The Chopper Compendium

I finally got materials for the leafer. I have the holes drilled and the upper yoke rough cut.

It's gonna be a while before I get anything else done because I'm still working on the neck and hardtail of the frame it's going on. Just wanted to officially start a build thread so I can start asking questions when I get stuck.

Ken

oh yeah, now that looks like some fun getting started! roll those photos on in, we love it!

-dan

First thing I have to do is learn to spell "another LEAFER build". Blaming this one on the keyboard!

I got the lower yoke drilled and the 2x2 tubing drilled for the jig. I'm just adding fixtures to the frame jig to keep everything lined up like on the CD. Should have it together (the jig) tomorrow and I will take a few pics. After that I will be at a standstill until I can do a full scale drawing, I suck at drawing.

looks good so far lookin foreward to seein it through i want to build one some time

So I attempted to do a full scale drawing last night and I think I may have messed up. I took measurements from my current rider (a 78 T140 in a T150 frame) which at ride height was 29" from ground to the lowest point on the neck and 33 deg rake. The tire is 26.5" dia.

I drew the neck and a line through it to the ground and made a mark that would give me 4" trail and went 13.250 up from there to mark axle height. The only way I can maintain 4" trail is if the bend in the rear tubes start at 9.375 instead of 8.1875 and the rocker axle hole to tube end hole is twice what the plans call for (1.625 on the plans but I don't remember the exact measurement on my drawing).

My concern is the extended distance from axle to tube end hole will require a stiffer spring and there may be clearance issues with the tube and axle bolt head as shown on pg 1.6 of the plans rocker connection schematic.

I tried to take pics but pencil on white paper did not show up well.

Thoughts, opinions?

I just checked the measurements from axle to pivot point and the axle is 2.15" behind and 1.5" below the pivot. I can lower the start of the bend but it just doesn't look right. Axle to bottom of lower yoke is 20.750" and it looks long, like there too much space between the top of the wheel and bottom yoke.

If Im understanding, you want to bring the pivot closer to the axle?Making new trees with less offset will do that without changing the shape of your forks.As far as closing the distance between tire & bottom tree would be to drop your ride heigth or run a 21" up frontYou'll have to make the forks shorter though.

My measurements were so far of from the plans that I thought I messed up somewhere. I adjusted the ride height to 4" and where the bend starts and it is much closer. As far as the distance from tire to bottom tree, it looks like a much larger space than the one built on the cd. I like the look of it because its short and the spring follows the curve of the tire. I want mine to look like that. I haven't mocked anything up on the bike like you did but I plan to. Maybe it just looks that way because its on paper. Hoping to do that this weekend.

I got a bit of work done on the leafer today. Made a bender for the 18' radius bend in the rear legs. It fits into my receiver and worked great.


And the rear legs are almost done. Still have to trim them up a bit.

Is that called a Buck?....Cool idea mounting it to the receiver.

if ya weld a reciever to the bottom of your welding bench you can mount diffrent tools to some 2 inch square stock and change em out real fast or just take em off to get everything outa the way especially the big ass vice that always takes up too much space .

curt wrote:if ya weld a reciever to the bottom of your welding bench you can mount diffrent tools to some 2 inch square stock and change em out real fast or just take em off to get everything outa the way especially the big ass vice that always takes up too much space .

Good idea. I don't have a sturdy welding table yet but I will definitely put a receiver on it when I get around to building one.

Started cutting the miters in the front tubes today. I used the tube miter program and could never get it right. The bend is 32 deg and I measured it multiple times but when I taped the template on the tube it was obvious that it wasn't right. I ended up cutting them by hand and it turned out great. Didn't take pics bc I had one too many and came inside before I cut my leg off or something with the grinder. Just put a beer fridge in the garage which makes it way too convenient!

Haven't posted in a while. Got sidetracked when hunting season came in, now it's over so I can get back in the garage. The leafer is still in the jig and I hope to have everything fitted a tacked in the next week or so depending on work.