Rick,

Looking good! How much longer before the maiden ride?

Did you get your replacement set of spokes from Wayne? If so how much?

Mike

Dan,
That's a nice looking engine. How much room do you have between the rear of the engine and the frame uprights? I used a jack shaft kit on mine and I could give you some dimensions of the shaft bearing supports to see if it would work for you.
Mike

Hi Chainmaker and welcome to the forum. Good advice from both Rick and Bob. What year or model is the Simplex you are getting?

Mike

Wow Rick, looking really nice. What kind of shape are the tins in? Do you have all the parts to complete the build? Keep posting pics of your progress.

Mike

Hi Bob and Rick,

Thanks for the info on the tires. I think I might order a set in the future and try them out.

Here are some pictures of the seat mount. I made it out of 1½”x ¼” and 1”x 1/2” flat stock. The most difficult part was getting the bend in the ¼” stock which worked out to be about 10 degrees. Since the stud posts on the seat pan are tapped for 5/16”-24, that’s the size I used for all 4 of the bolts and nuts.

I ordered the seat from the SaddleShop. A bit pricey but a really well made quality seat. It’s a Harley military saddle with the three scuff buttons on each side. According to Chuck (also a Simplex owner) at the SaddleShop, Simplex also used the Harley military seat on their military bikes.     

Yes, I checked out the Simplex 3-wheeler. Someone got a great start at a nice ride.

Hi Rick and thanks,

Yes, I like the Worksman wheels. They are well built, all steel and hefty. I know from reading on the motorbike forums most of the guys use them on their custom builds. And you’re right as they are pretty inexpensive. I’ve done some pricing on what it will run to redo my Simplex wheels and it will be somewhere in the range of $700 by the time I’m all done. I’ve seen a guy who has Simplex tires and tubes on ebay and they run $400 for a set.

As best as I can measure the Worksman width at the hub is ~ 3 15/16”. My Simplex wheels measure ~ 4 1/16” for the front and ~ 4 ½” for the rear.

On another note my new seat came today so I’ll be fabricating a T bar this weekend to mount it. Here’s a pic with the new seat placed on so I could get an idea of how it’s going to look.

Mike

Things I’ve done since my last post;

I replaced the oval footboards that I had installed with a set that I fabricated to match the octagonal Model G design. I replaced the Whizzer rear wheel belt sheave with a Simplex one. The wire mesh on the side of the chain guard that I fabricated didn’t achieve the look I was after so I covered the mesh with a solid plate. I fabricated a clutch pedal and linkage, the clutch pedal isn’t functional but it just didn’t look right to me without one. I ran the wiring for the headlight and tail light (just temporarily for now as I haven’t figured out how I’m going to power them up yet). I used cloth wire loom for covering the wiring of the headlight, kill switch and tail light. I’m now re-doing the rear brake pedal and linkage trying to improve on my initial effort.

I got an email on Friday that my seat is just about complete and should be shipped (hopefully) by the end of this week or early next. Once it arrives I’ll be working on getting that installed.

Mike