Hoofddorp Barn, BSA folding Bicycle

[Alex van de Wetering]

Guys,

Last weekend I was on a short holiday in France, but I wanted to test the bike before we left. After assembling the wheels, steering wheel, cranks and chain I finally did a little test-run in the dark without lighting or brakes...
The first run didn't take me further than 10meters, when the crank broke...

I thought it was my welding and put the bike in the garage and turned of the lights. The next day I realised it wasn't my welding; the crank broke about 3 centimeters further. I remembered that when sanding down the cranks for the rounded "BSA shape", there was an imperfection in one of the cranks. It seems this crank was just badly casted from new as the crack showed shearing on the edges and a hollow section with corrosion in the middle. Anyway, there was just enough time before we left, to weld it and make another testrun. This time everything went fine...slowly I am trying to increase the force on the bike when driving and all seems fine.
This is the current status.

Yesterday I realised that I will be leaving for Normandy in a week and not two weeks So, I am picking up the last repro brake parts from the laser cutter today and finally start on the brakes tonight!

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

BRAKES!!!

Last night I found an hour or so to work on the brakes. I picked up the laser-cut pieces earlier yesterday and I was happy the fellows included a few spare parts, so I have some more material for testing etc.

The first picture shows the repro parts I was able to buy from fellow Dutchman Jim. It is basically a bunch of parts he used to test the bending and forging etc,. when he did his run of repro brakes a few years ago.

The second picture shows the laser-cut parts I picked up; I traced the contours of the brake parts from an original BSA folding bike with a pen on a piece of paper, scanned the paper and than used it as bakeground in a CAD program, so I was able to trace the contour with proper arcs and lines. This way I created 3D models of all the brake parts, enabling 2d Drawings for the laser-cutter afterwards.

One picture shows three "handles". The bottom one is a brass casting I was able to buy from Jim. Sadly it was only one, so I had to make up another. I printed out a 2D drawing of the CAD model I made and cut the shape by hand from a 6mm steel strip. I welded extra material to both sides and than sanded it to to the basic shape....still a lot to do, but you get the idea.

Yesterday, I started with one of the brake handle-assemblies; I used a piece of pipe, the same diameter as the steering wheel to test-fit the parts. (steering wheel is allready painted) You can see in the pictures that it needed some hammering, bending and pusuasion of the vice to get it ligned up.

I will focus on getting the rear brake done first, because I rather have one working brake in Normandy, in stead of two incomplete brakes!

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Well,

The bike was nearly finished for D-day, when the crank broke again. My welding just wasn't good enough, so on the night before we left for Normandy, I welded the crank again. Due to the problems with the crank I wasn't able to get the painted brake parts assembled in time. In the end I packed the bike, tools, all brake parts and spares and we left for the 800km long trip to Normandy.
I assembled the crank one of the first days at the campsite and was able to make some testruns. Than a day later I assembled the brake parts in the morning sun and the bike was done! I drove some meters in Etreham June 6th and in St Aubin-sur-Mer on sunday the 7th.

Here is a picture of the bike on the campsite

[Alex van de Wetering]

One of the days at the campsite, an MVT member came over to our tent after seeing the parabike in the back of my car. He told me he made repro handlebars and transfers and he brought some sets with him!!! So, I now have very nice resin handlebars and the missing transfers!

On Sunday we found some time to make a "Then and Now"-shot with the bike". Hope you guys like it....

Here is the original picture:


source: http://www.strijdbewijs.nl/

And attached you will find the "NOW" picture.

Alex

[Bill Miller]

Alex,

The bike looks great! Congratulations on a job well done. When you have a moment, fire me an email. I'd like to see what you used for brake cables and how you attached them. I still haven't gotten around to fixing mine. (the old ones are just too stretched to be of any use)

Again, a job well done!
Bill.