How I made a motorcycle from an old Black and White photo // Paul Brodie's Shop 

Yes. I had a similar experience when I started working on a 1916 Indian motorcycle about 7 or 8 years ago. There are many, maybe most, people in the hobby that will not share their knowledge. They hold their cards close to their chest. Ironically, many of those same people can’t understand why there aren’t any young people coming into the hobby. On the positive side, I met a few people who were willing to help, and I’ve made some lasting friendships. One of those friends shared your channel with me and I instantly subscribed. I also started my own RU-vid channel to share my experiences. Anyway, thanks for sharing.

I take my hat off to you! I restore and build full size road steam engines and i know how much you put into the build. Well done and a cracking nice job.

So cool! I like that the guy with an original wouldn't even share a pic with you (all he had involved in owning the bike was purchasing it) and here you are showing us how you created your masterpiece, Bravo Mr. Brodie Bravo! Wednesday can't come soon enough. Great work on the editing Mitch.

I have no words to explain my admiration for you and your work... you deserve waaaay more subscribers for sure, and definetly a lot more of coffee... thank You and Mitch for these awesome videos. It's kinda frustrating to see channels with no real meaning having millions of subscribers meanwhile channels like yours and other that show craftmanship, use of the brain and so much more not gettin' the attention they deserve... guess it's the law of the market...

I love hearing the stories of your incredible journey. I'm blown away by the level of craftsmanship and dedication to building bikes from scratch. I sure do wish I could do what you do. Great job Paul!!!

Very nice Paul. Many years ago, I may have sold you a Tiger 100 engine, you look very familiar. Great series, I look forward to the "heads" video. Have a good weekend!

Paul, if only I can give more than one thumb! Thanks.

My goodness it’s mind boggling the amount of work you have put into all this.

Out of all this amazement I like that he is using a Craftsman Micrometer. A great tool leftover from budget times.

Outstanding craftsmanship, design and fabrication Paul. Looking forward to the series!

Paul, I knew you were good but this is amazing what you've accomplished building an engine from scratch. I've lived down near Vancouver Washington and would love to come up and see your shop sometime. Congrats again on your accomplishments.

I still have pictures of your green bike you built!! When I saw that bike I fell in love with the Excelsior board tracker!!! Such a work of art!

Hello Paul, what an intriguing story. Thank you very much for sharing it with us, I actually binge watched the two episodes! You were clearly driven to complete quite an exceptional challenge. Very dedicated. Also I suppose your circumstances were unusual and helped enable as such, simply inspiring. I appreciated the detail you went to in the preparation of each segment of the engine, and lawn aside, you must have felt quite ecstatic when it first started. Exceptional. Best regards Kevin.

Very nice 👌 Now I'm curious as to how much power you could gain from a shaft driven camshaft in an automotive engine 🤓

Can’t believe somebody can be that spiteful as to not share photos! But you seemed yo do ok without them! Looks like an amazing project!

Excellent story! I too, started on AutoCad release 12, back when I was 16. I was a welder/gopher in the shop of a local mechanical contractor. The owner had a project that none of the engineers were willing to work on over the Christmas break. I told him I would teach myself Autocad and produce the required drawings (HVAC routing for a theater in Gatlinburg TN) if he was willing to pay for it. I was making $7.50/hr at the time. The rest is history. Thank you for having such excellent content.

I remember that project, i saved every photo and drawing on that build that you posted. Fantastic build.

Hi I’m 57 Years old. I have worked in machine shops in the past. All your castings are like ART work. I’m glad you made several motors.

Fascinating project! Thank you for sharing

Hallo Paul Man müsste 100 Jahre alt werden um all das zu lernen was du weißt. Es ist mir immer wieder aufs neue eine Freude, deine Videos zu sehen. Die Art und Weise wie du Dinge umsetzt, inspiriert mich immer wieder aufs neue. Vielen Dank für deine Videos und das du dein Wissen mit uns teilst. Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland 👍😃

So.....How about a late teens Henderson Four boardtracker now? 😁

Very, very good job. Beautiful motorcicle. Congratulations! 👍

i cant imagine being so selfish that you would rather have it disappear than show people, jesus.

Great story, reminds me of Billy Lane's story.He had the same thoughts as you, do exactly what he wanted to do, he's also a old motorcycle nut. Oh and he was also reckless, but lets say a bit more extreme. Also check ''wheels through time'' museum, they have a few Excelsiors and quite a collection

What a wonderful journey you're taking us on. I imagine you're experiencing the same types of difficulties the first engineer's felt in designing these motors. Of course if personal SLA machines were available during your build, it would have cut your time and cost why down. Why didn't you use a rapid prototype house/shop to build SLA´s for viewing? Also not sure if a 3D design software like Solidworks could have saved you available time and energy over a 2D software like Autocad. It certainly would have allowed you to view all your clearance´s and fit issues unlike Autocad. I hope you take us through the entire design and build cycle so that others will learn and perhaps build more vintage motorcycles themselves. Many thanks for airing this incredible adventure of yours.

Fantastic workmanship my father and I did a 1903 Packard the same way we were lucky bill Harrah had one and Henry Ford museum had the other. We started with an original engine and transmission. Dad made a deal to restore HFM car so we copied every thing we needed. Finished it in 83 then drove it coast to coast.

Brilliant build, and to hell with those who don't want to share a piece of history with you.

Fascinating! I first found the build blog for this motor years ago and was blown away at the work that went into this. I had already known the story of this legendary motor and the tragedy of the death of Ignaz Schwinn's favorite rider on the original which resulted in the destruction of all the existing race bikes. What an amazing era for motorcycle racing and development.

wow a great project, demonstrating all your skills. I've never seen you and Allen Millyard together, I think that there is something going on. 😃

On a much more limited scale I got to experience some of what you did during this project. My situation was with a JAP 1,000 cc 50 degree VTwin, liquid cooled overhead valve with exposed valve springs and rocker arms. Had to make an oil pump with Lathe, Mill, and Tig machine with a handful of broken original parts to study. Crankcase were spider webbed with cracks all through cam bushing and crank bearing bores so after Tig welding the cases new bores had to be machined for the bushings and bearings and of course line reamed with the cam cover to get proper alignment... rocker arms had to be welded up and reground, and missing rocker box pedestals had to be made ( didn't even know they needed to exist before trying to assemble the engine) . The engine had 2 camshafts, one front and one rear,, and each cam had 2 roller followers that were something I'd never seen before,, they swung on a pivot. The rollers were bushed and completely worn out as were the pivot bushings and pivot pins so I made all new rollers/bushings and pivot pins and bushings from scratch tude had to be made from scratch. I had to redesign how the left side flywheel mated to the sprocket shaft because this engine was for a 1936 Morgan Sport and would have an automotive clutch affixed on the end of it operated by a pedal and it all had to resist flexing which is what caused all the crankcase cracks to begin with. Instead of the small tapered sprocket shaft I went with an S&S Pro Mod Dragbike splined shsft and had to bore the flywheel to accept it as well as bore the clutch flywheel to accept a female splined insert. All was done press fit then Tig welded. Also the engine came with a very unique magneto that was correct in every way but one. The magneto was made in 2 versions, for a 50 degree Vtwin or a 60 degree Vtwin, this was a 50 degree but the mag was for a 60. On this magneto the "Points cam" is actually a ring that is stationary and the points themselves spin around inside the ring rubbing it's non circular inside surface to open and close the points. It's not just something I could order. I had to plot out the correct part on paper and handed it to another shop that used an EDM machine to make the part. We did use JE Pistons as well. The entire car took me 2 and a half years tobuild/fabricate/restore working 4 to 8 hrs per day 2 to 4 days per week and about a year of that was the engine. Making parts for this was one of the most challenging mechanical experiences I've ever had and I can't imagine trying to do it for a production run of parts.

Brillante man, Paul Brodi is, very inspirational and encouraging to watch and learn By Thank You sir For Sharing,,,....,.,.

Paul, I just discovered your channel, but I followed your blog when you were building these Excelsiors. I was in college and would spend hours reading your posts and studying the detailed pictures you took. I couldn't wait for the next installment. It still blows my mind that you did what you did by reverse engineering the entire thing from a few pictures. When RU-vid suggested one of your videos, and I realized you were the Flashback Fabrication guy, it brought back all these memory's that I had kinda forgotten about. So I've only just watched a couple of your videos, but I'm excited to relive the build again this time in video form, which is even better. If only you had been videoing the entire build, that would have been epic! I really just don't even know what to say to complement you on the dedication and attention to detail it took to accomplish this kind of project. Well done, you really should be proud of this accomplishment! Looking forward to more videos on this, keep up the great work!

Wow what a story. Full commitment 👏

As a senior casting dimensional engineer, with 35 years making investment castings for jet engines, all I can say is impressive. You are a fine design engineer. Cheers.

This is so cool. I originally found your website about 15 years ago, and I've since read through the build numerous times, as recent as last week! Thank you for the video, its great to get more insight on this story!

Sounds like the guy who would not send you a pic was more worried about the price of his bike going down instead of someone building a Beautiful Bike Great Work Sir

Ha, the day you posted this I drove by Turett and Osborne while visiting Wichita for mothers day, I hadn't given the place a second thought in almost 20 years.

An ex will make you do crazy things. Absolute unit. Good job, sir!

What an incredibly ambitious project to undertake... those parts look beautiful - thanks for sharing!

Dude is paper or a digital image you cant make a motorcycle with it you need metal and rubber, etc...

Knowledge not shared is Knowledge lost. For those that refuse to share often die sad and alone....I love motorcycles becuse I was blessed enough to meet many great people like you.

How can you use the paper that a photo is on into a motorcycle? The first time it rains the paper will get wet and the paper motorcycle will fall apart.

Wow! You are a master! I love the old Henderson, Excelsior and Indians.

Amazing engineering and shame on that man who wouldn't share even a photo of his engine. Maybe he lit the match for your foundry fire?🤔 Beautiful work. ✌️👍

A guy built a four wheel electric bike for a wheelchair can roll on it. I contacted the man that built it asked if I could buy the "blue prints" he said he just had drawings. He said it was okay for me to copie his work. I thanked him and I will call him to pick his brain as I'm building it. The most expensive parts on the bike would be the electric wheels X's 2 front disc breaks, the frame won't be hard to weld together. Then the racapion steering could get that from the go kart market? With most other parts could be made in house. I have most of the tool's to make and build from scratch built.

Jesus, Paul. I knew you were brilliant and ballsy, but not like this.

I’m sending Brodie over to Russia to talk with Putin and have explain why it’s wrong to invade Ukraine . Brodies demeanor and Voice tone will win him over.

Sharing is caring! Secrecy is for folks that want to be “gurus”. Usually self-proclaimed…

The bikes from back then had so much style. I am fond of the style of some of the Excelsior and Crocker bikes. Imagine if you had access to 3D printing and CAM equipment.

Hermoso motor muy bello trabajo gracias ppr compartir 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🙏🙏💖

Wow! Absolutely fascinating!! Your experience with trying to get photos of the Excelcior engine reminds me of a German that had blueprints of an old WW1 aircraft engine that people were try to replicate. He would tease people by showing only part of the blueprint, knowing full well that they were about worthless without showing the rest, (he tricked everyone but me). He was also very rude, degrading and arrogant in his comments to people asking questions construction techniques and information. I will never forget that poor excuse for a man. Thank you so much for your great example and to share what you know about design and manufacturing skills of motorcycles and bicycles. ..

Just sad someone most likely with one foot in the grave doesn't want people to be able to build replicas. Most likely the type that would argue about better working EV bikes don't compare to past bikes.

I'm going to have to apologise in advance here, but all I can think of to say is 'FUCK, that's genius!'

You sound like another gaming youtuber named Spoony Pizzas 🤣

Good job. Even Allen Millyard would be proud (the best motorcycle mechanic I have ever seen). Also would it not be possible to 3D print the parts for sand casting?

Cool you have been to Davenport,my family has been here for over 150 years. I've been going to that swap since 1975 when I was a kid,sure changed from that time. You made a beautiful motorcycle! Should make one to race at Sylvan with Billy Lane. Making that engine must had been monumental. You ever come back message me.

Fascinating project. Thanks for the excellent tutorial.

Guess what to the people that didn't want to send pics to the guy he's now reproducing these engines in abundance 😂😂😂😂😂😂 the one of ones are just that his are users 🙄

10:58 : Weirdos. And they wonder why nobody under the age of 70 is interested in pre-war stuff anymore 🙄

I think that's "... Pretty soon you had a bike worth $9,000".

Well done, I made a black and white photograph from my motorcycle instead !

You gotta be from New Hampsha! You know my dad, Richard Montembeault of Tilton? He was an AMA flat tracker and ice racer from the late 50's to the early '80's all around New England and Canada. Started racing for BSA and Triumph then eventually just made his own bikes. He won a big race at the Canadian Nationals in 1964 on an Eso Jawa...which he still has!

WHEW! talk about talent

A truly outstanding achievement sir , the feel of a pioneer machine with modern internals ! Regards Robert Partsmade 🇬🇧

Revolutionary. Pat yourself on the back.

Civilisation is alive! Beautiful work!

I like the bit about the oil pumps as a lot? Of people that build vw engines think the same as you did about the way the oil goes

Fun story: during the last resurrection of the Excelsior-Henderson brand in Minnesota, the first time the engines were put together and run, they failed to build oil pressure. This was in July of 1998. The oil pumps ran backwards. Allan Hurd was Not Amused. We got it fixed, along with other things, and unveiled running bikes in Sturgis two weeks later.

It's one thing to luck upon an original bike like the Excelsior, but, a hand crafted machine made from a photo and imagination, by yourself, is mind blowing. What CAN'T you make, Paul? I mean, you make parts from an idea, you made a motorcycle with imagination and a photo, you probably made MITCH the robot from an old Popular Mechanics article... you, sir, are truly a genius.

WoW it's amazing job, you are a mechanic/artist at the same time, thank you Paul!

I have a picture of my great uncle and his brother riding his excelsior motorcycle. Thanks for the video.

I was thinking, wow, you have the patterns for all that. Then you said and they were destroyed in a fire. [face palm] That must have hurt. I didn't know you in the PNW. I'm in wa state and my other half works in sequim wa. Just across the bay from you.

An immense undertaking, 45k just for patterns 😵‍💫An incredible achievement well done indeed.

Absolutely fabulous, it makes me want to buy back the nicest thing I've ever made and light it on fire while throwing into a dumpsters at the bottom of three flights of stairs! It's not lost on me that the original was hand drafted and milled, cast etc. Which, makes me want to take more cnc, 3d printed, state of the art stuff and huck it into the flaming dumpster of this craftpersonless maker world we're living in.

Those bevel gears are trippy to fit. Have two in the bike stand. I needed to do some castings - did the patterns, rammed the molds at a friends - then ball bearings, needle thrust bearings, a 1/2-10 Acme screw…. I’ll need to do a vid like this one…

Wow ACAD12 ON A 486.JUST LIKE 1999 AGAIN. wow. I was a design engineer for 7 years. (94-01) Cad 2006 is the last one I've used. I.imagine it's the same, but insane with today's chips. I wanted to scale up a Vincent motor to 100ci like that. Scale: value? 1.4 bam! Hehhehe funny part is. It's that simple. You're a badass captain.

1. Financial recklessness. 2. I liked that. 3. I spent four months sitting in front of a 486 computer on AutoCAD 12 for DOS. 4. The shape was important. 5. I made all sorts of fixtures. 6. Others don't share their stuff. 7. I spent $45k on patterns. 8. The foundry lost my patterns. 9. I thought I did really well on my oil pumps. 10. I had a learning experience. 11. Lots of custom parts. 12. There's more to the story.

Send it to MyMechanics for a proper polish and paint job

Gorgeous work Sir! You are an inspiration for sure. So sad the ole timer would not share. The great ones are humble and share like you. God Bless.

What's your balance factor (%)? I use a 60% factor for street motors and 52% for high reving engine's. I'm wondering if you plan on reving it enough to do a 52%. Curiously, Harley used a 30 to 40% balance factor until 1972 when they switched to 60%, everytime I balance and older engine I have to take a considerable amount of weight from the rod side of the flywheels, I usually remove the ends of the counterweight areas as opposed to doing that much drilling around the area of the connecting rods, that's not a good thing to do.

OMG u r a true legend!!!i started off AutoCAD 12 20 years ago!!!am using please do use auto cad 2016.its so much simpler!!but i love your guts!!!if u need any help with AutoCAD please let me know.i can draw stuff for u!!even 3d mechanical drawings!!!love your work sir.true inspiration.

Hello Paul, maby vor Intresst ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Y8a-dIyFNjI.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fndmnOfrsWM.html

“There went 5 grand…”. Been there, done that. Got there by by ruining $10, 100, 1000. The $10 hurt just as much as the $1000. I’m the proverbial frog in the pan of water. Seems that you’re a BULL FROG! Stunning!

Incredible history and craftsmanship! Loved it

I'm the type of person that would memorize every little detail of a bike like that because it's so beautiful.... I just can't get over the fact that it has pedals, that's one of my favorite parts of old motorcycles, I'd love to work on bikes like that.

To those who didn't help tell them there's a waiting list for engines and do what you did to them

Typical Canadian........ Taking an interesting project, and making it totally boring... Like watching paint dry !!!!!

Paul: I could help you with new patterns. I have a 3D printer & CAD modelling capabilities. If you have 3d Autocad files or even 2D "dxf" files we could reconstruct the patterns. Ted Hamilton On.

Thank You for this info, it is fascinating because I have a V-twin engine in mind which is based on the J,A,P V-twin 900cc of years ago. I was interested in the way you made your parts using fillers and bits of alloy to get what you wanted. This is something that I still don't know the best way to go with my idea. Also I am not living in the best place to do this work! My problem is the maths, I know we have to be "Exactly" correct or everything would be out of sink. Anyway; I loved the way you explained it all.

Nothing wrong with Autocad 12, you use the same 10 commands on Autocad 2022. Technology has moved along, these days you would draw your cases in Autocad Fushion 360 in 3D and either have the patterns milled on a CNC or build a CNC from a kit and do it yourself. CNC's are nothing new. I first saw one in action in a trade shown over 30 years ago. Toyoda brand, milling what looked like a cylinder head from a piece of billet aluminium. The guy beside me commented that this machine just made his job as a fitter an turner obsolete. Nothing further from the truth, he just could not see the opportunities it would create in front of him.

I came across your channel looking at scale model Radial aircraft engines which I been working on a 9 cylinder Lee Hodgson designed scratch built radial 3 years of work and not even halfway done! unfortunately just don't have the time .. Magnificent craftsmanship my jaw dropped when I realized you made the engine yourself!! that is one beautiful Racer! cheers from Salt Lake City

When I Listen Look & Learn at Engineers like you & Allen Millyard etc I'm so surprised at the vision & the results, I wish I could the same but my end result would resemble a Boat Anchor, so I will keep on Listening, Looking & Learning. Thanks for sharing Paul 👍

Always wondered how much it would cost to make an exact copy of the legendary Porsche Type 547 engine? have the plans and seems pretty simple primitive really highly sought after and an original will set you $400K! if one can make the castings and get all the parts that are not available made for even $250K there's big money to be made especially in quantity Porsche might be knocking at your door though!

Finally the penny has dropped. There were 2 Excelsior companies, one British and the other American. I couldn't wrap my head around how a British manufacturer would have been making these racing machines solely for export to the States. Just as unlikely as a Canadian building superb copies with only photographs as a reference...

Hello Paul... my name is Marc i'm in France... you're a génius !!! Your job is incroyable !!! Félicitations 👍👍👍

wow amazing work, love it subscribed! 486 computer... and it still running .....

Paul...I stumbled onto your bike frame building videos and couldn't put my figure why you seemed so familiar. Well, when you were here in Davenport, we had a few beers and talked about fabrication for a good time at the pub. I'm certainly a fan of your videos. Even more, I've had the chance to tip a few and talk about your fabrications....small world..

Wow, you’re one smart guy, to make that from old photos is just incredible, you must be very proud of your achievements, thanks for sharing your journey

Enormous amount of work! Worked with Autocad 13 myself a long, long time ago!

Incredible work mate. It's awesome to be able to see the design process you went through