It doesn't have a fancy name so I call it my G.I. bike. The story goes that three Navy sailors built it during WW2. Now the guy I got it from said it was built on an aircraft carrier, but I highly doubt this. I think it was built on a base during WW2. It came out of Texas, went to Kansas, and then I brought it to North Carolina. I have no war time documentation, but I do have the bike. By tracking down what everything is I was able to verify that it is at lease all WW2 surplus parts. So here is the run down of what I have. The frame and forks are all hand made. The engine is a Wisconsin AB model. They were used on pumps and generators during the war. The transmission is out of a Ford built jeep. It is an early right side fill and drain, marked with the Ford F script. The sailors modified it to only be a two speed. The wheels are off of a Navy mark 2 bomb cart. The brake system is also off of a jeep. It is only set up on the rear. It runs a Wagner Lockheed master cylinder, and a 9" brake drum. Yes it has a hydraulic brake from the 1940's, I'm not sure but I think hydraulic brakes on motorcycles didn't appear until the late 1950's. The throttle cable is a modified jeep speedometer cable. The headlight is the kind found in the Navy hand held box light, or a bulkhead light. I was told that the guys that built the bike rode Indians before the war, and they set this bike up the same way. It has a left hand throttle, left foot clutch, right hand shift, and right foot brake. I'm currently trying to do as little as possible to get it back to riding condition. I want to keep it as original as possible.
gi bike1 by bartonharley13, on Flickr
gi bike 2 by bartonharley13, on Flickr
gi bike 4 by bartonharley13, on Flickr
gi bike 7 by bartonharley13, on Flickr
gi bike 8 by bartonharley13, on Flickr
gi bike 9 by bartonharley13, on Flickr
This link is to a video of my first official ride. I have since changed the belt and now am able to take off without pushing it. It has 2 sets of engine pulleys and I wasn't sure which one to use.
video-2013-10-06-12-23-45 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
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