Built Not Bought Bobber and Parts

[foofopps]

Update 2/12/13
Got my ardtail hardtail today!! It took a little longer than expected but I am very happy with the final product.

I also got my LED lights from DDM tuning today and pretty much finished my headlight and tail light.

I also got my 16" front wheel back from bucanan's. After purchase of initial parts, shipping to bucanan's, their parts and labor, then return shipping... This turned out to be a $350 front wheel. I still have to get my wheels powerder coated and buy new white walls too. I have no regret as this is what I was looking for, but just a heads up to others that might want to run matching 16s front and rear.

Next week I will start chopping my original frame and welding my ardtail on. Then seat/tank/exhaust/wiring ect.

 

[Ketis]

Taillight looks sick!


May i ask when you ordered the Ardtail??

Because i ordered like 3 weeks ago and have not gotten mine yet.

 

[hard_y_rd]

Is it an optical illusion or does your headlight look as big as your front wheel in the first pic? Lol, Just kidding, but how big is it?

 

[2poler]

Hey Foo, Who is doing your welding?

 

[foofopps]

I ordered Dec 6th. They said 5 week turn around but I'd say expect a little longer.

My headlight is huge! Hopefully it all come together with the smaller front wheel and being lowered 3". I think the headlight is like 10" across.

I'm doing my own welding with a mig I've owned since 2004. Ive welded a lot of things and never seen my welds break. The reason I went with the ardtail is the ease if install and it uses the engine as a jig to ensure its straight. The way they designed it, even if my welds failed, the engine mount keeps the bike together. Sorry I wouldn't want to be responsible for someone else's life on my welds.

 

[2poler]

How about some tank bungs, solo seat mounts and fuel site gauge? All non life threatning!

 

[imwastefull]

Thank god you went with the LED! i just had the same swap on my tailight for that LED bulb. xs650's thump so bad that you'll blow an 1157 every single day. TRUST ME, i went though them constantly last summer.

 

[h3llb3nt1]

The head light is more like a ships spot light Great job on the tail light. As far as the wheels, money well spent. The 16 16 look is way cool. Nice job man

 

[hard_y_rd]

Where are you guys getting the LED conversion for your taillight. Also what are you guys usings for headlight bulbs. I have an old 6-8 volt fog light that i want to convert.

 

[foofopps]

Where are you guys getting the LED conversion for your taillight. Also what are you guys usings for headlight bulbs. I have an old 6-8 volt fog light that i want to convert.

I went to DDM tuning because I had an HID headlight kit of theirs on my old car and it worked flawless for me. There are a lot of cheap LEDs on ebay this is a company that I personally trust and the tail light bulb only cost like $7. I think they might even have lifetime warranty on their products. As for the headlight, because I'm using a really old headlight I bought an 1156 LED bulb that is supposedly 420 lumens. However I'm not sure yet if this is going to be enough. If my current LED is not enough I'm sure there are adapters to h4 or something that provides more lumens.

http://www.ddmtuning.com/

 

[foofopps]

UPDATE: 2/15/13

Got a couple space heaters going and went into the garage today. The directions from ardcore are nice and straight forward. The biggest pain in the ass was dremeling some OE welds inside of my stock frame (more so trying to get it to fit without doing this, then swearing a lot, then actually doing it the right way).

This is only held together with the rear engine mount and slugs inside the tubing. I am going to do some welding next week.

 

[h3llb3nt1]

That really is a good looking hard tail. I especially like the built in chain tensioners

 

[foofopps]

BACK FROM THE DEAD! Ok so a lot of time has passed and I didn't spend much time at all over the summer working on my bike but I have spent some time recently getting this bad boy going.
So I finished welding up my hardtail and solo seat mounts maybe back in april...

I waited forever to get my wheels powdercoated because I used a friend of a friend, but they came out great

Got a nice license plate bracket on ebay it can be switched from horizontal to vertical in case some dick cop pulls me over. I added my homemade brake light to the same bracket.

I was worried about the rear brake pivot but I cut the old one out and welded it on and I like it, now I still have to extent the rod to reach the rear wheel. I also had to fab my own brake drum anchor from the stock one.

Then I found a way to mount my 1915 Cadillac headlight, this was not easy because the mounting tabs on the light are vertical. So I ended up welding a nut on the inside of my headlight ear so that I didn't have to butcher the original brass headlight.

I also test fit the pandemonium exhaust put I dont' think I like the turnouts so I will cut them maybe 6 inches shorter and have straight exhaust that is header wrapped and possible brass tips.

Today I put a new 21" front brake line on I ordered on ebay, so far so good. Now I plan to hide the few electronics I have in a 2.5lb fire extinguisher I got for free at work. I also mounted my capacitor where the starter used to be. I plan to mount the extinguisher on the frame right here...

Also in the process of painting my tank, hopefully more pics this weekend...

 

[Cardplayer]

The bmw turned into a honda! You should look into that!

Looks good, that head light is mighty big, maybe experiment with mounting it as low as possible? Who knows. The pipes and bars are perfect and some great fab, nice work.

 

[Cardplayer]

(i really like the exhaust as it is)

 

[foofopps]

Resurrection from the dead! So I bought a house and that has taken all my time and money! I'm slowly getting back to working on my bike. I finished up my rear brake, with return spring, adjustment bolt/nut welded to frame and also welded up a bracket for the stock brake switch. I also painted the tank with some rattle can green, not set on it yet. Maybe I'll add some pin stripping to it. I also tried to re use my stock kickstand and failed so I bought a bolt on and installed it. I changed the sump oil filter and also added the spin on oil filter.

The spin on oil filter was a pain in the ass. The instructions say, some "minor fitting". Well for me, I spent a solid 30-45 minutes with a metal file. Then when I drilled the new holes to attached the spin on adapter it was right next to a wall on the inside of the case. If I didn't have a dremel this install would have been impossible.

I still have to install fuel lines, install and adjust the hydraulic clutch, bleed the front brake, oh yeah and completely wire the bike...