Evaluation of my motorcycle Joseph Mangan

Design of bike As I look back on my poster of my bike it is very obvious that there has been a few changes along the way and this was because of my unrealistic designs. I had planned a full rear fender and a fender made from chains at the front but I found it would be very difficult create the look I desired for the back fender. This was when I adapted my chain idea to fit my back fender and overall I was happy with how that turned out. It is also one of the pieces on my bike which is directly related to my theme.

While some of the features on my bike differ from the poster all the ideas shown on it got me thinking about my theme and how I could communicate this Some of the ideas I had while they looked good on paper were not so good in practice. The handlebar covers are a prime example of this as. The plan was to make wooden pieces that looked like cigar. I got a piece of dowel and rounded off the top of it on the woodwork lathe. I then used a wood burner to mark in the curves around the outside of a cigar. The end result was a dowel the had been slightly burned and nothing like a cigar The design I used to replace this while not as creative is still not a bad replacement. It doesn’t relate to my theme in the same direct manner that the cigar would have but it still adds to the overall image of the bike I feel. Design of bike

While some of my design attempts were ambitious more of them went to plan. The frame was an example of this. I spent quite a long time getting my frame design correct and this paid dividends throughout the manufacture of the frame as I had exact plan to rely on Shown below is a partial view of some of the drawings I used throughout the project which were a major help in achieving my ideas.

Manufacture of bike Despite having planed the frame well I ran into a number of problems like how and where would I mount the engine? How would I fit the tank on with the engine? Etc etc. All of these problems needed to be addressed through out the build and that is one of the reasons why I feel I learned so much. The first stage in the manufacture was the frame. Which I welded together using all the types of welding available to me. MIG, TIG, stick and gas. I felt It was a good learning opportunity to try each type of welding so I took it. I also did a small bit of welding at home using MIG and stick welding and videos of this are shown on my blog.

Manufacture of bike While the frame was coming together I started work on the tank and the seat. I felt that to achieve the design I wanted which was a tank and seat that fitted together I would make them both out of Tancast. The work on the tank and seat was quite laborious and it took a lot of work to get a fine finish the picture below some of the stages the tank and the seat went trough. These stages included filling priming sanding painting and finally applying my stickers

Manufacture of bike The rest of the production on my bike went rather smoothly except for the steering plates which I made from material that was too thin which made it quite difficult to weld but I eventually got around this problem and got my handle bars welded on. I had a problem sourcing wheels that suited my bike but I bought two on eBay and they arrived just in time. I also had to make a number of pieces I had not considered at the out set like spacers for the back and front wheels at a bushings for the steering plate.

Finishing of bike I can safely say that I found this the hardest parts of the bike to do and it was one of the few aspects of the module which I really didn’t enjoy. I found the painting difficult and it was hard to get a good surface finish but I just think this was down to my lack of experience doing this sort of work.

Evaluation Overall I am relatively happy with how my bike turned out. There are a number of aspects I was unhappy with like the finish was a bit rough in places and there were a number of scuffs to the paintwork during assembly. I feel that the tank and the seat came out well and I think the rear fender was quite a good idea but the welding of it was quite difficult which I have mentioned in previous entries in the blog As regards the overall appearance of the bike I am happy and I feel it portrays my theme well due to the colour scheme and the different design features.

Evaluation While I feel happy with my bike there are definitely a number of things I would change if I were to attempt this project again. I would have planned better as I have already stated I had to change a number of my ambitious designs due to they were almost unmake able. This caused me to have to change my design later on which was time I didn’t have to devote to creating a new idea. I would have spent more time achieving a better finish with my painting as this was an area where I began pushed for time and was not 100% happy with outcome. I would have made a front fender as I feel this would really add to the overall appearance of the bike and complete it. I would have used more TIG welding if I was to do this project again as I found this the easiest and neatest method of welding I used.

Evaluation Overall I feel I learned a lot in this module not just the welding but real practical and useful experience that would definitely stand to a student metalwork teacher in the future. Throughout the 12 weeks on this project I have encountered various problems which I have had to solve using outside of the box thinking. I have become much more competent on machines which I had only minimal experience on before like the milling machine and the laser cutter. Having never done metalwork before I came to college my bench work may not have been brilliant but I feel this module has really changed that as I had plenty of practice. To conclude I would like to say how much I enjoyed this module and I feel that was shown in the amount of work I put into it as I felt it was a project I really wanted to engage with