Friday, March 3, 2017

Strut Fab

Sometimes the fabrication I (or Rob and I) do on bikes that I'm most proud of ends up being on pretty insignificant parts. We sometimes end up spending embarrassingly ridiculous amounts of time on them too.

For the Triumph T110 I'm currently working on I knew I wanted to run rear fender struts that could basically pass for stock. I also knew I wanted to run a loop under the fender for mounting, I simply just not a sissy bar guy.

I also knew I wanted to form the ends of the struts to match the style of factory struts. That ultimately meant forming dies. That posed a bit of a problem since I don't have access to a mill (the right tool for the job). Rob formed the following 1/2" steel with a hacksaw and a file! They are absolutely beautiful given they were complete made by hand.

 The shots above show how the tube end can be precisely "squished" in the desired form using a press or vise. The project I am working on was a lot of old chrome on it. The chrome is in pretty good shape but if you put a new freshly chromed part on the bike it stand out like a sore thumb. Rob suggested making the strut out of stainless and polishing it. I'm so glad I did.  The match is damn near perfect.
 I don't even want to think about the time he and I spent on it. If built bike of a living I'd be lucky to make $2 an hour. I wound up with a part I suspect no one will notice or think about it. Oh well, It will secretly be one of my favorite parts on the bike.

Thanks again Rob for all your help on this.

1 comment:

Bastard said...

Excellent, I was wondering how this could be done. TANKS!

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