Post 36: A 3000 Miles Trip to Daytona Beach and Back

  
 We left on Sunday morning with two bikes and the trailer behind the car, me on the bobbed V Star 1100, and my friend Jacky on the Victory Vegas with Brigitte on the back seat. We spent the night in Blakely, Georgia, went on the next day to Silver Springs, Florida, and then on to Daytona Beach.

Post 35: V STAR "Bobbing" Part 35

  I had to take the bike to my mechanic because it would not crank up anymore. He worked on the wiring and changed the relay, and while at it, I got him to change all the fluids, the rear tire and rear break pads. He cleaned the front brake pads that had been wet with fork oil when the fork was leaking and are not braking well. We may have to replace them altogether if that does not work. This bike has two disks at the front, and should stop on a dime!
  In the meantime, I am working on making the blinkers for the front and back, out of four aluminum conical fence post caps into which a LCD trailer light from Harbor Freight fits perfectly. I made simple aluminum brackets to mount the front blinkers to the lower triple tree just next to the fork tube:

  I will decide when I get the bike back from the shop where the rear blinkers are going to attach, either to the fender right behind the seat, or low on the swing arm.
  I ground and polished the caps smooth and painted them with 3 coats of black crinkle paint, as well as a steel disk which will mount in front of the triple trees as a racing number, but with the initials "SM" for the name of the bike. No, it doesn't mean what you think, it stands for "Spiritus Michaelis", in homage to my very dear too soon departed uncle and bike/ side-car collector Michel:

Post 34: V STAR "Bobbing" Part 6

   I put the bike back together on Sunday. It was a bit of a fight to put the rear wheel back on with my bad arm, but I manages. The rear fender fits well enough, tight to the wheel. It is a little longer than I would like, but at least, the wheel won't throw mud at the back of my helmet. The rough gold leafing has a nice antique look I like, and glows in the sun.

   I am working on turns signals made of aluminum fence post tops and an LED unit from AutoZone that exactly fits in. I will paint them crinkle black and am making aluminum brackets to attach them to the lower triple tree:

Post 33: V STAR "Bobbing" Part 5

    Today, I took the gas tank and the fender in the studio, which it is cleaner than the workshop, to gold leaf them. I don't know if I mentioned before that although I appreciate the perfectly lined up squares of chine screens, I don't have the china man skill, and anyway, I prefer the messier gold leafing with pieces of different sizes and shapes going every which way and hairline cracks, which gives a bit of an antique look. Also, I am using fake brass gold leaf rather than real gold leaf, which I find garishly shiny. And the color matches the brass parts I made for the bike. The size dries fairly fast, so I did the tank in 4 sections, starting with the bottom part:

 The tank finished received 3 coats of clear lacquer:

  Then I gold leafed and lacquered the rear fender:

Post 32: V STAR "Bobbing" Part 5

   I finally managed to remove the exhaust pipes chrome covers and expose the plain pipes. I had to extend the top one slightly to be able to fit the sound baffle in, and wrapped them with tan colored fiberglass tape: 

Then I started working on relocating the wiring( what the hell are all those wires for?), regulator, etc... under the tank in the space left by the removed air box:

As you can see, I also made a copper curly gas line and mounted the pump to the side:

In order to drill the holes in the swing arm and fit the flat rear fender( I couldn't find a round one at a reasonable price I had ordered from J & P Cycles, I had to remove the rear wheel and shaft transmission:

I drilled 1/4" holes in the fender and through the tubes to attach the fender to the swing arm, close to the tire:

   It feels quite rigid, so I don't know if I will add the brass braces I had planned.
   I bent and cut a 1/8" steel plate to fit the triangular space underneath the seat and hold the back of the Mustang seat in place securely, and painted it semi flat black. I drilled holes in the frame and tapped them 8-32 to attach it with brass screws, and also to securely bolt it to the tank attachment and attach the seat retainer ledge:

    I hated the bumpy grey plastic sleeves the wiring was in going to the levers, so I removed them, replaced them with smaller fitted fleck flex tubing wrapped in electrician tape, and slipped over them  braided 1/2" copper flat lead I bought a spool of.It is actually wown as a tube , and adjust to pretty much any diameter by pushing or pilling on it. I used black rubber tubing and washer to finish the ends. I did the same with the headlight wiring:

I painted the rear fender 2 coats of black on the inside, and 2 coats of red primer plus 2 coats of gold on the outside to ready it for gilding:

Post 31: V STAR "Bobbing" Part 4

  
 Looks like spring already, and after a break through the Holidays in France, I am back "bobbin" the V STAR. I actually rode it yesterday, and it felt good. Raising the tubes 4" in the triple trees did a lot to improve the handling, and removing all the extra chrome junk made it lighter and more nimble
  I got my zigzag fat black handlebars, cut them in half, and attached each half to the top of the fork tubes with my solid brass clip on brackets. It's going to be tricky to figure out the installation of the reversed brass levers, so I temporarily put back the original levers and grips.

  I cut off the whole rear end bracket that supported the rear fender, and am looking for a short fender to attach close to the wheel to the swing arm. It looks good with none, but just a little water would soak my pants...
  I made a bracket to attach the battery( with plans for a box and leather straps), tied all the loose wires and fuel pump temporarily, gold leafed the front fender after a couple of coats of red primer and a coupe of a dark flaky metallic gold. I painted the gas tank gold too, but will hold of on the gold leaf till I get the rest of the mods done.

  I rigged up the Mustang seat in place with a couple of temporary steel brackets. I know some crazy uncomfortable bronze or wood seat would probably look better, but my ass likes the comfort of the big Mustang seat with a back rest!
  I made an aluminum bracket to attach the old tag holder sideways on the right side. It has a built in rear/stop light. I am not sure at this point whether I will use blinkers, they are not required in Alabama.
  I bought some 2" wide beige exhaust tape and wrapped the two short exhaust pipes. I had to weld a short extension to the top one to be able to slip in the baffles that cut the noise level considerably.

Post 30: V Star "Bobbing" Part 3

  After I got the leak in the fork repaired, I moved the longer tubes that had been installed up 4" in the triple trees and tried my brass clip handlebars on.They look good, but the bottom of the clips hit the Speedometer housing at full left and right, and the right bar hits the gas cap. I need to offset the bars up, and ordered on a eBay a set of black Z handlebars I will cut in half:

   I removed the rear fender and the saddles, exposing the huge fender support, that will have to be chopped off, and the softtail swing arm:

   I removed the chrome cover on the left side(exposing the fuel pump and some wiring), and the chromed plastic covers on each side:

  Then I removed the battery and the molded black plastic forms on both sides, exposing the swing arm and the single spring/shock absorber unit:

  It is a little messy looking, and I plan to reorganize the parts(gas pump, coil, etc...), make box for the battery, and rewire with the reproduction fabric covered magneto wire.

  I then removed the gas tank, exposing the huge air box that was not used anymore since the carburetors were fitted at some point with side cone filters:

  Removing it altogether would leave a lot of space to move all the electrical parts that were under the seat, and possibly the gas pump too:

Post 29: V Star "Bobbing" Part 2

With the band saw, I cut the basic 2 part clips, levers, and lever mounts out of 3/4" solid brass bar, and rounded them with the belt sander and the air grinder. The bottom section of the handlebar clips were tapped 1/4"-20, and an 1/8" aluminum plate sandwiched between the two halves.

The 1 5/8" holes for the forks were cut with a bi-metal hole saw fairly easily, but for some reason, I was having a hard time cutting the sideways 1" holes for the handlebars, and ended up letting a machine shop do it, as well as bore the 1" holes in the lever mounts to mount them at the end of the handlebars.

The reverse levers will be rounded with the hand held air grinder and polished, then fitted in the handlebar mounting brackets after these are drilled and shaped.

I will have to figure out a way to move the brake fluid reservoir and connect it to the lever.

Post 28: V Star "Bobberization" Part 1

I ordered some 27" black 1" drag bars which I will cut in half, and designed some clips to attach them to the top of the front end tubes. I also designed reverse brake and clutch levers, and bought a 3/4" x 2.5" bar of solid brass to cut them out of.

I will use rods instead of cables and move the brake fluid reservoir off the handlebars for a cleaner look.

The grips will be made of stacked wood slices,in alternating colors(padouk and birch?).

I will make old fashion brass choke levers and turn signals:

I will use coiled copper tubing oil and gas lines, brass or copper velocity stacks on the carburators as the beautiful "Willow" shown below, and decorative "steampunk" brass and copper rivet strips on the tank:

I found a source for reproduction cloth covered color coded striped wire, and I will probably use the second amber one throughout (lights, spark plugs, etc...) to match the brass parts and the gold leafed gas tank:

I will use leather straps and an aluminum, brass and padouk box to hold the battery, leather roll tool bags, and a strapped on gold leafed spare gas mini jerrycan with a leather holder:

A lot of the chrome plating on the engine will be blacked out, soiled, weathered, swirl sanded, or otherwise distressed. The exhaust will be wrapped in fiberglass ribbon and I will find a close fit chopped rear fender like the bike below:

I love the suspended seat above too, but the fat and wide Mustang seat with backrest the bike came with is so damn comfortable I am considering keeping it and covering it in distressed buffalo leather instead...

Post 27: Yet Another bike

Yes folks, I guess three motorcycles weren't enough, I just got a fourth bike on eBay. It was a local bike, and a deal I really couldn't pass up: a 2001 Yamaha V Star 1100 with 21000 miles for only $2000. The showroom price was $3990, but the dealer apparently was tired of looking at it, and I got lucky with the bidding. It's very clean, except for leaking front forks, runs well(very noisy straight pipes), and really is quite a looker in metal flake vermillion with this "Indian style" turned up extended rear fender . It is equipped with two front disk brakes with stainless lines.

It was dripping with chrome, some real, some plastic(which I can't stand), most of which has already been removed. I got it as a project bike anyway, with the intention of chopping it into an old fashion bobber with a "Steampunk" flair...
Something a little bit along these lines, but with more brass, copper, gold leaf, brushed aluminum, blacked out chrome, painted wheels, and wood:

As you can see in the picture, the forks were extended 4", but since the rake was not increased, the bike is high in the front, leans way over on the kick, and is rather hard to handle in tight turns because the trail is wrong.
Rather than spending $300 putting back stock top tubes, I decided to slide them up 4" in the triple trees, and use clip on bars at the top end.