The Thunderbike is effectively an Aurora Thunderjet, turned on its side, and with lousy balance, and terrible tires.
It started as a whim. I was looking through my collection (click the Museum link above if you want the tour of most of the pieces). I came across my Thunderbike, and heard many tails of how it wouldn't run. In fact,
Bob Beers' book states just that. I love a challenge.
My first order of business was feeling capable enough to pull it apart. There are many tiny pieces, and the sort of all go together at once. In fact, I never removed the driver through the whole process, but everything else popped off.
Then, I chucked the rear tire in a Dremel, and sanded it flat, and rough, with 200 sandpaperr, after which I applied a coat of windshield sealant smoothly to both sides of the rubber tires (This step is absolutely key)
After I managed to get it all laid out on my work space without losing anything, the first line of business was to polish the armature. Then, the pickup shoes. After oiling all the axles and journals, and adding JB's Thunderbrushes, I reassembled the Bike.
Here is a video of the outcome. I will let you all be the judges.
