the rebirth of Beergood's 750 cafe

[beergood]

Have you ever thought about spoked rims?

Just about every time that I look at my wheels. However, I have other things to spend the money on first (although a new tire is on the list, so that would make rims easier to do at the same time).

After a short ride I got another burst of inspiration. I was originally going to repaint my calipers, but now I think I might keep them the deep red, and paint the knee inserts red instead. That way there is still some color on the bike without it screaming "Hey, red bike over here!"

[TheCafeKid]

It looks fantastic BG As usual! I like the new colour. Very vintage looking. Spokies would set that thing off like no ones business, especially if you did the rim in the gunmetal and the spokes themselves in RED! I am back to debating on my seat set up. I was happy with the one i made, then started looking at the one i bought on the bike, and like the lines better, i think. Then i went back to thinking about that H2R seat, now i dunno wtf i wanna do..LOL

[beergood]

Gotta say, I am loving this thing this season. It is running better than ever.

Today I ordered a few shims to replace those that were getting close to being out of tolerance. I also ordered some capacitors to make my own battery eliminator. My battery has been in sad shape, and I have been kicking it to start it since early summer last year. The thing is, I have gotten used to it, actually I kind of like it. So, sayonara battery. I'll keep everyone posted on how that works out for me. I think I will boyscout a solution so that I can still jump start the starter if I ever need to.

I also started planning my new tail section. I am looking forward to starting that.

Here are some pics of it out in the sun. I am really starting to like this paint scheme.







I also redid the body filler on the inserts to give it a finer edge. I am pretty happy with the results:

[beergood]

Some more:

[TheCafeKid]

Hey dont forget who absoulutely LOVES that tail section and would be interested in BUYING it from you :P :-D BTW Header wrap...tasty I did the same.

[beergood]

BTW Header wrap...tasty I did the same.

Where do you think I got the idea from? Actually, I had always kind of thought about it, but your pics put me over the edge.

As for the tail section, it looks good in pics, but it is definitely a flawed first effort. Wait till I finish the new one. Then we can talk.

[Zooks]

I love it BG. The grey reminds me off a WW2 Cossack or Zundapp or similar Russian bike.

[gerwintown]

Looks good man, very thorough and clean. BUT man! I loved that red and black...super sporty and just stunning. I had saved pictures of your bike in my very exclusive "inspirational motorcycle pictures" folder. Loved the blue too although I think you were right in that the shade could have been better. I know how you feel I guess, especially when it is so easy to change something like color and have almost a completely new bike. Its like they always say: out with the old, in with the old..jk

[beergood]

Bye bye battery. I ordered some capacitors from a guy on Ebay and wired them in parallel and made my own home brew battery eliminator. Since I eliminated my turn signals last year, and I got rid of the starter relay today it is looking pretty simple under my seat. All I got is the eliminator, the regulator ,rectifier and some fuses. I am going to keep my eyes open for a Honda RR, but my system seems to work fine the way it is.

I did keep my starter motor though. If for some reason I end up having to jump the bike I'll just manually hit the starter.

Tomorrow I hope to get some good work done on my new tail section.

My mother teaches textiles and other related design classes, so I approached her about making a seat cover similar to Byrdman's. I like the old skool snap look, and it would make it a lot easier to get at my toolkit. Anyway, she said she could definitely help me, and she is sitting on a whole pile of leather. So we went over some samples, and I think I found a grain that I like. So, I'm getting a custom leather seat cover. How sweet is that?

Here are some crappy phone pics (gotta find that blasted camera). I love that wide open frame look:






Oh yeah, I made a new bracket to mount the license plate on the right hand shock. Not entirely sure how I feel about it yet.

[beergood]

Well, I got some good progress done on the new tail section. Here is a little background:

My old tail section was an interesting learning experience, but I have never been too thrilled with the way it turned out. It's a little crooked, the fiberglass has some surface cracks. It's pretty heavy, and a lot bulkier than I wanted it to be.

So I decided to go in a whole different tack. I acquired a used tail section from ebay (for under 10 buck), and decided to gut it and make a simple metal base to attach it to. Then I will make a seat cover that snaps around everything. This whole thing will bold directly to the frame, instead of using the hinges and mounts like that old one.

I got the basic structure roughed out today, and I gotta say I am a lot happier already. It's simpler, smaller, lighter, sturdier and looks way better. This is my first attempt at doing any real welding, and that stuff is hard. I am definitely going to need a lot more practice before I consider myself to be even a novice welder.

Beginning of the pan:


Gutted ducktail attached:


A quick glazing and painting:


The tail mounts on with four SS screws, so I can remove it pretty quickly, for whatever reason:

[beergood]

[tkent02]

Perpetual evolution.
Once again, I like it.

[Zooks]

Me too.


But find your damn camera will ya? The pics aren't doing your brilliant handiwork justice.

[beergood]

But find your damn camera will ya? The pics aren't doing your brilliant handiwork justice.

I begin boxing up my stuff in a few days, I am sure the camera just fell behind something. It's a little funny and stupid how much effort I have been putting into the bike this last week seeing as howI am moving in a week, and my time could be more judiciously spent. At least, I am sure that's my girlfriends opinion.

[beergood]

Went a little crazy with the cut off wheel today

I have been working under the gun these last few days. I should be packing for the big move, but I want to get a few things done on the bike first. I know that once I am in the new place it is going to be tough to find time to work on the bike. I got a feeling every time I lift a wrench it will be to work on the house. And any spare bike time I want to use riding.

So here is the progress so far. I don't expect to get much more done for about a month or so (but you never know).

First things: I got my three new shims for the cylinders that were out of spec (or close). My thinnest gauge is .038, which I think is close enough to the bottom end. When last I looked (two weeks ago) there were three that that wouldn't fit in. Yesterday, it wouldn't fit in any. I haven't ridden a total of 50 miles, so I was stumped/bummed out. I checked to make sure that there weren't two gauges stuck together. It sure didn't look like it, so I started monkeying. After some swapping the math just wasn't working. There had to be something weird going on with the gauge. After 10 minutes of playing with it, I was able to seperate a .05something gauge free from it's back side. These things were so close together that the edge was seamless. The rest of the adjustments were uneventful. It feels good knowing that all my valves are in spec.

So, I bought a HVLP gun from harbor freight with the intention of spraying my own urethane clear over a rattle can paint job. The dude at the auto paint store was very nice and helpful, but he was also quite insistent that a two part clear would wrinkle my rattle can base.

I had been looking at the duplicolor paint shop lacquer clear coat for a while. It's only $20, fast drying, and what the hell, if it sucks I'll just strip it. It went on with an old skool orange peal finish. I applied about ten coats. Today there was some wet sanding and some buffing and I think it looks great. I still have some texture to rub out, but I am going to let it cure for thirty days and then use my buddies pro buffing setup.

I also went raped ape crazy with the grinder and cut off a whole slew of stuff.

I borrowed a buddy's camera, here are some pics: