Tuesday 28 October 2008

The bikes finally finished!

OBS:NORSK TEKST FØLGER UNDER.

It should have happened ages ago, but finally we’ve gotten there: The bikes are finished, or at least finished to the degree that both are able to be ran at the same time. It should also be admitted that this post should have been published ago as this happened a couple of weeks ago.

Klaus was a good boy and finished the blue bike while I was in India and rode it quite a bit. When I got home again from India a few weeks ago we received the parts for the red bike from painting, and finished this one as well.

So what have been done? Absolutely everything is close to the answer. As mentioned before, we built up new engines with exactly similar new parts, and the only thing that has not been replaced is engine blocks, oil pans, and generators. For the wheels they’ve gotten new spokes (specially made in iron), rims and brake drums/shoes. All bearings around are replaced, as well as springs in the front fork. All parts have been sandblasted and repainted. We could almost say the bikes are copies of themselves. However, the job done has been necessary to achieve 100% interchange ability between the two bikes, as well as ensuring that they at least stand a chance to finish the trip.

Paintwork was sponsored by Terje and Iver’n at Lakkteknikk, and the result was outstanding.
For the rest regarding the bikes John Carlsen at JC Nimbus ( http://www.jc-nimbus.dk/ ) has been the main sponsor, and contributed with both parts and a lot of hours of work. We are extremely grateful for the help we have gotten, which has been done in a very skilful way. When first thanking people here, we’d also like to thank Tormod and Klaus, for taking the restoration up to such a neurotic level, that could possibly lock us in a the funny farm.

We’re very happy with the result and both of the bikes runs very good. They are now in a condition which probably is better than when they were new in the thirties. It’s been a damn long process, but we’re happy with the result. Only two things is left now; replace gearboxes with the special 4 speed gearboxes John has gotten made for us, and to finish up the special made sidecars.

Syklene blir ferdigstillt!

Ja, da var jaggu meg jobben stort sett gjort. Vi begynte i november, og ble ferdig i oktober. Det er ikke alle som er så flinke at de klarer å bruke så lang tid på å oppgradere to sykler som faktisk fungerer til to supersykler. Slik er det da man jobber med lysets hastighet, men dessverre utelukkende om natta.

Mens jeg var i India i september gjorde Klaus ferdig den blå sykkelen(The Bitter-Sweet Chariot), og da jeg kom hjem for noen uker siden gjorde vi ferdig den røde (The Infernal Machine)

Så hva har blitt gjort? Omtrent alt som kan gjøres for å gi syklene en rettferdig sjanse for å fullføre turen, samt at alt har blitt standardisert så alle deler på begge sykler er ombyttbare og ens. På motorer er det kun blokkene, kamakselhus og dynamoer som ikke er nytt. Hjulene har fått nye bremsesko, tromler, felger og spesiallagde jerneiker. Alle lagre er byttet, og gaflene har fått nye fjærer. Ting som vi lærte som svakheter på Singapore-turen, slik som styrer, har blitt forsterket. Vi har nå to sykler som er langt bedre enn da de forlot fabrikken på trettitallet.

I forbindelse med oppgraderingen vil vi rette spesiell takk til Terje og Iver’n ved Lakkteknikk i Svelvik som sponset og utførte lakkjobben på en meget fagmessig måte. Det samme gjelder John Carlsen (www.jc-nimbus.dk) som har sponset oss med en rekke deler, samt et utall arbeidstimer. Når vi først er i gang med takkingen ønsker vi også å takke Klaus og Tormod som har tatt restaurering av motorsykler opp til et nytt nevrotisk nivå, hvor alt har blitt gjennomført med en slik sykelig nøyaktighet at man enkelt kunne fått plass på Gaustad Galehus om offentligheten fikk greie på hvor mye ressurser som har blitt nedlagt i to motorsykler som skal kjøres sønder og sammen neste år.

Vi er meget fornøyd med syklene vi har bygget nå, og prøvekjøringen så langt gir et meget positivt inntrykk. Det eneste som nå gjenstår er å bytte ut girkassene fra 3 til 4 trinns, samt gjøre ferdig de spesialbygde sidevognene våre.

Disassembly


Frames stripped for old paint

John straigtening the frame


Engine blocks sandblasted

Engines under assembly. New pistons and connection rods.

Crank case finished.

Engine completed, ready to get abused to death.

Parts for painting.


Klaus assembling the handle bars




Sidecar chassis



"Do it yourself" kit from Clas Ohlson, only 60 000 Norwegian kroner



Bearing with wheel bearings




Voila', bikes done and under testing! Not a big deal, was it?


















1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi, happened to see your site and blog by chance and enjoyed it immensely. You must definitely be crazy but, I think, not 100%. Could you please explain why you chose to have two sidecars, and why are they different? What is hidden in them? Why choose the Nimbus among other old but simpler bikes?
I know, too many indiscreet questions and you have to go. Good luck then.

27 March 2009 at 09:02  

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