The " Touch of Evil " Flexo

KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#1
#1
I started to write this thread a few months ago but decided to hold off until after the forum changeover took place. I was going to title it "Flexo #3" ..but I since sold one to Karen so I'm back to only 2.

(Note: You can never have too many Flexos they are just flat out cool bikes.)

This is a "Cali Born and Raised" Flexo that LSCutoms had about a year ago.

Originally his friend was going to restore it...then LS said he might want it. Anyway I told him to put me in line in case it came available. Well a couple weeks later he sent me a PM to let me know it was mine if I wanted it. The price was right and Gerald was a great guy to deal with. This was right before Windber and Guardrail Dave even offered to throw it in his trunk and haul it across country for me for free.

Hard to beat that....this is gonna be a cheap date !!


Guradrail Dave ready for the trip...Evil Ed stands guard


Well, "The best laid plans...." Suffice to say it didn't work out the way I had originally envisioned.
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#2
#2
Ed decided he wasn't going to make the trip to Windber..and I decided I already had enough unfinished projects without taking on another Flexo. Even if I could massage the frame back to stock and get it prettied up, I would still have to deal with the final prepping and painting . I don't paint...it's not my bag and never has been. I leave that up to the guys that know what they are doing and have the talent and experience to back it up. One of those guys already had the bike in his backyard.

I pulled out my Bonanza Brotherhood membership card and made a deal with Ed to put his "magic touch" on it. :deal:


The bike had the usual Flexo issues...extra junk welded on the frame, forkneck gusset added, forks jammed. Look at how they hung that Tecumseh tank on there!

But the frame and forks looked straight , jackshaft plates were nice, factory brake cable tab, axle hanger tabs, etc....and most importantly, no rust. I HATE rusted & pitted frames !




Besides being stuck, the fork lowers were nice, the GoPower I wheels were perfect and the orignal brake assembly was intact. All the important and hard to find stuff was there and in good shape.











 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#3
#3
People do some crazy things to these bikes...check out the Tecumseh tank bracket welded to the top tube:



Grab bar? Luggage rack?? Who knows....more work for Ed.




As is always the case, the deeper we got into it....the paint got stripped away, and the closer we looked at it, the more it needed to make it right again. And so it began.

Here's some of the progress photos Ed has sent me over the past few months...I'll let the pictures do most of the talking:


Old brazed in neck gusset



The top tube was pretty well jacked. Ed suggested we just replace the top tube, neck and a small portion of the down tube to make it really nice again.






They had also added some seat brackets that also had to go....:grind:

 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#4
#4
Working back and forth long distance I took all the proper dimensions off of my original Flexo and sent them to Ed who went to work







The correct way to repair tubing....







Perfect 65* .....:thumbsup:
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#5
#5
The source of the "stuck" forks...



Ed found the upper fork tubes were distorted...he managed to straighten them out again using a solid bar driven inside to form them back into shape.


I asked Ed not to make the welds "too pretty"...only as good as Flexo made them originally. There's an art to making the new welds match the rest of the original welds and Ed is a master at it.



This guy does some really nice work...now you know why I let him do it and not me.

 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#6
#6
We (I mean Ed :rolleyes:) was getting pretty close to starting the final prep work and prime. He sent me a photo for the final "go-ahead". I noticed something was off on the motor plate...sure enough they had tweaked that too. It had been trimmed down and set between the rails instead of resting on top :doah:



It was looking like a major setback... we were going to have to fab up a new one from scratch when Karterman came to the rescue with a genuine NOS Flexo motor plate he had stashed away.:drool:

Scottesey helped me locate it and shipped it down the coast to Ed for me. Thanks to some major help were back on track! :thumbsup:

More to come......
 
jdogg

jdogg

#13
#13
Nice attetion to detail Gerry like making the welds not perferct to match the originals!! Love the name and that it gives props to Evil Ed!! :thumbsup:
 
Outlaw Ace

Outlaw Ace

#14
#14
Cool story and bike Gerry, Ed is a top notch fabricator and all around minibike man from the old school like yourself. I've seen the neck surgery thread and he knocked it out of the park. I'm a pipe fitter and good frame grafter but my welding is not as good as I once was and I hope new glasses will help cause I cannot see to weld any more. I'm sure this one will get the treatment it deserves like your other great projects.:thumbsup:
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#15
#15
For many years I wanted to do everything myself..whether it was a car or boat or bike, or working on the house I wanted to be able to say I did it all. It used to actually tick me off of somebody else touched a job I was working on.

I'm past all that now I don't mind getting some help especially when the other person is more skilled at the task than I am. I just want to get stuff done and done right and I've found it can be even more fun if it's a collaboration.
 
KustomKartKid

KustomKartKid

Administrator
#16
#16
For the sake of future reference, here is a photo of an original Flexo motor plate complete with dimensions.



This is the "flat" motor plate...Flexo also made bikes with a raised motor plate. I drew this up when we were getting ready to fabricate a new mount, before I lucked out and found the NOS mount. For anyone who may need to fabricate one, take note that the slots are not evenly spaced they are positioned closer to the edge in the front.



I snuck into Ed's photo album and found these pics of the new mount.





The mount should butt right up against the jackshaft brackets at the rear, and be centered on top of the tubing that makes up the bottom hoop.
 
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