Finished my project

Finished my bike project over the weekend. I started this back in April when I was laid up from shoulder surgery. Doc said I couldn't ride for a while, he didn't say anything about building a bike 8). I would have posted pictures while I was building it but I wanted to build it my way and make my own mistakes. The main thing I'd do different is where I "capped" the frame rails after cutting it. I ended up with more time in that than almost anything else and I'm still not happy with how they look, but I have enough stuff around them to hide the ugliness. Overall I have ~$2800 in the project, $800 for the bike, ~$2000 in parts. I plan on adding forward controls in the near future. I'd really like to rake it 5-9 degrees but I'm not ready to drop that kind of money until I know I like the bike.

http://s272.photobucket.com/albums/jj19 ... 20Project/

 

bike looks great!!

can i ask where you bought the seat? looking for something similar for mine.

 

Man that's NICE! Good job!

 

eBay...I think it was ~$40. I bought most all my stuff from bay

 

What a great looking bike.

 

Totally bad ass.

 

how did you mount the seat? i've been struggling with the best method for months. did you put the forward mounting bracket on the tank bolt?

 

Thanks guys

lol...about that seat mounting. I also struggled with a good way for along time. Finally I just said screw it and bent a piece of metal to bolt the front seat stud to the tank bolt. Then I welded little tabs in the "corners" where the frame rails and that cross tube are at and bolted the hairpins to it. It's FAR from the best way, but it's right up there with the easiest. If the seat studs would have been 1/2" narrower I was going to weld short pieces of tubing for the bolts to go into. I can take pictures of it tonight for you.

 

looks great. what bike is it. thought about going that style, but decided on a cafe. hope mine comes out as good as yours did.

 

1981 xj650

 

pics would awesome - if you already have them...you don't have to make a special trip to the garage.

really nice ride man - and thanks for the info!

 

Nice. Love the whitewalls.

 

Really awesome job! I think you're right there with a Japanese "Brat Style" build, like a western bobber but with a different slant. I'd say I love the drag bars but I think that bike might be screaming out for a set of mini-apes. Skip the rake on the front end and roll with the high bars and that bike will turn heads absolutely everywhere it goes. Maybe it even does now..

I also love the whitewalls- what tires are they? I'm looking for alternatives to the Dunlop 404's right now for my next set of rubber. Now for sure at all I'd rock whitewalls but they're intriguing..

 

Thanks guys, tires are Avon Venoms; they were the only whitewalls I could find that fit that front rim. I really wanted to get the old Super Eagle type tires, but couldn't find them in whitewalls to fit the front rim and didn't want to have 2 different tires on.

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/ ... &zmap=5962

 

nicely done, looks good!

 

Nice looking Bobber! Good Job! When is "Bike Nite" on Westheimer?

 

Beautiful mod. I love the look!

Looks like the master cylinder is at an odd angle, have you thought about converting to another type? Have any problems with the brakes?

 

Skippy - I'm still pretty new to the area so I have no idea, I might be interested though

chaz - Only problem so far (100 miles) is the fluid heated up one time and locked the brakes up...never did figure out why and I never did it again.

 

What rear shocks did you use to get it that low?

 

10.5", I bought those cheap no name ones off eBay. They look fine but way way WAY too stiff for my bike; it's basically a hard-tail. When I sit on it the suspension doesn't even move. Seems like when I was looking and doing research on it I saw some 10.5" for a Rebel somewhere, might want to look into those.