Keanu Reeves is setting out on another excellent adventure.
The actor and motorcycle enthusiast has teamed up with bike builder Gard Hollinger to launch the Arch Motorcycle Company.
The Los Angeles-based outfit has started taking orders for its first ride, the KRGT-1.
Not just another custom rod, the big V-Twin features an all-original design built with handmade parts and powered by a unique 2032cc motor developed with S&S Cycle good for nearly 122 hp and 122 lb-ft of torque sent to the rear wheel through a 6-speed Baker Drivetrains transmission. The motor breathes through a unique downdraft induction system that channels air from intakes next to the headlamps through the center of its twin fuel cells, which take 66 hours to produce from a 534-pound hunk of billet aluminum. The bike itself weighs just 538 pounds, thanks in part to a set of carbon fiber wheels. LED lighting is featured front and rear, and the retro-futuristic bodywork would look right at home on the streets of Mega City.
Stolen Motorcycle Cannonball Harleys Recovered September 24, 2014 by Buzz 6 Comments
Thanks to an amazing on line effort by so many caring people the 4 stolen Harleys from the Motorcycle Cannonball have been recovered. Also the stolen trailer and truck.
All the spare parts, tools, luggage and crates are still missing and there is little chance of recovering them, but the motorcycle owners must be so relieved.
The stolen trailer was recovered in the Port of Tacoma.
Let’s find these!!!!
We have learned that several of the bikes that participated in the Motorcycle Cannonball that finished at the LeMay museum on Sunday have been stolen. A complete race rig was taken from the Hotel Murano in Tacoma, Washington, including a gray 2001 Ford F-250, Texas plates “89LBC7” and a gray 16-foot enclosed trailer with both side and rear doors, Texas plate “4198M”, that housed four classic race bikes.Taken along with the truck and trailer: 1919 Harley-Davidson Model J Texas plate “BDKX4,” 1926 Harley-Davidson Model JD Mississippi antique plate “9620,” 1928 Harley-Davidson Model JD Texas plate “BFGV2,” and 1931 Harley-Davidson Model VL Texas plate “BFGR3.”
As you can see the cabling is pretty extensive – Choke (x2), Clutch, Brake, Accelerator (x2). That includes splitters for the Choke and Accelerator.
When you are a hobbyist, there’s normally a gap between tasks. For instance these photos are from Feb 2014. I’ve made some progress since then (now Aug 2014), but as you’ll see in the next post labeling everything (and videos) help with the assembly.
In this case it is critical, because I have to replace with all new cables made and mixing them up and great a cable that is too long and having too much slack when routing it from the handle bars down to the carbs or transmission of course two short, even a little, would be fatal to the project – short choke cables will keep the bike from starting at all.
So on to the second part of the tear down of the exhaust on the Bridgestone Dual Twin. I have a couple videos to post, and pls keep in mind that I don’t have a ‘camera crew’ or an film editor (but I have download Adobe’s software to try — at some point– to edit my videos), nope just me and my Android.
So I showed last post how the exhaust was attached. Not much different than most other motorcycles, except for the rubber pieces that connects the header to the baffle.
You can see the header is a bit rusted but the bolts came off with no problem. The first header I removed was the left side and there was little to no room for a wrench much less be able to get a socket in there. So it was a bit more clearance if I were to remove the head. Which I’ve been meaning to do to get a look at the piston and cylinder so I did. Here are the pics and the videos:
This just shows the bolt on the inside (between) the left and right exhaust.
As you can see here’s no room go get a socket or even wrench in between the frame and back nut on the header.
So taking the left head off was going to gave me more room.
The heads are on with for nuts on studs in the head. These looked really rusted but it came off easily.
Here are couple of images:
Nuts and studs are indicated.
Here is the header removed.
Header, nuts and bolts and o-ring.
Baffle removed and my foot!! (At least it’s not my thumb!!)
Of course I have to include a shot of the pistons and cylinders and you see them in the videos as well.
Left Piston and Cylinder
Left Head Chamber
Right Piston and Cylinder. See the right head/chamber in the videos)
Videos show a bit of the exhaust and a few good shots of the piston/chamber/cylinders.
Club(s): (PNDC). Here are 2 I brought back from the dead when I was in high school. A 1979 Kawasaki 440 LTD and a 1967 Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin. The 440 sounded great and was a smooth ride. I bought it for $200 and …
I was sitting around on Father’s Day, relieved of all my normal Sunday duties (I did double time yesterday and got most of them accomplished – my wife picked up the rest for the day), thinking I was going to kick back for the day and just be a bum. But then I got “the itch”. You know, when you absolutely have more than an hour of free time and don’t care who’s ahead in the NBA Championship and long ago you gave up watching baseball because you kept dosing off by the 6th inning and nothing there’s nothing good to munch on. So you start twitching and you just have go do something. Not just anything but something…mechanical…something that has dirt and grease and involves a fair amount of muscle vs. metal action. Even though is 104 degrees out and the garage isn’t AC’ed (you don’t even have a fan) you just got too get something real done and BAM!!! one of your projects is getting some attention!!!! That me was me today.
So I looked over the Dual Twin (Bridgestone 1966 Dual Twin) and what I had scheduled for the next part of the restoration and thought…Do I really want to tackle the electrical system today? That’s gonna take a few days. How about something that I can get done between now and dinner, when I have my Father’s Day steak and corn on the cob? So I decided to remove the dual exhaust system.
This a rather simple task and needed to be done eventually and doing today I’d feel like a accomplished something. (Isn’t that just the opposite of what is suppose to happen on Father’s Day?)
So I started looking over exhaust and basically there were two bolts and mounts, plus two more for the header. Here are some pics:
Overview
One of the bolts and mount
Inside bolt and mount.
Manifold/Header bolts
So you have four bolts and one interesting header to baffle connection. Check out the connection:
It’s rubber!!!
Yup rubber. With a old style ”squeeze” clamp and a screw type clamp. Clearly original equipment!
Next up will be a couple videos showing removal. But that will be tomorrow…I hear beer calling me. “Honey…..fetch me a cold one!!!! (Seriously….that doesn’t work at my house, even on Father’s Day.)
Not familiar with Bridgestone motorcycles? Here’s a brief synopsis: In addition to the more familiar tire manufacturing nowadays, the company produced bicycles beginning in 1946, powered bicycles beginning in 1949, and …
Not familiar with Bridgestone motorcycles? Here’s a brief synopsis: In addition to the more familiar tire manufacturing nowadays, the company produced bicycles beginning in 1946, powered bicycles beginning in 1949, and …
Bridgestone Motorcycles to be showcased as Classic Club at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. Rally & Event News Bridgestone has been selected as the Classic Club for the 2010 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, July 9-11, …
Thought I toss out some details on the Dual Twin Bridgestone 175 that I am about to begin the restoration.
Bridgestone was a Japanese tire maker and desired to move in to manufacturing first bicycles and then motorcycles after World War II to compensate for the sagging tire market. So in 1946 Soichiro Ishibashi began production of bicycles and then looked to motorized them. So they partnered up with Fuji Seimitsu Kogyo (is now Fuji Precision Engineering Co., a subsidiary of Nissan) to produce clip on motors for bicycles. By the mid 1950’s they were developing and producing motorcycles and eventually separated from Fuji Seimitsu Kogyo and moving to their own plant. Bridgestone even had a racing department which, in part led to their development of the Dual Twin.
The 175 Dual Twin did well in racing and on the street, as did the other Bridgestone models. This lead to the exports to the U.K., other Asian countries and eventually to the U.S. by Rockford Motors in Rockford Illinois.
So what is the 175 Dual Twin?
It was the first motorcycle equipped with a dual rotary disc valves for fuel induction. It had (has) aluminum alloy cylinders, kick-start; dual transmission 4-speed rotary shift gear allowing the bike to be shifted to to a 5-speed gear while running or when stationary with the “sport shift lever’, large brakes hubs and totally enclosed carburetor for protection against water and dirt. It has a max speed of 80 miles per hours and can get to a ¼ mile from a standing start in 18 seconds (this is without the racing tune…oh yes…they were race-able!!).
So let me stop right here for a minute. I had no idea what a rotary valve was, ok let me be very honest I’ve never worked on a motorcycle before, lawn mowers – yes, motorcycles – nope. I have worked on bicycles and car engines, so how hard can it be? (Famous last words, usually spoken very early in the planning stages of such projects.)
So what is a rotary valve? It is where the intake opening is controlled by the spinning of a disc that has cutouts that allow air/fuel mixture in and then closes the opening. The discs attach to the crankshaft. The crankshaft disc is a close-clearance fit in the crankcase and there is a cutout which lines up with an inlet passage in the crankcase wall at the proper time. Here are a couple of images:
Intake Valve Disc
This a dual disc valve set up (a newer Suzuki Rg500 engine)
I have more coming up on the Bridgestone Project so stay tuned.
NOS Bridgestone Motorcycle 175 200 Ignition 12 Volt Coil Pack. Loading… d. h. m. s. day. hour. hours. FREE shipping. See item description. Calculate. Approximately: (Enter ##1## or more). (Enter more than ##1##). Your max bid: You’ve …
