[aveemashfaq]

Here is my intro
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/introd...ic-genius.html

Background
My father used to own a Kawasaki Bajaj KB100 RTZ 1988 model and used it single handedly until 2012. My father is a big DIY fellow and does the house plumbing, electric maintenance, basic electric appliance repair etc and all sorts of stuff.

In the 2000s when mechanics stopped servicing 2-stroke bikes, they spoilt the carburettor tuning because mechanics forget that for a 2-stroke engine, it is the air screw on the carb whereas for 4-stroke, it is the fuel screw. Loosing faith in the local mechanics, he well observed that the key to good bike is a good carb tuning and carb only has two screw to be adjusted. But he knows absolutely nothing about automobiles at all. He knew there was a carburettor which fed the fuel-air mixture to the cylinders which runs the bike but that's about it. He started DIY and played around with the two screws (air screw and the idling screw) of the bike carburettor and when he felt the engine was idling smoothly, he felt proud of his work. But that is not how carburettor is tuned. His work was complete disaster.

The bike often would refuse to start, sometimes, not even on a choke. Sometimes, it would cough in the middle of the road for no apparant reason. For KB100, the carburettor is inline with the engine and so is covered with a aluminium cover. And I grew up watching my father open up the cover every sunday morning and playing around with the screws and thinking to himself that the bike is dying. In 2012, one day we came back after a long tour home and I drove a M800 for 520 kms strech on state highways still on my learner's license (I am very brave man) and the next day, mom asked me to fetch some groceries. Dad had strict policies that car is only meant to be driven when four occupants on board. And the KB100 would refuse to start being idle for a week. We kicked it a lot but dad decided that KB100 was dead. This was when we were still recovering economically. So he went to the showroom that day in an auto and bought a Bajaj Discover 100 DTS-SI 5 speed one because it was the cheapest new bike money could buy. He loathes it even today.

I quickly grabbed the opportunity and claimed ownership of the KB on which dad laughed and said, why don't you sell it to the scrap merchants, at least that would fetch you something. I was on a learner's license and was not taught to ride a bike till then because the KB100 we owned was troublesome. At the back of my head, there was the question that no point in owning a bike when I could not ride one. But adamant me, I kept it to myself. I was in Engg 1st year in NIT Nagpur and when i came back home for holidays, I would open a part of the bike for study. And after a lot of research and observation and learning mechanisms, I opened up the fuel tank, drained it clean, changed all pipes, overhauled the carburettor, found that the carburettor float had faulty calibration and the fuel obstruction needle was worn out leading to engine flooding with petrol, got the last piece of carb kit present in whole of gulbarga town and mended the damn thing. Then I drained the engine oil and filled her up with fresh one, made a custom white colour rexine seat cover myself from what incidentally was excess material at that time in our house. I also painted the rims and the spokes black. I wish I took a picture back then but the only one with me is this



After rotting for so long due to my absence, after one work after the other was done meticulously, finally D-day arrived and everyone was indoors when I turned the key on. In the first kick itself, it roared to life. And what a noise it makes, still feels special. Dad came out smiling, sat on the saddle and took it onto the street and asked me to bring the other bike along with the tools in case something goes wrong. And he disappeared into the roads. For the record, we then lived in a gated township attached to the outer ring road which was under construction and closed. I followed him and could see him putting the old girl through her paces with a wide grin plastered on his face. He forgot that it was maybe the third time then that I was ever riding a bike.

Interesting fact, my brother (one and half years elder) was taught how to ride a bike on the KB100 but I was not allowed to touch it when my turn came because I was 'too' brave. I actually learnt how to ride a bike by betrayal. When my father bought the Discover home, I sneakingly asked him can I have a ride. And in the joy, he forgot that i can't ride and gave me the keys. I pushed the bike for a distance from home to avoid my ignorance being 'discover'ed and then was my first ride. I rode it till the outer ring road stopped and decided to do a launch. Slotted into first, let go of the clutch and pulled it to the almost the revv limit, felt the joy of wind blast and released the accelerator. It bit back so hard, I was about to fall down but my phenomenal cycle handling prowess came handy and I did a controlled skid. The second time was when my brother took me to the market and I demanded him to teach me how to ride a bike and that one strech. Third time was with my father. And fourth was at the RTO office and it was damn hard for me to do the tight turns but I did it like I would do with my cycle, pedalling replaced with accelerator inputs.

He came back home and told me that the bike pulls to the left under acceleration and the tyres are too old and cracked and that it is dangerous to ride the bike because 'I' fixed it. He did not revert to KB because of lack of starter motor and the risk of trouble. And so, it still rotted in our front yard. Got my license on the Discover and that ride was maybe my fourth and I had no clue how bikes behave and what characteristics they have. A year later, my elder brother finished B.Tech and he was handed the keys of KB100 and told that he could wash it and use as much as he liked. He never touched the bike even once in the year he was at home before he left for M.Tech.

I still did not have rights to ride a bike but suddenly my father got transferred to Warangal and hunt for a house began. I insisted that the bike be transported via train and suddenly I was in-charge of bringing the bike to dad. I should explain that I am originally from AP and my father got transferred to Karnataka in 2010 and the discover has KA plates where the KB100 still had AP plates and hence was the wise choice to bring in a train to AP. Furthermore, why experiment with precious discover when it could be abused in the journey. I rode it to the station (mind you, I am a very disciplined driver), removed the petrol and shipped it there. Once in warangal, I got it delivered and my father told me that he was going to the office and that me and my brother should look out for a house. I took the charge and perfected my skills of riding then although I was very careful until that time giving a lot of traffic gap and using turn indicators and hand signals at the same time even for lane changes, sticking to the left corner of the roads etc.

Kept the bike to myself. Enjoyed every bit of riding the bike. Mileage 58kmpl generally (yes I have supreme automobile capabilities and extract 21kmpl from carb Maruti 800 with four heavyweights and full luggage on board with AC on all the time in summer on state highways)

About the bike

1. The engine: In one word Made in Paradise (although technically speaking, made in japan). High revving 2 stroke engine with instantaneous response. Pull the throttle and never mind which gear you are in or what speed, the tachometer jumps atleast 3k revvs in a second. 4th gear, 20 kmph, pull the cable and a loud roar and some clutch slipping and you are in 30 in a second with engine at 4k rpm. The engine redlines starts at 11k upto the limit at 13.5k rpm. I tried pulling it till there but was bloody terrified with the exhaust note, that I pee'd in my pants(not literally). There is tons of torque at bottom end that you could use it as an automatic. 4th gear, 15 kmph no problem at all. 1.5k to 4.5k for sensible riding and 4.5k to 7k to shout at others and zoom past by and 7k to redline to scare the living daylights out of yourself. The thrill of riding a two stroke and the immediate power delivery and the drama of it and the aural pleasure is not even matched by any bike I have ever driven. I drove everything short of Superbikes.

2. The gearbox: It is a 4-speed synchromesh with all down. It was so mechanical and clunky and good that the ones on the bajaj's of today feel like rotary knobs of air volume flow control in cars, vague, and like switches. When you put it in neutral, it clunks so loud, you can hear it even in rush hour traffic. And the feel of engaging a gear is good, like an FZ. Only problem, lack of a 5th gear.

3.Clutch: Maybe my father was too lazy to shift gears that he destroyed the clutch or maybe it is an inherent characteristic of the bike but when you revv the bike, for a moment, it screams and the revvs climb but progress is slow and that I suspect is because of clutch slipping.

4. Other things: The looks are good with rectangle headlamp but the seat is rubbish and riding position isn't good at all. Brakes are drum and not powerful enough and the tyres are narrow and give up easily when you are in mood to race.

All was well until suddenly this happened


And then it ended up becoming this


More on that in the next post

[aveemashfaq]

Given it was my first bike and my inexperience in riding bikes, I could not realize the finer details about it. But slowly as I got mature with riding bikes and rode different types of bikes, my love for the bike started intensifying. I was surprised that the bike despite being 25 years old is still as good, if not better than the current crop of bikes. The smooth engine, strong abuse-friendly body, stellar reliablilty (all bikes in my neighbourhood start after two three kicks on a very cold morning but mine, if driven everyday will roar on the first kick itself) and the long life of every component, my dad never changed a part apart from tyres, oils, headlight, handlegrip and footrest rubber.

He also changed one more thing and it was the muffler sound deadening material. Being a two-stroke engine, it had an oily exhaust and so every year or two, he would remove the muffler, clean out the old residue and wrap it in layers of bandage cloth (maybe that is why I refer to it as 'roar' because of the sort of free flow exhaust). One more thing he did to the bike was that, it came with 12v battery (which was revolutionary for the time because Yamaha RX100 still had 6v battery) which was to be changed every year because of the lesser technologies those days. So, a mechanic rewired it a bit to remove the necessity of having a battery.

I was so happy with the bike that I dreamt of maintaining it and passing it on to even my kids. But then, the heart breaking news came.

The problem
My dad owns 5 acres of fields (located 300kms from my home in the hometown of my mother's grandmother) which he bought off from my grand mother for extra cost so that my grand mother could do the marriage of my aunt back in 1998 or something. He planted mango in it and leased it to people until the trees grew up. It was quite a headache even back then to lease the land and collect money. However things got worse because now that the trees grew up, no one would take the land for lease. And when we tried selling the mangoes, the brokers were only offering Rs.20,000 to 50,000 for the whole of 5 acres of Banginapalli mangoes. It costs us Rs.3,000 per month to keep a local maintainer of the garden (which is quite cheap for us because others demand Rs.8,000 per month and he too is working for us only because his family tree worked as servants under my mother's grandmother and they treated the servants with respect, so the loyalty and also he works for all the fields our family tree has in that village partime). There was more expenditure in ploughing the land, manure, fertilizers and pesticides, the occasional jealousy of neighbouring fields who pluck out the fences, throw border stones away etc.

It was quite a headache and we wanted to sell the land but sentimental value kept us holding on to it until recently when I came into power. I brainwashed them to sell the land and buy plots or flats instead. But then there was coal discovered in the area (Chintalapudi area, West Godavari Dist, AP) and so the land values went down. And so, regrettably, the land values went down and dad decided to stick to the land and given the state of my studies and the bravery in me, I stood as the messiah to save us from losses. I studied everything for a year.

Also, after a lot of survey, I found out that the wholesalers pay good price per tonne in the market. The only problem, I have to bring the mangoes myself to the place for auctioning. All things calculated, even in the worst case scenario, going 300kms in an AC car, hiring a few people to pluck the mangoes, loading them in the back of a 1 tonne truck, bringing it back and following it in the car and selling it in the yard with the worst market rate slapped on to me still gives me more than 50,000 of profit. Only thing I need to take care of is that, all the good mangoes go in one truck which fetches me a good price and the etcetra truck is only to cover the charges. And of course, this sequence has to be done every week for 2 months because not all mangoes get ready at the same time.

So, the first year, I tried doing that. But, after 21 years of age and several trips in a car ferrying my parents where they happily slept during the drive in their seats, they were still not convinced that I should be allowed to drive a car alone. So, they accompanied me. I demanded them that I should be left alone along with the caretaker and we would pluck the mangoes selectively for one day and in the evening, we would a truck around and load it. My dad spoke to the caretaker beforehand and booked 8 labour for plucking mangoes on daily labour wage (not professional mango plucker groups). They arrived late in the morning and did not have any equipment with them. Dad and I made make-shift sticks from the bamboo trees growing in the fence of our field. After fooling around for quite a while, they finally finished the work just before sunset. And they started nagging about the payment. As we called the truck in, one truck brim and yet there was the another truck load of mangoes left. We asked him to call in another truck and he brought a three wheeler pickup which cannot be taken beyond the district. And of course, warangal is in another district. The trucker started laughing at our ignorance and started telling us stories about how cunning the wholesale buyers are and how they gang up on us and refuse to buy stocks that we have to wait for days and finally either accept their price or dump them in the dustbin. He advised dad to give the mangoes to him so that he can sell it to a friend of his who is a mango trader. He handed over 500rs to us and told that the price of mangoes is the rent of the truck for the day plus 500rs which he just gave us. My dad accepted that at the end of the day, paid the workers their fare and sold the rest of 5 acres to a broker for 5000rs because apparently no one buys a mango garden whose best mangoes are plucked away. I tried telling him that 3 tonnes of mangoes that we sold him works out at 1Re per kg which is an impossible rate and the rest of the garden has more than 20tonnes of mangoes left but he would not listen to me. Only one word, next time, let us do better and I had to keep quiet.

Back to the drawing board for me and more plans accounting for the restictions put on me by my father. After working out everything even more meticulously, I found out that all the other expenditures were inevitable. But ploughing the land, a tractor demands Rs.1500 per acre and we have to plough the fields atleast once a month (when there is no fruit or flower formation) to prevent weeds growing up. To make matters worse, the tractor owners have a lot of ego and wont listen to our requests. Sometimes, they are too busy, sometimes, they wont till the land until rains have come, they knock off big branches of trees or the border poles when they come around. This is where I thought I could improvise. Also, there would be a second use, when we were plucking the mangoes, the tata ace could not come into the field completely for the risk of getting stuck. And transporting two tonnes of mangoes to the entrance of the garden was a hard job even for the daily wage labourers. So, this could be a short distance transporter.

I quickly realized that I had a choice. I could either use the KB100 to make a rudimentary tractor and fit it in the back of the the car, take it there and plough the land, transport the mangoes etc. I understood the risk that even though my dad recovered financially, he would never buy me even a second hand bike nor give me the car to run around for stuff and I most definitely have to walk to places to bring small things. The other choice would be to leave the field to hell and dad to his losses and have a great time with my bike and also help my mother bringing things. I bit the pill of familial love and took the dive into making a tractor.

My initial plan was to make it a four wheeled ATV small enough that it could fit in the back of our car with the rear seat folded down completely. I proposed it , showed him a few videos of ATVs doing farming. My father did some youtubing and found people playing with ATVs and straight forward told me to shut up and stop having wild dreams of playing in the garden. He scolded me telling that is this why you come home in summer and is this why I had such low marks. After months of trying, I somehow convinced my mom that it was a good idea.

By the way, my elder brother is an idiot who thinks that DIY is for fools who want to do manual labour to save an extra 10rs and a real man should work that extra harder and earn the 10rs more and keep his dignity intact. He kept fuelling the argument further that I have been quite the adventurous kid from childhood and reminded our family that I started young with the screw drivers opening up toys and I was the most clumsy. I tried counter-arguing that all toys, books were brought first hand for my brother and since I was only one and half years younger, they were passed on to me. By the time they reached me, considerable abuse was done to them and so they broke off. I tried fixing all the stuff for myself and my parents catch me in the act thinking that i opened them and destroyed them and I get beat up for my mischief. I still remember that one time when I was maybe in second class, we went to one of our uncle's mango garden and the caretaker offered me and my brother ripe mangoes. After eating them busily and spoiling our hands, we found that the elders went away roaming and there was no water. We looked around and even the bore was not working. I tried to show off to my brother that instead of having dried mango hands, rub hands in the mud and then rub the hands together so that the mud will get rid of the mangoes and you will have marginally cleaner hands. As I put my hands in the mud, suddenly my mother saw me from a distance and came shouting at me that I was a 'junglee' (a kid with cultures as backward as the jungle). Things were going no where and I decided to put my foot down.

I got the bike into the backyard and started dismantling it piece by piece. My father scolded me a lot but I told him that it is my bike and I wish for it to be dismantled. Nothing more, nothing less. And so I stripped it down to the point where there was only the frame left.


This is how it looked like

Cut open the wiring loom, sat about decoding all the wires. For the KB100, power comes from the dynamo as AC to the first rectifier which converts it to DC and charges the battery. The key is a three setting swtich. When it is in OFF, all the circuits are disconnected and nothing happens. When it is in ACC or ON position, it joins the circuit so that the battery can power the lights, horn etc. The -ve terminal is attached to the frame of the bike and the +ve input goes to the instrument cluster and swichgear where it is distributed.

There is a second rectifier which is connected to the same dynamo. This exclusively serves current to the ignition coil. There is a device connected in the middle, sort of a circuit breaker. When the key is in OFF or ACC position, the wires pass through the device and it somewhow eats away all the current. So, no matter how hard you try to crank, all the current in the circuit is consumed and so no spark. It is not a switch, I checked, it takes connections from both + and - and when connected, no current flows through the circuit. Experts please comment.

Decoded it all, cut all the unnecessary bits, removed the device and instead placed a small switch and packed it into a small tiffin box. Then sketched out a master plan and organized things into two piles. One for the useless stuff and the other for useful stuff. Now, pitched the same idea to my father once again. Agreed reluctantly.


Useless stuff


Useful stuff

wasted days of complete argument with dad and he decided to agree to the idea with one condition, the bike should be in a condition to be put back together if the idea fails. I said fine and asked him money for my new frame. He asked me the plans and I showed him the frame design of a quad bike. He told me that I was not allowed to make my own frame and I should use the existing frame of the bike with no modifications to make a ATV that can fit into the luggage compartment of M800. I guess I am right in saying that M800 has the second smallest boot in the world barring tata nano. I fought with him and told him that the frame of the bike cannot fit in the boot of M800. He told me to scrap the project and put the bike back. I threw the bike in the backyard and went back to college crying. Mom explained and then he called me and told me that I was allowed to make minor adjustments to the frame so that the final dimension would allow it to fit in the boot of the car but that's it. I knew that there is extra weight I would be having but better something than nothing. That too the stakes got higher this time that it should fit in the boot of M800 which has I think 140 liters of boot space. I knew it was ridiculous but I knew the other choice was nothing. So, I did a lot of internet research but in vain. At last, zeroed in on an ingenius solution that I invented. But first, I got the chassis cut to the proper size.


Here is me posing with the cut chassis with the engine and rear wheel attached to it.

Comparison between the frame before and after
Before

After


You can see that I cut the chassis at the point where it slopes up to support the tank and instead, I welded a horizontal rectangular section in there. I wanted to weld rectangular section even at the point where it meets the wheel but dad insisted that the original swing arm should be there as well as the shock absorbers. I tried arguing but gave up because these are the smaller issues. So, the swing arm got shortened (cut and rewelded) and despite the stupid suspension geometry, the shock absorbers are still there.

I knew that the power of bike, even though a lot, I needed more torque for muddy conditions. And obviously, I cannot change the internal gearing mechanism partially because it is tough. What I could do however is change the number of teeth on the sprocket attached to the wheel for the extra torque. But I improvised and instead, I put a smaller wheel so that the linear velocity decreases so that torque increases.

To execute this, there were many ways but my dad said no to all of them. After a lot of stand offs, one solution was agreed upon. I bought an activa rim, lined the KB100 rear brake drum and the holes for the spokes were marked on the activa rim and holes were drilled in the rim of the activa. Now, took a bunch of size 8 nut and bolts and fastened the rim of the activa with the KB100 rear brake drum. Everything could stay stock.

Now, time for my genius. I wanted to have a proper steering mechanism (ackermann type) but due to space and dad's constraints, I used this genius mechanism instead.


Sorry for the inverted photo but it shows upright in my laptop as well as in the browser upload button but somehow comes inverted in the blog

As you can clearly see, the simple frame has two wheels attached and in the middle of the frame, a hole was drilled in the top beam and the bottom beam. So now, the whole framer swivels about the engine and the main frame. Sort of like the icecream cycle where the front two wheels along with the box hinges about the rear driven cycle.

Time for the exhaust. Dad wanted to retain the stock silencer which would not fit in the new scheme of things. The only position it would fit in was vertically. Like this.



One more fight later, dad decided on a stick on after market muffler. I told him that I could get one if he gave me the money. This time dad was busy and let me have the money beforehand. I went and got one fabricated and welded it on. At least the bike was done.


Here is my brother (my uncles's son) who came for a visit and is posing on the vehicle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJApQu2zOW0

And here I am conducting the very first trials in Warangal.

Report of the trike

1. It is very powerful for what it is. I tried going fast in first gear and maybe when it touched 4000rpm, the front tyres took off from the ground. Very powerful indeed.
2. There are some things that you should learn about when designing. The more detachable the part is, the more it is vulnerable to have weak spots and break. So, it was imperative that the engine and the rear wheel(s) should be a single unit for it is the most dangerous thing if it breaks. So, it had to be one unit. And one unit with two wheels in the back cannot be put in the back of M800. So, one wheel in the back.
3. You often stop to look back at your plough when ploughing. So, you need a stable mechanism. Further, if the plough gets stuck, bike comes to a sudden halt and so you need two wheels in the front.
4. For compactness, you want as less fixed parts so that they can be compactly put in. For rigidity, you want as less parts detachable. And remember, after a hard day's work, you should have the patience to detach so many parts and put the bike back into the car. So, equilibrium in design.
5. After working, I grew such a muscle that I could lift the parts bike myself and put it in the back of the car. My father and brother cannot do that. So, I checked the weight and it turns out that the heaviest part I put on the bike weighs 58kgs. My-my, project is better than weight lifting.
6. Since, the bike is too compact, whenever I turn in and apply some power, it goes into bike mode (one wheel rises into the air) and can be clearly seen in the videos.

Finally the video of my bike ploughing some barren land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63JPyGsicas

Mind you, this is barren land hardened over the years and so the tilling is not that great but fields are ploughed over and over again and they are very soft. My tractor scratches the surface of barren lands, it easily ploughs fields.

And finally the pic of loading it into the car.


Mind you, the black front steering frame stacks up on the main frame and the two tyres comes on top of it, all tied up together and to the car seats to prevent it from pushing the driver out of the car under braking.

Here are some pictures of it. Sorry I am not so keen in photography and did not have the time to take photo of every step as it was done due to the pressure and the fighting.




The white box and the beige box in the pictures are the new petrol tank and 2T oil tank. The complete setup can be dismantled by removing two nut and bolt combinations to remove the steering frame from the main frame, two bolts for the two front wheels and four bolts for the handlebar. And thats about it. Load it and Sayonara.

Except for it is not sayonara because my father did not allow me to bring it stating that the ploughing power is inadequate. I argued that it is because of the soil being hard during the trials. Finally, I convinced him to let me bring it to the garden. And when it was done, it worked brilliantly.

Never mind the smoke because 2stroke engines are that polluting inherently and the bike is stored for extended periods of time so some petrol stagnates into the engine and runs on rich mixture before eventually becoming cleaner.

But my father decided to have a go and as he got his first wheelie, he said, enough is enough, I should either make it a stable four wheeler that fits into the back of M800 or discard the project. I tried telling him that my ingenious steering mechanism was the culprit and if I were allowed to modify it and make a proper one, it would work well. This time too, we got our field tilled by a tractor.

When we came back home, I reminded him that even huge tractors have wheelies and that is why they have braking for individual rear wheels. So that when the wheels come up in the air, the rear brakes act as the steering mechanism. I als told him that it is physically impossible to make a stable structure and make it fit in the back of M800 and if it were not for the stupid restrictions I was put, I would have made a three wheeler that was much more stabler. I showed him the example of morgan three wheeler and also reminded him that even an autorickshaw is stable. My father scrapped the project for the moment and strictly ordered that I could only do whatever I wanted after I get a job. And then he told my mother that I do not have respect for my father and asked her what he did wrong for me to have such disrespect.

Incidentally, my college was over at the same time, and as you read in my introduction, my job prospectus happened. So, left everything and sat to work hard for railways.

[Samurai]

Moving out, thanks for sharing.

[Ajaybiz]

Sorry but you killed one potential bike which is rare now, same effort could have restored her to its glorious avatar, one of the very few bikes of that time which came with a tacho.

Their very first model in Blue color is still my dream to own.

[aveemashfaq]

I know ajaybiz, I love the bike so much that I would bike another bike if I had the opportunity. But it is the way things are, I did a sacrifice for family and all went in vain.

BTW, i did restore the bike to the glorious avatar quite meticulously cleaning the fuel tank, overhauling the carburettor, cleaning the head light, tail light assembly, overhauling the instrument cluster and replacing every single bulb of it, painting the rims (although technically that is a mod) and driven it around quite extensively for 2 years with pleasure and a smile on my face and with an average FE of 58kmpl in Warangal city traffic.

[prithm]

aveemashfaq

Good DIY. I know its really heart wrenching to see motorcycles getting torn to pieces or fertile land becoming barren. It just doesnt not go down so easily. I appreciate you giving a new lease of life to KB, but it would have been better if you would have kept the bike in original condition and getting the rear wheel converted from single to twin. That way you could have saved the spring systems in the front and upgraded the rear to more fish cart model springs.

It would have served you as a cart. But, anyway.

On lighter note though, I am assuming the lady in the picture is your mom. My mom too has same expression on her face when she sees me spending time with my motorcycle. No interest at all. Ladies are same everywhere.

[mayankk]

Lovely!
What a gigantic effort in finding a solution to a problem that would have solved a lot of other ones as well. It always good to see practical application of knowledge by young(er) people.
Dont be disheartened. Everything is a learning curve. I know it must have been a little upsetting to cut apart your own machine.
Just dont worry about taking apart a rare bike. It really is not. It may have some sentimental value for people like us who started riding on that range of two strokes, but apart from that, they are really not that great compared to newer cheaper stuff, and not really rare. When you start working, you will be able, if you're so inclined, to pick one up for a pittance. And seeing how well you can handle a wrench, you can get one for even less to bring her up.

Here's hoping you can make something of the trike still!

[aveemashfaq]

Yes, I know I can make it like a fish kart but in case you missed it, I live 300kms away from the mango garden and have to take the bike everytime I want to plough it. And the fishkart would not fit into the back of the car. Furthermore, for no apparent reason, my father imposed it on me to that I only had space in the boot and not even the rear seats folded down.

And I am sure the RTO would never allow for a fishkart to be registered and even if they did, ferrying it to and fro on highways for 300kms is going to be exhausting. I cannot put it there because you know how villages are. They break the corner stones, set fires to neighbouring gardens, drop the pumps into the pit overnight for envy. Our one neighbouring field guy actually plucked away all the border stones and pushed his farm harvest junk into our field. On enquiry, he just said that one of his workers must have done that because workers are lame. That's it. No apologies, no making upto, nothing. And I would not leave the bike in such a place no matter even if i made a fort knox in the middle of my field.

And yes, that is my mother, busy at whatsapp. And the photo was taken accidentally because I wanted to take the photo, paint over the new frame and show it to my dad. Never did that but at least that photo was preserved.

[abhishek46]

Firstly, I really appreciate your father's principle that a car should be used only if there are 4 passengers. If everyone thinks on these lines, it would lead to vast reduction in pollution.

Secondly, this is a very thoroughly carried out project by you. It takes talent to do things like this. Kudos to your spirit!

Finally, It hurt a bit to see a legend like KB100 die. In it's time it could smoke anything else on roads.

[ATUL SINGH]

Yup @ Abhishek, it could smoke anything on the road in its heydays - except maybe the RX-100 and the RD 350. I own a 1990 RTZ Delta and it was probably the original FLG (feel like god) mobike
Its still in Ok shape except the carb. maybe someday i will get around to repairing it and taking it to the roads again

[aveemashfaq]

Hey Atul singh, even what I own is a RTZ Delta.

The carb is Made by Mikuni, Japan. I can guide you if you want to tune the carb. But before you start fiddling, remember that you need to get a carburettor packing. Carburettor packing is a piece of cardboard like material which sits like a seal between the carb upper part containing the venturi and the lower reservoir containing the float. If that is damaged and you did not replace it, petrol might leak away slowly from there.

I think it is a general problem with all KB100 carbs. When they are kept idle over time, somehow the petrol leaks away. I made a habit of turning the petrol tap OFF. But still, even with that, if it is stored for extended periods, all the petrol floods away into the engine crankcase giving you starting troubles.

[vivtho]

A fantastic mod @aveemashfaq! You exemplify the spirit of Jugaad, making the best out of the materials you have available.

Looking at the build and videos of the trike, some points that came to my mind are (some of them might depend on your father easing some of the restrictions placed on your design)

• The tendency to wheelie is increased due to the short wheelbase. Since the front wheels are not (comparatively) load-bearing, why not use raked front forks to increase the wheelbase?
• Fabricate a detachable load carrier that can be carried just above of the front wheels. This will allow the vehicle to be used to transport the mangoes where the Tata Ace etc. will not go due to slush etc. An additional benefit is that you can load it with ballast like rocks or sandbags to reduce the risk of unintended wheelies.
• The plough is at too high a height for effective use. I'd suggest using shorter tines (about 1 - 1.5 feet) and providing a way to carry a rock or sandbag as ballast.

[arnabchak]

Dear aveemashfaq

A good initiative of converting a KB into an ATV.

However, I feel that KB 100 is a rare breed that you could have restored to its former glory. Parts are available.
I have a Yezdi Rajdoot Roadking 250 and believe me, parts for this rarity is also available. You may have to scout a bit.

Why restoration suggestions:

• One of the best 2 stroke bikes in its times and certainly one of Bajaj's best products.
• A rare bike in its time that featured a full dash- Speedo,Tacho and a Fuel Gauge
• Superb exhaust note
• Good low end grunt and pickup
• Reasonably fuel efficient

Why not an ATV?

• ATV conversion will limit its usage considerably.
• Moreover, a home built chassis may have long term reliability issues
• The fuel efficient and engine performance will take a hit
• The extra width will hamper ease in maneuverability.
• The timeless beauty of a KB will be lost.

Just my views!!

[Urban_Nomad]

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

After rotting for so long due to my absence, after one work after the other was done meticulously, finally D-day arrived and everyone was indoors when I turned the key on. In the first kick itself, it roared to life. And what a noise it makes, still feels special. Dad came out smiling, sat on the saddle and took it onto the street and asked me to bring the other bike along with the tools in case something goes wrong. And he disappeared into the roads.

I followed him and could see him putting the old girl through her paces with a wide grin plastered on his face. He forgot that it was maybe the third time then that I was ever riding a bike.

This

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

wasted days of complete argument with dad and he decided to agree to the idea with one condition, the bike should be in a condition to be put back together if the idea fails

This

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

Furthermore, for no apparent reason, my father imposed it on me to that I only had space in the boot and not even the rear seats folded down.

And this - probably points at one thing - your father is still a biker at heart and not very happy with what has become of his KB. I do not mean any disrespect here, as you would definitely know best about people in your family. But; his re-union with the old girl, wanting the bike to still be in its original shape and actually putting up restrictions which in your own words are without any real reason tells me that he still wants a KB in his backyard, not the engineering project

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

About the bike

1. The engine: In one word Made in Paradise (although technically speaking, made in japan). High revving 2 stroke engine with instantaneous response. Pull the throttle and never mind which gear you are in or what speed, the tachometer jumps atleast 3k revvs in a second. 4th gear, 20 kmph, pull the cable and a loud roar and some clutch slipping and you are in 30 in a second with engine at 4k rpm. The engine redlines starts at 11k upto the limit at 13.5k rpm. I tried pulling it till there but was bloody terrified with the exhaust note, that I pee'd in my pants(not literally). There is tons of torque at bottom end that you could use it as an automatic. 4th gear, 15 kmph no problem at all. 1.5k to 4.5k for sensible riding and 4.5k to 7k to shout at others and zoom past by and 7k to redline to scare the living daylights out of yourself. The thrill of riding a two stroke and the immediate power delivery and the drama of it and the aural pleasure is not even matched by any bike I have ever driven. I drove everything short of Superbikes.


And then it ended up becoming this.......

And thats the thing. 2 strokers may not be uncommon or rare, but 2 strokers that run like clockwork and are in pristine condition are definitely rare and hard to come by. From your post, it seems like thats what you had. So lets get one thing straight; a well oiled 2 stroke is indeed rare and a hoot + 1 to ride

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

1. It is very powerful for what it is. I tried going fast in first gear and maybe when it touched 4000rpm, the front tyres took off from the ground. Very powerful indeed.

More than anything, I feel its the chooped up; rear heavy; unstable short wheelbase that is causing the front end to lift off even under moderate power. But you are the engineer. Would love to hear your thoughts on this

Finally, the KB belongs to you and you can do with whatever you want. But I, like many other enthusiasts can simply ask you to reconsider and bring the KB back to its original glory like you once did

Take care!

[VW2010]

Love it man. This is exactly why i am here in these forums. Having an idea in mind is one thing but putting that effort and trying something different is huge.

The classic still stays with you. That KB signature is still there and will be there. And this is something close to my heart to convert and create something. Dont get discouraged and try to make this a stunner by adding more engineering innovations. You will never know where you will end up.

Thanks for this post and i was actually waiting to see the final output before posting.