Kimjon

Rear sub frame underway. Waiting on mandrel bends to arrive so I can finish it. I've rerouted a heap of wiring, plus HT leads through the engine covers. Next I'll remake the battery cables, and charging system, to reach the relocated battery underneath. really starting to take shape now.

Flat out working on this thing. 2 days work, and hopefully no one notices what I've done...should look factory.

Pretty happy with this. Battery holder/exhaust brackets.

This aftermarket airbox replacement cover arrived. Purchased from the UK, not a cheap item, in fact an embarrassing amount to spend on something that adds no performance at all...but fuck yes, looks so good. I'll fit it properly and paint to match the motor.

Shit yeah, epic build. Late to the party...but hell yeah, so cool.

Its just sitting there for now, I need to weld some 38-51mm cone adapters to my headers to properly fit the exhausts. They come with decibel killers that can be bolted in to make them quieter if needed? Time will tell how good the sound reduction is?

Fuck yeah!! Bluetooth mounted for the photos, but will sort my shit out soon. Stoked with these exhausts, so well made.

I cut 8 more tabs, brackets off the frame. Then extended some parts of the wiring loom so I could tuck the wires discretely away. Its far from done, but I'm liking the way its starting to look. Hero shots: Then welded up this fender. It had a huge hole hacked into it (not by me). I thought it was destined for the bin...but had a go at welding in a patch. The planishing hammer was awesome for this job. It put a double compound curve into it...no filler will be needed, just some high build primer. this will replace the front fender. I'll weld up some brackets to hold it there. Should look way better than the giant plastic one.

Yep, clutch cable broke. Ordred one from Germany, so downhill rolling starts only until it arrives...

Cool write up. Seems I followed this for the first half your build, then missed the completion. Must have subliminally rubbed off on me, as I'm doing the cafe racer version of this build with the R100.

https://youtube.com/shorts/5jonD5hOcak?feature=share3

Do you have a link to your build? I halfarse tried searching under your name but nothing obvious popped up.

Cutting up a classic...full send I cut the wings off it both sides. 100% better already. Huge win for zero money.

Ive given it a good going over, sorted out a few wiring gremlins etc. Removed a heap of stuff that didn't need to be there, swapped out fuel lines, sorted out linkages to brakes and gear shifts, fiddled with carburetors some more etc etc... Its purring now, everything is working as it should. Actually looking pretty sweet, especially given no money spent - just my time. I've orderd a few parts from overseas, that will tidy up the motor area. I'm relocating the battery and will probably go with a lithium one to reduce the physical size. But yeah, loving the ease of these project.

Put a fork in it, I'm calling it done!!

Ordered two of these. Plan is to shorten the headers and get these sitting underneath closer to the end of the frame. The current exhausts are deafening. So stupidly loud if offensive to my ears, and undoubtedly everyone else's too.

its just not getting old for me. So good. Im in love with this bike, its kinda the best/worst of everything, like a buell but not as fast, has the charm of an old carburetor harley, so much fun to ride like a vespa, seating position like a dirt bike, just such a unique bike full of character, its got what makes a bike fun to ride...the X-factor.

Thanks for the advice, really appreciated. Unfortunately I brought mine as is, so working with what I've got. Hard to know what the baseline is/was as I never started at that point, however its running a little rough for sure. The exhausts on it now aren't even clamped to the headers. They're a size to big, ie the header is loosely sitting inside the exhausts with 2mm of clearance around the pipe...lol. I visually set the carbs, by getting approximately 1mm of throttle cable play in each slide. Its now a lot smoother than it was. So I ordered a set of vacuum guages to try balance the carbs better than they are now. All that said...fuck yeah, this thing is fun!! Its not modern bike fast, but torque like a tractor and certainly enough power to be interesting.

Got it home, immediately removed the crashbars and rear fender, zip tied number plate and a few other little loose items and already looks 100% better. Long-term plans: Lower it by 120mm Paint lots of stuff black Fix exhausts Battery box relocation Tidy up headlight area cut shitloads of superfluous brackets off the frame Figure out footpeg placement, as for me its unworkable right now, thr cylinder heads get in the way. Sort out the seat. Luckily its a bolt on item, so i don't need to weld anything to the frame etc. Etc, etc, etc....

Yes, very much so. Excellent example.

Yes!!

Pretty cool. Im more into this style But I want really short exhausts ending flush with rear of motor. I'm going to try to work with what I've got already and not just throw $50k at it to solve problems, however I already know these projects aren't cheap. It's 90% about getting the proportions right, which for me makes or brakes any bike regardless of how much the build cost was. Walzwerks (Marcus Walz) in Germany is a huge inspiration of mine for both Harleys and BMW's. https://www.walzwerk-motorcycles.de/schizzo-1/prices/schizzo-scrambler/ I'll be drawing on his ideas a lot for my build.

On my wishlist for a very long time has been a BMW Airhead. Iconic bikes, especially for a base to do a cafe racer. So, now I've finished my harley its time to financially ruin myself yet one more time. I managed to get the R100 version which is a healthy 980cc/60hp and most importantly it has the highly sought after mono shock rear swingarm. This is the best airhead bmw to choose for a cafe racer build, so I'm already off to a very good start here. Photos of the bike as it stands now. I like what I see already, its a beautiful bike with nice clean lines and the previous owner has already made a good start, but I have my own very clear ideas on style and proportions, so I'll slowly start putting my own touch on this bike to subtly change a few things. So watch this space, as I'll update as I go down the rabbit hole of yet another custom bike build, although this one is a much better starting point than my harley where I literally started with nothing but an idea.

Hard to see, but that wet looking witness ring on the flat surface is an impression left behind by a rubber seal. The hole (not centred) is where brake fluid transfers from one side of the rear caliper to the other side. Its a complete fuck up. Drilled incorrectly at the factory. Cunt must have been itching to get to his meth dealer on a Friday afternoon? Anyway, I tried to machine out the defect and press in a new part drilled to offset the hole. It will probably work - but I then thought about how long I've been making this bike and the money I've put into it and decided another $500 is a drop in the bucket, so I ordered a new rear caliper from America. This time I'm going with a different brand and style (once bitten...twice shy). Fingers crossed it fits, but worse case I'll make it fit by machining new brackets etc.

Took a bit of figuring out, but I've done a mechanically operated hydraulic brake conversion to this vespa. Pretty stoked with how this fell into place.