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[Talon]

Dan, the bikes looks great! I like it better without the fender. If you run a fender and want it close to the tire, you have to make a mount that goes to the axle. But I like it better off! That was cheep for a headlight, I'll have to check them out.

[Talon]

One more.

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan, the bikes looks great! I like it better without the fender. If you run a fender and want it close to the tire, you have to make a mount that goes to the axle. But I like it better off! That was cheep for a headlight, I'll have to check them out.

First Spyder, I was not aware of the folding ones, only one I had looked at was a bit on the flimsy flexible side.  But one that will fold and lock may be a lot better option.  I'll research it some and see what is available for the iPhone.

Craig, I've been torn between the naked front look and the fender front look.

I know these are not terms used generally when describing bikes, but it changes the look of the bike from an aggressive look without the fender to a more passive submissive look with the fender.  Maybe chopper to cruiser.  My original thoughts in building the bike was to have it look as old as possible with maybe even two tone, like red on red, with pinstripes to fancy it up a bit.  But when I couldn't get the tank just the way I wanted to do it and ended up with the FLH type tanks, the bike took on another life, one that was a bit more aggressive.

I tend to do WAY too much analyzing of things while I'm building them.  It drives me wife crazy.  I'm that way when I'm looking to buy something big, new TV, new bike, new truck/car, even furniture.  You should have been around when I was picking out wheels for the Willys streetrod project, man did she hit the roof on that one.

So with that being said, I'm starting to have second thoughts about the pipes on the bike.  I'm just thinking that I could do a better job if I were to do it all again.  There may even be some different shapes I could do that might be more flattering on the bike.  I really like the mufflers, but in between them and the heads is my problem, so to speak.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with what I have now, but I've just got that feeling that something is just not exactly right.  You guys, if anyone can, can imagine my pain on this.  I know the materials I bought for the pipes could have been better quality, but for the amount I looked and at a fair price, this is what I got.

So back to the basic bike, I really like the look with the tail light and the head light, they work together very well.  The seat and the tank compliment the bike and I do like the mufflers and the pipes are so so.  Picking the correct paint color is going to make or break the project.  I'm still leaning towards the '08 SE Anniversary copper/black.  I still think this will look classy rather than sassy or loud.  If I ran the fender up front, it would add more color to the bike rather than just chrome up front. 

In the pictures you attached, the rocker was different in leverage than mine.  The one you showed had a long front end from the riser fork to the axle and short from the riser fork to the main down tubes.  Mine is long from the down tubes to the riser point and short from the riser forward to the axle.  Mine is not quite 2:1.  Either way though, mounting the fender to the axle motion in some way is necessary to maintain fender to tire clearances.  I have the two positions on the main down tubes for the caliper link rod mounting point that I can use for a stabilizer link to keep the fender in place.  If it were a shrouded fender bike, like a FLH type setup, doing a fork riser mount on the front fender would be no problem and I could use the available clamp mount with the two "T" brackets for the fender.  Can you imagine what it would be like to hit a hole or a bump in the road and have the tire smash into the fender; instant brakes man.

Sorry for rambling.  I'm just thinking out loud so to speak.

I may take off the pipes leaving the mufflers in place and take a picture of each side of the bike.  I can then get some clear laminate and overlay my new pipe design over the bike.  Kind of like the "old" days when you had a "girly" calendar with a bikini on.  You lifted up the plastic overlay to remove the clothes.  Not sure what I would do if I were to do it again though.  I do know that if I get the bike done, that would be it and no redesign would get done after the fact.

Again on the suggestions, if anyone has ideas, I'm way open to hear them and discuss them.  Or I could just shut up and finish the bike the way it is and move on with my life.

Thanks for the input guys.

    

[Talon]

Don, I sympathize with you, I'm the same way when I do a project, I try to walk through all the details, looking for info on the internet, reading books, drawing it all out in my mind. The worse part is when I do a major project, I do my best thinking at night in bed. I'll lay there for hours and think of different scenarios and ideas, working out the details, then in the morning I'm dead tired!

Pipes are a hard thing to work out, especially if your building custom ones. I have an old sporty I'm thinking about building a bobber out of, already have the bike, so wouldn't cost a lot, Ha, Ha! But pipes are one of the big issues, I have two basic designs I'm looking at now, but this is like the fifth idea so far. I'm looking at a high pipe, either 2:1 or two straight pipes something like this, but different muffler design. I was going to look for an old set of 2:1's and cut off the 2:1 part and go from there. Good Luck!

Craig

[Talon]

Or like this, without the fishtails, or wrap, or big whites, just the pipes. 

[Dan_Lockwood]

Or like this, without the fishtails, or wrap, or big whites, just the pipes. 

I'm not sure what company these belong to, but this is my buddy's "Black Betty" bike.  I kind of like these pipes, but I've seen some that are like this with the bottom pipe up about like the one in your last picture.






I kind of like the wrapped pipes, but I know how they tear up the pipes underneath.  But at this point I feel too many people are just wrapping the pipes to keep cost down and that makes them a bit too common for my taste.  But they do look good in some cases.  I think the lighter tan like in your picture looks good.

I too really like the upper flow of the pipes.  I'm really happy with my mufflers, like I said before.  I reminds me of my younger days when I rode scrambler type bikes in the '60s.

Maybe it's the curve and then straight that makes me wonder about my pipes.  Although I really like the new Freddie Krugger "Half Day" bike he built for the S&S 50th Anniversary show.





Other than the fact that Krugger's Half Day is a soft tail, is a Panhead, is a standard wheelbase, it's just like my project bike.      

All kidding a side, I really like this Krugger bike.  I love the pipes and it's loosely what I based mine on and the fact that my frame was so wide you could drive a freight truck between the tire and the frame rails.

Thanks for posting your pictures, I love to look at other bike with fancy things on them.  I came very close up front to buying the Arlen Ness Sportster Boardtrack frame.  They are out of production now, but they still have a couple for sale.  I ended up with a new motor option rather than buying a used Sportster as a donor bike.

Later...

    

[Talon]

Yea, Dan I have a picture of those pipes, there are several makers of this style, I think those are V&H. Speaking of Freddie Krugger, have you ever been to the site below? They do some really cool fab and cad stuff. They feature Kruggers bike there a lot.

http://www.markvanderkwaak.com/

Craig

[Dan_Lockwood]

Yea, Dan I have a picture of those pipes, there are several makers of this style, I think those are V&H. Speaking of Freddie Krugger, have you ever been to the site below? They do some really cool fab and cad stuff. They feature Kruggers bike there a lot.

http://www.markvanderkwaak.com/

Craig

Cool site Craig.  I'll spend more time tonight looking it over a bit more thoroughly.

Thanks for the link.

    

[Talon]

Dan, what's new with the board track project? 

Craig

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan, what's new with the board track project? 

Craig

Sorry about the repeat on the pictures, I forgot I'd posted them before.  Oh well.....

Craig, it's like this, I've been too lazy to get my ass out there and work on it.

Really though, I was sick for one of the past weekends, then I had to go to Joplin for a week to do a new line startup for one of our customers.  That's when I had dinner with Don and Travis, great guys with lots of great stories.

Back to my project bike.

I have a battery now that I bought from Jegs.  It's a Braille brand AGM type.

"No-Weight" Racing Battery
11.5 lbs
5.8'' (L) x 3.4'' (W) x 5.8'' (H)
Pulse Cranking Amps (PCA) 5 sec @ 80° F: 904
Pulse Cranking Amps (PCA) 10 sec @ 80° F: 791
Pulse Cranking Amps 20 sec @ 80° F: 698
Cranking Amps 30 sec @ 80° F: 585
Cranking Amps 30 sec @ 32° F: 486
Cold Cranking Amps 30 sec @ 0° F: 360

This is far more potent than anything I could find in any motorcycle website, other than the new Lithium Polymer batterys @ over $900.

I measured under the trans inside the frame and there is NOT enough room to do a battery there without it hanging down looking very unsightly.

I think lots of us guys could get some better deals if we wander from motorcycles once in awhile and take a look through catalogs like Summit Racing, Jegs, Speedway Motors etc.  Lots of parts can be used in other applications, even headlights and tailights.  I have a streetrod brake pedal pad on the new project that looks awesome on the bike.

At this point I have the oil take welded and leak tested, but I still have concerns for vibration causing issues later on.  I've been looking for body filler that can be used on high temp applications.  Alvin Products makes a filler called Lab-metal and High Temp Lab-metal.  The regular is good up to about 425° for a short period and the High Temp Lab-metal is good up to about 1100°.  The hight temp has to be cured in an over for about half an hour at 425° to gas out any trapped gasses and to final harden the material.

The assorted bends I used on my pipes had clamping marks that did not grind out so I may have to use some type of high temp filler there too.  I checked with Jet-Hot and they said it would probably not be an issue getting their ceramic coating to cover with minor amounts of this filler being used.

So for right now I need to finalize the tank filler strips on the front to box in the main frame gap.  I have my horn mounted inside between the two tanks.  It will be plenty loud enough as the bottom area is wide open and the horn is VERY loud.

I had a wiring module with plugs on the under side for all my harnesses to plug in but it was getting too tight where I wanted to locate it.  So I sent it back and got the one with all the wires prewired to the module and it's about 2/3 the size.  It has all the relays, self cancelling turn signal module, starter relays etc built in so all I have to do is the wiring.  It's color coded and all marked with tags around each wire.  I have several wiring label machines at work and I'll probably use one to mark all the outer ends.

Along with the purchase of the battery, I bought another headlight for the bike.  This one works a lot better, especially with the home made tailight I have on it.  I got this from Demon's Cycles in FL.  They have great products, but at VERY low prices and the service is really fast.  If it's on the website, they have it in stock.  I paid $35 for the headlight and I had $40 in the turn signals.

I mounted the turn signals just like I did on the tailight, but rotated them down just a bit from horizontal for a slightly better look, at least that's what I think.

Here's a few pictures of the bike finally outside on the driveway.







I'm really down to finishing the tank and trim like I said above, and then I wire it up.  I have to do all the oil lines once I weld in the bungs on the oil tank, or figure out where I want them.  My oil return will be coming in from the rear of the tank and that's why I have the forward downward slant to the tanks.  I want good ciculation of the oil and use as much of the tank for cooling that I can.

Once I pre-finish the bike, I tear it all back down for final frame finishing of the welds and grinding that I've done all over on it.  Then comes the paint.  I also have to mill out the radius in the lower head bearing cap.  The internal turning stop is way to shallow.  I can't turn this around in my driveway.  I'll trim out a bit on each end to let the head rotate about another 15° so it will steer better for me.

I'll be working on it again soon and post more pictures.

Thanks for keeping me going, it really helps me stay motivated.

Later dudes and dudettes.