Long Weekend Contruction

The long weekend was a great stretch of construction time. It rained every day so we couldn't do much riding anyway, though beer and barbecuing was accomplished regardless.

My major progress was on the floor runners. About 18 hours total for the pair was the total build time. Unfortunately I screwed up through the deck on my first one and had to recut it which took a lot of time but the next two went pretty quick. This photo shows me marking the pilot holes for the main side piece. I used cherry because it's a bit stronger than pine but still easily to work with and will stain nicely.

The hardest part for sure was grinding down the chamfer angles and getting them all to fit, but they turned out ok. I'm no cabinet maker so up close I'm sure they are a bit off. This picture shows me guling up the insides. I'm hoping the glue and screws will be strong enough to withstand the vibrations and weight.

Here's the final runners. The big funny looking washers are 2 of about 10 of those things that I found in the gutter coming out of the theaters after seeing Terminator. You never know what you'll find out there! Here you can see the 1/4" recess that will hold the brass footplate. I've been researching, thanks to my friend Sam, electro-etching so I think I may try that and do my own brasswork for those. The last part will be finishing and sanding, but I'm going to leave that until the paint phase.

Also, I finally mounted the shocks linkages to the seat with a crossbeam and some custom metal mounts I made. The coolest part is the damn things flex when you lean back in the seat. They actually function! I'm not claiming to have anticipated that, but man is it sweet.

On the list next: I have to mount some springs on the linkages but other than that I'm ready to start on the footpegs that will mount under the runners. But that will have to wait. Tonight...we ride!