Coventry Eagle Whatnow!?

[devilishdesigner]

I thought a few of you may be interested in the biggest project to hit the Suus workshop at the moment.

I picked up the frame a while ago because it was too cool to miss. 1930's Coventry Eagle pressed steel frame. The height of simplicity complete with riveted together head stock, these frames originally held 98cc-250cc 2 stroke motors, but this frame was completely bare when purchased, with only a small section of exhaust hanging on.

To fill it out and make a reliable little bobber style bike I will be fitting a complete modern 125cc 4 stroke driveline. Lots of work to go but here is the progress so far. If anyone has any smart ideas about how to cross the shifter across to the right hand side of the bike so that the cool original hand shifter can still be used I'm all ears!

Here's what they originally looked like when restored:


And here's my progress so far:

[mylittletony]

looks rad, shame it didn't have the forks with it!!

for the gearchange, how about an intermediate shaft across the back of the engine? Should allow you to get linkage ratios sorted in the process

Another suggestion would be to make a real highlight of the frame - nickel plate, bright colour etc...

[redratbike]

I sold a petrol tank for one of these a few years back...got a fortune for it

[devilishdesigner]

I've been wondering about an intermediary shaft mylittletony, was trying to work out how it would be mounted/driven - splined end driving off the shift spline?

2 other options:
Run the shift on the left with a hand clutch on the shifter - I can make the linkages work beautifully for the shift part of this, but I cannot figure out how to incorporate a clutch lever without losing the appearance of the original lever and making it look like a Harley bobber

Run the shift on the left and a foot clutch also on the left - too weird?

[forde]

Plz no 4t I crei evrytim

[devilishdesigner]

Forde, it will definitely be going 4T. This little bike is being built with the aim of being fully engineered and registered at the end. With the weight of the frame this combo should be capable of respectable pace from the little 4T anf with a complete matching driveline servicing will be a piece of cake.

[dodgerover]

How does the hand change lever work (its a bit before my day and i've never really looked before) is it still a sequential set up or does it physically select a position? It would probably be easy enough to mount a clutch lever on the hand change as well but i can imagine trying to juggle the throttle at the same time for setting off would be a challenge

[devilishdesigner]

Originally the hand changers were gaited, but since this old girl was only a 1 speed there isn't too much of a gait, it will be easy to set it up as sequential. A few bobbers and choppers do a hand shift with clutch lever incorporated, but most setups I've seen would look too chunky for this old girl.

[sciclone]

Stupid question, but what about adapting a grip shifter from a mountain bike? some of them are twist shifted and cable to boot. Check the SRAM XX or XO to see what I mean.

[devilishdesigner]

Seat mount mocked up, taken a third shot at tank form, not 100% happy, but getting closer!

[mylittletony]

if you're fabbing a tank anyway, how about having a split tank with a downdraft carb coming up through the middle?

[dodgerover]

Can you modify the hand change to run push + pull cables so you could link those to the existing gearchange lever?

I liked the side profile of the first tank but i think it needs to be slightly wider - maybe dropped down over the frame rails slightly?

[devilishdesigner]

I had wondered about a carby through the tank, but feel that the cabling will get very messy and unpleasant.

Thanks for the suggestion on the push-pull cable setup Dodgerover - I hadn't thought of doing it that way. Will have to have a think about cable routing but it definitely seems like a plausible way to keep the shift on the right. I wonder if a set of throttle cables would be strong enough to be adapted?

I liked the first tank too, unfortunately once the seat was raised to the required height it became very awkward looking

[devilishdesigner]

I didn't realise how long it had been since I updated this thread! Here's a few new shots, the frame modifications are complete, frame has been stripped and powdercoated, motor painted, and it's all coming together finally!

[lightyearman]

I really like this!