Wheels came in and I went straight to my flexible rubber man and he put on the AVON tyres that had also just arrived.

The rear axle was drawn up after a lot of head scratching. My frame maker had made me decide on a 14 millimeter diameter rear axle as that was the maximum for the swinging arm legs. I had not realized that 14 mm is a size that is going out of fashion so finding a suitable castle nut proved a nightmare. I wanted a castle nut and not a nylon insert stop nut – mainly for the looks of it, so now I have ended up with a 14 mm coarse thread axle and castle nuts that will take 3 weeks to arrive. In hindsight I should have gone for a 9/16 inch axle ( which is practically 114 mm ) and an aircraft quality AN320-9 Castle Nut that I could have organized in no time.

I picked up some steel bars from the local Thyssen-Krupp metals warehouse and commissioned a newly found local machine shop to make the rear axle, a couple of aluminium washers and a bushing to have the rear brake caliper ride on. The one that came in with the rear wheel had the wrong diameter – my mistake.

Engine plates were drawn up on millimetre paper, now raising the engine by 15 mm to take care of the bolt issue previously described. I brought the drawing to another local machine shop that does laser cutting. I am very excited to see how they turn out. I am using an aluminium alloy here that is call 6062T6.

A steering damper was acquired. A Swedish job made by Öhlins. Probably too modern to qualify for my bikes age class but I could not easily find an alternative. I can just hope that the race scrutineers will either not spot it or will ignore it. However, I now need to make up a couple of brackets to attach it to the frame and front fork.

My engine man has surfaced again after having been out of reach for weeks so I feel the project is now gaining momentum.

Easter Sunday today and I am struggling with several set-backs. Last week I found that they front fork legs would not accept my axle. so they were packed and Fedexe’d back to the maker in Canada. He thinks he knows where the problem lies and have promised to return them in usable condition within days. Today I found that the rear wheel tyre is 12 mmm wider than what AVON’s website had announced. This results in the tyre being jammed between the swinging arm legs even in it’s most aft position, plus it interferes with the chain. Big disasters. I have emailed AVON asking what this is and if they have a solution. Maybe I have received the wrong tyre or I have to shift to another size. I won’t have any answers until Tuesday. Shot some pictures anyway:

Wheel in frame with brake disc and caliper in place. Perfect fit on this side.

And here is the drive side. Again a perfect fit according to the design. It is just that reality does not care about my design. The chain will cut a big hole in the tyre unless I can find a narrower tyre.

And below a shot of the new, laser cut, engine plates with the gearbox fitting nicely in between. Compare these plates to the ugly pieces that I received with the frame!!

Front wheel with brake discs fitted. Again, the design seems to be right but we’ll see when the fork legs come back if the rest fits as well.

And below the gearbox, footrest and gear changing mechanism.