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The Bicycle's Saddle will follow the retro klassic theme, by being of traditional beehive-sprung cruiser configuration, in brown leather with chrome crash bar. The Hawthorne came with this style of seat. While it is possible to restore, rechrome, and reupholster the original unit, we will probably go with a new unit. The
example shown, by Jackson Saddles, is their Super Deluxe Classic Cruiser
with heavy-duty double-action stamped steel truss/ chrome springs. Includes
plated nose coil and crash rail. Full grained U.S. cowhide tan top.
For  "5/8 or "7/8 tube post. Priced at $65.00
A Klassic Kustom MotoBike Designed to be Fitted With a Passenger SideCar.

Mister Moto is a 24" Hawthorn Phatster. It is shown at left, wearing the usual house-paint It came from BR&K's longtime friend, Gordon T. Bradbury. MM's frame is mostly 1" round steel tubing.
M I S T E R   M O T O : BR&K  Project Bike
A Klassic Kustom MotoBike Designed to be Fitted With a Passenger SideCar.

Mister Moto is a 24" Hawthorn Phatster. It is shown at left, wearing the usual house-paint It came from BR&K's longtime friend, Gordon T. Bradbury. MM's frame is mostly 1" round steel tubing.
Stretching The Frame:
Our original Photoshop sketch showed an extension length of about 3", based upon the mistaken impression that the top tube and its lower companion are angled toward each other in the seat post area. While drawing up the full-scale pattern on cardboard, we discovered that those members are actually parallel to each other in that area, which means we can extend it to any length. We chose 6" and used those dimensions in the full-scale drawing. At that dimension, the frame appears of obvious "stretch" proportions, but not extremely so. They will still continue the illusion that the top and mid-tubes are angled toward each other.
The head tube is raked 10 degrees in this view. It was originally thought that this was needed for the use of a 26" fork. It was discovered in the full-scale drawing, that extensions of consistent 6" length raised the top tube 2" in relation to the original ground plane. As the rake is considered desirable, from a stylin' viewpoint, further experimentation will be performed with individual member lengths.
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Engine Location:
The stretched length makes for a simpler engine placement in the 24" frame. We feel that the 24" frame gives a much better look, compared to the 26" frame, through greater visual compactness. The engine, of the weed-whacker variety, will be located near the down- and mid-tube intersection. With the added frame length, the engine will avoid conflict with the knees of a pedalling rider. Mister Moto will function, legally and practically, as a motor-assisted bicycle, although hauling a passenger in the sidecar would make this an onerous task, without power assist.
SideCar Mounting:
Three pivoting links will connect the bike frame to the SideCar framework. Mounts on the bike frame will be welded to three locations, one on the lower stay, one near the top of the seat tube, and one on the down tube. This will give a triangular relationship, for maximum stability.  The link arms will perform a pantograph function, in which the sidecar can lean with the bike frame, should this be desired. Granny trikes, which have essentially the same layout as this sidecar rig, don't have leaning capabilities. However
Granny trikes aren't designed to handle corners at 35 MPH.  This
performance aspect is a main design consideration for the machine.

The Details:
The Tanks will straddle the top and mid-tubes for their full lengths, completely covering the open area between them.
Construction will be carved styrofoam covered in an epoxy/kevlar/spandex composite shell. One of the tanks will
function as a fuel tank for the engine, the other will act as the housing for a 12 volt NiCd rechargeable battery pack, for powering the vehicle's lighting system. The forward halves of the tanks will be painted, with the rear covered in padded leather. The tanks are made hollow by dissolving  the styrofoam core with a solvent (such as gasoline) after the composite shell is cured. This is a very simple method of making tanks. We will be showing this process here.

The Wheels will be of 24" X 2.125 rim size. It was planned that these would be laced with heavy-gauge.120 dia. spokes. The front, ideally, will have a drum-brake hub. The rear is still in question as to the hub type, although we are leaning toward a 3-speed coaster-brake. We are considering other wheel types, as well.
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The SideCar shown here is a miniature built for a
Wallace and Gromit claymation film. It was made by John Wright. This has always been our favorite style of SideCar, and we will endeavour to hew as closely to its style and form as possible. In this case, a 24" wheel will be located outboard of the fuselage. The fuselage will be foam/epoxy/kevlar/spandex, like the bike's tank.  The chassis will be based upon a welded steel outrigger, incorporating pivot mounts matching those on the bike, connected by stainless-steel tubes. The fuselage's plywood floor, which establishes its shape, will be fastened to the two lower connecting link tubes.
The Fenders will be fully-faired composite units, in "Indian" style. The Hawthorn frame came complete with
its original beat-up fenders. These will serve very well as the basis for making new composite-clad fenders.
The stretched composite skin process means that even dented and rusted fenders will work very well without
extensive repair being needed. This process will be shown here.
The Bicycle's Saddle will follow the retro klassic theme, by being of traditional beehive-sprung cruiser configuration, in brown leather with chrome crash bar. The Hawthorne came with this style of seat. While it is possible to restore, rechrome, and reupholster the original unit, we will probably go with a new unit. The
example shown, by Jackson Saddles, is their Super Deluxe Classic Cruiser
with heavy-duty double-action stamped steel truss/ chrome springs. Includes
plated nose coil and crash rail. Full grained U.S. cowhide tan top.
For  "5/8 or "7/8 tube post. Priced at $65.00
The SideCar will have upholstery in brown leather matched to the saddle. The execution will be similar to the example at left, which was done for a child's pedal car. The SideCar will also have a padded cockpit coaming similar to this. This example was done with used leather from old trousers. The SideCar will make use of new leather.
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As this project continues, this page will be updated.
( The interesting flattened stays are the exception.) 1" round is serendipitous, as the stretching operation calls for the insertion of three straight sections of tubing just forward of the seat tube. 1" is fortunately the exact diameter tubing used in those stupid-looking BMX-style forks all our parts piles are infested with. That, and the straightness of the added sections, will make for very simple acquisition and fabrication.
Original     pre-war Hawthorn 24" Frame
Here is the frame with modifications. This is quite a difference from the stock frame,
although the vintage feeling of the basic frame's design details is retained. The flattened rear stays and rear-facing dropouts are unaffected by the changes.
The original fork will join the parts pile, to be replaced by a 26" Schwinn Springer Repro unit.
This shows the engine in the position it will occupy in the finished bike.

The basic engine mounting is a length of 1" square steel tubing. The TAS engine has two 1/4" studs installed for mounting purposes. These will be mounted through the square tube.

The mounting tube/original frame intersections
are shown with .064 steel curved reinforcing webs. These will add to the strength of the mount, and visually integrate the new tube to the original frame. And they look really kool.
The Engine: We had originally planned to use a 38 CC MacCulloch weed-whacker motor on Mr. Moto. We obtained the motor free from our brother. It's a nice little motor, in many ways. It's very compact and lightweight. Unfortunately, it's not a very attractive engine. It looks like something you'd find inside a plastic-housed appliance, which it is. Since the engine is totally surrounded by shrouding, no attention was paid to the aesthetics of the inner machine, and it shows.

So we kept looking, in hopes of finding something kooler, and preferably more powerful. A 4-stroke would have been nice, as their exhaust music is more pleasant than the snarly 2-strokes. Those are also more expensive, though. We were
pretty much reconciled to doing this on the cheap, as much as possible.
The Tanaka TAS J-12 Super Engine
Rif Addams sent me an E-mail pointing out an eBay Auction for the bike at the right.
As our article on Tanaka's Bike Bug was in the works at the time, Rif and I were both Tanaka-oriented at the time. The bike was
obviously a piece of trash, but the engine looked interesting. Rif originally thought it
was a 4-stroke, which got me excited, also. Someone had already met the starting bid- $25. On impulse, I bid $26 on it.
It turned out that the first bidder was Tanaka collector Mike Schneider. Mike dropped out of the bidding when Rif mentioned that I was the other bidder. Whether this was as a sincere favor to me, or an elaborate prank on Mike and Rif's part, we may never know. The result was that I won the bike for $26. eBay deals are generally on a "buyer pays shipping" basis, I gave the seller in So.Illinois my address for lining up shipping. He came back with a price for crating the bike and shipping it air freight of $225.  Yeah, right. I made another proposal to the seller. That I would pay him extra to extract the engine and trash the rest of it. It's possible that some of the other parts were salvageable, but I wasn't optimistic enough to pay for finding out. The seller went for it, with the result that I got the engine for $70, including shipping. This was more like it.

When it arrived I immediately started taking it down, to see about its condition. This was important, as I had been informed by this time, by Randy Haslam of Tanaka USA, that this is an orphan engine. It was originally developed as a utility industrial engine for sale in the Phillipines and the Pacific Rim. Even the company's Japanese headquarters had no information on it, much less a shop manual, parts list, or parts inventory. So the inspection was vital, in that it would determine whether I had an engine or an expensive and overly-large doorstop.

Looking inside through the intake and exhaust ports, showed that the cylinder, piston, and rings were immaculate, with no discernable wear. The carburetor looked like new when cleaned, and inspection of the spark plug, (obviously the original,
as it was a Japanese brand never seen in the USA) showed that it was almost new, with perfect spark electrode.The engine must have been bought new in the '70s, had the bike built around it, and set aside and stuck in a corn crib, until it was found by the eBay seller. Judging by the crudeness of the work on building the bike, I imagine it was set aside because it
was a pain to operate. As 2-stroke engines are about as complex as hammers, it was decided to proceed with this as the Mr. Moto engine, in spite of the total lack of spare parts or literature for it. This engine has a big plus, in that it is very striking in appearance,. The cylinder head cooling fins are especially interesting, once the cooling shroud is removed. The engine's original air-cooling components will be removed, as per usual hot-rod thinking. A bike engine can do without the cooling aids of a stationary one. Other engine modifications will include a new custom exhaust system, a carburetor rerouting which faces it forward, with a trick "ram-air" velocity stack air intake/filter unit added. The cylinder and block, and associated castings will be painted with Krylon Hi-Heat Red, with the edges of the cooling fins polished to a chrome look. Other billet aluminum parts will be made as needed. This engine will be really attractive when it is finished. It has very similar specs to the Mac engine we were originally planning to use. It is 37 CC displacement, and generates 1.7 HP at 6,500 RPM. The engine progress will be shown here, as it proceeds.
The Engine's Drive-Train:
For most motorbike applications, a transmission is not really required, although Larry Louterback uses Comet variable drives on his machines. As Mr. Moto is designed to pull a sidecar, it needs lower gearing than one without this task. As Mr. Moto will not always be towing a sidecar, ultra-low gearing would be a drag on top-end road performance. A Comet Torq-A-Verter transmission, delivering both ultra-low and ultra-high gearing, and everything in between is especially desirable, and worth the additional weight and expense (about $150). What makes this especially sweet is that the drive gives higher speed than the bike would deliver without it. In theory, Mr. Moto will be able to hit 40 MPH.

The use of this transmission calls for the addition of some additional gearing  for efficient use. The Comet unit can handle a maximum engine speed of 3,200 RPM, typical of small
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4-strokes. As the TAS has peak power at 6,500 RPM, being restricted to half that would be quite inefficient. Between the engine's output shaft and the input to the Comet, will be a 1:2.2 toothed-belt drive. This will have the power input to the Comet the equivilent to 3.4 HP at 3,200 RPM, much more in line with its normal parameters. Progress on this aspect will be shown here.as it proceeds.
As a good-looking engine is the koolest thing you can add to a bike, we set out to build the koolest bike ever designed around a motor. Continuing our Construction Diary: