final rear chop fender mounting method

hey angus, haven't really done anything more with the fender. Its on and a bit will need to be removed for the chain. I see that now that I have the chain on. The chain just clears it, but I have no doubt it would hit the fender while actually riding.

Also, its been bothering me that the fender is uneven. Just kind of crooked - like the whole fender has a sort of "twist" to it. Slight, but enough that I notice it and of course something like that will bother me to no end.

I think I figured out that one side is radiused slightly differently than the other. Must have happened when I did the fender skirt pushing outward/de-radiusing.

So when I take it off I'll go ahead and try to fix that. But if I can't I will buy a new fender when the bike is done - one that is correctly radiused for a 16 in wheel.

My next goal, which I hope to work on today, is making a place for the rear disc brake stay arm to bolt to on the frame.
I have a 1//2 in 5/16's threaded bung that will work perfectly if I weld it onto the frame rail. But I need to fake "cope" one side of it so it sits nicer on round tube.
Will just take a drill with biggest bit and see if I can dish one side in a little, to effect a fake "coping".
Then weld it on and try out my new auto darkening welding hat!
yay!!

thanks for asking...
:D
 
cool cool. mines a bit twisted too. a slight adjustment via foot was all it needed. I found a nother with better chrome(80 front chopped for the rear),so, it dosent need to be perfect at this point.
Auto hoods are nice. I have a speedglass for work, and a Harbor Freight for home. What hood did you get?
Even though the HF hood kinda is slow to darken even on the most sensitive setting, it is still is nicer than my solid shade stick hood (non- auto darkening) I used to use at home.
 
via "foot".. LOL, love it! I guess that's a variation of BFH.

The helmet I got is the $49 special from Harbor Freight. Wow it works great!
I just took it out of the box today and didn't realize it was going to need to sit in the sun to charge. So I had to do a bit of welding with the old helmet. The instructions said to leave the helmet in the sun for 4 hours prior to using the 1st time. Well I got impatient after about 1 hour and it worked just fine. May mess with the adjustments a bit...but really right out of the box it is a tremendous improvement. Its amazing how much of a difference BEING ABLE TO SEE makes!:doh:

Made a bit of progress today. Welded on a 1/2 in threaded bung to frame rail to attach front of brake stay to. Ground one edge of it a bit to dish that surface some so it would sit nice on tubing. Worked pretty well.
Also slightly moved a tab I'd welded on previously for the rear brake master cyl to attach to. The way I did it before it was tipped a bit towards the inside, which was great for keeping the master cyl out of the way, but it encroached into the area the battery needs to be. So I ground away the front of the weld and bent it forward a couple degrees and then re-welded. So now I freed up a good amount of room for my battery. Also welded a nut to the front face of back fender for the rear master cyl reservoir to bolt to. But I'm not happy with how it sits there, so when I make my battery box I'm going to try and create a nice neat place for that reservoir to mount to. Either that or move it higher up on the fender.

One thing that's bothering me is practically all my welds are going to need some extra attention when this thing comes back apart prior to re-paint. For instance today I was only able to get at the top and front parts of the things I welded on. With the back wheel on and fender I just have no access to the underside and backside. I'm trying to make sure everything is welded on well enough that I can at least do a test ride or 3 when I'm done, prior to tearing it down for painting and finishing.
I'm kind of geeked though as I see a tiny light at the end of the tunnel.
I'm thinking there's a chance this bike is going to be a blast to ride.

Hope you've all had a good weekend.
Was a good one for me. 7 hours out riding the Sporty with friends on Sat. and then making some progress, if small, on the chop = PRICELESS.
:)
 
Emmer, glad you like the helmet. Was well worth the $50,eh? I didn't even know that it has a solar powered battery thingy, I just started using mine,opps.
Oh, go ahead, rub it in. What was the temp, a "cold" 65? That's it, I am definately headin' south as soon as...well, you know.
Good work,though. Won't be long now,huh.
Who IS this crazy person known as Emmer? See ya on the flip,,,Gordo:wink2::bike:
 
Gordon, yes the temp was in the high 60's. It was wonderful! We've had a very cold winter, for Florida. Many freezing nights and days where it struggled to get in the high 50's, so for us thin-blooded ones, its been rough.
This weekend was nice though. When I got back from my long ride on Saturday I was cold, and I just went and sat out in the direct sun wearing a long sleeve black tee-shirt and just let it kind of "cook" me back to feeling warm. It was a blessing.
Not too long though, we'll be suffering from the heat.
:)
 
Emmer, yea, my xyl lives in Port St. Lucie, and has done nuthin but complain about how she doesn't have warm clothes anymore. She gave them all away before moving there. That is the one good thing about being there, just sit in the sun for a little bit & you'll get warmed up quickly. You guy's can't live without air conditioning, you'll all melt.
Myself, I prefere the heat. I would rather take my clothes off than put them on. And I do slow very well.:shrug::wink2:
 
yep, those cheap auto darkening helmets are great! I wouldn't worry about not giving it a proper charge as long as it was working. Shouldn't the light and UV rays from your welding charge it up?
 
I didnt charge my HF, wasnt aware it needed it cuz of the UV's. works finr.But doest compare to my 300$ speeedglas I keep at work, though
 
got a little bit done.

What I did today. reason it took me so long to take this step is I obsessed over it in my mind, for a few weeks - deciding what method I wanted to use to create a kind of "floor" or platform in the frame for the battery to sit on. Today I attached the rear and more complex of the 2 pieces. Next I just have to weld a piece of flat bar across, a few inches forward of this angle iron, to create the forward support. This was kind of satisfying, in that I got to shape the metal to be scalloped on the ends to allow a piece of angle iron to mate to tubing.
As with all my welds, pretty much, this will be gone over for strength and appearance, once I disassemble for paint, etc. Its quite strong though. I beat it pretty hard with a hammer and it wouldn't budge.
http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg258/emzpublic/XS%2009/angle%20iron%20for%20battery%20mount/
 
are you going to cushion the battery a little ther?. I plan on doing something simular. but glue stips of innertube in the channel.
 
are you going to cushion the battery a little ther?. I plan on doing something simular. but glue stips of innertube in the channel.

I'm pretty sure the answer is yes. I want to build a partial battery box - meaning a short battery box - (not one that goes all the way up the 4 sides). And then either the box, or the batt IN the box will sit on either rubber strips (like possibly pieces of old printer's rubber blanket which I can get from work), or maybe an old mouse pad. Am thinking of getting one of the rubber battery boots from Mike's. I'd like to know if that thing fits a stock size battery pretty snugly, or what.

:)
 
hey Angus, yeah you may be right about letting puddle build. I notice my best welds are the ones where I can SEE the puddle real well...and of course if I take off and try to drag it too soon, well that ain't gonna happen. Its a Lincoln weld pac 100 with gas.
Today I accidentally started welding without turning the bottle on....funny thing is sometimes it goes that way anyway. So I wonder if my gas supply is being blocked or something. Was better once I turned the bottle on, lol, but still not my best welds.'

Are you the person who was gonna use a Special front fender on the back? I'd thought of trying that too.

Good luck!'
:) should be a really good look if you can make it work.


Got a 73' 650 hardtail and i'm in the middle of fabricating fender struts for rear fender (which is a front fender with bout 3-4" chopped off bottom). Always go against the grain, and yes it seems to be veeeerrrryyyyy tedious, especially when being built out of steel rod and rebar...but will be rad when finished! Will get some pics up soon! Oh, by the way...THIS SITE ROCKS!
 
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