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[johnnymap]

Dan,

I have truly enjoyed watching the progress on you project.  It is something most of us would love to do, assuming we had the time and expertise, of which you must loads of.

It I could, regarding the color of the pipes.  If you go with the flat black, and since you are considering the annie colors, with the shiny black, is the flat black going to look out of place on the pipes and/or mufflers?  I am all for flat black on bikes, but it was a thought.

I know you have enough thoughts going on in your head, but I thought you needed one more.

Continue on, it is fun following.

john

[Dan_Lockwood]

Spyder,

I plan on using an AGM battery and they don't have any liquid inside and they do have vents, so I'm just not sure of what I'll be getting into with the mounting location currently being used.

I think I'll call some of the AGM battery guys and see what they list for air around the battery and what the ambient temp can be.  Worse case, if I use a battery every two years, I could live with that.  Also the length of duration on the rides will be less than a normal bike would see.



Johnnymap,

I still think there is some confusion on what my plans are for the exhaust.  In my posts I've said that I plan on stripping the chrome from the mufflers, but had thought that just maybe, leaving the muffler reverse cone tips stay chrome for a bit of flair at the end.  If that's not a good look, I'll have them ceramic coated as well.  But I think when I mentioned the chrome tip staying that way, it was taken as the mufflers would stay chrome and I really don't think black pipes and chrome mufflers will look good, at least on this type of bike.

I plan on getting some flat black spray and redoing the pipes in flat black as well as doing the mufflers to see what it looks like.

Jet-Hot has what they call their Sterling finish and they claim it to look as good as highly polished aluminum.  If my pipes were a bit better in looks and finish, I might be tempted to do the near chrome on them.  But alas, my work was not that great and the finish would really look better with it being flat black to hide some of the imperfections.

I bought an assortment from Speedway Motors of 1.75" pipe with lots of different bends and lengths of pipe for about $80.  They were supposed to have been 16 ga. but they were 18 ga.  So the "U" bends I bought from Summit Racing that are indeed 16 ga., so in combining the two sizes, there were some minor size differences at the welds.  I did the best I could with an expander to re-size the pipes for the best match, but it was just a bit better than doing nothing.  Also the tubes from Speedway were not very nice.  When the bender clamped onto them for the bending process, they left gripper marks like little hatch marks and some of the pipes were undersized at the clamp point.  I could not use all the pipes because of this issue.  I still have a few minor weld pot marks that I need to touch up weld and regrind a little.  All in all I do like the pipes, but if I get real serious about it I can buy some true "U" bends of 16 ga. material and make another set of pipes.  With what I know now and with the right tubing, read more expensive, I could make a set of pipes in a weekend.

Also the more I look at the leg guard on the right pipe, the more I'm not sold on it; even with the two rods instead of the three rods.  I guess I could just get a nice clean piece of 2" and overlay a piece with some holes drilled into it, but everyone uses the overlay pipes and I just wanted to be a bit different.

Thanks again guys for the input and prompting my thought process.

One last note on the paint color.  Up until I buy the paint, the plan is still to go with the Annie '08 colors.  But a lot can change between now and that time.  So time will tell.  I think a red and red two tone bike might look kind of classy, but there are just so many red bikes.  I know, I know, if it were red it would be VERY fast...     

That's it for now guys.  Keep the thoughts and questions coming.

  

[Talon]

Dan, not sure if this would work, or if you'd like it, but here's a battery mount in the side cover for the open primary. Maybe you could modify you side cover if you really want to hide the battery? It would have to be a small battery. Well the link starts from the first page, it's on page 25.

http://limpnickielot.com/lnbm/index.html

Craig

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan, not sure if this would work, or if you'd like it, but here's a battery mount in the side cover for the open primary. Maybe you could modify you side cover if you really want to hide the battery? It would have to be a small battery. Well the link starts from the first page, it's on page 25.

http://limpnickielot.com/lnbm/index.html

Craig

Yeah, that would be cool if I were going to be a kick only bike, but alas, my electric start is a killer for the battery being small.

I did find an article in a mag that had a link to a new Lithium polymer battery.  It's about 1/3 the size of a normal battery and the guy dry cranked his bike with the plug wires off for a couple minutes.  He let the starter cool off and did it again without compression releases too.  I thought this is just what the doctor ordered.  They didn't have a price on the web site, but I found a dealer for them and asked for pricing.  The battery was over $900 and that's when I decided to slap it in the tank.

I'm thinking that I'll be okay with the amount of air I have going through the center tank area along with the bottom being open.

I appreciate the effort in helping me out on this.

I should have more pictures after this weekend is over.  We'll make it to part eight pretty soon.

Thanks again for the link.  At least that site has some good ideas in the catalog.

    

[SBB]

Dan

Click on picture to enlarge!


Thanks

Chip

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan

Click on picture to enlarge!


Thanks

Chip

Chip, it was nice talking to you this evening.

I see what you mean now from the picture.

I'll give it some thought and get back with you.

Dan

[Talon]

Dan I forget and can't find it, is your oil tank under the trans? If not id the room for a gel battery on it side under there? If not I think your running out of options.

Craig

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan I forget and can't find it, is your oil tank under the trans? If not id the room for a gel battery on it side under there? If not I think your running out of options.

Craig

Craig, I have not even thought about it going under the trans between the frame rails.  I'll check that out.  If that's possible, I can use the vacant space in the oil tank for the electrical and have way more room than I'd have the way I'm heading right now.  I was kind of thinking about the space down there being used for an oil cooler, but with the right side of the dual tanks being used for my oil tank, it will hold an easy 5 quarts of oil.  So that should help on the oil cooling a bit.  Anyway, I'll check out how much room I'll have down there for a battery.

Also guys, my wife has been giving me some grief about this being a solo bike and that I might just be leaving her a bit too often riding solo.  Just for a joke I remembered in one of my old Harley history books of seeing a very early dual seat arrangement that just might be the ticket.

Again, this started off in my mind as a joke, but the more I think about it I think it has some merit.

What do you guys think?


Here's the more complete setup with lots of bracing included.


This is an earlier one with just the fender used for fore and aft support of the buddy seat.

What I was thinking was that I could weld in four blind tapped holes on the two rear frame down legs to the rear axle.  These would be drilled and tapped for 3/8" bolts with just a slight shoulder on them.  I may just install them and use a thin fiber or nylon washer and a nice chrome button head Allen bolt to plug the four holes.  Then at a later time I would make up a mini frame work and have another seat made to match.  I could than just bolt on the rear seat assembly if needed.  Granted, it would not be a super comfortable BSR seat, but the bike wasn't intended for comfort and long hauls anyway.

After showing this to my neighbors, who both ride, I'm getting a more warm and fuzzy feeling about this.

I would have to say that it would be unique and would stand out wherever we would go.  Keep in mind without it bolted on, all I would have to show for it was just four nicely chromed button heads strategically placed in the rear frame down legs.

So what's everyones thoughts on something as AB Normal at this?

    

[Dan_Lockwood]

Nine may be a lucky number for me, so here goes.

I had a chance to get it out in the sun this past weekend.


This picture shows a mock up of the bike with a front fender and sporting the new headlight with the new turn signals installed.  I had a headlight bought for the bike but it is a British style and a bit too short and stocky looking.  This one is a keeper I do believe.  It fits real well with the looks of the bike, not too pro street at all.

I like the "old" look of the bike with the front fender on, but you all know how hard it is to mount a close fitting front fender to a springer.  I had a guy at work tell me that if I've done all the other stuff on the bike, the fender should be piece of cake.  BUT, I'll probably not mount it and just run naked up front.


Just another view of the bike from the left side.


A 3/4 front view.

I've been working on the front of the tanks to fill in the gap a bit.  I was going to just hang my horn in the somewhat round gap, but I got tired of fitting it so I'm just moving inside between the front of the two tanks.  It's plenty open enough and it will make plenty of noise there.  I'm filling in the front gap with sheet metal rolled to curve around the front of the tanks.  I plan on have about a 3/16" parallel gap running vertically up the front just stopping short of the bottom of the main frame back bone.  I'll need room to route my wiring from the the headlight and the handlebars.

I ordered my battery today.  I got it from Jegs and it's a Braille brand battery AGM type.  It's 11.5# and 5.8" x 3.32" x 5.8" and has 360cca @ 0°, 486cca @ 32° and 904cca @ 80°.  This is the highest cca battery I've found for the size, other than the new Lithium Ion Polymer battery I found on a website.  It's about 1/2 the size of what I just bought and it can crank a 120" motor with the plug wires off for over 2 minutes.  They let the starter cool off and then cranked it again for 2 minutes with plenty of reserve available still.  I eventually found a price, over $900 for the bugger.  No way from this guy...

So I'll mount my new battery on its side up under the tank with still lots of open air around and under.

I'll get more pictures soon.

Later dudes and dudettes...

    

[Gettinold]

Coming along nice Dan. Thanks for the the update. 




                                                           Dave

[spydglide]

Dan, did you say how much 'useable' fuel the gas tank holds?  I can't remember.  It is amazing how good that bike has come together.  The headlight balances out the taillight (to me, anyway).  It all goes together very well.  Too cool.  har!  spyder

[Dan_Lockwood]

Dan, did you say how much 'useable' fuel the gas tank holds?  I can't remember.  It is amazing how good that bike has come together.  The headlight balances out the taillight (to me, anyway).  It all goes together very well.  Too cool.  har!  spyder

The gas portion will only be 2.5 gallons so it won't get me too far.

I really like the headlight with the turn signals attached.

A place called Demon's Cycles in Florida has some great prices and great service. This headlight was only $35 with free shipping. I'd recommend them highly.

I'm getting tired of finger typing on my iPhone.

Later......

[spydglide]

The gas portion will only be 2.5 gallons so it won't get me too far.

I really like the headlight with the turn signals attached.

A place called Demon's Cycles in Florida has some great prices and great service. This headlight was only $35 with free shipping. I'd recommend them highly.

I'm getting tired of finger typing on my iPhone.
Later......

I found this nifty lil fold out blue tooth keyboard that I use with my blackberry......you might find one for the IPhone.  har!  spyder

[Dan_Lockwood]

I found this nifty lil fold out blue tooth keyboard that I use with my blackberry......you might find one for the IPhone.  har!  spyder

I've seen those on TV before.  The problem with me is that I'm usually watching TV while I'm doing my browsing on the Internet.  So a very flexible keyboard would not work well with my somewhat uneven lap.  We can't have our phones on any more at work so I can't use one at work either.  When I do my serious browsing, it's with my desktop anyway, but I do get a kick out of answering people when I see a message etc.

There seems to be a lot of new stuff coming very soon for the iPhone 3G, software and hardware.  I'll keep my eyes open.

    

[spydglide]

I've seen those on TV before.  The problem with me is that I'm usually watching TV while I'm doing my browsing on the Internet.  So a very flexible keyboard would not work well with my somewhat uneven lap.  We can't have our phones on any more at work so I can't use one at work either.  When I do my serious browsing, it's with my desktop anyway, but I do get a kick out of answering people when I see a message etc.

There seems to be a lot of new stuff coming very soon for the iPhone 3G, software and hardware.  I'll keep my eyes open.

    

This lil deal is not flexible.....it is very small, folds in half, but locks into a solid keyboard when opened. Has a neat little leather carrying case that's 4"X5.5" so it's truly portable.  The name is: Freedom Universal Keyboard.  Works well.  spyder