Gophers and Cheese

I made a paper template to figure out where to drill the hole for the shock bolt. I then marked where the outer sides needed to be cut. It fits beautifully. Here's the inside piece.  The cut is slightly different than the outer piece. Here you can see just the side plates. Here's a rough mock-up of how it will look: I drilled a 3/8" hole in the bottom of each strut so I will be able to access the bolts for the taillights with an allen wrench after the side plates are welded on Here are the six pieces ready to go.  Each one is marked as they are all subtlety different.  Now, I just need to get up the nerve to weld them.  They may look simple but I have a lot of time into them and really don't want to mess them up. This is roughly what I am planning to do with what I'm calling the mini-fender.  I thought about welding both struts to mini-fender but I think I'm just going to try this route.  When everything is painted black, I t...

The fender has been taking me so long, you can see all the surface rust that has formed. I trimmed the end of the fender to make it even with the bottom of the swingarm. Then I used my hand drill and nylon brush attachment to remove all the surface rust. I used Duplicolor Self-Etching Primer followed by their Filling Primer. After a few rounds of priming, sanding, priming, sanding, etc., I sprayed a Metal Specks silver basecoat. That was followed with Metal Specks Red. The pinstriping and lace is next followed by black and clear.  This is the same process and materials I used for the tank and previous fender.  When it's all done, assuming it all goes well, the rear fender should match the tank perfectly.

Third Thursday is Jacked Up Bike Night at Mad Jack's in Brooklyn Park.  I went early but didn't stay too long.  They have free hot dogs and chips for those who ride. There weren't too many bikes there at first.  There was this highly customized Sportster seemed to belong to one of the Hamsters.  While it's definitely not my style, I certainly appreciate the work that went into it.

I took Thursday off.  I worked in the garage on the Sportster until noon (more on that later).  Then I took the Road King for a ride.  It was cloudy and very windy but it was just nice to be out riding.  I went to Nauti Hawg for a late lunch before heading back.  Their bacon cheeseburger is delicious. It was quiet and peaceful watching the river.  Mine was the only bike there and no one else was sitting outside. If you didn't know, there's construction on WI-35 just south of Prescott.  On the way south, I rode through it and over the gravel.  No big deal.  On the way back I cut up QQ to 10 to avoid it.

The 2012 Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freak Show will take place on July 21st, 2012.  I cannot recommend this event enough.  Go!!!!!!!!!!!  Check out my Guide To Local Events page for lots of blog posts with pictures from the last two years. That means you can be looking forward to THREE incredible bike shows around the Twin Cities within only 10 days of each other this July: 7/12: 17th Annual Ma Rad's Rumble on the Deck Ride-In Bike Show (Stillwater, MN) 6pm 7/14: Full Tilt Chopper Show (Location TBD) 7/21: Bearded Lady Motorcycle Freak Show (Mpls.) noon-2am

One day I'll make my own exhaust.  That day is still a little ways out in the future, but it will come. When I removed the pipes to access the swingarm, I realized my front muffler was a lot more banged up than I previously thought.  Both the front and rear suffered some road rash when I dropped the bike on icy snow in November 2010 ( see blog post here ).  That's also how I ripped my exhaust wrap.  What I didn't know is the front muffler had deeper scratches than I thought and was slightly dented too.  I had been considering getting a new pair of slip-ons and decided to spring a little more for a full set of pipes.  I love the sound, look, and performance of the Python3 slip-ons and have been running them since April 2007, but I wanted a change.  I hope I like what I bought just as much, if not more.

The next big task is the hollow struts that will support my taillights and hide the wiring.  I made the main structural part of the struts a few weeks ago.  On Monday, I decided to cut the sides out of 16GA steel.  I traced the outline of each strut onto the steel, carefully marking which was which. Out came the cutting wheel and sparks flew. Here are the four sides all rough-cut. I used my bench grinder to get one piece to the point that I could test-fit it.   Now I just need to clean up the other three and figure out how to properly measure where exactly to drill the 1/2" holes since the struts will be secured via the upper shock bolts.  Then I have to decide whether to attempt to weld them myself or take them to a professional.

After chopping the fender on Sunday, I wanted to get the swingarm drilled so I could attach my bracket.  I put the fender back on the bike and here you can see where the bracket connects the fender to the swingarm. I used some cheap pinstriping masking tape to mark where the bracket should go. Then I removed the tire.  I'm getting quite good at removing/reinstalling the rear tire. I had to remove the front exhaust pipe and loosen the interconnect bracket in order to drop the swingarm as low as possible without removing it. I drilled pilot holes in the bracket and then clamped it to the swingarm inside the masking tape lines and began to drill. I ended up only drilling 5/16" holes instead of  the 3/8" holes I planned. I didn't want to risk compromising the swingarm even though it probably would've been fine.  5/16" bolts should be more than adequate.  Here you can see I drilled all the way through the swingarm (it's hollow if you didn...

On Saturday, I made a fender bracket out of the same 1/8" x 1 1/2" steel angle that I made the license plate bracket out of. Here it is a little cutting and grinding later.  The section that will bolt to the fender is 4" across while the part that will bolt to the swingarm is 6" across. Here is where it will go, connecting the fender to the swingarm.I will probably use rubber washers or grommets between the bracket and fender in the final assembly. On Sunday, I drew two lines on the fender, one where it extended below the swingarm and one where the top of the bracket will touch.  Then I pulled the fender off the bike and and took my cutting wheel to it. Then I drilled 3/8" holes through the bracket and fender. I still need to even off the bottom of the fender but I should be able to get to that later this week.

After making the license plate bracket, my next task on Saturday was to get started mounting the rear fender.  I propped the fender up and carefully lined up the brace (I had already marked roughly where it should go).  I drilled small pilot holes through both the brace and fender but did the rest of the drilling separately. Here is a top view of the 3/8" holes.  There is plenty of space for me to continue the "lace racing stripe" paint from the tank all the way down the fender, which was my plan all along. I still need to cut the fender (it won't extend below the swingarm after it is cut) and make a bracket to secure the end of fender to the swingarm but here are a bunch of views.  I am very happy with the results so far.