XS360 Bratstyle Replica- Codenamed: Sheeple II

I set aside the nice stock fender and bobbed this 500 fender



I don't have a tubing bender to make a loop, so I hammered some threaded bungs I made up into the frame tubes to use as a fender mounting point



fender brackets fabbed up-



rough fitment and I also added a mounting point at the cross member-





I need an inner fender to keep crap from flying into the crappy $1 pods, so I first made a cardboard template for fitment and then cut a aluminum plate fender





With this fender width and position, I've added vertical clearance so there is plenty of suspension travel to fit whatever clown shoe set of ridiculous tires I come up with-




... and it has that sheeple "open triangle look"

 
With the giant stock bracketry gone and the smaller headlight in the new position, there is a "visual inbalance" below the lamp housing.



I fabbed up what is little more that a "washer" to tie the lower triples together, create a bit of visual balance. It also serves as a stay for the wires, cables etc.

I will color match with whatever the general frame and bracket color will be so it does not "look " like a trim piece as below:

 
I blew the zero dollar budget out of the water by buying LEDs for the oil pressure warning and neutral indicator to install in the headlamp bucket.





I enlarged the gauge hole in the bucket so I could mount the tach in rubber. ( these cheap tachs won't last if hard mounted. I also need to dilly up some dampers to mount the bucket to the brackets I made.)



Easy peasy..



All buttoned up, wiring complete other than I still need a tail light



Here is an obligatory sheeple build pic ( I will also need a pic of cut off frame tabs in a dust pan :D )

 
So... onto the seat portion of the bratty project. As I allowed for proper suspension travel and oversized tire clearance in the rear fender position, the seat will not be totally flat ( like the art and fashion builds on the fanboy sites), it will have a flip up at the back. I do want to mount the seat on top of the frame rails for a simple, ( yet extremely uncomfortable) thin look. The issue with the rails, is someone at Yamaha design included an unsightly "dip". Shown here with a straight edge placed along the top :



To mask this issue with steel and illusion, I cut and welded length of 1x1 angle to follow the frame seen here:



This will end where the seat begins it angle up to the top edge of the rear fender:



I initially patterned and cut some scrap wood as a mock up for the seat... but it became the actual home made "skateboard" I will use. For the back, I stitched it together with glass & resin:







To get a better idea of how my fabbed up side rails will look , I temporarily spritz them and the end of the frame black. I think they will mount to the underside of the seat pan once upulstered vs. directly to the frame... not sure yet.



Cut out my memory foam pad ( a luxurious 1" of plushiness :thumbsup: )



 
These 34mm forks are pretty wonky without a front fender ( or a fork brace) . I bobbed this fender off of a 500. As it was from a bike with a 19" front wheel, it looks silly with the little stock tire, however my oversized tires that I will fit will need the room. .... based on my measurements anyway.



Since this is sheeple brat replica , I originally wanted some sort of diamond tread or vintage reproduction style in a huge balloon clown shoe size- however with my zero budget, I had to go with Shinko 241 dual sports. So I guess it might be more of a "brat-tracker" replica then :thumbsup:





Next up is some upholstery fun..

 
Wow, that's a beautiful sewing machine. I didn't realize they were making those foldaway console versions into the 60s; you always see the old turn of the last century Singers as hallway decorations out here because everyone's grandma owned one, but I've never seen one so midcentury-modern. I really dig what you've done with the seat, also. I reckon any local hipster biker buyers will too.
 
I did end up going with the brown "pleather" :thumbsup:



To make pleats, I sandwiched 1/2" batting between the vinyl and a piece of cotton muslin with spray glue.



I measured up some lines and drew them on the muslin side with a sharpie and sewed them together.





Because of the flip up at the back of the seat, I made the side boxing from three pieces with the angle integrated . ( it looks like a lot of extra material, however you need something to hang onto when stretching in around the pan for final assembly . Excess will be trimmed off then)





Here is a loose fit onto the foam and pan. I will button it all up after I install the seat mounting hardware and take care of the pan's underside finish before I staple ( or glue or whatever ) the cover to the pan.



 
uhghhhhhhhhh make it look so easy lol... i did a terrible job with some cheap marine vinyl on the original foam shaved down. I had so many wrinkles from the hump in the back. Dropped it off at a local upholster $100 bucks no pleats. i pick it up this weekend


yours looks good!
 
Sesty said:
uhghhhhhhhhh make it look so easy lol...
Click to expand...
ya Sesty, these little seats are easy. You should have seen the giant tuck and rolled king and queen stepped seats we made in the 70's that went right up the 3 foot sissy bars of our choppers! Maybe I should start making seats out of my garage?

scifiredneck said:
love it. where did you find the light bucket?
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I have had it sitting here awhile after going a different route on a past project. It is a very common CEV headlight from Italy that was used as an OEM part on a many small 6 volt bikes and mopeds. You can just swap out the bulb with a 12v. Keep in mind it is a single beam, low wattage setup. If you search "CEV head light" they pop up on ebay etc., http://www.ebay.com/itm/181577444674
 
I was actually going to ask what it'd take to get a seat from you but I've promised myself not to buy any more bike parts until I've done something with all the ones I accumulated this summer. I'd also like to take a crack at making my own.
 
I wanted to mount the regulator and rectifier on a custom bracket that is flush with the top of the frame rails under the seat. This way they are virtually invisible from the side view and I will have the proper open triangle sheeple look. So I picked up a solid state regulator ( pictured on left ) that is much much thinner and smaller than the stock mechanical relay regulator ( on right )



I made up the "T" bracket from some scrap and also some seat mounting tabs





everything welded in place



Pic below shows exactly how the reg and rec mount.
I now have the exact mounting marked for the seat pan, so now I can go ahead and install hardware through the pan and permanatly secure the foam and cover in place. The trim rails, I made up will screw to the underside of the seat after I decide on final finish and color

 
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