He Builds Antique Motorcycles

He Builds Antique Motorcycles AG WORLD 30-3-22 When Don Huebert wrapped his motorcycle frame around a tree, he was building it, not wrecking it. Huebert used a tree near his shop to bend a piece of steel tubing to match plans for an early 1900's era motorcycle. "I always wanted one of those old bikes, but they sell for $20,000 to $30,000," he says. "I met a guy at a motorcycle swap meet who built a replica, and he told me how to do it." The plan was simple. Find the engine and wheels you want to use for the bike. Lay them down on a large piece of cardboard and outline them in the position you want them to be. Draw lines for the tube steel frame and fill in the other pieces you need like a gas tank, pedals, fenders, etc. Stand the cardboard up and see how you like what you have. Make any corrections needed and start building. Huebert found an old Triumph motorcycle engine that had been stripped out and tossed on a scrap heap. He cut it down to the shape he wanted and rebuilt it, casting his own parts as he needed and scavenging others. "If you find a Briggs and Stratton piston that fits, that'll work fine," says Huebert. "I found wheels and fenders that would work and started bending tubing for the frame." He used a piece of exhaust pipe a neighbor couldn't use on his combine for a gas tank. Handlebar grips were cut from 50-year old Osage orange fence posts, and a bicycle generator recharges the battery. The most expensive part he had to buy was a link belt for the drive. Huebert likes the older style motorcycles because they are simple, with a belt tightener instead of a clutch and pedal start instead of a kick or electric starter. "In Nebraska, if it has a pedal start, it's classified as a moped, and you don't need insurance or a license for it," says Huebert. "I call it my æcoffee bike' since I use it to run downtown for coffee. I've had it up to 55 mph." Huebert built a second motorcycle with a longer engine and a two-speed transmission. He is now working on one that will have wooden wheels and spokes. He is using channel iron for the frame and will cover it in wood as well. "I am building my own engine from scratch for this one, pouring the castings and machining and welding the pieces I will need," he says. He doesn't make them to sell, due to liability concerns, but he is surprised more people don't build them. "I thought it would really catch on," he says. He would be glad to talk to anyone wanting to build one. "A couple of other guys in the area have built them too, and we have a lot of fun riding them in parades and such." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Don Huebert, 1102 Rd. B., Henderson, Neb. 68371 (ph 402 723-4407).

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