Banke Status

OK! Ventured down to James Banke's shop this afternoon, and thrilled at seeing the bike up on his table with cuts/welds/grinds in earnest. This is a fun project!

Perhaps the biggest frame revision involves repositioning the top rear triangle rails to be horizontal. This is kind of important to build into the frame because street trackers have a minimal saddle tank configuration that requires any adjoining space be taken up by the frame. Because the bolt securing the top of the monoshock needs room to be backed out for disassembly, we couldn't have both the rails extend directly towards their horizontal position on the frame backbone. James came up with a simple workaround to have one side rail curve downwards at its forward joint so there would be room for the bolt to back out. This asymmetrical configuration to me is REALLY COOL because it's so purposeful and simple. I think it coincides excellently with my plans to fabricate a custom seat pan showcasing this design. It will only add to the overall effect.

Here, in yellow we see where the left side rail will be finished, and the blue lines roughly illustrate where the right side rail will accomodate the shock bolt:


I'm also blown away with how the rear brake has taken shape. The pedal from the existing bike was repurposed to modulate the linkage that drives the Brembo plunger here. This is the sort of creative reuse of old objects for the present that inspires me to be a part of architectural restoration!

Here we see how the rear caliper attaches to it's mounting bracket. The word "Tumble" is written to indicate the type of finish, and we'll do a simple 1" hole in the center of the bracket for aesthetics. Bracket is an aluminum plate that uses the axle as it's main mounting point, and then there's a slot on the other side of the swing arm where it is "Keyed" onto a nubbin much like the drum brake originally was to keep the assembly from spinning when the brake is applied.

Another shot of the rear brake assy.

The other side of the rear hub where there is plenty of angle grinder action evidenced :)

Here's an establishing shot of the 3/4 view. Yes, that's a BSA in the background.


Forks have also been successfully shortened with extra beef and less cheese.