New 1955 Simplex Auto

[Ricks]

  I made the trek yesterday to West Virginia and back to pick up a bike I bought 2 weeks ago on eBay.  The gentleman was nice enough to give me a little leeway on when I could come and get it.  It is a relatively complete bike, missing mainly a couple of engine parts, such as cylinder, carburetor and hit filter.  I haven't decided which direction to go with it, either a restoration or a preservation.  I have to finish up the stretch and I have another 1953 that I'm in the early stages of working on.

Here are the pictures.

[pd]

Rick bought another bike ... sure sign of Winter coming on .

Looks like a good start .


Pete .

[kartjockey]

Looks Groovey! 

[ndian22]

Well Rick looks as though you've insured projects to keep you busy & us entertained for a good while...congrats! Rick C.

[Bob53]

Looks like a good place to start. Looking forward to see what happens. Congratulations. Bob

[butch27]

Rick:  Are you doing another stretch? I'm going to get started  as soon as the new T bucket body is finished.

[Ricks]

Rick:  Are you doing another stretch? I'm going to get started  as soon as the new T bucket body is finished.

No, I still have to paint the stretch, and that will be finished.

I am in the early stages of a full on resto of a 1953 to replace the bike I sold in Portland this summer.

This 1955 will start as a mechanical resto, get the motor and trans rebuilt and running.  I will then decide which direction to take it. 

[Ricks]

Changed direction and am currently doing a full restoration on this bike!  The 1953 just needs too many parts still, so I will keep collecting and work on this in the future.

[Ricks]

After disassembling the bike, I found that the frame had been abused earlier in life.  Look at all the cracked welds.  This must have been run into some things pretty hard over the years.  The crash bars were no where near straight and took quite a bit of work to get back in shape.

I suspect the split in the lower tube was cause by water freezing inside the frame at one point.

The last picture is where the kickstand was hanging on by a thread.  I think someone thought this was a motocross bike!

[pd]

Rick ,

That lower tube definitely looks to have been frozen . Seen that a number of times .

And , if it's got two wheels , it must be a dirt bike , right ? LOL
Some kids will take it to the limit and past . Then it's on to the next 'challenge' .

Pete .

[Ricks]

Got the frame fixed. I welded up all the cracks and replaced the bad section of tube. 

The frame was really out of whack.  In the last picture with the frame standing vertical, it started out bent about 15 degrees to the right!

I welded the kickstand mount a few degrees further up so the bike should be more vertical at rest.  It always seems that Simplex had these bikes leaning over too far on the kickstand, or maybe that is just me.

[pd]

I've thought about a different position for my kickstand plate , as I really don't care for the 'new' extended and bent kick stand I'm currently using . I just don't have the tools to get it done .

Pete .

[Ricks]

I got the wheels powder coated a few weeks back.   Today I found some time to lace them up.  I need to install the axles and then I will tighten the spokes and true them up.  Only  six more months to Portland, and I want to be riding this bike by then.

To any of you guys that have pinstriped your wheels, did you find it difficult to keep the lines straight and even?  I was thinking about using a Beugler striping tool with a guide on it and rotating the wheel in a fixture.  Any suggestions are welcome.

[pd]

Rick ,

Those rims are looking very nice .

"To any of you guys that have pinstriped your wheels, did you find it difficult to keep the lines straight and even?  I was thinking about using a Beugler striping tool with a guide on it and rotating the wheel in a fixture.  Any suggestions are welcome."

 That's how I tried to do my wheels when I borrowed Reese's Beugler striping tool .
I ended up just keeping the tool in hand and rotating the rim .

I think if you could come up with a decent guide/mount that could hold the tool and had a pivot /swivel attachment on both ends , each able to tightened , the result might be very professional . My stripes turned out decent for freehand application by a true rookie . There are definitely faults , but at 20+ mph , you can't really tell .

My rims stripped with Reese's Beugler ( Thanks , again , Reese ) :



Pete .

[Ricks]

My new truing stand!  lol