Having spent quite some time sorting out the DUNLOP Drilastic saddles I also needed to complete the Lycett saddles.
One of these was, as far as I can tell, original although it was made by WRIGHTS rather than LYCETT. This was easily changed with a new badge and by powder coating the base and springs I now have a nearly as-new saddle.
I also had a spare base and with the addition of a set of new springs and a cover
plus another badge I now have 2 serviceable Lycett saddles.
These will be fitted to KTTs 55 and 305.
Just one detail on fixing the Lycett badge ....although these would originally have been riveted I have screwed them on with M2.5 stainless steel screws from which the screwdriver slot is then removed using a finger sander to give the appearance of a rivet. The sanding process generates quite a bit of heat so it's necessary to let them cool down intermittently to avoid .....Blazing Saddles ....sorry about that
Front Saddle Clamp – KA-111
You may recall from previous blog postings that I was short of these and consequently ended up making patterns and having 6-off sets cast in HTB3 – high tensile brass.
There are quite a few machining operations to complete each of these and being irregularly shaped castings are somewhat tedious to set up for each operation.
The first step is to machine both of the matching faces
which can then be stuck together with epoxy adhesive before machining the side faces.
The sole purpose of gluing them together is to make it easier to set them up as a pair in the machine vice on the milling machine.
The hole/threads for the 2 fixing bolts are then drilled and tapped (1/4” BSCY) in the upper part of the clamp and a clearance hole is drilled in the lower part.
The 5/16” diameter clearance hole for the saddle fixing bolt is drilled, the ends faced-off and the 2 parts of the clamp can then be bolted together, separated by a 2mm thick piece of flat aluminium strip
before locating the centre for the nominal 1” diameter hole that clamps around the frame tube and drilling a ½” pilot hole.
This pilot hole can then be used with a 1/2” diameter bar in the tailstock chuck to set up the clamp in the 4-jaw chuck in the lathe
to bore the 1” hole to complete the main machining operations.
Why do it this way? Well, because it is much easier to locate the centre using the DRO on the milling machine rather than trying to locate it, in the absence of a pilot hole, in the 4-jaw chuck on the lathe.
After completing 2 of these
it was time to fit one to the bike.
The width of the contact surface with the saddle was reduced to 1.25" so that it is good snug fit to the bracket on this particular saddle and the rough cast surface has been smoothed off with a Dremel. It will be painted in due course.
The assembly was then mounted on the frame for the first time.
The remaining clamps were machined
- the original, from which the casting pattern was made, is on the left. These will now be tailored to suit the bracket on each individual saddle.
So, what’s next?
Gearboxes,
Clutches
and Positive Stops.
I have a feeling that this is going to keep me busy for a while…..
