My precious money pit

[Square Circle]

Well, i wasn't even wanting to keep track, but my wife just finished the books for our taxes. She wasn't too happy to find that i have spent over 38 hundred so far on the xs since july (including actual bike purchase with ride gear) . Not too bad, but considering I'd like to plop down another grand asap for more needed upgrades and mods, things are starting to add up.. but hey ... I's only money right.
I am going slow with this cafe thing because of cash and time, but eventually I will get it together .
I had some materials ready to build my own cafe seat. I am attempting something i have't seen before. I am using a stock seat pan with hinges and lockable latch. I just like the helmet loop lock and love the idea of easily swapping over to the stock special tank and seat whenever i want. Maybe it could be good for resale too. I call it a transformer bike.
Here is a pic of seat build so far. i will be fiberglassing it tomorrow ish. I have the 750 standard tank weld modified to fit up to the stock ears on frame.
I also drilled the front rotor.

 

[guitarpentry]

Love your thread title.

I've been feeling the same way about mine....my precioussss.......money...pit.

What's money if you don't spend it....

Good job on the rotor. Did you use a center punch or just slap on the template and go for it?

 

[thelowlife]

Funny that you mention this.. I went through my xs650direct.com account and totalled my parts purchases which surpass well over $1500. Not to mention other monies spent on ebay.ca, xs650.com, monstercraftsman.com etc.

I say this as I click purchase on ebay... Oh well.. atleast its not meth or something lol.

 

[peanut]

its even worse for me because I'm the one that does the budget.!

I know exactly how much I am over-spending every month

The bike shed roof repair ,cladding, insulation and lining just cost $500 and I haven't even got the bike in there yet !

Still, when spring arrives and I'm cruisin down the empty winding country backroads with the sun behind me, the roar of the exhausts , money will be the last thing on my mind

 

[Square Circle]

Love your thread title.

I've been feeling the same way about mine....my precioussss.......money...pit.

What's money if you don't spend it....

Good job on the rotor. Did you use a center punch or just slap on the template and go for it?

I used a center punch and template that i found on this forum somewhere and a really crappy drill press, but it worked.

 

[Curtis P]

Do you have any full pics ? Would love to see the whole bike

 

[Square Circle]

Wow, i'm picture slacking.. i need to locate better pics of the stock bike. I have some somewhere on a camera card. but i do have this one as of now. After this pic was taken, I have since put on new rear (crappy) but longer shocks. Blue tank is off now and am fitting up the seat. I was looking at the rough in of the foam, and wow.. its way too huge.. i have to get it back on the frame and feel for right fit.. as of now my bike is across town and seat is with me. I like the seat Chappell customs did with his bike ... his is the awesome looking gold trimmed cafe that won the monthly bike build here on xs650.com (gold bike) .. s thats my target on style, but limited with stock seat pan usage.

 

[aldo5468]

Well, there is a concept called "guilt gold" that often keeps the peace - she gets a dollar to spend unquestioned for every one you spend on the bike. Down side is that it doubles the cost and probably the build timeline, but it's got a long, solid track record.

 

[uebe]

Next year, throw in a receipt for a $ 16K Harley and one for some $ 5K jewlery that she never saw.

The $ 3800 for the XS will pale in comparison.

 

[h3llb3nt1]

I feel ya on the over budgeting. This was supposed to be a cheap bike to build. Nice job on the rotor. Did the same to mine. Slickest pattern Ive seen

 

[2poler]

I HAD a budget! Right now I am trying to just keep it near the budget. The inspiration cafe is stunning!

 

[Square Circle]

Hey does this look ok? Does this seat make me look fat? LOL!! I plan on mounting 2 small round taillights on the back of this seat, so i need that little bit of flat spot back there. I'm going to start the rest of the glass tomorrow.

 

[Square Circle]

Well, Noboby chimed in on my seat style.. so my executive decision was to continue. Here are pics of the glass process. It took more cloth and resin than i anticipated, and I had to go buy more materials, my wife ought to like that later on. lol.
My mold wasn't perfectly smooth , so i will be doing some large fill in with bondo glass, I was thinking i would straighted out the surface a bit with the bondoglass , and glass coat again with the smooth cloth, and then more bondo again.. lots of work but i'm having fun. Outside today it's doing some sort of sleeting /snow crap today and i'm home stinkin up the place with the windows open in the bsement.. NICE. I hace now decided that i will be mounting 2- 1.5in.dia running/ brake lights together in a vertical fashion because of a racing stripepaint design, and the rear contour of seat. I think its going to look kick butt.

 

[Square Circle]

Just a little more progress on the seat . BONDO! it's your friend.

 

[Square Circle]

I now have pics of seat placed on bike along with the xs750 tank. I'll be making custom side covers eventually.

 

[peanut]

Well, Noboby chimed in on my seat style.. so my executive decision was to continue. .

sorry mate..... some of us old folk on here need at least 3x days to decide anything

Its lookin good so far ,tank looks great..... any estimate on the final weight of the Bondo lol

 

[Square Circle]

Thanks Peanut. Yea, the Bondo is heavy.. i used about a quart and a half of it along with almost 2 quarts of fiberglass resin. It looks fast, but feels like a shermin tank..lol It probably weighs 12 to 15lbs with the metal (stock) seat pan that i glued it to, it still needs primer/ paint, pad and upolstery, so a bit more weight to come. O well.

 

[Square Circle]

I finally drilled the rear rotor to go with the front. Cleaned up both, stripped old paint and coated it with some VHT Gold flake .The rear wheel needed new bearings, so i'm changing both front and rear, i got new tires ,new chain and sprokets..and other stuff... I almost ready for the season. More pics to follow.

 

[peanut]

those rotors look gorgeous ! how long did it take you ? I think I'll drill mine . Where did you get the pattern from?

 

[Square Circle]

those rotors look gorgeous ! how long did it take you ? I think I'll drill mine . Where did you get the pattern from?

Thanks . I got the pattern from "thelowlife" he posted a few different styles at theis thread...http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12671
I had to tweak them a bit by moving the drill point 1/2 circle up. and dropping the outermost hole entirely to get 7 holes in each run balanced in the usable part of rotor.. TheLowLife also posted a rear wheel pattern on page 2.. again i had to tweak abit.. this one i dropped the outre most hole and moved drill point up one full intersecting line up from outer rim of hole circle marker...
each rotor only took about an hour on a drill press after getting the pattern on and holes marked with punch and hammer. paint prep took about as long as well. I used a 1/8 inch bit to start and blasted right through with that. then followed with the 3/16 bit 1/2 way through on 1 side, then flipped rotor and drilled through the other half all the way through.. (this avoided bad burrs) when done drilling i just used a flat file to remove any micro burrs and followed with 180 grit sand paper then 400.. both lightly and uniform striking. Have fun... I DID. Thanks for the compliment!