A new guy

[flatbill]

Sometime around 1960 my Dad bought a miller ac stick welder. I think it was 220 amps. I learned how to weld with it to make minibikes and gokarts out of electrical conduit. I was around 14 at that time. Burned a lot of holes with 1/8 inch rod. Sometime in the early '80,s I bought a 300 amp Hobart cyber-tig from a shop that made tube frames for dirt track cars. It weighs over 1000 pounds and I still have it. Later I picked up a Hobart Beta-Mig 200. Still have that. Also picked up a Miller Spectrum 500 plasma cutter.

Between 1970 and 1972 I worked at several different welding shops. I had a chance to get into an engineering tech job and took it. Moved from that to Quality Assurance positions. In 1984 with a partner I quit that and we opened a business dealing with Henderson Motorcycle parts and services. Look here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henderson_Motorcycle . In 1993 I moved into doing small projects for people in my Saint Louis area. About 2004 I started calling myself retired and would do an occasional project. Now I work on my latest Hotrod project. Its a 1933 Chevy sedan with a 400 Pontiac engine. I've had the car since 1964 and drove it in '65 and '66 before going into the Air Force.

I look forward to reading about others experiences and gaining knowledge from others. I hope to be able to help others from time to time.

[CAVEMANN]

Welcome! Thank you for your service. Wow, Henderson motorcycles, didn't they run an inline 4 cylinder parallel with the top tubes on some models?

[flatbill]

Welcome! Thank you for your service. Wow, Henderson motorcycles, didn't they run an inline 4 cylinder parallel with the top tubes on some models?

Yes, The Henderson's were all inline 4's. Started in 1912 in Detroit. Around 1919 the Henderson brothers were bought out by Schwinn and was moved to Chicago in 1920. Schwinn also built singles and Vtwins under the Excelsior brand. The depression was tough on everyone. In 1931 Ignus Schwinn said "that's all the motorcycles" and ended their production. He concentrated on continuing just bicycles.

This link has a lot of the history. Most of it true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henderson_Motorcycle

When they turned off the motorcycle production they had train loads of parts. The factory gave or sold all this to the remaining dealers across the nation. My partner and I bought a large pile of this inventory from the estate of a Chicago dealer's widow. We sold out of this for years adding to the inventory with some reproduction parts that were impossible to find. We built up 9 basket case bikes and sold them off. Then continues selling parts. We finally sold off what was left several years ago to a guy in Montana.


Thanks to all for the hospitality. Billk

[lacers123]

Welcome!! Thank u for ur service.

[smithdoor]

Welcome to the group

Dave

[wb4rt]

Welcome to the forum. I built myself a minibike a few years ago. One of my favorite projects!