Intro and Build

I seem to have put a lot of effort into my build recently with not much to show for it Every little job that should take a few minutes seems to be taking hours or even days and I seem to be having shitty luck with everything I'm trying

So after another wasted day trying to assemble my rear wheel (should be easy right...) I decided to throw a few bits of the bike together to see how it's looking. I've got a few parts in recently and not seen how they look on the bike.

I cut and folded a piece of 3mm aluminium sheet to make a number plate and rear light/indicator mount...



Test fitting the new shocks and the Aprilia RS125 front forks...



Carved up a bit of foam to try and get some seat ideas. A little more angular to match the tank more maybe...



Pretty happy with how the stance looks with the new stuff fitted, I think the heavier forks on the front balance out all the extended/braced swingarm at the rear better.

Starting to fall back in love again after the hassle of the previous weeks

 

No I didn't Travis...that would be using common sense and mechanical skill both of which are in short supply in my build. I did check the length of the forks and they are the same length (within a mm or 2) as the stock one I took off. The rough calc is 10mm = 0.5 deg head angle change I think, so there will be minimal change to the rake...maybe

 

Travis, when I find my tape measure (probably under some clothes, that's one of the problems of having your bedroom as your workshop ) I will work out the trail and let you know. I'm interested myself to see how much it may be different from stock. Do you have the trail measurement for a stock XS400? I think the trail may decrease a fraction as the yokes seem a bit deeper than stock so the offset from forks centres to neck centre has increased. Hopefully still around the 4" mark.

 

Hey Jonathan, I'm cool mate. The riots/looting/thieving bastards, whatever you want to call them did not come to area I live in. It was pretty crazy watching that stuff on TV and knowing it just a couple of miles away. What a world we live in

I used 3mm aluminium plate as the base. I drew the shape on with pencil and where there was a internal corner I drilled out with an 8mm HSS bit to create a bit of a curve for the transitions. Using a clamped piece of steel as a straight edge I then did all the cuts using a dremmel. A file and a bit of emmery cloth to smooth out the edges.
The bends I did by heating up the area of the bend with a small hand propane torch and then just clamping it my workmate and pulling it to the angle I desired. The aluminium springs back a little bit so I had to go past the angle I wanted and then let it ease off a bit.

Hope that helps

 

Hey Mark, I've been doing bits on it here and there and it's now back in bits ready for the frame and swingarm to go for powder coating, but how do you decide what colour

I think I'm just messing about because once it's PC'ed I will have to start building it for real and where would I hang my clothes to dry???

I was thinking of trying to leave it bare metal looking but it will be left outside all year and I'm not sure if only a clear coat sticks to bare metal that well.... I think in the long run it will be less hassle to just get it powdered.

Been doing a bit of work on other peoples bikes which has been fun and one of the guys is going to upholster my seat in exchange for doing some engine work for him, so that's cool

I'll post up some pictures later and we can meet up whenever is good for you mate and you can have your yoke back.

Caddy

 

Sorry Drew, lol, I don't think me and Mark have the discipline you do

As well as my bike I currently have a CD175 engine in bits in my bedroom at the moment, and what with my other shit thrown everywhere I hardly have a spot to put my feet. Probably not the best enviroment to work in or to sleep in

As mention earlier I've been plodding along with my bike.

Cleaned up some stuff and gave it a quick buff, not looking for a shiney finish...



Trimmed the seat pan to it's final shape ready for upholstering and made up a little bracket to mount the ignition under my left leg close to the electrics tray...



Fabricated a bracket to mount the tail light and indicators...



Thanks again to another forum member Ben who very kindly lets me use his workshop and tools to make stuff and knocks out the welding for me. I'd be pretty stuck without his assistance

I'm kinda at the stage of needing to decide on paint and how I actually want the bike to look. Doing the mechanical stuff is no problem but deciding what colour power coat is going to kill me. Dropping the frame and swing arm off for pc on Monday so I need to decide pretty quick