I wear my helmet,but I gotta be honest. If I wore leather or heavy armor during the dead of summer,I would die from heat exhaustion and riding would be no fun. It's hard enough w/ a full face helmet when you come to a stop lite. Feel's like you are going to suffocate. Over 100 degree heat index

 

No doubt, but at least that VTX has a liquid cooled motor. The heat pouring off of my (air cooled) motor in the summer down there felt like sticking your hands into an oven. There were many times on those 100 degree days where I'd shut the motor down at a long stop light just to give it a moment to drop a degree or two.

 

Thankfully it doesnt get too hot here in California. Pete (my buddy with the Virago) was wearing a heavy leather jacket on a day where I could only wear a tank top and said it was just fine so long as he was movings

 

hmm i dont know, i am a total squid. but hey t-shirts are fun when i am riding. I am going to upgrade to the us army bravo jacket soon (made by power trip)

 

And I liked wearing tennis shoes and no helmet while riding. Then when I got intimate with a Hyundai Elantra and couldn't walk for a few months I changed my mind to not like riding unless properly dressed. Properly dressed is dressed for the crash, not for the ride.

Sorry to preach, take care.

 

boots, jeans, a full face helmet, and hearing protection is always on. but when its warm out i'll rock the t-shirt. and i know that you wear the pads for when you go skin to black top. but i guess its a risk i have decided to take. serioously thinknig about wearing a neck brace thing like the moto-x'ers use. i wear a bicycle helmet when i ride a bike, why wouldnt i wear one when going 10x the speed

 

It's been a million years but I have an update

I took the bike completely apart. I thought for a while it would be more cost effective to part the bike out and buy a runner later, but oddly enough, I thought I had a better chance of rebuilding it after it was taken apart....



anyhow, after getting down to the frame, I started to remove some of the surface rust on it. That was yesterday. Today I sprayed the whole frame and swingarm (didn't have a big enough socket to get the swingarm off) flat black, and then over again in red

The bike started out upside down on the stand, i sprayed black. flipped and sprayed black. then sprayed red. I'm giving the gloss red a bit longer to dry before i flip it again to get the spots i couldn't get to this time





I also decided that in the spirit of the Bobber-type build I want for this bike, I am also converting it to a hartail bike. Some of the bigger XS bikes simply replace the shock/spring setup with a solid steel strut. Those bikes have two struts because they have a dual shock setup, one on each side of the bike.

My bike had a single shock under the seat, but it was wider than the other bikes' shocks. I'll put in the biggest piece of solid steel I can fit in there, so that its as strong as it can be. Making it a hardtail also allows me to lower the rear end some, to get it to look just how I want. I also have plans for a Sportster tank and a non japanese fender for the rear. My front fender will get chopped some, but overall its ok

I'm not sure if I want this fender:


or this one



But I'll deal with all that when the time comes.

 

Sweet bro - keep on w/ the updates, this will be interesting. Go w/ the second fender, IMO, UNLESS you want to go w/ the new HD Softtail 3-row LED taillight. That thing is a sweet taillight and makes it worth going w/ the bobbed fender.

 

Thinking some more - if you're going to go w/ a Sporty/peanut style tank, then I'd definately go w/ the first fender. The curves of the bobbed fender go better w/ a larger tank. Good choice w/ the Sporty tank! My bike came w/ a 4.5 gal tank and I swapped it out to the 3.3.

 

Thanks

Another reason I'm planning on a Sportster tank is that I'm told its pretty easy to adapt to my bike.

I really like the second fender better personally, but the bobtail fender allows for a backseat for lady friends It's going to be a tossup til the day I install it lol

Also, the bobtail will fit in and mount easier to the back of my frame than the smooth one. That just occurred to me now as I type..

In related news, my friend is trying to get his hands on a completely diasassembled '68 bonneville. Apparently, some parts need some freshening up, and nothing except the frame is stock My bike is sort of practice for us before we work on a "good" bike. When we're done though, we're going to have two badass bikes to cruise on. If we finish in time, we are going to get a little touring road trip next summer

 

good work brother! you got mechanic skills

 

More updates

Ground down and removed rust from the front fender, motor mounts, the (for lack of the correct term) stick that is part of the rear suspension and exhaust pipes (which I cut the mufflers off of) and painted it all semi flat black. with the exception of the exhaust pipes, they will all be gloss black by the end of tomorrow

 

leather only stops road rash not broken bones good luck with that bike and ride like everyone is out to kill you and you should be alright

 

As much fun as they might be the risks are way too high specially in cities. In a car one can make a mistake, in a bike one can't afford to.

I hope no one ever has to post here in your behalf.

 

I hope so too George, but its something I enjoy doing, so I'm going to continue to do so

I won't be wearing just leather in any case. Leather with kevlar armor sewn in, a full face helmet and riding pants. As fun as it is, I know I need to do everything I can to stay safe

Also, updates

The fender, motormounts and suspension bits that were semi flat yesterday are now gloss black.



I started cleaning up the engine too. The air cooling fins are now gloss black, painted with engine paint, as are the header bolts. The rest of the motor, which has some oxidation and dirt all over, will be cleaned up more with a scotchbrite pad. It seemed to be cleaning up pretty well

That white stuff is the oxidation, and the palces without white stuff, obviously, have been cleaned up


uncleaned up parts:


And now for some black!


Header clamps

 

The Krylon Kruiser

 

hey man your making progress.....

keep it up and shell be on the road and thrilling you in no time

heres a recent pic of mine.. as a teaser

 

Mmmm that looks good

And I like the sound of "The Krylon Kruiser" I think my bike now has a name

I took off the cam cover after the paint on the fins had dried. I wanted to clean it up, but i didnt want to scuff the paint or mess up the bolts.

Cams!!! CCAAAAAMMMSSS



And the cover. I got as much as I could do with a rust removal thingie (I call it a squishy scraper, because its kinda squishy) Right now its waiting for a dremel tool and some steel wire brushes



Once again, please forgive my crappy pics, I think Dad has the camera, so I'm using my phone

 

^ Nice granite countertop there Arin.

 

Thanks, mom loves it. While I've been building various beasts of mechanical mayhem, every year she gets a new section of the house renovated for the last few years. Those granite countertops i think were stage II