750 cafe thing - opinions welcome

[StrtLegal]

Its looking really nice! A homemade cafe is always awesome. It really keeps with the spirit. Heres a shopped version of what mine will look like next week when I get a chance to finish it.

[groundshock]

Must. See. Updates.

[ggreenfield]

Not much in the way of visually noticeable updates this week BUT a big thanks is due to this forum and the stator papers and several other electrically related threads. As of last summer I had planned on buying a new R/R since the charging system mysteriously died. I say mysteriously because it was working just fine and then....my brand new battery kept dying and every 3rd day or so it had to go on the charger. So after procrastinating all winter this last Monday I finally sat down and disconnected, cleaned and greased each and every connector on the bike as well as grounding the R/R directly to the battery. No, I did not replace the bullet conenctors (still on the todo list) but what a difference it made! As per the stator papers, my charging voltage is now dead on. I haven't actually ridden anywhere yet (no headlight) but I'm hopeful that it was just a case of dirty old connectors and poor ground. After looking at the way the R/R was grounded to the same screw that mounted the R/R itself I had to wonder what they were thinking.

A $7 rotary tool (dremel) from Harbor Freight was all I used to clean the bullet connectors. The tool came with some skinny shafts that were perfect for getting all the way into the female connectors as well as cleaning up the males. A $9 can of dielectric grease w/ trigger & tube made it really easy to fill the connectors.

I've got a bead on an 8" Honda headlight and will be trading some work for it next weekend.

The tail section I have not yet gotten to my liking. I've made about 6 different mock-ups out of cardboard and none of them was exactly perfect. It's kind of tricky keeping the lines flowing just right. I'll be back at it this weekend and with any luck the tail will be together by end of next week.

Lastly, I finally bought some tires! I got a pair of Bridgestone S11 Spitfires from motorcycle-superstore.com for $116 shipped. A friend loaned me some tire levers so I'll also be pulling wheels and perhaps painting them this weekend. Tires won't arrive till next week sometime and I hope to only have to pay for balancing of each wheel.

Of course more pics will follow.

[psyguy]

good work mr ggreenfield

[ggreenfield]

Finished the rear fender. It's a 2 piece. I suppose it could easily be a single piece and perhaps in the future I will make it so. The stock mount for the tail section has simply been moved forward. I still need to weld it on. Think I'll also be extending the frame ends.



Here is a notch in the lower fender for the chain guard.



The 2 holes in the back section of the fender fit the stock mounting holes for the taillight. Note the new rubbah as well.



Hopefully tomorrow I have time to make the rest of the tail section and then I'm done with metal fabrication.

[StrtLegal]

Out of curiosity, what are you going to do about the seat lock? i am doing this exact same mod and I have everything figured out except that.

[ggreenfield]

Once I make the forward part of the tail section it should be easy enough to reach inside and get a measurement from the top of the tail to the locking mechanism. Locking mechanism in the closed position of course. The latch will be basically the same as the OEM latch made from a heavy wire and bent or welded to a bracket that enables mounting under the new tail section. The bolts will be of the carraige variety. The carriage bolts could even be nutted on or tack welded so that they worked as studs.

The below view is looking into the tail from the front.


If you manipulate the locking mechanism you'll notice that it pulls the latch down and snugs it up. It'll probably take a few guesses to get the latch just the right length. It would likely be easiest to make it slightly short of your required length and use washers (as spacers) between the latch and tail to make adjustments. It should be possible to make it fit really nice.

I'll post some photos and measurements when I get it worked out. They'll be much more accurate than my crappy drawings.

I can't really visualize the mounting of the tail section at the front until I get the welding done. The seat pan I currently have will definitely have to be redone.

[bowzer]

The more info and pics the better! I'm a week or two away from this myself.

[ggreenfield]

Round headlight

Got an 8" Honda headlight from an 81 Silver WIng GL500. It looks much better than the square one IMHO. Twas very simple to install with only a slight enlargement of the mount holes required in the brackets to accomodate the larger bolts.

I really like the look of the round headlight on StrtLegals bike (the whole gauge/handlebars area actually). Eventually I too will get rid of the OEM gauge cluster but the handlebars I currently have are actually quite confortable and the mirrors are in the perfect position. I think that'll stay as it is.

After a short ride today it has been determined that I need new rear shocks. They're now on the "list of things to do before I can ride" And it was soooo nice today. All the other kids were riding.

[StrtLegal]

The guages on my bike are mounted to the same holes as the stock cluster was, so you cant use the handle bar excuse . They are pretty damn affordable too. The only downside is that the backlights don't match, but I think it just adds charater. Love the way the headlight looks on your bike, ten times better than the square one!

[oshanac]

Tkent02....You are the man!!!!!! I love that sight and it give me some great ideas for my 750!

[groundshock]

Updates? Pics!

[ggreenfield]

Finally got the rear of the frame welded up.


The forward protruding tab is for the stock mounting bolt on the tail piece.

The round tubing came from an old go-kart frame and so no tubing bender was required. I simply cut both rear corners from the frame. Well technically a friend did. Thanks Justin for the excellent welding!

[ggreenfield]

Made some LED signals for the rear. It was actually quite simple.

Parts list:
2 ea 100 Ohm resistor 1/10 W
9 ea. red LED's.

Looks like so:


Here is my meager attempt at a schematic. It's actually how I laid it out too.



I found that I could not drive more than 5 LED's or they were just too dim. I'll be mounting them later tonite. Bought an electronic flasher at Checker for $10 and voila rear LED signals.

Just took some video with my still camera so the quality is so-so. You can dl a 10M file here:
Turn_Signal_2.avi

It's an .avi so you should be able to view it in any media player capable of video. It certainly plays on Linux & Windows.

[StrtLegal]

I finally got my tank polished up a little and clear coated (pics soon). I worked out a shorter tail section where I dont need to cut the frame or move the seat lock around, and be able to change it back to stock if need be. (tutorial to come). Last thing to get worked out is the rear-sets which I have to finagle a bit more in order to get them to fit correctly while still retaining passenger pegs. Many, many pics to follow within the week, depending on how long it takes to paint the tail section.