after all the time and effort that’s gone into them!
Are these the product you use?
Great job on the hubs, they look beautiful!
Daniel.
I have leftover Titanium from the stock I bought, would that be a poor choice for caliper pistons? Just chewing things over here, thinking about heat dissipation
The SR-71 was built from titanium because it was heated to over 800°C in flight with good physical stability. I think that's a good precedent to say.... yes, good choice for brake pistons.
The SR-71 was built from titanium because it was heated to over 800°C in flight with good physical stability. I think that's a good precedent to say.... yes, good choice for brake pistons.
Cheers Jim! I’m only just learning about Titanium, the more I learn the stranger a material it appears! I should of known you’d know heaps about it with your aerospace background.
I inquired into polishing the stuff with the guy who polished my hubs, he said and I quote “it’s the Jekyll & Hyde of materials, destroys abrasives, sanding out a scratch can be difficult and pretty much always remains dull no matter what you do”
I expected it to polish like stainless
Here’s what I’ve had machined so far...
All made from Ti apart from the axle centre tube spacers, the bottom is 7075 Alu, the top is original but alloy already, not sure what grade but seemed wasteful to reproduce. The swingarm pivot tube is also original (my machinist said this would be too difficult to make as it appears to have been relieved/ground internally)
The metal dust seals that are missing are off being yellow zinc plated.
The eagle eyed amongst you my notice some subtle modifications, the centre tube spacers have holes in to aid future bearing removal and the original swing arm pivot tube has shallow ‘channels’ cut around the grease holes (idea pinched from Jim).
All made from Ti apart from the axle centre tube spacers, the bottom is 7075 Alu, the top is original but alloy already, not sure what grade but seemed wasteful to reproduce. The swingarm pivot tube is also original (my machinist said this would be too difficult to make as it appears to have been relieved/ground internally)
The metal dust seals that are missing are off being yellow zinc plated.
The eagle eyed amongst you my notice some subtle modifications, the centre tube spacers have holes in to aid future bearing removal and the original swing arm pivot tube has shallow ‘channels’ cut around the grease holes (idea pinched from Jim).
I’ve been a little quiet on here as of late, but I have been making progress I promise!
I stumbled across this perchance a few weeks back.
First time I’ve seen one for sale over here, it had the ever important matching rocker cover too so I couldn’t let it pass me by!
Unfortunately it did have a bent fin but I didn’t let this stop me.
I did my research on here and with ‘old boys’ I know and landed on a plan of attack.
I made little hardwood ‘widgets’ to fill the empty space between fins. I also made a tapered version to lightly drive between the pinch point to open it back up.
I obviously applied heat before hand, solely focused from beneath and I employed a old trick I was advised to of using soap to alert me when I had reached the desired temperature. When the soap turns black you’re good to go!
I was so so close and then.... it fractured!
My heart sank so deep when it went, my chest was beginning to swell as I thought I’d nailed it and just went for that last little push for perfection.
All is not lost though and I’ve had the head vapour blasted and the failure welded .
Tonight I wrapped her up all safe & snug and she’s on her way to Competition CNC in South Carolina for Craig Weekes’ porting model.
Sorry for the lengthy post guys but it’s been a minute and much has happened!
Cheers for looking.
Daniel.
I stumbled across this perchance a few weeks back.
First time I’ve seen one for sale over here, it had the ever important matching rocker cover too so I couldn’t let it pass me by!
Unfortunately it did have a bent fin but I didn’t let this stop me.
I did my research on here and with ‘old boys’ I know and landed on a plan of attack.
I made little hardwood ‘widgets’ to fill the empty space between fins. I also made a tapered version to lightly drive between the pinch point to open it back up.
I obviously applied heat before hand, solely focused from beneath and I employed a old trick I was advised to of using soap to alert me when I had reached the desired temperature. When the soap turns black you’re good to go!
I was so so close and then.... it fractured!
My heart sank so deep when it went, my chest was beginning to swell as I thought I’d nailed it and just went for that last little push for perfection.
All is not lost though and I’ve had the head vapour blasted and the failure welded .
Tonight I wrapped her up all safe & snug and she’s on her way to Competition CNC in South Carolina for Craig Weekes’ porting model.
Sorry for the lengthy post guys but it’s been a minute and much has happened!
Cheers for looking.
Daniel.
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