XS650 "Retro Rocket" Build Off Bike

RockingThePartyDJ

RockingThePartyDJ

XS650 Obsessed
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My "Retro Rocket"

I figured I should start a build thread for my Build Off Bike Entry since I want to have it done in no more that 90 days from now, since i've accomplished very little this shitty winter we had.

So with this in mind I want it done by the end of July so I can ride it some and make sure the bugs are worked out before the meetup and ride in August.

My plan is to get all of my fab work done before the end of May, Engine work and maybe enough wiring so it will run and test it out a little before the end of June, and then do the paint & Powder as well as well as get all of the final wiring done before the end of July.

If I can get more done sooner all the better.

I'm starting with an already Hardtailed 77 frame I picked up on Ebay as an unfinished project. I have sold off alot of things I did'nt want to use on any of my build's coming up and i almost recouped my initial investment.

This is how the frame started and i cut off n ground down the seat mount tabs n steering head lock I didn't plan to use them and cleaned up some other little bits too.

Here's where the frame sat in November before I cut off stuff i did'nt want.
100_0622_zpsc4a62731.jpg


I made My Rocket Headlight back in November and i picked up some Hyde "M" Bars.
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Then December I picked up some COOL Posh Grips after I decided the paint scheme i will probably go with "Silver Metal Flake with Red Candy"
redgrips_zpsf54fa691.jpg


I was cutting off the tabs and grinding spots smooth on frame also in December and got metal in my eye as i posted in the build off thread in late december, all is good with my eye now but I pretty much left the build sit with very little progress till yesterday, other than i did make many key decisions for the direction as well as what parts to use and ordered many of the parts that i'll need.

I made a Rocket tail light to match my Headlight.
100_0695_zps30f5dad8.jpg
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I mocked up my front forks with some Fork Covers I picked up a long time ago for another build. I also put the Hyde M-Bars on as well as rear wheel and space the Ford tire ring rear Fender and checking placement of my Cole Foster tank I picked up awhile ago too. I need to cut the front fender to make it skinnier to fit between the front forks before I start to make fender struts and mounts. I need to order some tank and seat Bungs too. The tires will be replaced after i clean up the wheels with some Kenda Challenger tires that i picked up.
100_0685_zps73b2e8e8.jpg
100_0686_zps49e303bf.jpg

Well there it is for now, time for some sleep
 
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Ya man, looks good. Metal in the eyes is no good. I can't count how many times i did it. The bad thing is you can't feel it in there until a day or so. Invest in a good set of goggles and keep on choppin!
 
livingdeadmc said:
Love it. Did you cut the fork covers down? Mine hang way past the tips of the lowers, love the look off yours!
Click to expand...

Thanks, No I didn't cut them, on the other bike which was an 80 they covered the Fork seal covers, but on this one they don't, I figure once i have some weight like the engine in the frame they will cover the black of the seals or i'll use the other forks, because i want them covered.
 
fredintoon said:
Hi DJ,
love the Starship Enterprize high warp factor light package.
Got any "how to" photos of their build process?
Click to expand...
Thanks, I've always liked Star Trek, and the old 50's era scifi movies, it's where the Retro Rocket Name idea came from.
Well i don't have build info other than i seen a rocket headlight similar to what i did in all chrome, but they wanted almost $600 for it and theres no way i was going to spend that, so i had ordered this headlight and turn signals for another build n had an idea and visually held the turn signals in position to where it looked right n drilled a small hole first then a larger one to accommodate the turn signal shaft and then measured off equal distance on the opposite side, I will need to add a pin so it wont rotate and then locktite the nut once i repaint them to match my Bike. So eyeball it, drill it and there ya go lol I have a similar chrome set i'm going to do for my next build which will be a Brat with a DNA springer front end and it will at least have an all chrome rocket style Head light and maybe a Rocket tail light too we'll see.
 
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A little bit of an update, i have been working on my seat, and here is where its at, and how i went about making it.

-I made a template from a seat i had laying around because i liked the general shape, i then sold the seat and

- I made my pan from the template on some i think 12 gauge sheet metal but repositioned the spring mount bolt holes, i have a friend who works at place where they roll cylinders and he rolled it to my desired look.

- I made a template for the bottom leather which was about a half inch larger than the pan and marked the holes around the perimeter where i will use to pop rivet the bottom to the pan later.

- I welded some carriage bolts to the pan for mounting,.

- I got some 1" closed cell foam (kinda like wet suit foam)and used some Locktite spray adhesive and attached to the pan, once dried i used a bread knife to trim the excess foam. Then took a rhasp n formed it to the shape I wanted and sanded smooth.

- I took blue painters tape and covered the entire top of the foam and took it off and laid it on my leather the traced the leather and inch bigger to make sure and cut my leather.

- I then tooled it with my design i came up with (see below).

- I pop riveted the leather to the bottom of the pan i made after i painted it.

- I ran hot water on the top leather so i could shape it to fit the form of the seat, after alot of rubbing n pushing it into shape i let it dry.

- Then I clamped it over the seat and i marked off the holes 1/4" apart with a compass and drilled the holes with an 9/64" drill because i didnt want to use my punch LOL. I did 8 - 10 holes at a time and kept making sure the leather was still in position before drilling them while clamped, I kept alternating to each side of the seat to ensure it sat straight before i drilled the next 8-10 holes. then added a bolt n nut to hold as i only could find 3 of my 20 small clamps.

- I then used my tabletop grinder to remove excess leather all around the edge and then rhasp and sanded the edge all the way around until i was happy with the shape.

Next i'll stain n use finishes n conditioners. I plan on doing the lacing with 1/4" kangaroo Lace that will resemble a side view of a whip where you won't see any of the top or bottom leather of the seat through the lacing, just the braided leather.

The Design I made for seat in Print Shop on my computer, i think the rear of the rocket resembles the Head and Tail Lights.
rocketfinal_zpsf3878a71.jpg

The Back of the seat with 5" springs temporarily mounted and possible hinge idea i'm working on using a gate hinge from Tractor supply.
seatbottom_zps07d71b8d.jpg

The Tooled front of seat. Close to my design and not too bad (if i say so myself) for my first attempt at tooling and working with leather. I have alot to learn yet.
seattop_zps4c36e1d4.jpg


Finally received all the bungs I need for the tank and fender struts and bought alot of rod stock to use for fender struts and a rack. More to come......
 
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I laced my seat with 1/4" Kangaroo Lace. I was going to just practice a little bit of the pattern but kept going.

I started lacing my seat, and I laced all of it, except a little over 2" as I ran out, I was short maybe just over 2 feet of lace! I had bought a 25Yd roll of Classic Brown, but ended up selling half of it to Ranger who needed some quick, when he was going to meetup with Preacherman/Champco a few months ago. I had a quick thought that maybe Ranger didn't use it all and sure enough he didn't and sent me a bit over a yard for free! Thank You so much Ranger I really appreciate it, You Rock!

So I finished lacing the seat. you can see the pic's below. I know some would say I should have finished the seat first then laced it well I may or may not color stain/dye the seat, I may just use antique brown all over it including the lace. Or I may dye the retro rocket words and rocket like seen in my design in my last post in this thread and the stars around the perimeter yellow, and then after its dry use the antiquing all over the seat and the lace. I'm not sure yet.

This is my first seat and the lacing is exactly how I wanted it to look. I wanted it to look like the braiding of a whip from the side and doing this pattern of braiding took over 11" of lace per 1" of seat perimeter. When I estimated how much i needed i had read somewhere that it would take about 9" of lace per 1" to be braided.

My recommendation is that if your going to do this braid pattern, measure the perimeter of your seat and order 12" to every inch of perimeter, just to be safe.

100_0726_zpsdd71af90.jpg


100_0733_zps294ec095.jpg


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What do you guys think should I color dye/stain the seat or just use the antiquing?
 
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RockingThePartyDJ said:
I laced my seat with 1/4" Kangaroo Lace. I was going to just practice a little bit of the pattern but kept going.

I started lacing my seat, and I laced all of it, except a little over 2" as I ran out, I was short maybe just over 2 feet of lace! I had bought a 50Yd roll of Classic Brown, but ended up selling half of it to Ranger who needed some quick, when he was going to meetup with Preacherman/Champco a few months ago. I had a quick thought that maybe Ranger didn't use it all and sure enough he didn't and sent me a bit over a yard for free! Thank You so much Ranger I really appreciate it, You Rock!

So I finished lacing the seat. you can see the pic's below. I know some would say I should have finished the seat first then laced it well I may or may not color stain/dye the seat, I may just use antique brown all over it including the lace. Or I may dye the retro rocket words and rocket like seen in my design in my last post in this thread and the stars around the perimeter yellow, and then after its dry use the antiquing all over the seat and the lace. I'm not sure yet.

This is my first seat and the lacing is exactly how I wanted it to look. I wanted it to look like the braiding of a whip from the side and doing this pattern of braiding took over 11" of lace per 1" of seat perimeter. When I estimated how much i needed i had read somewhere that it would take about 9" of lace per 1" to be braided.

My recommendation is that if your going to do this braid pattern, measure the perimeter of your seat and order 12" to every inch of perimeter, just to be safe.

100_0726_zpsdd71af90.jpg


100_0733_zps294ec095.jpg


100_0734_zpsc7453d01.jpg


What do you guys think should I color dye/stain the seat or just use the antiquing?
Click to expand...

Looks cool. No color. Just antique it.
 
The seat looks good. I would add some color to finish off the look. You have a lot of work to finish so better crack the whip and start building. Like the head and taillight. The bike looks great. :thumbsup:
 
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yeah thats killer man. way to go on the seat. either way you go with the seat i think it could look good. although do you think you should have stained it before lacing it? if that is the case then maybe antiquing/distress look would work best as to not have to worry about the hard to reach places next to the lace. lots of good work on this bike. enjoy looking at the up dates. keep it up!
 
yamimoto said:
Really nice work on everthing. Well done. Will be following the post.
Yamimoto
Click to expand...
Thank You Yamimoto

scabber said:
The seat looks good. I would add some color to finish of the look. You have a lot of work to finish so better crack the whip and start building. Like the head and taillight. The bike looks great. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
Thank You Scabber, If I put the colors I will age them first before using the antiquing, but still thinking.

neanderthal said:
yeah thats killer man. way to go on the seat. either way you go with the seat i think it could look good. although do you think you should have stained it before lacing it? if that is the case then maybe antiquing/distress look would work best as to not have to worry about the hard to reach places next to the lace. lots of good work on this bike. enjoy looking at the up dates. keep it up!
Click to expand...
Thanks Neanderthal, I should have finished it first, I agree LOL but i was just testing/practicing the braid and just didnt want to stop LOL
I may just antique it, damn indecision. :shrug:
 
Here's a small update,

I made a headlight mount bracket and as i looked at it i liked the position of the Headlight but did't like the empty spot below it. So I picked up a Star Horn and fabed a bracket for it and tacked it to the Headlight Bracket and I think It looks much better now.
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I drilled out the holes for my tank Bungs and welded them in, I also made some extended Tabs for the front seat hinge mount & welded them on as well as the Spring mounts for my seat. I really wanted a Rack over the rear wheel and took some 1/2" Round Stock and picked up a bender from Harbor Freight and made up a 5" x 12" rack, I welded it up and fab'ed a couple mount brackets I seen something similar an the xs400 forum and wanted one too, so here it is in its rough form LOL.
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I fab'ed up a bracket for the tail light but didn't like it, i need to make a much smaller one. I also still need to make some fender mount tabs that will attach to the rack.
Here's the bracket I didn't like. and here'sa view from the rear.
100_0735_zps0e378221.jpg


So that's next as well as an Electronics tank that I plan on making out of Sheet Metal.

I like where it's heading, let me know what you think.
 
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