How to ruin a perfectly good stock frame

[pete]

Aaaah you're a young whipper snapper! Hahaha

[ScrumDown]

Just read the whole thread. Nice stuff mlc216.


KEEP ON TRUCKIN'!!!

[mlc216]

Hahahahahahaha love it!

I've been practicing that little wave... I just can't get my wrist to bend around like that hahaha

mlc, that sissy is brilliant.
I love the little tank too.
The only other thing you could use is a coffin tank.

I completely understand where you are going with this.
Keep it up.
Grow a scraggy beard and rip the sleeves off your denim jacket.
(Like you haven't done that already)

A nice set of pull-backs in line with the springer would really suit.

I wouldn't mind having a coffin tank one day, but I feel the paint can make or break a coffin tank and peanuts and sporty tanks are timeless... I am growing a scragly beard, it's quite pathetic though haha. I need to go through my dad's jacket closet and find me a good denim specimen ha

Pull backs will come in time... just needed some bars I could build really quick for now.

Hey MLC, can you tell me, do sissy bars serve some sort of functional purpose, or are they purely asthetic?
I never worked out why they are on choppers..

Awesome work btw. Love the build.

I believe the "actual" use is to help keep your passenger from falling off the back of your hardtail motorbike on bad bumps, but for me they are asthetic and used to strap my pack and supplies for road trips or even my lunch for work! This one is way longer than it needs to be, but hey choppers aren't about being practical anyways

Ahhhh its a backrest! I was born in the 80s so I am kinda missing alot of the historical type references! ! Thanks for the clarification

This bike is going to be like riding a recliner down the highway!

Aaaah you're a young whipper snapper! Hahaha

Hey hey hey.... circa '85 right here

Just read the whole thread. Nice stuff mlc216.


KEEP ON TRUCKIN'!!!

Will do... felt like crap yesterday... cold or something. But I'll be back on it tonight.

Sure hope my parts come in before next thursday... I really want to ride this thing to barber.

[drivera84]

like the way its coming out....we need more pics!

[HatchA74]

Mlc,

I've just read this thread from start to finish...

You've put up with a lot and come out SHINING!!! (in my personal opinion).

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished article and I hope you get what you need in time to get it together for Barbers

Question... I see a long rear brake pedal in some pic's. Are you mounting the controls in the "standard" position or are you (hopefully) putting on forward controls? I'll be very interested in the fabrication and linking etc, if you go "forward". I want to put forward controls on my '81 1100 - but that's for a different thread where I can get jumped on

Also - quietly wondering what paint it'll end up in

Regards,

Steve.

[mlc216]

Steve,

Thanks! I haven't quite decided where exactly the footpegs will go... or what they will look like, or how they will mount haha. I have gone back and forth on where to put them... Forwards feel great, but mids make for safter riding on bumpy back roads. With mids I can kinda stand up and soak up bigger bumps that would otherwise bounce me up off the seat anyways. Forwards don't really allow for that. I think for now I've settled on modified mids, which will end up a little lower than the stock position for the footpegs. I'll then, cut, bend, weld the shifter lever and brake lever if I need to make any changes to them. For added comfort, some guys in the 70's would mount a bar with pegs on it to the down tubes to use as "highway pegs", so I may do that to stretch my legs out a little.

I should add though that I'm only 5'8" so mid controls are usually plenty comfortable for me.

oh yeah, I'm also quietly wondering what the paint will end up as! haha

-mike

[pete]

I'm lovin' it MLC and glad you've got a sense of humour with my stirring too

Full forwards would be tempting, but I completely understand why you're thinking of mid ones instead, and I think that would possibly be a suitable compromise on the whole chopper thing given the roads I know you have to travel on. I'm thinking it would be boring to find yourself going 5 miles an hour because you put forwards on and can't get yourself up off the seat for those bigger bumps...

[mlc216]

So I got the sissy bar finished up. Here's a pic with the tag ziptied on where it will be and the taillight ziptied where I'm thinking it will go:


Here's how I tied in the fender mount and sissy bar:


I made a bracket using a random piece of the stock frame to mount the seat... Didn't take any pics of that, but here's some more overall pics:

[mike-s]

That, is looking hell cool. Been a long time since i've seen anyone use springer forks in a new project.

[pete]

Definitely looking good MLC!! That sissy bar is huge!

Definitely has some svelte lines from the rear though...

[mlc216]

I just realized how dirty that back wheel is from riding gravel roads on the other bike haha. I was thinking about stripping the powder coat off the wheels and trying to polish them up a bit... does anyone have pics of these wheels polished?

svelte... I like that word haha

[pete]

This is all I found with a quick Google:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/19371629@N07/1935723504/

Your wheel isn't dirty, it's well run in

[mlc216]

Ha I don't want to polish comstars! I want to polish the gs450 mags! Somebody has to have done it...

[pete]

Hahaha ok, I thought you had the comstar on the back still... in that case I'm sure someone will have, do some searching on here and I'm sure you'll find something

[mlc216]

No time for searching, I leave for barber in 7 days!!!

So I was just going to move the petcock back and otherwise leave the tank alone, but the holesaw didn't work as planned...

So I decided to go ahead and increase my fuel capacity while I'm at it:


Made a bracket to mount the new tank:


Turned down to bolt heads and slid them through the new flat bottom for the tank:


Oxy welded them in place:


Also drilled a hole and oxy welded the petcock tube in and started oxy welding the tank back together... But forgot to take pics of that