Vulcan 800 Bobber Project

[maddognsc]

Mike,
Sweet Bobber dude. I'm thinking about doing the same thing to my A. My problem it that my budget is pretty tight so I'm looking for the biggest bang for my buck. I love the rear fender, can you tell me how you mounted it onto the swingarm.

Maddognsc
04 800A
07 1600 Nad

[cike]

Yep, the ride is defiently growing up! and to think that I remember it when it was just a little stock looking thing. What was that like 2 months ago..Bet you get alot more comments on it now than you did before huh?
I wouldn't know with mine, the poor thing is just sitting there in the garage waiting for everything outside to thaw out so it can get in the wind. Maybe i need to buy a trailer and haul the bike somewhere in the winter so I could go for a ride.
Maddog: welcome to the site..do some looking around on here (how to section) and you'll come up with several ideas of ways to keep the cost down. mike bought his as a used fender off ebay, i bought a fender from a tractor supply store, someone on here (with a flat green bike, can't think of the name off hand) used a flat piece of stock. you can also find some different ways people are mounting them. Post a pic of your bike and lets see what ya got.

[mumbles]

Got my pipes wrapped today.

Took it for a ride to smoke them out and got a lot of strange looks.

The pipes look as good as they sound, bud.
Hit me up whenever you get a wacky idea on the handlebars or need a helping hand on something or just need someone to get in the way. LOL

[deanevo]

Nice bike!

[MikeGoodwin]

Thanks guys. Yeah cike, its quite a different bike now. I do get a lot of comments on it. People wonder what it is until they get up close and see the logos (but those will be gone soon enough). You could haul it down to Texas. 65 right now but wet. I took mine on a few rides last weekend and it only got really cold (35 is really cold in Texas) on one day.

Hey mumbles, I have been throwing around some ideas for bars. I've also decided that I want to extend my swingarm linkage to lower the rear like you did on your black 800. I found a few on ebay so if I don't like it i can easily replace the stock one.

[MikeGoodwin]

Hey maddog, I'm trying to do mine on a pretty tight budget too. It can be done but you have to search around for deals. I found my fender on ebay for 10 bucks plus shipping. It was a front fender that came off of an HD wide glide. Just do some searching and try to find some swap meets or cycle salvage yards. Just get creative. With a little extra work you can save some serious dough. Another thing that has helped me tremendously was asking questions on this forum. These guys know a lot about these bikes and are willing to help.

It also helps to have a repair manual. I have the clymer manual and I can tell you that it is worth every penny. You can save tons of money by doing all of the work yourself.

As for my fender, I mounted it to the mud guard bolts on the swingarm. I mounted a piece of flat bar across the top two holes and drilled a hole through the middle. I drilled a matching hole in the fender and used one bolt to mount it. I just made a few struts out of flat bar for the rear.

Post up some pics of your bike. We love to see pictures on here. If you have any other questions along the way feel free to ask. Someone on here will have the answer.

[mumbles]

Looking forward to making some custom bars Mike. Ask Alley what did he use for slugs to weld the ends together on his bars.
Extending the dogbones is pretty much staight forward just have to remember how much longer they need to be for how much drop.
I can't remember how much mine were, it's been about 5 years ago.

[MikeGoodwin]

Yesterday I ordered a single cable throttle assembly, grips, mirror, and the necessary buttons and switches to move my electrics from the bars. I should have them in by the first part of next week.

Mumbles, I will have a lot of free time over the next two weeks so whenever you are free to do some bars lemme know. I'm pretty sure that extending the dogbone 3/8" should give me about 2 1/4" of drop for the rear. It should be about right but I could also drill another hole in the lower shock support to lower it more if I need to.

[cike]

ust typed you a long post, then lost it. now you get the short version.
many pics. of moving the handlebar electrics please.
FYI: lowered my bike about 1.75" plus seat. seat height now about 24" seems plenty low to me.
What's wrong with your old grips, i liked them? they wern't stock were they?

[MikeGoodwin]

I'll be sure to take plenty of pics.

The grips are not stock. They were put on by the previous owner. They are kinda fat and I like them just fine on days that I don't have to wear gloves but when I do have to wear them I feel like I can't ever get a good hold on them because of how fat they are. They also have the chrome caps on them and I'm trying to get most of the extraneous chrome off of my bike.

On a different note, I think I found a seat pan that I like so I may be starting my seat pretty soon...maybe.

[mumbles]

Mike, it's like 80% chance of rain for this weekend. Riding in the rain is just about as bad as Cike riding in the snow. hahaha
We can do it next weekend.
If you like to drop the dogbone off and I'll work on it a little at a time and have it ready by next weekend or earlier.
Also if you want to try out the seat that's up in the garage you are more than welcome to. Maybe it will give you an idea or two.

[cike]

if your not going to carry a passenger, you might as well get rid of those passenger pegs.

[MikeGoodwin]

Funny you said that cike. I just pulled them off about an hour ago. I am also moving my rear signals to the holes for the stock fender struts. I figured it was about time to clean up that nasty wiring job I did a couple months back.

[MikeGoodwin]

Next weekend sounds good mumbles. I still have to ride it to College Station a couple times before then so we'll probably just have to do the dogbones then too.

[greedyg76]

Hey Mike, lets see some updated pics with the new exhaust and relocated signals.

[MikeGoodwin]

Here you go Greedy. It took so long because I lost the charger for my camera battery.


I was heading out to meet some guys from my church for a ride this morning and got rained on halfway there. Rain+cold=not fun.

[MikeGoodwin]

I forgot to add that I also adjusted the angle of my seat a little. Looks much better now.

I also wired the turn signals into my tail light circuit and they only work half of the time with the front brake lever but they always work with the rear pedal. Anybody have any thoughts on why this may be happening?

[goddarddr]

sounds like a bad connect. might check the small button switch at the brake handle I had some trouble there before. also follow that wire down the line to the white plastic inline connector. hope you find it.

[greedyg76]

Looks good Mike - Im fairly sure that I have the same signal lights as you, but they dont just screw into the strut holes on the frame. Did yours?

Greg

[MikeGoodwin]

They didn't screw right in. I just went to lowes and found some t nuts to match the threads on the studs. Like these:

I just ground it down until it fit in the back side of the hole and screwed the signal stud onto it through the stock strut hole. I only needed one for the right side. The left side was thin enough to get a nut threaded on the stud.
There's probably a better way to do it but it worked and only cost a buck.