What's Black and White and Red All Over?

[billymac814]

Hey my bikes on here! Looking good, I've been thinking of relocating my wiring, but I'm not ready yet I'm going to eliminate and or relocate whats on everything thats on my handle bars and work my way back and hopefully there wont be many wires left. I'll have an on/ off switch and a start button in the side cover and that should be it. I need to find a different throttle though so I can get rid of that box where the kill switch and start button is, any ideas??
I painted my fork lowers this week and the paint turned out fine as normal but I'm not sure if I like it, my bike is still in pieces so its to early to say for sure. It just seems like it makes everything stick out more(bolts, axle, spacers, caliper,etc.) But at least the stupid inspection sticker is gone. It's been expired for a long time anyway.

[Chadsquats]

I'm going to eliminate and or relocate whats on everything thats on my handle bars and work my way back and hopefully there wont be many wires left. I'll have an on/ off switch and a start button in the side cover and that should be it. I need to find a different throttle though so I can get rid of that box where the kill switch and start button is, any ideas??

I don't really have any ideas. From the looks of Alley Rat's work, I would think he might have some ideas for you. It makes a lot of sense to start at the bars and work your way back to clean up the wiring. That should go a lot easier than trying to go the other way. Have you seen what Dave's doing with moving his battery to the side cover? http://www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/fo...r-project.html That seems like a good plan for cleaning up the wiring under the seat.
I'm looking forward to seeing what your fork lowers look like--I've been rolling the idea around in my head about blacking mine out as well.

[billymac814]

Yea I was checking that out. It's a unique idea and should work well, although I have no reason to do that, most of my wiring isn't visible and it doesn't bother me that much. I'll eliminate as much as possible and move the rest to the side cover. I was looking at alley rats, from what I gather he uses 7/8" bars, then you can use dirt bike throttles. I'd be interested in hearing more however I'm not ready to ditch my front brake yet. I would if I had a clean looking front spool like his, but I don't so I won't. I'll get some pictures this weekend.
By the way, it took me so long to get my seat brackets the same, I never thought of making one fat one and cutting it in half.

[Chadsquats]

My schedule has been pretty hectic lately, so I haven't had much time to work on the bike. Hopefully things will settle back down so I can get the last few things done to get roadworthy. I have plenty left I want to do on the bike, but it will have to wait until after the riding season. For now, I just need to finish the back fender and hook up a taillight. I got a good start on the fender. I took a couple of pieces of flat stock and attached them to the swingarm where the mudguard used to be. Then, I ground down some threaded bungs to match the curve of my fender. I drilled holes in the flat brackets and bolted the bungs to the bracket. After that, it was just a matter of lining up the fender and welding the beveled side of the bungs to the fender. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Here's a couple of pictures of the upper bracket.


Once I take the fender back off, I'll get more pictures. I just need to get the top part of the fender stays fabbed up, and I'll be done with with the welding (until next winter). I took a couple of quick shots of the fender with the struts sitting in place. The lighting isn't very good, so it's hard to see all the details.


My plan is to bevel down a couple more threaded bungs to weld on the side of the fender. Then, I can cut the stays to length and weld countersunk bungs on the top of them so I can bolt the stays to the fender. If all goes according to plan, that should happen in the next week.

[jeffs99vulcan]

Still watching (& loving) the progress!!!

[Chadsquats]

The welding is all done! We just finished up tonight. I'm very pleased with the outcome. So, now I can bring my bike home and get ready for paint. I'm gonna send the fender out to be done by a pro. I haven't decided yet on the fender stays and other misc. parts. I will either rattle can them black, or send them out for powdercoating. Unfortunately, I'm going to be out of town all weekend for a wedding, so it'll probably be Monday before I can get the bike home. As soon as I do, I'll post pictures.

[Chadsquats]

I got the bike home, but the batteries in the camera were dead. So, no pictures of the bike before I took it back apart for paint. I decided to have the pieces that are going to be black sent out to a powdercoater. A friend stopped by last night as I was getting ready to take the fender off, so I might be able to have him send me a picture of the bike pre-paint. If not, you'll just have to wait until I get the parts back. I rode the bike around town a couple of times before dismantling it, and absolutely loved it.

[Chadsquats]

I got a picture of the bike before I took it apart Sunday night. The fender is going to be red and white, and the stays are going to be black. Boy, the rust really shows up in the pictures!

[Alley Rat]

You got a good project coming along. I like the look of that rear end with the fuse box and ignitor box gone. I am about to ditch my sidecovers and mount pots to give it a round oil bag look. I am gonna see if I can hide those boxes somewhere.

[Chadsquats]

You got a good project coming along.

Thank you.

I am about to ditch my sidecovers and mount pots to give it a round oil bag look.

That sounds really cool. I'll be watching for some pictures of that project.

[Chadsquats]

I got my stuff back from the powdercoater on Friday. It turned out great. Hopefully, I'll get the fender back this week and I'll be good to go (for now). Here's some pictures of the pieces I had powdercoated:

These are the fender stays. The lower parts of the stays are on the left. One is bigger than the other to help support the license plate holder/taillight.


This is the seat bracket.


These are the brackets that bolt on to the swingarm to support the fender. The outside holes go to the swingarm, and the inside holes match up to the bungs on the fender.


I put shims on the lower bracket so the curve of the fender would match up better with the back tire.

[goddarddr]

is powder coat expensive? that's a very smart seat bracket. do you have a pic of your bracket for the front of seat?

[Chadsquats]

The powder coating cost me $45 for the 5 pieces I had done. Their usual minimum charge is $60, but they were able to sneak my pieces in with a bigger order that they were doing. The bracket for the front of the seat came with the seat. It's a hinged unit that I simply attached to the rear gas tank bolt. You can kind of see it in this picture:

I can get you a better picture if you want.

[Chadsquats]

I visited my fender this afternoon. The clear coat is drying and I'm gonna pick it up in the morning. I think it looks fantastic and should match the paint on the tank really well. The only problem is that I'll be leaving for the weekend with my family shortly after I pick up the fender. Consequently, I won't be able to put my bike back together until late on Sunday. It's gonna drive me nuts having all the parts back but not being able to re-assemble them for three days. Stay tuned for pictures on Sunday night or Monday.

[goddarddr]

I'll be lookin for the pic's

[Chadsquats]

I finally got my fender back on Friday morning, right before leaving town for the weekend. Here's what it looks like:

The first thing I did when I got home last night was grab the fender and head for the garage. I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I think it matches up with the bike quite nicely.


Now I can enjoy the summer weather from the seat of my bike. There's still some work I want to do on the front of the bike, but that will be waiting until winter. Actually, I do have a different license plate/ brake light bracket that I'll be installing in the next week or so, but after that . . .just riding.

[Chadsquats]

Here's a comparison of the bike when I brought it home about 7 months ago and what it looks like today:

[goddarddr]

looks really kool. I like the way the fender hugs the tire. Have fun ridN. do you have a close up of the exposed swing arm behind the seat?

[Rapzo]

I like it. I think you should put some drag style bars or some mini apes and get rid of those beach cruiser bars. Personally Id goe with a skinnier front tire too. Man, all these cool bobbers are making me think my next toy will be an 800 Vulcan. Man my wife would be ****ed if I came home with this suggestion now!

[Chadsquats]

do you have a close up of the exposed swing arm behind the seat?

Is this what you are wanting to see?

I can get a different angle if you want, just let me know.