The Impaler

captainslug · Oct 23, 2013

captainslug · Oct 23, 2013

OzFab · Oct 23, 2013

Wow, interesting bike, tell us a bit about it...

itsid · Oct 23, 2013

SICK!
Love it... want it.. at least more info :thumbsup:

'sid

danssoslow · Oct 23, 2013

Wow! Did you 3D print the headlight bezel and blower cover? That's a very menacing looking bike. Like Mad Max meets the Wraith. Add a gun or two, and it's Zombie Apocalypse ready!

captainslug · Oct 24, 2013

And now the text-heavy post.

The fender\headlight is made out of 22ga stainless steel that I cut and welded together.
The frame is from an X-Motos XB-31 (Chinestraulian Honda knockoff)
The motor is a 196cc LiFan clone of the Honda GX200 with electric start. I haven't removed the governor on it yet.
Primary reduction is a TAV2 Torq-a-verter CVT
The electrical system was added from scratch.
The air cleaner had to be moved and reoriented so I made a hose adapter for the carb.
The aluminum motor mount was made from scratch and double as an enclosure for the electrical system which is all DIN-rail mount components.
The downtube adapter is from scratch
The most recent pictures show that I went from having a chain tensioner to redoing all of the rear wheel adjustment components.
The rear sprocket was milled out to match the rear hub bolt pattern and to reduce weight. It's the only custom part on the bike that I didn't make myself
The fan cover which replaced the old recoil start cover was 3D printed.
The push-button switch shown on the bracket above the fan housing that holds the air cleaner is the hidden push-button start.
Aluminum clip-on handlebars are from scratch. The core of them is a 5-inch long 1/2-13 bolt.
Speedometer is a cheap $35 GPS unit.
Headlight is a Vision-X Solstice 800 lumen LED spotlight

The top speed is 42mph at the moment. I'm not sure I want or need to go faster than that, but I could easily hit 55 if the governor were removed.
I've tried a briggs exhaust for a little while and it sounded terrible.
I might try an RLV silencer at some point. The stock exhaust just barely fits. I had to grind a few corners and nubs off of it to get it to fit without touching the gas tank. Having a bike that sounds like a lawn mower is pretty amusing to be honest.

I took it to a small car show 2 months after I finished it and placed in the Top 10 out of 40 motorcycles.

http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_029.jpg

Dirtroad · Oct 24, 2013

Very very cool

captainslug · Nov 7, 2013

New turn signals. I also need to replace the battery, which warranted making a new battery hold-down bracket which I'll have to post about later. The larger battery resting on the footpeg was just used for testing purposes.

Over the past week I've had to redo a larger portion of the electrical system. The starter circuit had shorted out previously so that portion of the wiring harness had to be rebuilt so that it includes a fuse. At the same time I decided to replace the main fuse with the same type I was adding to the starter circuit.

I replaced the GPS speedometer with a bike speedometer.

http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_030.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_031.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_032.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_033.jpg

captainslug · Nov 8, 2013

Finally got around to taking some pictures of the electrical enclosure. In hindsight it's not a good idea to put your electrical system underneath the engine since any oil leaks as well as road grime will get in there.
To work on anything in there I'm laying on my back staring up at everything. All while trying to avoid hitting the kickstand.

Battery came in the mail yesterday. Here it is installed with the new holddown. Also showing the part of the CVT that I had to mill a notch out of.

And while working on those I discovered that my front motor mount was cracked, so I cut it apart and welded a new angle on that isn't relying on slotted cuts to hold the bolts.

The last two photos are of the bike speedometer mentioned previously.

Sidenote Edit: Bike weighs in at 180lb wet

http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_034.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_035.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_036.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_037.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_038.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_039.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_040.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_041.jpg

captainslug · Nov 9, 2013

Just finished removing the governor and subsequently an oil change. Probably would have been much easier if I just dropped the engine out of the frame. But not doing so helped me confirm that I have the minimum amount of space needed around the engine to get the valve cover off.
I did discover that now that I've made the front motor mount much stronger the stock muffler is impossible to remove because the engine is so much more solidly mounted to the frame. I probably won't bother tinkering with a new exhaust until next year. I want to avoid getting the "tuning itch" for at least a few more months.

Engine runs great. Top speed only increased slightly to 45mph but the responsiveness is improved a bit. And I don't have to worry about the governor parts exploding in the crankcase.
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_042.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_043.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_044.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_045.jpg

captainslug · Nov 26, 2013

New header is finished. I bought an 11-inch clearance mini bike header from OMB Warehouse, cut it short, welded a 3/4 NPT half coupler onto it, then made and welded on a tab so I can secure it to the frame.

http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_046.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_047.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_048.jpg

landuse · Nov 27, 2013

Very nice

Tig · Nov 27, 2013

That is AWESOME......

captainslug · Apr 28, 2014

Took it out of storage with no issues. Battery is fine, no bad gas, started up easily. Runs a bit lean with the new exhaust so I probably need to drill out the main jet a little.

http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_049.jpg
http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_050.jpg

05/02/14 Edit: Drilled out the main jet to #79. HUGE improvement in throttle response.

http://www.captainslug.com/temp/vlad_051.jpg

xXPhasemanXx · Apr 28, 2014

That's very cool. Now you have to give us a video when you can :popcorn:

captainslug · May 10, 2014

Two of the welds on the lower motor mount are cracked pretty badly. I'm going to be dropping the engine out of the frame sometime in the next week so I can start the process of making a new one from scratch.
The original mount included a lot of room for adjustment because I made it early in the project where I wasn't confident about where the engine was going to be precisely placed. Now I know where I want it for certain I can make a more robust mount.

I'm also thinking I would like to swap the locations for the air box and electrical components, as well as potentially upgrade to a slightly larger battery.

Will have more photos of concepts once I'm done with disassembly and measuring.

captainslug · May 12, 2014

Made a good deal of progress today. Did a complete teardown of the bike.

Here's the two cracked welds in the old motor mount.

I made changes to the CAD files I still have of the original motormount, printed templates out on the plotter, then taped, scribed, and center punched. I cut them to size on the band saw, then drilled and tapped all the holes.

Did the first round of welding.

Tomorrow I can do some mock-up.

I still need to
1. Make a new hose adapter for the carburetor
2. Make a new enclosure for the electrical system
3. Make a battery holddown bracket
4. Reassembly and rewiring

landuse · May 13, 2014

Nice. Those are great welds. What welder are you using?

Edit: Do you know why the welds cracked in the forst place?

captainslug · May 13, 2014

Since the new motor mount is slightly wider, the old cover won't fit. So I'll have to make a new one.

Traced the carburetor gasket onto a post-it note, then used an engraver to transfer that onto aluminum.

Used a manual knee mill to rough out the inside and channels, then finished the transitions with a needle file. I then cut the outside shape on the band saw.

Also finished the battery hold-down. I don't get to use the pan-and-brake very often.

Test-fit in the frame. Larger battery fits nicely.

Left to do
1. Finish carburetor to hose adapter
2. Weld elbow onto air box
3. Make enclosure for electrical components
4. Rewiring
5. Make a new air box cover

landuse said:
Nice. Those are great welds. What welder are you using?

Edit: Do you know why the welds cracked in the forst place?

Miller Dynasty 350

Too cold, too much filler.

B.M.800 · May 14, 2014

Very nice looking bike.

...you the same captianslug I seen over at nerfhaven?
That guy done some cool stuff with nerf guns.

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