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Kimjon's Harley bobber project


Kimjon

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31 minutes ago, SOHC said:

I will check tonight where it broke,  the 1st time it broke I replaced it but the 2nd time it was tig welded, my bike had the horn and ignition switch mounted to it, I lost the horn 

I suspect it brakes in the sharp bend. I was toying with the idea of backing it up with a fillet weld, so this is convenient timing talking about possible cracking issues...so I will do that now as cheap insurance.

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Soooo...

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Turned the tig up to "eleventy" and gave it some jandal!!! I ran it over all the mig welds and melted them into the parent metal hard core. Then used a heap of filler to create a 45° web in the highest stress points.

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I'll smooth the corner fillet weld a touch more with some sandpaper or flap disc (wont need much) and call it done, then send it out for chrome.

Actually really happy with it now.

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  • 3 weeks later...

My exhaust had a terrible bracket on it that sucked!

My OCD couldn't handle the fact that the two pipes weren't parallel. Over a 400mm section where they run along side each other, the gap was out by 10mm from front to back.

I saw this as an opportunity to fix two problems.

1) make it look right to the eye

2) raise the lower pipe by 15mm and the upper pipe by 5mm.

This will really help with ground clearance, maybe not completely solve it...but certainly won't hurt.

So:

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Marking out, lifting the holes by 10mm.

 

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And looking at the pipes for nice sweeping parallel lines.

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Success!!!

So, lower pipe is now 15mm higher than before, with nice clearance around all the bits you don't want a hot exhaust touching. Happy as fuck!

I'm probably going to cut the lower pipe mid span and shorten it by about 40mm to bring it inline with the upper pipe and my frame angle where it heads up to meet the axle. But that can wait for another day.

 

 

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A small package with lots of mandarin writing on it that I can't read arrived today. I get pretty dam excited by these, it's like Christmas everytime...as I've usually long forgotten what it could be inside, so its always a fun surprise opening them up.

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Ah yes, I remember...a choke cable. No, not the one my wife ordered from the 50 shades catalog (we're still waiting on that one), a choke cable for the harley.

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Looks easy enough to install, I'll just unbolt the old fucked one and put it back together with the new replacement as it's a direct factory part eh?

Ummmm no...no I won't...cunts!!!!

Someone in china decided that they'd mix imperial and metric. To be fair Harley's already are, been a mix of American and Japanese parts as is. But then the Chinese get involved in the aftermarket parts world and fuck with it again.

Yup, wont fit. My engine steady/choke mount is 5/16UNC in size. The part supplied is M10x1.0!!!! WTF???? Who makes a M10x1.0 bolt for a non specific application??? No one in their right fucking mind is the answer.

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This isn't the be all in tap and die sets, but its fairly comprehensive. Nope, no M10x1.0 in here, nor in my other 2 tap sets either.

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So fuck it...drilling it out and getting rid of the thread altogether. 

I looked at it and thought "hmmm, why does it even matter", it's got a collar on one side and I can use the nut supplied on the other side...then drilled the fucker out to 10mm.

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And it works perfectly. So problem averted.

 

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Improvements made to bracket. Looked "a little heavy" for my liking...so off to Jenny Craig's she goes!

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Nice hole, with a cheeky peek up her skirt.

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Rounded all the corners with a generous radius. Ready for paint now.

Much happier with its appearance. If something is ugly, it's best to not draw attention towards it, so by doing these extra steps hopefully it'll become less visible and go unnoticed.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Bit more fab work done today.

Getting down to the stuff you don't want to admit a motorcycle needs to run. All the ugly stuff that detracts from your previously clean lines.

Oh well, its gotta have it...so may as well face up to it and get it done:

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Welding more brackets to other brackets, that were welded to yet another bracket?

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I drilled a few holes in it. One for function...the other for looks.

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Test fit.

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Then I made my own HT leads up. I'm pushing it...but I wanted them as short as possible. Just scraping in, definitely wouldn't want them any shorter.

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Booyah!!! It works.

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11 hours ago, kseries.rookie said:

Thats looking awesome man, i'm enjoying the progress.

Out of curiosity, are hard tails legal in NZ??

Short answer is yes, totally legal (will need cert obviously).

And thanks, admittedly its dragging on a bit - progress wise. But it's a weird project in the fact I really don't need this bike, so I'm taking my time and enjoying the journey. I've always wanted to build one since seeing one in an easy rider magazine about 30 years ago... to be fair I was more into the naked girls within the covers of those magazines (pre internet days), however a rigid chopper caught me eye and I was in love!

The single most important thing is the straight line from the bikes neck right back to the rear axle, this to me was what caught my eye all those years ago and makes these bikes what they are.

The secondary things I like are the proportions. By playing with the amount of stretch in the frame, the amount of lift in the frame, the length of the forks, the gaps between seat, tank and neck, the size of the tank, the amount of rear fender you choose to keep...all those things drastically change the look.

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This is my all time favorite bike. The builder (Superco Custom, Trevelen Rabanal) pushes the proportions to the edge, but in my opinion has built a masterpiece. I've taken a lot of inspiration from this bike...but still trying to achieve my own vision too.

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1 minute ago, Lord Gruntfuttock said:

Any tension on those short leads? I'd leave a little slack so vibration doesn't kooze them. 

Old industrial electrician thing with crane cables etc.

Yes, I think they are an inch too short. Oh well...guess I'm going to get lots of practice making leads eh...

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Thanks @Lord Gruntfuttock for the good advice. I kind of knew that I was pushing the limits with those short leads. I cut them down in stages trying to make them as short as possible...but was probably asking for trouble down the track going that short.

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And tadah!

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So I made some new ones out of my old impala HT leads. Thanks Mike, for leaving them with me after generously giving me a new set of leads a while ago... kind of cool these leads are now living a new recycled life on a harley...

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Toying with the idea of a sight tube, so I can see where my fuel level is at without having to run empty, or stop and look into the tank.

I don't think I'd purposely ride past a gas station without stopping anyhow... 1340cc big cammed motor Vs tiny gas tank = stopping often. However having a visual of my fuel level can only be a good thing?

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Something like this (just mocked up with inappropriate parts for a daydreaming session). 

I'll give it some absorption time, and come back to it later if I still like the idea?

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Ive never really dug the look of level tubes like that aye. Adding opening up the cap every time you jump onto the Harley is just one small task among the many required tasks to ride a Harley haha.

Digging your progress dude.

Ive only got a couple small jobs left on mine that I need to make time for

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Yeah, I'm on the fence. I like the retro idea...but I'm not married to the idea yet. Will park it and see how I feel in a few weeks time.

Moving on with other things that are within my control and don't cost money to do because I'm brokeass right now:

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Bending the kickstand, so it both leans the bike over more and tucks up higher when not deployed, for extra ground clearance.

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Its sitting tight now. Only about 3mm gap. Before it was about 15mm from hitting the drive belt cage.  The tip has lifted up about 50mm from the ground.

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Calling it a win!

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Just doing a bit of Google research on tank sight tubes that don't suck.

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Yeah, yeah..."blue and green should never be seen" (together). But both these bikes pull off a sight tube that looks okay.

Still not ruling it out...

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