My sportbike build- an update....

[got556]

I love this thread. Keep up the great work dude! I know you said the bike is tall, but exactly how tall? Like dirtbike 250 tall or Hypermotard tall? Just wondering how top heavy it is w/ it being so tall.

Either way it looks great and I don't see really how you would have made it any shorter. And your wife is a brave woman to hop on the back of that "seat" if you wanna call it that.

What color are you going w/? I think a red on the tubing and black on the glass would look great, but maybe too Ducati'ish.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

Just measured seat height the other day: 37.5" tall, and because the seat is much wider than a dirtbike it feels even taller. I can sit on it and have the balls of my feet touch on both sides, which is perfect.

The color is going to be aztec yellow/black. The frame swingarm suspension ect will be powdercoated black, and the tail plastics/tank/headlight assm/front fender/wheels will be aztec yellow.

 

[Highside]

Is it just me, or does this bike look like it will weigh a metric ton when finnished??

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I hope to keep it under 500lbs, we'll see. It got more and more complicated as time went on. I don't think I'll ever build a bike this complex again. Too many components.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

OK so I've been working on my headlight surround, It's really a pain trying to get it as symmetrical as possible what with all the curves, but I really feel like I'm finally going in the right direction on this thing.

The inspiration for the surround was the Yamaha YZR M1 Moto GP bike seen here:

I really liked the ram air look and I didn't like any of my sketches dealing with the single projector headlight I got from the Ducati. So, I'm going to hide the headlight inside the area that looks like it's a ram air inlet. The inlet will have mesh in it so it you can't really see the light in there until it's on.

Here's some shots of where I'm at so far with it. Note that this is not the final position for it, it'll be a little higher and a little further out, but this gives the general idea. The headlight will be hidden inside of it and the gauges will sit under it over the top triple. The exterior will be covered with sheetmetal, but you'll see more details of that as I put it together. The skeleton is made entirely from 1/4" round bar

And my favorite helper

Comments are appreciated, but I'm 100% sure this is the direction I'm going. I feel it really goes with the lines of the bike, and in the process solves my problem with the front fender looking out of place.

thanks
Sky

 

[blackbetty]

I think it's effin radical dude. Very cool piece.

 

[Travis]

I think I'm going to like that front piece. Keep up the good work.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

Not much more done, but got the front piece mounted anyway:

Rider's view:

Lots of work left to do on it, have to make the headlight mounts and the gauge cluster mounts, then skin it with sheetmetal. Took awhile to get even this much done though. Had to weld some tabs onto the ZX upper triple to bolt to.

I was also making a plug for the kicker shaft because I'm taking all that stuff out. Oddly enough this bike will be electric start only

I ordered all my parts for my Permanent Magnet Charging conversion, and also all of my parts needed to rebuild my motor, so that should be going back together real soon. Then the wiring harness gets made.

Things left to do:
Rear wheel spacers
Rear caliper mount
Rear wheel adjusters
Battery hold down
Starter solenoid mount
Fuel pressure regulator mount
Electric regulator mount
Coil mount
Relay mounts
Wiring harness
Finish headlight surround
Rebuild motor (already torn down and cleaned up, just waiting on parts which should be here Monday.)

That's the general list. Seems like a lot of stuff left to do but really it's not much compared to before.

Thanks for looking
Sky

 

[bbillington]

so long as you're making progress, that's awesome in my book; it's not like you just have to slap the bike back together or something and call it done

Do you feel like you're weight is a bit too far forward when you're on it, or does the position feel proper to you?

 

[Yamaha_chop]

does the position feel proper to you?

Like a glove

 

[bbillington]

excellent.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

Work continues as always. I made and mounted the relay pack holding both relays and the turn signal flasher. I mounted the front turn signals, the gauge cluster, and the headlight. Most of all I'm almost finished with the headlight surround. It's not quite done, still have some finish work to do, but it's close. I'm not entirely thrilled with it, but it doesn't look too bad. I'm enjoying working with sheet metal but unfortunately I don't have the sort of tools I need to do it properly. Oh well. Anyway next up on the list is to finish the wiring harness as I've got all the components mounted finally.

Pics:

As always, thanks for looking!
Sky

 

[blackbetty]

Dude it looks great!

Wonderful work. I love seeing updates on this one...

 

[Yamaha_chop]

Thanks man, I was starting to think nobody cares about this build anymore. I know progress is slow, and it's not really what everyone else is into but I do try hard. Any feedback is good, positive/negative/neutral.

 

[rude]

subscribed, I usually just look when the thread is bumbed

and I'm wordless
and
I care!

keep on keepin on good man

 

[azman857]

I always read this when it gets updated. I don't write anything because I'm in awe and speechless afterwards.

 

[bbillington]

I think you should register the bike with antique tags since it's eligible... would be funny to explain it to the cops if they ever pulled you over, given the current/modern styling. Amazing stuff... can't wait to see it complete.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

I think you should register the bike with antique tags since it's eligible.

Haha! I think I'm going to have to look into that.

 

[Yamaha_chop]

Thanks guys, I've been away for a bit, but here's what I've been up to anyway:

That's my scratch built harness for the bike. Man, that wasn't the most fun thing I've ever done :lol:

Wired up:
Fuse box
Ground block
Tail-light
Front and rear turn signals
Megasquirt
Regulator
fuel pump relay
main relay
turn signal flasher
starter solenoid
oil temp sensor
tps sensor
air intake temp sensor
horn
headlight
kill switch
ignition switch
tachometer
Vapor gauge
Boost gauge
Coil
Injectors
Neutral light
wideband 02 sensor

sheesh. Remind me to never build a bike like this from scratch again. :roll:

And the other stuff:

Got the engine almost fully put back together. New seals throughout, MLS headgasket from Ottoco, New rings. Hopefully should be a good runner as I get a base map going for the bike. This is kind of an interesting engine for an XS because there's nothing behind the chrome covers! No points, no advance unit, just cam ends

Shot of the 8-plate clutch assembly, hopefully that'll be good for handling some extra horses! When I got this engine in a box, the clutch unit already had a set of longer clutch springs on it, not sure what they were originally from, but that should help a bit as well.

Stay tuned guys, hopefully some much better pictures coming soon! and some real progress. Much as it doesn't look or sound like it, I'm getting pretty close to riding this thing! Bike is completely apart again at the moment. Doing some finish welding on the frame, and trying to kill some of that stupid surface rust I have to deal with here on the coast. :evil:

 

[Travis]

...

This is kind of an interesting engine for an XS because there's nothing behind the chrome covers! No points, no advance unit, just cam ends

....

Nice looking harness! And you must be used to the earlier engines because all of the TCI ones also have nothing behind the cam end covers. What are you running for an ignition? Sorry if I missed it.