Flying Merkel tribute build... the Flying Merkin??

[Quasi1960]

Originally Posted by Rob Farmer

Superb


You do know what a Merkin is though don't you? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkin

I thought that when I first read the title. Isnt English a wonderful language.

[Rebuilder]

Another good day of building behind me. Time to relax and post some pic's.

The fork design took me awhile to figure out. The original design is actually way ahead of it's time. No leaf spring, girder or springer. Just telescoping tubes with internal springs. Very much like modern forks with the exception of the lower tubes sliding above the lower triple tree. That was the tricky part. Here's what I did...

The main components are 1" case hardened solid steel shafts from Mcmaster Carr, some precision 1.01" I.D. chromoly tubing for the legs, 1" thick Waterjet steel for the lower triple tree and 1/4" for the upper. I'm taking a gamble that between the case hardened steel and the chromoly and with some heavy grease the wear will be minimal since I'm not using bushings.

the two outer 1" solid shafts come with one end tapped 3/8" (female) and the steer shaft is threaded 5/8" (male) on one end.





The cups and bearings are Harley parts. Nice stainless steel with the steering stop built in. It's also nice that they fit into DOM tubing without machining (can't recall the DOM size though). And they're made for a 1" shaft.





Here I fancied up the ends of the lower tubes with caps.





Now it gets complicated. I had small slots machined into the 1" solid shafts and long slots in the lower tubes. At this point I was hoping I could get this thing together without binding. I had a plan....







Pressed the steering shaft into that part. It's not going anywhere...I thought my press was going to break.







....back to my plan. I made another Jig.





and tacked it together.



Test fit the lower legs.



At this point I had to get an idea what it was going to look like so I mocked it up. The actual scale of things is a little hard to gauge when working on a computer so it was nice to be able to get a real look at it.







I think the fork is my favorite part. Now it's coming together.



Fancied up the small tubes too.



That hub is from Cheney Engineering. http://www.flattrackaccessories.com/FWheel.shtml Really nice guy, really nice hub.









Now everything is tacked and double checked I can send it out to get TIG'd....while crossing my fingers that it won't twist from the heat.

[crazydrummerdude]

Threads like this put threads like mine to shame.

[Rebuilder]

Originally Posted by P B G

So your pedals will just be stationary?

Do you happen to know how the old board trackers were set up? Some sort of one way clutch? I know there are rear end freewheels on bikes, but I've never been able to figure out how this was worked out on the old school bikes.

Yeah the pedals will be stationary. I had a plan to make them functional until I realized the right side of the motor sticks out too far. Stationary is fine for me.... not like I wanted to pedal around a 300 pound bike anyway. As far as how they made the original, I'm not really sure. I would assume they had a freewheel of some sort like a modern bike but I don't really know.

[danedg]

I just read the definition of a "Flying Merkin..."

[drooartz]

I have a new hero.

This chap makes his own forks. I have trouble making breakfast some days...

[mnd]

Originally Posted by Reebuiler

Yeah the pedals will be stationary. I had a plan to make them functional until I realized the right side of the motor sticks out too far. Stationary is fine for me.... not like I wanted to pedal around a 300 pound bike anyway. As far as how they made the original, I'm not really sure. I would assume they had a freewheel of some sort like a modern bike but I don't really know.

Sprag bearings...

[r50us68]

I think I am missing how the lower forks keep from sliding off the uppers?

[RecycledRS]

Tape

[Rebuilder]

Originally Posted by r50us68

I think I am missing how the lower forks keep from sliding off the uppers?

Good question... that sure would make for interesting wheelies. I just haven't got that far yet. I plan on putting some tabs at the top of the lower legs with a bolt through to stop them from seperating.

[aharper]

Yet another thread in here that makes me feel inadequate in the tools and skills department..



Keep them coming. These threads are greatness.

[Sniper X]

ow wait a minute! How friggin cool would that be! I mean, all one has ta do is carry a roll of Dict tape and do roadside suspension changes/rebuild! A few more winds of DT, stiffer, a few less, softer. going off road? A roll of black duct tape.

[r50us68]

On my R51/3 the forks have a threaded cap at the top of the sliders. The fork tube then have a coller at the bottom the is held on by a cir-clip that increases the OD of the fork tube. The coller matches the ID of the slider, and the threaded caps match the OD of the fork tube. The increase diam. created by the coller keeps the fork tube from sliding out the top.
The springs are also twisted into forges groves in both the top of the slider and bottom of the tripple trees

http://www.motorrad-stemler.de/dcent...s%20r%2068.pdf

page 44

[Hawk Medicine]

Hey!

I was just looking around the in my Bookmarks and noticed that theres a Flying M running in the Cannonball Rally!

http://www.thevintagent.blogspot.com/

Is that the one same bike that inspired your quest for excellence being detailed here? I really admire you guys who appear to know what you doing and tackle projects that the rest of us can only dream about. It gives us something to both dream about and shoot for.

Great thread!!

[knary]

Let's see, the old Merkel single was good for what? [ insert google search ] 3.5 hp.

The XT500 made a claimed 27hp (?).

Should be interesting.