Bobber Build by a total Newb

I'm glad you got that buzzing noise figured out dilbone.:thumbsup:
I know what you mean by pinging and clanging man! After I built mine running it down the road listening to everything and thinking to myself did you tighten this or that?!:eek:
When I was building my bike, I used two scotch-brite pads for the spacing to the backbone.
After everything was painted and going back together I used some leather like you did with the inner tube. I had that tank off many times with no sign of any problems.
Bike sounds great man!
 
I'm glad you got that buzzing noise figured out dilbone.:thumbsup:
I know what you mean by pinging and clanging man! After I built mine running it down the road listening to everything and thinking to myself did you tighten this or that?!:eek:
When I was building my bike, I used two scotch-brite pads for the spacing to the backbone.
After everything was painted and going back together I used some leather like you did with the inner tube. I had that tank off many times with no sign of any problems.
Bike sounds great man!

Yeah, I used a double layer of black carpeting used for covering speaker cabinets and thought I had it up plenty off the backbone when I drilled my holes apparently it wasn't enough. I put over 500 miles on it last summer and fall and I had no contact at all between the backbone and tank. Of course it had to happen once everything was painted...of course...
I never even considered I'd need to put something over the backbone, oh well...lesson learned.

I'm loving it now that the tank issue is fixed although I still don't like going much above 5000rpm, feels like something's gonna explode on that thing. Cruising at about 58mph is pretty darn comfortable and smooth though. 60-65mph is some major vibes and then close to 70 things settle down a bit. I really don't think I'd want to go 70mph for any length of time on it, I'm done spending money on it for now but a rephase wouldn't be out of the question in the future I suspect.

I still need to get the exhaust finished and I'm thinking about putting 3" springs on the seat instead of the 4" I've got. That should just about do it for now I think other than doing some tweaking on the carbs.
 
Yesterday I did a little synchronization work on the carbs just by feel and sound I didn't bust out the manometer this time and did some adjustment on the mixture screws. It definitely improved the idle and the motor seemed happier for sure. I got a smidge over 50mpg on the last tank and that has me worried I'm running lean. But it runs well all through the throttle range and after my sync and mixture screw adjustment I have no more popping in the exhaust.

Today I decided I needed to try out a baffle but do it without having to cut off the turn out and weld it back on. I was looking online for a "flexible" baffle and apparently there's one out there but they're over $100...nah, not gonna happen.

I went to home depot to pick up a 90 degree bend of 1/2" conduit to make one similar to the old ones I used in the original header pipes but with a curve. $2.92 ahhhh that's better.

I think it just might work


I made the cuts and flared the ends, but it's only about 5" in length all together so I'm not sure how much effect it will have


and jammed in


I started it up and it definitely sounds different than it did. Way less high end slap...that's about the only way I can describe it. With no baffles there's just this annoying high frequency ear piercing slap to the exhaust and that had definitely been tamed down by these little shorty baffles. I took a video that I'll post, but it's hard to tell any difference from the other video I posted but there absolutely is. I'm not sure but I'm thinking about including some fiberglass wrapped around the center of the baffle and see what happens.

Seeing the exhaust oscillate the way it does in the video makes me wonder if there's any way I can put some kind of support on it to keep it from eventually failing structurally. I know part of what appears to be movement is just an optical illusion like grabbing a pencil at one end and shaking it back and forth so it looks like it's rubber. However, when I look down at the exhaust and see if oscillating back and forth an inch or so at certain RPM's makes me pretty nervous that I'm gonna lose one at some point.

I'll post the video when it finished uploading

Here is the video
 
I just took it for a ride into and around town and it is soooo much nicer with these baffles. It sounds better, the take off from idle seems better, and because it's a bit quieter I feel like I can open it up a bit more without breaking something. I had it up to 80 on the way home and still had a big ol' fist full of throttle to go and a car in front of me so I had to let off. I'm loving it. Now I'll have to take off the pipes and tack these sucker in.

I'm still debating on the wrap...I need it to hide my welds but I don't want to further weaken the pipes by having so much heat trapped in them...
I guess I'll at least paint them with the header paint first and go from there.
 
Sounds good dilbone! Nice cheap solution.
I found this setup while I was researching ideas for mine.The clamps look to be the same as what I used on my bike.Just an idea.




 
That could work...where did you get your clamps?
Deciding if I should buy a pair or make some. I would never have thought to attach to the side cover bolts...very interesting.
Thanks John, I may end up making a clamp out of a cutoff of the exhaust pipe and see if it will work. There are so few shiny bits on this thing that those chrome ones might stick out a bit lol

I may see if I can come up with something tonight that might work.
 
well, instead of working on the clamps tonight I decided to take it for a spin and enjoy the quieter baffles.

I ended up cranking on it more than I ever have before and ended up noticing some substantial clutch slip above 5000rpm from 3/4 to WOT. Hmmmmm, I did a little searching and see the typical clutch adjustment, oil type, springs and friction discs.

I believe I have the clutch adjusted well. At the lever I can get it to where the bikes walks forward in gear with the clutch pulled and still plenty of more adjustment to tighten it up further or take it the other way. Finding neutral is easy so I really don't think there's any further adjustments needed there.

I did use automotive oil...I always have in all my bikes...
I've never had an issue until now...maybe I've just never pushed this hard before. I know I've never been at WOT at slower speeds like this. I can ride this bike "normally" and never have a slip again, so it isn't like it's an emergency situation but...it'd be nice to get rid of the slip.

I've heard the springs on these really need replaced after all these years even before the friction plates have given up the ghost. I suppose I'll do the oil change first and see if that helps first.

Otherwise I may be ordering some parts for some clutch work this winter.
 
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Try different oil first...I run diesel oil in my 650, made a big difference in the clutch...so much so that I could "find" neutral after I changed my oil. Didn't need to adjust cable.
 
I cut some tabs for the exhaust brackets out of the fender scrap


Welded them in place. Now I have to figure out how to attach them to the side cover bolts.
 
Had to start off this post with a funny little story. My 7th grade daughter was eating a few chips the other night for a snack and exclaimed, "Hey Dad, this potato chip looks like a motorcycle seat!!!"
This statement gave me 2 different reactions, one...I've spent waaaaaay to much time working on this bike. And two...that's my girl!!!!!!


I really haven't ridden much this past week regrettably, but I was able to get the clamps done today. I wasn't sure what to do about mounting them to the side cover bolts so I just used some of the 1/8" steel and made this little bracket that would actually fit down in the recess of the cover. My concern is that it's pretty thin and I don't know how much stress from vibration it will be under and if there's a chance it could crack. I probably should have made it out of 3/16" plate...I even have 1/4" if need be but I guess I'll see.


Here are the clamps installed




And the left side



I really hope these will hold up. Like I said, I just have no idea how much force will be on these parts laterally to keep the exhaust from oscillating and if they are heavy enough for it. I started up the bike and let it warm up a bit then cracked the throttle a few times...wow it was nice to see the exhaust sitting still and not shaking around like a paint shaker.

I'm looking forward to getting on it tomorrow and scooting around a bit...after I change the oil...
 
That's a very tidy solution. Been thinking on it since your previous post, and thought that I would want to isolate the tab from the case, so that the case screw tightness is independant of the fixture mount torque, using a double ended stud, somewhat like this:

DoubleEndedStud.jpg
 
That's a very tidy solution. Been thinking on it since your previous post, and thought that I would want to isolate the tab from the case, so that the case screw tightness is independant of the fixture mount torque, using a double ended stud, somewhat like this:

View attachment 46902
Thanks Two any,

I had actually considered using a stud like you pictured but decided to try this. We'll see, hopefully nothing cracks!!
 
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