Things that get in the way…

well progress has been somewhat slow on the bike, the wife decided she wanted a summerhouse in the garden, so this



became this


to end up like this


Took me about 4 days to build it, but the main thing is I can get all her garden shit out of my man cave next door and out of my way and in to her girlie summerhouse, I have been buying bits for the bike tho, bought a tank.

A test fit


Needs to sit lower so removed the lugs from the frame but the lugs on the tank get in the way now.



and so do the rear frame rails, these will need amending




Not gonna do anything to the frame yet until I get the seat unit, which i've ordered then i can see what needs cutting and changing.

Stay tuned for more soon.

Tanks a lot!

Bought this beauty off evilbay the other night.

The seller said it was damaged but if this is what he calls damaged I'd hate to actually see a damaged one, don't think its ever been used absolutely pristine condition, how much I hear you ask well it was a tad expensive at £35, ha not really its a bloody bargain.

Just need a cap and a fuel tap but that can wait, a quick offer up to the bike and it looks like some re modelling of the rear frame but I'll check when I do some proper measurements.

Forking hell!

well the forks have arrived...

I'll remove the mudguard and the mounts, the bottoms will be powder coated at a later date anyway.

I need to decide if I am to grind away some of the metal from the top yoke, I'm planning to fit clip ons under the yoke anyway.

Will removing the material for the Aprilia tubes reduce the structural strength? to be fair, even if I do and it does, I'm sure theres an after market top yoke out there with out them anyway.

Purchased a tank last night so the look is starting to come together.

not much new

well I say that, bought some forks just waiting on delivery, and ignition and a starter button as I'm thinking or making my own loom for it, it can be exactly as I need it then and I know the wire, also it will make it to hide in the frame if need be.

Got out bid on a tank on evilbay last night by a pound, a bloody pound!

More drawings have taken place…

Might have to make a seat/hump, all the ones I have found on line are to small for the frame with, or failing that I'll buy a seat and cut it in half and fibreglass the gap to suit, still none of this can happen until I get a tank and can see the lines.

Stay tuned for the forks in place...

The Look.

So how do I want it to look then, well cool cafe racer, I've now stripped off all the parts I don't want on it.

Now comes the fun bit (I hope), to start getting parts, I'll need…

In no particular order

Tank

Seat unit

Wheels

Forks

Engine parts

Lights

Brakes

Clocks (speedo)

I'm pretty sure of the seat unit and tank I want plus the forks and wheels, yes I'm looking at you Aprilia RS4 125 for these, it fits with my plan of modern and updated and hopefully different.

A very rough photoshop produced this.

I then need to think about the placement of essential items such as where do I put the battery, coil and reg/rec obviously whilst still going for the minimal look, do I feed the cables through the frame etc, all things to consider.

It'll be sometime before the engine gets looked at and it will stay in the frame until the overall look is sorted.

Oh and I've ordered a Haynes book of lies.

It begins….

So I picked it up at the weekend and surprisingly it fitted in the boot of the car all I had to remove was the front wheel.

Got it home and reassembled it.

Generally its in OK condition, it's straight no welds that should't be there but, its missing many engine parts, starter motor, starter solenoid, coil and HT leads, the looms not in the best condition so that will need to be made or replaced.

The main thing is the parts that I wanted are in place, I'll strip the engine down and see whats what but first i need to get it looking how i want it to.

Too many ideas! 

Not enough Money.

I have been all over the net looking for ideas, I kinda know what I want to do, I know I want to modernise it, well use more modern motorbike parts for areas, I think I know the tank I want and the seat unit but the overall look is still floating round my head, time to play in photoshop.

Off the original bike I think the only remaining original parts will be the frame, swing arm and engine, pretty sure everything else will go or be changed.

Right I'm off to do some photoshoppery.