The 2 the Max Project

[hodakamax]

Wow, another report on the wrong size axle spacer on E-bay that the seller told me to "hammer it in". I gave E-bay a customer complaint and the seller a bad rating. E-bay notified me with a notice that it had been deleted be cause I'd committed extortion and threatened to close my account. My message was that the product didn't fit and the seller didn't care. I didn't even ask for a refund. Just airing my futility to my friends! I feel better now.

Max

[JackM]

Max, my wife and I have been using ebay almost since their beginning. The one thing (and pretty much only thing) you can go by is the sellers feedback. No matter how much you want to buy something you want or need, you are taking a chance if their feedback is low or less than excellent. JackM

[hodakamax]

I've been distracted this week by traveling to the Great Eclipse and other feeble excuses for not working on the project. Today I ran several things down and was going to give a mock fork assembly picture with the new clip-on bars. They came with some sleeves to adapt to different size tubes but as in the Three Bears story there was no "just right" sleeves. A bit of reaming will be necessary but no big problem and the price was right.

The straightened fork tubes as well as new axle the axle spacer was recovered from the machine shop today and the fuel tank is at the body shop for dent removal. The different larger braked 18" front wheel now fits and a 18" rear from a Ace100b is on the way. It's the same width and has a four bolt hub to save weight and allow for smaller rear sprockets.

So, some progress and the usual snags. All part of the project.

Maxie

[Bill2001]

And... and... and... eclipse pics?

[Bullfrog]

Below is a link to a 1 minute 19 second video clip of the eclipse showing what I saw from a mountain top in central Oregon. It was AWESOME!

https://youtu.be/ZZVQTm1ILHY

Ed
PS: Maxie, this project is GREAT! That double leading shoe front hub is wayeeee kewel for intended concept! And it looks good mounted up.

[Bill2001]

Awesome vid.

An airscoop at the front of the backing plate along with vent holes in the rear would look good and be "purpose correct" and functional.

[hodakamax]

And... and... and... eclipse pics?

Hey Bill. As for the eclipse pictures, long story. Being a photographer I planned for months on the photography of the eclipse that I'd waited seventy years to see. It was on my bucket list at five years old. I'd seen and photographed several eclipses during my lifetime but never the elusive total eclipse. I had all the gear from monster lenses to solar filters. A realization came upon me that I should just look at the eclipse as thousands of cameras were pointed that way. Someone will get a good shot. Several times in my life as a photographer I had somewhat missed several great moments by watching through a camera. Not this time. I just watched it. Wow. Before and after I amazed my friends with views through a filtered telescope, projections through binoculars, and pointing out the strange crescent images the sun projects through shadows under trees. We even saw weird diffraction shadows moving across the ground that I'd only read about. Awesome experience, didn't miss a thing! We even saw the con-trails of the two NASA WB-57 planes chasing the eclipse. That's my story on the event. A long wait but a great lifetime experience!

Max

[Bill2001]

I've been chasing eclipses since the mid-'60's and typically I'm so busy with science or photography that I've not gotten around to seeing an eclipse.
I was planning to just watch this one. Starting out in the wee AM, I decided that i was not up to a 400 mile round trip on a motorcycle on unknown roads and traffic. So i bailed put and watched it at home with friends at a 97% bite.
There will always be 2024 or 2032.

[hodakamax]

There are some things happening on the project. Hey, it's a small town but filled with talent. The tank is at a friend of mine's body shop to be rounded and primered. Business is good for talented people and it's hard to get them to stop for your project. I've kinda accepted all of this and it's OK. At least they fix things right even though they probably don't take me seriously. Another body shop lets me use their sandblaster and they have the pipe for straightening. Gotta give them some business. The machine shop has the clip-on bars adapting spacers to make them work. I wish I had more tools and no-how. It all works, there's always things to do on the project or my many other projects.

I found some cute little 18'' Avon tires but one was back ordered, yet another delay. Still all is well. Hopefully semi-rolling soon, where I can determine a seating position and figure out where all the controls go such as rear-sets and such.

Funny DPO story. I've never had a Hodaka front mount for a rear fender crack or break. The DPO welded his to reinforce it causing a weakness that allowed me to break it off with my bare hands.

Bruce Young seems to like the project and came up with a near free 18'' narrow rear wheel with 4-bolt hub. What a guy.

OK, brief report, things moving even though not racing along, so to speak.

More soon,

Maxie

[viclioce]

Sounds like things are rolling along! Good score for the wheel from Bruce! He usually does some good digging in his piles to come up with what you need! He tried to find a pipe for me but it measured out like a Model 96 pipe instead of a Model 99 pipe! But I got mine in the fire today! Victor

[Bill2001]

Hey!! It takes a whole village to raise a FrankenHodie. Great project!

[hodakamax]

Just some plotting here while waiting on parts. I made up some adjustable pieces to locate rear footpegs in space in relation to the frame in this case to the swing arm pivot. 320mm shock length for a start. This would all be easier with tires, wheels and bars but at least I'm ready to tackle the problem when the back-ordered tire arrives along with one of the fork tubes and bars currently at the machine shop. The shift lever might work backwards but I'm leaning toward some cool linkage. All up in the air at this point but I do work better with a visual mock-up. Part of the fun and report.

Maxie

[Bill2001]

If the ACE 100 shifter/cover gives a shift lever that works backwards, could you noy use a later Hodaka shifter to give the correct shift pattern? Linkage is nice, but direct is nicer.

[ossa95d]

Actually if you use the ACE 100 shift cover with the shift lever backwards it would give you the one down and four up shift pattern. Pretty cool!

[viclioce]

I was thinking the same thing Pop! Reversing the lever would make it 1 up 4 down with the Hodaka shifter cover, vs 1 down 4 up with the Ace shifter cover. Victor

[Bill2001]

I got to thinking the same thing. Depends on what is considered "backwards".

[hodakamax]

For me there was a step before that. My BSA shifted on the right and braked on the left. My new Ace 90 was the opposite. There were a few "moments" when I raced both on the same day. Fortunately the Hodaka was more fun and reliable and the BSA and I parted ways.

Max

[Bill2001]

Then I guess that we'all are fortunate that Hodaka/Pabatco only adopted so much from Greeves. We'd be in a heck of a pickle otherwise.

[hodakamax]

I'm now exploring different ways to connect rear set controls to the rear brake. I thought the rear and front brake plates might be interchangeable and I could use a cable as Harry Taylor did. I looks like it would work with some machining to cut the collar and base on the front brake plate down to the same height as the rear. More to come.

Max

[hodakamax]

Ha, easier than I thought. I just ground the brake plate collar to the proper length. I can use a sealed bearing on that side as the brake plate axle boss now intrudes into the rubber seal area.

Max

[Bill2001]

Good work.

Remember that the cast-in collar not only serves as the sealing surface for the wheel grease seal but also serves as a distance collar for the wheel bearing stack. So whatever thickness was removed in that collar needs to be added back via the spacers on the outside, probably the right side. The total thickness of those spacers depends on the swingarm spacing for the wheel bearing stack and the thickness of the right or left spacers depends on what it takes to line up the drive sprockets.

But you know that already, let me ramble.

[hodakamax]

Funny. As I turn 3/4 century old next Monday, it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on Max! This is the guy last week measuring metric axles and reading the inch side of the scale. As for the brake case, the front brake plate was wider and I only had to shorten the collar to the back width. All is well!
Thanks!
Maxie

[JackM]

Max, happy 75th in advance. I'm right behind you at 74 soon. I know exactly what you're talking about. How quickly the years pass. Having projects like yours is what helps us stay alive. JackM

[viclioce]

Happy 75th a little early Max! I hope it's a great day for you! Victor

[taber hodaka]

And to think you were shoveling all that snow in Montana. It is no wonder you look so much older than me. Happy B day!------Clarence