jaylael Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 If this works, you should be looking at it. This one is really special. Lot's of carving to try and drop the weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unbalanced Posted April 12, 2007 Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 Some one has been very busy, excellent work. How does it ride? Hodaka's were so cool and the daftest/greatest names Dirt Squirt, Combat Wombat and the rest. Never seen one in this country though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylael Posted April 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2007 (edited) Not ridden it yet. Waiting for a dry day as I don't want to get it all muddy yet. If it works anywhere close to the type 2 it will be frickin' awesome!!! OK I'll brag a bit, that I got second place advanced, in a modern event on the type 2 at Dennis Sweetens trial last summer. I also won the national vintage trial overall at Mid Ohio on the type 2. Had to sell it in order to put money down on a new Manufactured home. Edited April 12, 2007 by JayLael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axulsuv Posted April 13, 2007 Report Share Posted April 13, 2007 Too cool Jay !!! and my x-ray vision tells me you've probly already have some of B&J racings hodaka flywheel weight in the little hopper !!!! TWINSHOCKS ARE TRIALS !.!.!. Glenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylael Posted April 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2007 The Tree Frog 125 has a steel flywheel made by Ron Liddle, my machinist. It simply costs less than the fine product created by B&J racing. Ron's flywheel requires a Hodaka wombat flywheel for a core, and $250.00 to build one. I think B&J has a gorgeous brass flywheel weight which is $350.00 if I recall correctly. One of the neat things about this bike is the frog skin seat cover. It took quite a few frogs to make it. Also the Gonelli fender set from Bultaco UK sets it apart from the ordinary. The primary muffler (centerbox) is a refurbished Bultaco M199A part from E Bay. The carb is an Amal mkII from a 348 Cota. Yes twinshocks are awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylael Posted April 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2007 (edited) Saturday April 21, I travelled East to Terrebonne, Oregon for the AHRMA vintage Trial there. It was to be the Type 3 Tree Frog's debut and sadly it's first break in/tuning day as well. After nearly fiving the first section due to a fouling plug, I replaced it and thought my problems were solved, until the next section when the engine spontaniously stalled at low revs. It proceeded to do tis several more times, chalking up fives like they were going out of style. Despite these problems the sections were great and I was having fun just being on a bike at such a wonderful spot. The trial was held in a very wide canyon which was formed like a giant river bed from millions of years ago. It had high vertical walls on the side nearest the trial, which looked like something out of an old western movie. The sections were very tight turns on loose sandy terrain mixed with a few rocks. Several sections were simply rock patches filled with grippy boulders of assorted sizes, but none over 2 feet. About the Hodaka, turns out the flywheel weight was contacting the inside of the mag cover and dragging on the engine. Also the timing was too far advanced, causing a gutlessness and propensity for stalling. Once the timing was set properly and the flywheel ground off a bit, test rides revealed the nature of the type 3. Power wise it is a timid thing. I plan to try some different combinations until it gets better but it will always still be just a 125. I seems it doesn't rev cleanly on top end so I plan to put a smaller main jet in today. As for the results of the trial I finished second by two points behind Larry Lake on a TL 250. He's a darn good rider to do so well on such a machine. The thing is I feel ok about not winning when there were so many reasons for it. At least it's dirty now so I can start riding it and advancing it's state of tune vs admiring it like it were a sculpture or something. Edited April 28, 2007 by JayLael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylael Posted April 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 (edited) As time goes on I have been fettling the Tree Frog with some further improvements, and it is ready for another outing to test it's progress. The biggest one is a set of very special primary gears to provide super low internal gearing. The first ride with these found first gear to be much lower than before and second gear to be where first had been. Now the little Tree Frog can crawl along at incredibly slow speeds in first gear, where as before it felt like you were being dragged along at an incredible speed, almost like being sucked down a drainpipe. (has anyone seen that animated movie, "going down the drain?) And now second gear allows attacking "larger" obstacles, so it is a win/win situation. This photo shows the bike at the last trials event, where we are required to sport the number of our line. Expert = #1 Intermediate= #2 etc. I had a guy walk up to me one time and say, "So you just decided you were number one?" I had to show him there were eleven other guys with number one also. At the last trial the flywheel weight had been dragging on the inside of the magneto cover, so Ed and I set about trying to resolve this, with a hand file. It only suceeded in destroying the file. I have since resolved this problem. It is amazing how much better a bike can run when the insistent drag of the flywheel is resolved. Edited April 28, 2007 by JayLael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagecota Posted April 28, 2007 Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Hi Jay, very funky bike! Maybe the file failed because it's designed for low-speed application, and your app was high-speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylael Posted April 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted April 28, 2007 Vintage Cota, I hope you mean funky in a good way. I'm sure that you are right about the file, but it's more fun to say it was because of the high Iridium content of the flywheel weight. I was worried that thing would catch the file and propel it through my eyeball or something. My momma always said , "Stupid is as stupid does." I say, "God protects the stupid." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian r Posted April 30, 2007 Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 I love to read about your trials with Hodaka! I think you should call that bike the "poison dart frog" with those colors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaughan Posted May 1, 2007 Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 Hi Jay, Awsome Job you have done on the 'Frog' You made a bike that looks great and mechanically improved on the original, more important you get on it and Ride it. Well done, Vaughan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylael Posted May 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2007 Thanks, Brian and Vaughn! It's good to hear some positive feedback. Sometimes I find myself wondering if I am just a pain in the behind who ought to shut-up. This past weekend I took the bike up in the mountains to practice my old sections, and decided that the clutch is working perfectly now, which brings me to the next logical advancement. It doesn't seem to rev up to the tippy top end as well as the prior one did, even though it now has a 26mm amal carb. and the type 2 had a 24mm mikuni. I also tried a 22mm before and it wouldn't rev up as high on top. The long term plan is to fabricate an aluminum still air box, (maico style) with mega air flow. Short term I just got out the disc grinder and cut the top half off of the ace 100 air cleaner. Now she revs up to freaky heights, like a sherco/beta/gasser 125, so I can hyper rev the engine and dump the clutch in second and launch up some bigger stuff that requires a bit of speed. Now that I have a super low first gear I can patiently totter along through a rock patch without becoming overwhelmed by the speed at which things take place. I hope evntually to try a couple of the bigger rocks at my old place, but so far it doesn't feel like the Tree Frog or me are up to the task. JL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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