What the heck, heres my build thread.

[barelycompetent]

Thanks for the input, I have looked at spoke wheels, just havent found a deal I can live with lol. The front fender might get shaved down, or removed, but I can tell you after riding my rigid chopper with no front fender for hundreds of miles in the rain, I like having a front fender again lol. You never know when you might get caught in the rain, or hit some wet roads, and with no front fender that water goes straight up off that tire and right into your face! Oh and Fred my bike is an 81 special, and I kind of like the special tank on there, plus Im not paying to have another tank painted again! Im just happy to have it done and back on the road again, just in time for spring!

 

[rusty rocket]

Looking good.

 

[fredintoon]

Thanks for the input, I have looked at spoke wheels, just havent found a deal I can live with lol. The front fender might get shaved down, or removed, but I can tell you after riding my rigid chopper with no front fender for hundreds of miles in the rain, I like having a front fender again lol. You never know when you might get caught in the rain, or hit some wet roads, and with no front fender that water goes straight up off that tire and right into your face! Oh and Fred my bike is an 81 special, and I kind of like the special tank on there, plus Im not paying to have another tank painted again! Im just happy to have it done and back on the road again, just in time for spring!

Being a creature of the '60s myself I put a pair of wire wheels on my Heritage Special just for nostalgia's sake.
Thing is, you can't run tubeless tires on them and they are a bitch to keep clean so after a couple of seasons (and coincidentally needing a new rear tire) I bought a 130/90-16 and swapped back to the artillery wheels.
The wire wheels are now on my son's 1980 XS650 Special, he's young enough to think that polishing them is part of the joys of ownership.
And while some say the Special tank looks nicer and admittedly paint ain't cheap BUT should that tank ever run dry, you'll be wishing you'd swapped to a Standard tank before you've pushed the bike 50 yards.
About running out of gas:-
Occasionally check that the gas tap filter tower is still in place and not laying in the bottom of the tank.
Like high blood pressure, it's a completely symptomless problem.
The filter tower also controls the reserve level so not only are you running on unfiltered gas, you ain't got a reserve no more.
Yes, it's rare but it did happen to me one time. Saved by the jerrycan of gas behind the sidecar seat.

 

[barelycompetent]

Very true on cleaning the wheels, mags are a bit easier lol. Funny you should mention the fuel filter tower, when I removed the petcock for paint, it was laying inside the tank and had to be fished out. Could have been my fault when removing the petcock, who knows, but it is now firmly pushed in place, and the carbs have been cleaned and gone thru!

 

[scabber]

Really turned out nice. Tank and tail section look great. I like the mags. Good job have fun.