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Starting all over on the Chopper

67846 Views 355 Replies 37 Participants Last post by  Pau55, 
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This bike has been sitting for awhile now and it is killing me. Luckily I have my other bike so I am not completely down. Since I built my last set of pipes I have felt the need to really clean up my bike. For awhile I didn't take my time in my projects and just tried to get things done. It has been killing me to see my bike half a$$ed. So I have decided to tear it down and start over. I plan on getting a new tank, building new handle bars, new taillights, polishing things here and there, and maybe getting my exhaust and other pieces chromed. I just really want to make this bike super clean from here out.

This is how she is starting out.


Hacked some spare metal.



I cut off the square box on the top of the backbone and started cleaning all the welds


After a couple hours of messing around. I am to the point of no return. I am pulling the engine so I can get into all the nooks and crannys.


Of course I am gonna strip all this wiring and leave the bare minimum.


Stay tuned. I plan on hitting this everyday in some shape or form
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Oh yeah the springer isn't going anywhere. I am thinking about cutting 2 more inches out of it though.
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Trike my kickstand is my stock one.

I got up this morning and headed out to the garage to begin. Most of my time today was just spent on grinding down welds. I am gonna try to clean as many as I can so everything will be smooth.






Just started on the backbone.


I got my wiring thinned out too. All I have to do now is get my fuse box and ignitor mounted so I can shorten everything up.


I'm hoping to get my motor out tonight so I can really get to work on the frame
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My brother dropped over tonight unannounced to lend a hand with my bike. So glad he did, it wouldn't have sucked to do it all my self. I am all ready to start work on the frame.


The more I look at it the more I want to hardtail it right now.
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I am gonna see if a buddy of mine can make some axle dropouts. I want to do it though with the motor in the frame so I don't have to make a jig to keep all the mounts in place.
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Started working on my swingarm.
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I need to get some dropouts made before I can hardtail it. Plus I am not gonna do it unless I have the motor in anyway. That will save me from having to build a lot more braces. As much as I have stripped off my bike it would take much to get it down to where I can hardtail it. For right now I just want to clean it up and get it back going. Hardtail will be in the near future for sure though.
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That is why you need a seat with a good shape and ample amount of cushion or run springs on your seat.
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This is the dropout.
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Been busy the last couple of days since school has started back up. I don't have anything to do this afternoon after I get off or tonight so I should be able to make some good progress.
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That's what I had planned on doing when I thought about it except the one on the exhaust side is angled where the swingarm goes in. I am gonna have to do some more examining to see if I could.
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I want to do it so bad. I need to get my motor back in before I do it though.
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Yeah, and the guy would probably get rid of it for super cheap since he is not into bikes and wants it gone.
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The swingarm is real simple to take off. Once you remove the wheel and chain there are only a few bolts to remove and it pulls out.
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Worked on the frame for almost four hours last night. Got it just about finished. I need to build a table for this though because my back is killing me being hunched over it low for so long.

First I started off by cutting the box braces off the backbone. You can see the right side is smoothed all out and I still have to do the left.


I also cut off the boxes on the support down tubes under the seat.


I ground down all the welded seams on the bike too.




One of the best things I did was grind down the welds on the top of the down tubes so everything looks like one piece.
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Definitely a lot of hours in this. It's like a wiring job, just a lot more strenuous.
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I have already gone through 3 flap discs doing this. Maybe Lowes will give me a discount if I buy them in bulk next time I head up there. lol
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Like you said, it is over engineering. I mean they braced everything on these frames. Look at custom frames, they don't have all the support metal all over the place.
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I was probably gonna fill in the hole in the frame. Right now I am just using an angle grinder but I might take the frame to my brother's and use the die grinder because it is a lot smaller.

Dave, the motor isn't hard to take out. Just make sure you have someone with you. It makes the job so much easier.
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Well I haven't been able to do anything new on my bike. I just bought a house and my wife and I have been spending all our time working on it. Hopefully in the next couple of days I can get the little bit on the frame finished and paint it and start getting things back together.
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