Recently a Bikernet Contributor screamed at me in all caps, “Goddammit Bandit get off your ass and write something, give us a tech. Do something even if it’s wrong.”
An easy assignment albeit daunting. For some reason the last couple of months scrambled like a holiday on meth. What happened? Hell I don’t know? So here goes the wheeled-wing story.
I have a 5-Ball neon sign. It was always destined for the front of the building. It had a spot, an electrical connection, brackets were in place, and I was just waiting to refurbish the brick exterior.
Then I met an architect who owns a business just in the city of Long Beach. I stopped by his building one day and during lunch he bitched about city of Los Angeles requirements. He was being fined for some aspect of the sign on the front of his own building. Then he told me about the annual city charges for your own sign on your own building.
The conversation brought out the outlaw in me. I recently spoke to an attorney, Hamster friend who explained how I could paint a mural on the side of the building and it fell under the first amendment. I scratched my beard and make a vast Bikernet editorial decision. I was going to create an art piece for the front of the building and what could be better than a winged-wheel, the classic of classics motorcycle art object.
First, I wanted a large wheel and went on the hunt. I needed a blem, a second, a damaged wheel, but I was looking for one of those monster wheels, like a 26-incher. I also thought about needing an extra brace to hold the wings so I needed something billet. Fortunately Sam, from Ridewright stepped up and offered me a beautiful 26-inch billet wheel in a simple contrast cut design at a killer deal. Sam Wakim is head honcho over at Ridewright Wheels, the largest custom spoke-wheel manufacturer. He hooked me up with one of his 26-inch billet wheels from his newly introduced line of El Camino forged wheels.
I rocked from that point and started to look through my metal bin for materials. I went on line for illustrations of wings. Ultimately I looked to Google for direct information on how birds fly, or how wings work. I found out some fascinating info including this video:
They had a deal brewing on large almost 1-inch diameter furniture tacks with 12-guage shotgun shell brass bottoms. I ordered a test bunch and discover they weren’t solid brass but plated. I still ordered a bunch more.
Then I roamed next door to U.S. Tow, a large vehicle tow yard. They had a bunch of leftover welding products from the previous shop and said I could dig through it. As it turned out they had some large slabs of hinges in stainless and mild steel. I saw the wing connection to the hinges with the links in the center forming the spine of the feather. I grabbed a bunch and started to test different elements and designs.
I also ordered some test brass washers from McMaster Carr. Unlike Jeff Decker, the master of metal sculpture, I try to find elements that work to portray my efforts, not build them from scratch. I have so much respect for his talents, and someday would like to give it a shot. I tried working with the stainless hinges, but they didn’t take to my brazing efforts. I like the brass to flow for a strong lasting bond. Plus the mild steel feathers could be TIG welded to the arm.
I made the arms out of inch and 1 ¼ heavy-walled tubing. I cut and welded the elbow joint and used a press to create the arch. Dr. Feng, the master Bikernet Certified Welder gave me a hint. “When bending thick wall tubing it’s best to use the press in multiple locations for a more continuous flowing arch.” I’ll know better next time.
Once I had one arm completed I started messing with the hinges as the main feathers. I discovered I didn’t have enough pieces for both wings so McMaster Carr came to the rescue again. I had a plan and started to carry it out.
When I completed both wings with the first band of features I was pleased and the locals were blown away, but I felt I needed another layer of feathers and I started to search again. In a dark bar a man wearing a hoodie and carrying a sidearm whispered something about Action Metals. Talk about a strange place. It’s a grubby maze of cinderblock walls and dumpsters full of recyclables. Strange folks are lined ups to offer beer empties, plastic, or anything metal.
Behind the sea of grocery carts stack high with trash bags full of collected and crushed beer cans is a metal supply portion of the business. Also included are bins of brass from old brass lamps to stained and tarnished ashtrays. I sniffed around, and then one of the staff showed me to the rafters where chunks of odd metals were stashed.
I came back with a handful of brass artifacts and a sheet of brass plate about 1/16 of an inch thick. The brass pots were very thin and I decided not to cut them up, but I started cutting brass feathers out of the brass plate and shaping them on the belt sander. I brazed each on in place making certain to make each wing identical.
As a final touch I added an additional row of the furniture shotgun tacks. I couldn’t resist I put it together as I started to negotiate with several companies on a tire. Actually, Biker’s Choice stepped up and offered a spoke wheel at one point, but they don’t carry 26-inch tires. The only source I knew of was Vee-Rubber. They are distributed solely by MetalSport Wheels a few miles away, north on the Long Beach Freeway.
Again, I wanted a blem, but I wasn’t able to procure the, “Yes” word or even a “Maybe.” Once more it dawned on me, McMaster Carr. They actually carry massive tubes of rubber up to 5-inches in diameter, but not the length I needed. Then I stumbled into Home Depot and gave it a shot. I found some sort of perforated irrigation tubing in 10-foot lengths and 3-inches in diameter. It worked.
I bought eyes with threaded stems, couplings, chunks of chain, and decided I would try and new Rustoleum paint process called Never Wet. It’s a two-stage process. I left the unit set so the brass flux would chip away then hit it with Scotch Bright and a wire brush to knock off the surface rust.
The coating left a milky cloudy haze on the metal. I might satin clear-coat over it in the future. I mounted my bracket and it was time to install the wheel, but terror struck. Could it be handled without a scissor lift? I called Gary Baines, one of the hardest working guys I ever met and he offered a massive lift, but not for a couple of days.
I called the official certified Bikernet electrician, Kyle and he was on the spot. We made on feeble attempt then gave up, but he mentioned a rope. I called him back. “Let’s give it a shot.” He begrudgingly came up the stairs to the roof. With a motorcycle tie-down strap as a safety belt around our wing we let it over the side. It was a breeze and the wheel hung with pride.
But once down I discovered a mistake. I leaned the wings back slightly and it didn’t work. Plus we needed a safety strap to keep the art from swaying too much in the wind. We needed the scissor jack. Two days later it was delivered and did the trick.
There you have it. Another mission accomplished… Let’s ride.
