My '85 XJ700 Bobber Chopper Build

Typos suck. I should know; I make plenty of them myself.

 

Actually, in this case it was a brain fart. Thanks for the save.

 

Thanks
Going to buy one today on ebay

 

You have a link to Chacal ?

 

I cannot locate the rubber bungs

Any ideas ?

 

Honestly, just email Chacal (info@xj4ever.com) and tell him what your bike is and what you need. He'll reply back with a list of all the related items he has in his catalog, and you give him the item numbers and preferred shipping, etc. Then you PayPal him the money, and a few days later your parts will be in your mailbox.

 

On a more serious note, you are not going to put your wife or anyone else on that unsupported fender are you? That is just an accident waiting to happen.

 

No absolutely not,
Once the bike is running I am taking it to a machinist that I know of that will take 3/4" round stainless steel solid pipe and make the bends to the contour of the fenders that will be bolted for support.
The beauty of it is that he will polish it to a mirror finish. The ends will fit into the stock round tube frame and will be welded as well.
Wait til you see how it will turn out.

I'm wondering how much I can get for the bike once it's done.

 

Just curious how did you get the rear shocks to mount on the posts? I have Harley Shocks as well and the Harley eye is a little too big for our XJ700 posts.

 

You have to go with Sporster shocks which have smaller eyes then with a hydraulic press remove the metal bushing slide and replace it with your stock ones.
If you don't have a hydraulic press then you can use a socket and bsng it out but it takes a lot of finessing and patience and some blood, sweat and cussing. .. you will have to lube between the metal bushing and rubber bushing.

Demoncycles.com has the 11" eye to eye chrome shocks for about $99.00 on their website. Now keep in mind that these are not progressive coil over shocks but they work and look good.

If you still want to use the ones you have then first shop at Ace Hardware for metal sleeve bushings that have the same (I.D.) inside diameter as the stock frame posts and the (O.D.) is same as the I.D. of the rubber shock bushings.

 

I put progressives from a Harley on my XJ. At the time I couldn't fin the correct sleeve bushings, so I made my own from some sheet steel that was just the right thickness. It was a bit tricky to form it into a well rounded sleeve, but they worked well.

 

That's the ticket !
It just takes a bit of MacGuyver to make it work and you found another way. Did you take pics of the process so you can share it with us by posting a DIY thread.
I think that it would be a great idea !!

 

Alas, I did not... I plan on taking the rear tire of to mess with the brakes this weekend. If I have enough time I'll deconstruct a shock mount and takes some pictures. Where would I post a DIY thread?

 

Just post it in the Modifications section. That would be awesome as I really want to ride my bike on the 4th weekend. It should be all painted and back together by then I am hoping. The shocks are the only thing holding me up right now. I may do the bushing swap with the stock springs. My Ace Hardware stinks here and has little to nothing in the way of bushings. I will figure something out though.

 

Let us know when you post up the DIY by posting the link

 

Hi guys. I didn't get to spend any quality time with the bike this weekend. I made a sketch, and I'll do a quick rundown.

Take some measurements of your upper shock mount. (A,B)
Get some thin gauge sheet metal. The thinner the better.
Cut out some rectangles that are (A)wide, and three times (B)long.
Gently bend them and the roll them into smooth cylinders.
Try not to crimp the metal. Using hose clamps to bend the metal around pipes and bars works well. A good way to finish them into shape is to bend the down around a rod that is a little smaller than the shock mount using a hose clamp.
These "sleeves" should spring snuggly and smoothly around your shock mount.
If you use thin enough metal you can fine tune the fit with multiple "sleeves". I used two on each upper mount with their seams on opposite sides.
Make sure your setup has the appropriate washers, spacers, and nuts.
Check that the sleeves don't interfere with any of those, and you should be good.

 

Good sketch..
I am about to buy some 11" eye to eye chrome shocks from http://www.demonscycle.com/



and do this what you posted in the sketch...

 

Finally She is fired up..

Check out this video and you can see her fired up


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X5vCAYtV8g

[video=400,400]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X5vCAYtV8g[/video]

 

Looks and sounds pretty good, man! Can we get some more pics and info about your homemade forward controls? They look almost identical to the TC Bros... how much did you save by building instead of buying?

 

They look somewhat similar but not identical..
The materials were purchased at the following places
- Mitchell's Hardware ( Aluminum stock, Steel stock, Nuts & Bolts)
- Home Depot ( Bars, Rods, Sleeves)
- NAPA for joints
- MetalfusionPlating.com for chroming and plating
- Bullseye Powdercoating.com for Powdercoating
- CE Waterjet to cut the templates
- Gaetas Welding because i dont know how to weld aluminum
- Justin some kid from FIU (Universtity) who did the CAD drawing

The prototype cost money but that is just the first one and then to get all the bugs out so now when i go to produce the kits they will cost less than anybody out there..

I am an R&D guy who was an A&P Mechanic with Pan Am and American Airlines so i tinker with ideas and then they come into fruition.

Most kits out there are made for the common XS650 bikes but since mine is an XJ700 I decided to make them for this type of bike.. the 4 Banger Community.

Just look over the build and you can see what i have done or click on the links below and check out what i have done to my other cars

Like the 1966 VW Bug or the 1993 Toyota Hilux