***Brute Bobb Build***

I would love to see close ups of your seat pan and fender, that seems to be the hardest thing for me to figure out...

 

This is rad. Doing some of the same myself. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

i dont think i'm gonna lower the front a crazy amount. I am going to lower it about an inch because of the clip ons i will be putting on. That is very simple to do, just loosen the triples and lower them into the front forks a bit more. I can post pics if you need help

 

No prob buddy, I'll go out now and get some good close ups and a decent write up for ya.

 

That would be appreciated man. I'm a big fan of pic heavy DIY threads...keep up the awesome work, I'm following this one to the end.

 

hows your suspension clearance with tha back fender, looks like it would bottom out on the fender.

 

in the last picture of the bike the front of the rear fender was not bolted down. There is roughly 2" of space inbetween tire and fender. I think the burly slammers have a 1.5" travel. I will measure it to be exact tomorrow. Id do it now but the fender is drying from paint

 

And when you do add like another 89 lbs. for my weight class. I would love to have that stance.

 

here is a quick write-up of the seat pan. I just cut up the stock seat, ripped off the foam, and roughed in the edges. Im not completely done trimming it but you get the idea










As of right now, i plan on filling in the pan with spray foam (that hardens) then sanding it down and covering it. For cushion i plan on chopping up my moms yoga mat and roughing in two layers

*ill let you know if she gets upset

 

and here is the fender write-up. Nothing too major just trial and error fitting it in the back section. It gets a little tricky the way i did it because the eyelets in the side of the fender stick out a bit and don't fit inbetween the stock frame rails. This problems is fixed by notching out the rear swingarm. As far as mounting the fender it is just held in with four bolts, washers, and nuts.

test fit





heres the stock tab it rests on


front holes holding fender


coat of paint

 

did some measurements for the fender/tire clearance and its gonna be close. From what i can find online they have a 1.6" Max travel (which is hard to do on the slammers lol). my tire to tip of fender gap reads 1 1/4" Its a bit tight but i might slide it up just to be safe. I jumped on the lower frame rails as hard as i possibly could and it didnt crunch my finger curling over the edge of the fender. Im starting to think its going to be a rough ride........AWESOME!

 

ripped off the hideous rear stand FINALLY.



found some dents in the front of the fender so I hit them with bondo. sanded down the bondo and filled it in with filler primer. I'll sand it again tomorrow and hit it with paint

 

stripped down front rim. Will hit it with reformer and paint tomorrow.




also wanted to make a recommendation. Keep your bolts neat and tidy. It may be tedious now but it'll pay off when you get it back together. I've probably got 15 sandwich bags individually marked for where they go!

 

Here ya go HirsuitHeathen, this is just a real quick guide to lowering or raising the front end. If you raise the forks in the triple trees it results in a lower front stance....and vice versa, if you lower the forks in the triple trees it results in a higher front end stance. My front end was already lowered after the pictures were taken but you get the idea.

Before you do anything clean and oil (wd-40 or penetrant) the front forks. This will not only clean up any particulates and dirt but it will ease movement on the forks. This will minimize and almost eliminate any scratches to the forks.



Loosen the two bolts (one on each side) of the upper tripple tree.


Now loosen the two bolts on EACH side of the lower tree. (the two on the left, the bolt on right goes to yamaha front cover)


Once the stance is where you want it, measure the distance on the top of each fork tube. Make sure that these measurements are the same or pretty darn close!




Once they match up, tighten all the bolts you loosened and get back to riding



HTH

 

Quick heads up. If the fender has less allowable travel then the shocks, its only a matter a time before you make contact. You can bounce all day sitting still. It will never emulate hitting bumps/holes at road speeds. Depending on your tire and wear it contacts at, it could be potentially hazardous.

I hate to be the nay sayer but I have done it, nearly exactly like your mod! I even had my cousin and I bouncing on it and never touched. The day will come when you are unable to dodge a pot hole and you'll know when it makes contact!

Again, I'm sorry to be mister negative. I do love your build. I'd hate to see it finished and read later that it happened. It will be easier to remedy it now than fix a goof and remedy later.

Ha, it never hurts to learn from others mistakes!

 

also you don't account for sag when you and all your body weight are sitting on the bike too.

 

Alysiak00 thanks again man! Keep the write-ups and progress data coming. Prince_Albert I had that happen on a turn I made. The rear fender gave and it got stuck between the subframe and rear tire. I skidded to a stop and then realized I had no fender, tail light, or turn signals anymore.

 

no harm done! i slept on it and i think i'm going to move the fender up or move the adjuster on the shock up a click or two. Im gonna mess with it after school. No opinion is a bad one! The only bad opinion is the one not taken!

 

holy moly! thats insane

 

I love the direction of this build...a non-hardtail, shortie fender, lowered bob, I absolutely love it!

 

Thank you, its much appreciated. Its turning out better than i had hoped.

 

Hit the front caliper with some paint. I thought id go with gloss black just like rear sprocket. This way, the sprocket and caliper are gloss and the wheels are satin. Should offset the colors a tad.



got a few other things too....SWEEET

yamaha valve shim tool


Black Fork mount Headlight bracket. The stock bracket would only be held on by one bolt because i took out the cluster. Plus these will look sweet and allow me to lower the headlight to where i want it lol



*I've also been messing with seat to try and do something...different. I'll let you know if it goes well or if its just a complete bust

 

Problem solved:

The rear fender gap came up and it seemed like something that could also be a safety hazard so here we go.

After calling the company i found out that from the point of contact (between tire and fender) you must have 9" or less from the center eye-to-eye on the shock. This is why "shock travel" doesn't really matter because the shock mounting points on lots of bikes are different

Started by cutting back the rear frame a bit more (last time i hope) to accommodate for lifting up the fender wings. I notched them back at the 5" mark from the rear seat tube





Once i knew the fender could be lifted i drilled holes lower in the wing then mounted it. After mounting i removed shocks and brought the rear end to the "contact point."


When you measure, it should be from the center of each mount and MUST be less than 9". My measurement came out to 8.5" leaving me with an extra 1/2" of "just in case" room lol

 

front wheel back together. and mounted



also this is with the new fender position.

 

got the sprocket cover cleaned up.....ew

 

gas cap got painted same color as frame.



tank got painted as well. (semi-gloss black) same as wheels and fenders


id like to recommend that you dont forget about the gas tank hanging 6" from the shed door....it hurts when you smash into it!

 

did a quick mock up after paint dried. got a good idea of what she might look like even thought the front fender wasn't on. what do you all think?

im also a little torn on what kind of bars i want to go for. I'm debating between drag bars and tiny apes.....ugh i hate these decisions



*i apologize for the lack of progress but you will see soon enough what i've been working on....

 

look'n good! Glad to see that you were able to work out the fender issue.

I may be bias here but I say drag bars. They give it a more aggressive look and are super comfortable. I have an old set of smaller apes that I played with but didn't like 'em. Maybe they weren't the right pair but they didn't do it for me. Not to mention, you may have to spring for longer brake/clutch lines.

 

I like the look of drag bars on a bobber, plus it seems when you put apes on people compare your bike more to a chopper than a bobber.

 

Black GP Touring bars is where its at...JMHO

 

Well, yesterday i got my new shims....and went to put them in....and they're the wrong size, they were 29.5mm. I was not happy! so today i got the right size (29mm) and got them installed. Heres a quick write up if you haven't seen bigfitz's walkthrough.

new shims


cam lobe probably looks like this


move bucket so the notch is facing up so that you have access to popping out the shim


rotate cam by removing side cover and using 19mm wrench on side case until lobe pushes down bucket.




position the yamaha bucket tool. Move it left to right until it slides into place and lines up then tighten it down


rotate the cam the OPPOSITE WAY enough to get shim out. pay attention to direction of rotation because if you rotate it the wrong way and squish the bucket tool you WILL crack the head, i've seen it done.
*also note i had the starter removed so it rotated a bit easier

 

Use the bucket notch and a NON MAGNETIZED screwdriver to pop out the shim



as carefully as possible not to scar anything, remove the shim (notice the number side is down)



heres the old and new shim


slide in the new shim (number side down) and make sure its roughly seated with the screwdriver again (just line it up with bucket and it should fall into place)


turn the opposite way now to push the bucket and shim back down. You should hear a "pop." This is the new shim being completely seated in the bucket.


Then remove the shim tool and voila! Rotate the motor once or twice, recheck your clearances and if they line up (which they should) reinstall your valve cover

 

Now that the valve work was all done....THE MOTOR IS BACK IN....can i get a woop woop!


*im going to remove and paint the covers individually
**also, its not leaking oil, i removed the oil filter cover to get motor in and some leaked out

 

Thanks for the help with mine, yours is looking killer, I too wish I had the funds to do something to this extent, I really enjoy the photographs super high quality stuff. Are you using the original rear fender?

 

yes you are correct. it is the original fender just shoved up towards the inner frame. I may cap the holes but i'm going to figure out what kind of brake light setup i am going to use. I may plug the holes in the fender and go for the swingarm mounted light to clean everything up

 

Woop Woop

 

heres a woop woop for ya! looks great. i got drags on both my xjs and i love them.... although spite what anyone says, im tempted to hit the buy now button on a set of z bars to be a little different on my budget bobber. i only have 1 complaint though...... your hands are WAY TOO DAMN CLEAN!!!!

 

Man this is killing me I can't wait to see where this goes. Reminds me, although not about building a bike, about the one member on here that documented his move to Cali from I think it was Detroit....and the pictures and story behind it had me glued to it. Keep up the good work and the write ups brotha!

 

I would love to see some top end pics of the drag bars. Did you use risers?

 

If you find the link id love to check it out sometime. Im also glad im not the only one that likes picture heavy threads. I may go overboard from time to time but it keeps it interesting lol. It also helps others out there. I was noob once too ya know

 

Pictures help keep stupid people like me who can't read interested lol. I have some pics of the bike on here. Not sure where to find the links... 3g phones pretty slow. You can type bobber on a budget. If not.... ill post one on here tomorrow

 

priceless. lol

but yes i will search for them. Im still torn on drags or mini apes but i think drag might be more what i'm looking for. I think apes may look a bit off due to the short stout look of the xj's. I liked the apes on my vstar but it was also twice the cc's and who knows how much bigger . Drags just seem a bit more proportional.

 

That bike is looking sweet. You've inspired me to do something similar with my '80 XJ650. Question about the paint - did you put a coat of clear on top of the semi-gloss black? I want to make sure that when I paint my tank it has a coat of protection on it in case gas spills onto it during fill ups. Also, did you use any high heat stuff on the tank (i.e. Engine Enamel)?

 

The stuff painted semi-gloss black is only sprayed on with NO clear coat. Yes, clear coat is an added protection but it makes your semi-gloss paint into a gloss which i didn't want. If you are trying to protect the paint from gas i believe they make fuel safe paint you can get in a rattle can. There was also no use of high heat paint on the tank. The only high heat paint I used was on the exhaust and the engine

 

Okay Im pretty pleased to say that THE SEAT IS DONE!!!!

If you hadn't noticed i haven't really mentioned any progress on the seat because i wanted to wait and make sure it was going to work before i posted. So without further ado. The seat build...

Started out with the seat pan from stock seat just scuffed up and trimmed down a little....okay who am i kidding, it was cut down basically to nothing


As you can see it had some dips and valleys that i had to fill in, so my inner redneck kicked (while i was doing a side job) and thought why not use insulation filler. It dries hard, its semi flexible, and waterproof....BINGO


When using it, spray some on and use it like bondo. It goes from foam to like a slimy paste after a few "whippings" of the material.



I HIGHLY recommend using gloves and a breather mask when doing this. It gets messy


Once whole pan is thoroughly covered let it dry overnight. Can says 45min but its not fully hard and sandable until the next day. In the morning this is what i had


I used a grinder to smooth out the pan and get a rough shape for what i wanted. This is where you NEED a mask of some sort. This crap gets everywhere!



I actually repeated the process above once more to fill in a couple air pockets i had. after the second time it was primo!

After everything dried i made a rear seat mount by drilling two holes in the back and put a U-hook through. I made a clamp backing with a flattened out pipe clamp that i drilled two holes into. I superglued it all together and let it dry. TA DA



Now started the fun part. I started by getting a piece of scrap 5 1/2" dense foam from Joan Fabrics ($7.00) and carved it out to fit the pan

 

Once again i used the grinder (MASK IS REQUIRED) and smoothed out the foam



Now this is where i REALLY wanted to glue that sucker on so i used a tube of Super High strength adhesive. I used the whole thing just to be sure. I first poured the whole tube out and then spread it with a brush. I then applied the foam and taped the living sh.....uh crap...out of it



I let it sit overnight to ensure the glue was dry. The next day i took the tape off and started grinding it down again (FACEMASK REQUIRED....just in case you forgot) to rough in my shape.





and of course....a quick mock up

 

*before i start, let me just say sorry sweetie....i'll buy you another yoga mat....

okay i first sized up a section of yoga mat that was just....uh...lying around.



I then glued the mat to the foam and once again taped it up


I trimmed off the excess.... and bingo




This part needs a few things: hammer, a punch, 8mm and 12mm staples, a stapler, needle nose pliers, flathead screwdriver, scissors, a razorblade, and a tape measure


I took the seat and cut out a second piece of mat to cover the whole seat this time. I used a spray adhesive from home depot ($5.00) and coated the seat pretty thoroughly.

 

to get any tension on the fabric you have to stable atleast one of the sides to start with. start by using the 8mm staples.



This is how i did it. I then did the front and worked my way back. I want to add that you WILL have to take some staples out here and there. Thats what the flathead and pliers are for. Its a game of tweaking the fabric back and forth and then stapling in place.





My quick tip is to focus on the hardest corners first. This way the hardest curve is accounted for and the slack you can pull out in the sides.


then keep going...



trim off the excess

 

I finished off the seat by taking some Genuine Leather from a jacket that was also....uh....lying around.


This is the part that makes the seat either good or GREAT. You MUST take your time and be nit picky with this part onwards.

once again glue the foam


while that gets tacky mark the center of your leather (inbetween the seams) and the center of the seat (front and back)




line up your mark (front or back) where ever you are going to start from and tack it in so you can build some tension.
*note: it doesn't look centered because the seat mount is offsetted to make mounting easier on the xj550


trim out the crazy amount of excess fabric (unless it can be saved for another seat)


align the opposite side and get ready to tack it in. the glue will hold it temporarily in place. grab your tape measure and make sure the seam is exactly centered in the center of the seat. (12 3/4" side to side, divided by two = 6 3/8")...bingo

 

Keep working the leather around the seat as done before. Remember to keep checking the seam distance if you have one. Like i said you need to be picky about this part. I tacked the front and back then focused on back two corners before moving on. Some staples may not go in all the way, just tap them with the hammer and punch. And ...like i said, you WILL need to remove some staples.


After your all done tugging, pulling, and getting angry because you pull out 50 staples...your left with a nice fitted seat




I finished off my seat by using my special leather treatment, waterproofer, flexer, and darkener.