5-Ball Racing 2012: Chapter 5

We faced another challenge in the shop: Too many projects. It’s almost as if I didn’t know which way to turn, so we kicked off a new work ethic. One project a day, to keep it sane. So far, it has worked well, and kept the pressure to a minimum. If I stroll into the shop and face five projects on one build, it’s easy to mutter, “I don’t have time today to deal with all these projects,” and peel out.

If I run into the shop and pick a one-hour project, because time is limited, then I’m cool and progress is made. So, we etched the new rule in the sand outside the shop and gave it a shot. This was the initial list of projects to choose from: Mount the Street Walker-supplied fairing, narrow the 7/8-inch handlebars, reposition the Custom Cycle Engineering risers, mount the Wire Plus speedo somehow, decide whether or not to run the Performance Machine front brake or fix the caliper bracket so it would reach the rare 10-inch rotor properly, figure out and mount the rear pegs and controls, make a chain guard, make mounts for the rear fender, figure out how to mount the seat and make it fit the fender, build a chain adjuster so the rear wheel could remain stationary, make an inner primary mounting system to align the belt from the clutch to the engine, and make fork stops.

I also needed to mount a steering damper and planned to modify the front fender to match the rear slightly. Oh, and I needed to think about a battery, which is sorta bad news. We could just jump this low compression puppy, but then we added the electronic Wire Plus speedo, so we needed power.

That was the initial list. Daily, we stumbled into the shop and hit one item, starting with the rear chain adjuster. It just happened that I had all the guts from an inner primary. We considered running the spinning sprocket adjuster from Low Brow, but with a 35-horse engine I wanted to avoid any drag possible, so we chose the stock shoe and I dug around the shop for parts and pieces, until I felt I had a metal formula in hand. One down.

My feeble confidence uplifted with the success of the Rube Goldberg chain tensioner, I attempted a front primary mounting system. It took plenty of guesswork to determine the estimated final position of the primary, since we couldn’t install the drive pulley. I tried to think of every possible adjustable scenario, and missed one. But I believe we can mill some adjustment space in the inner primary when we put the bike back together, after paint, and when we have the actual K-Magnum engine containing the Sportster bottom end and shafts. Two was sorta down.

Ray Wheeler, our Performance Editor, comes to the shop for consultation daily. We made a mad dash to Phillips Steel and purchased some metal, and discussed thick wall tubing. They threw a price of 10 bucks a foot, then I bought 6 feet of bar stock for 4 bucks. I was beginning to learn the steel-buying ropes. Watch your back. Ultimately, they purchased a 20-foot stand of this special tubing and sold me 2 feet to make spacers with, for five bucks. We returned to the shop and proceeded to make the rear mounting bars for the rear fender. Three down.

The next night, I dove into modifying the 7/8-inch goofy bars. I wanted to narrow them to fit into the Terry Lee fairing from Envy Cycle. He’s an amazing builder in the desert around Phoenix. He sticks to himself, but I wish he was down the street. I could learn plenty from this guy. He builds amazing motorcycles. I also wanted to back these bars out of the wind as much as possible. I noticed the opportunity to raise the bars just over an inch, by modifying the Custom Cycle Engineering riser system. I could also narrow the bars an 1.5 inches in the center. I made slugs for all the junctions, and it’s always a trick to cut curvy bars and then make them align on both ends. I made several
measurements, then rolled the dice. Four and five down. In addition, the Wire Plus speedo bracket fit perfectly between the risers for easy viewing. Four down.

Frankie came over and we took on mounting the fairing, which was sort of a trick. It had an odd shape, but I made a bracket off the lower tree, using a slice of old fender to fill the gap, then a couple of slightly bent bar brackets from the top triple tree to tabs mounted inside the Envy-supplied fiberglass fairing. Five down.

The next night, I started a major project, figuring out how my grandson could remain comfortably in position, and shift gears. This project took a couple of nights, and I studied the AMA rulebook for Bonneville racing for peg position requirements. “They must be 6 inches in front of the rear axle,” Ray said, and stomped out of the shop.

He was correct for the modified and stock classes, but when you step into the special construction area, the rulebook says, “peg mounting is discretionary.” My grandson, at 18 is around 6 feet tall. He’s almost too big for this bike. I needed to shove the pegs back as far as possible. I already made the Yamaha brake master cylinder and pegs fit the old vintage floorboard straps from the 1940-45 basket case. I picked them up and held them up to the frame after I read the rules. Fuckin’ amazing. They fit perfectly with one stud welded to the Paughco frame, but that didn’t answer the shifting quandry.

We discussed running linkage over the back of the transmission to the pedal, but there was nothing comfortable about this system, and I didn’t want him to be forced to shift his entire body to change gears. We started to look into a jockey shifting system, then I watched a video from Daytona. A guy had his clutch lever mounted to his jockey-shift arm. Not bad, and a distinct option.

But I had another crazy notion. We didn’t want Frankie to spend too much time with his hand away from bars. I came up with a notion to run the shifter on the right, just under the throttle. He could pull in the clutch, in the standard position on the left, let go of the quick throttle, shift gears with his right hand, grab the throttle and roll. No, it’s not ideal, and he’ll lose rpms between shifts, unless he can practice and refine his moves. But this way, he can remain comfortably in position throughout the run.

Since we never throw anything away, I went on a search through lockers and bins to try to find the elements, components, chunks, you name it, to make this work. I found a large chunk of bronze bar, and decided to machine it for a built-in bushing for the shift axle. I found a perfect steel axle 5/8-inch in diameter with anchor slots on each end. I called the staff consultant to discuss the procedure.

Ray always points out other opportunities, options, and manufacturing procedures. He point out how difficult it was going to be to bore the bronze stock. It was a bitch, but he suggested drilling it in small steps to reach the 5/8-inch goal. It worked, and two nights later, I was close.

I cut machined and threaded stock for the shift linkage and purchased two right-hand threaded flexible rod ends. I found a Dewey billet shifter arm and modified it for the shifter, but I’ll look for a 5-Ball shifter. I also found some old linkage, maybe from a Triumph. I bored it out and the pieces started to fall together. Six and seven down.

I still needed to modify the seat Berry Wardlaw built for the Assalt Weapan. We didn’t use it for the Weapan, but kept it stashed around the shop. It was perfect for the Bonne Belle with some slight alterations, shortening the stern plate, then modifying the side panel to match the Bare Knuckles fender. We were getting close. Eight down.

Jim Murillo called and we discussed paint options. I needed to jump on the front fender detailing. I filled the brake rotor area, then touched the front and rear sections of the fender to give it a slight design detail to match the forced fitment of the rear fender. We have ordered smaller Avon Tyres to give the necessary clearance, but I also though about Nate’s for tire shaving. Let’s see, how did we do with our list? Nine down. Not bad. Plus, I did work the chain guard into the mix, but there’s one missing element to be dealt with, the battery.