Put away...

...for the season.  Time for winter projects on the xl.  The police bike is also in hibernation for the winter.

Before and After

BEFORE

AFTER

Seat pan, pad and fiberglass cowl...

I saw this bike a few weeks back (Spotted in Cambridge) and left a note with my contact info.  The owner responded.  In his words....

"The brown seat pad was home made.  The covering is vinyl from Joanne's Fabric and my wife did the stitch pattern with her sewing machine. The tail light was bought on e-bay.  Attached are some pics of the seat process."

The base of the pad is made from a marine material called Starboard.  It's easily cut and can be formed with a heat gun, and nails/staples hold well in it.

The first layer of foam is actually from a few cheap gardening knee pads.

Then I put another layer of soft smoothing foam on that.








 

The foam is glued to the board with contact cement...

...and wrapped the vinyl around it (stapled underneath).






 

The vinyl is glued to the foam where it curves upward in the back to keep it flat.  The vinyl was cut into strips and then sewn back together in the pattern you see here (stitching idea taken from THIS technique).

The fiberglass seat cowl was purchased from Sean over at Roc City.  Check them out HERE

Coming soon...

...sissy bar with bayonet.  Keep it simple.

 

Using stock switches on new bars

I want to use the stock HD switch housing and wires on my new handlebars.  The bars weren't dimpled, so I used a bit to carve out a portion of the housing from below to keep the wires from getting "pinched".

Here's what you'll need...

Drink 2 PBRs prior to grinding

Grind out a hole big enough to fit the wiring

Be sure to smooth out the rough edges

Housing and clutch attached, and room for the wires to run through

Repeat the process for the throttle side

Reinforce the wires with another layer of electrical tape where they exit the hole.  Drink the rest of the PBR.  On a side note, the bars are set up to run internal wiring.  I needed a quick fix to get the bars on, but will attempt internal wiring another day.

Resurrection

My brother "found" this a few years ago by the side of the road.  He gave it to me and I only recently came across it in the basement.

Dragged it outside and low and behold, it works.  The motor had a hard time starting the belts, but ran smooth after a little help.

Used it to finish up drilling the holes for my sissy bar.  Now I just have to get the kid to spray it for me (the sissy bar).

I need tutoring on making a seat pan...

This is the Old Gold "Cobra King" 2-up seat.

This one fits an 82-03 Sportster.  I need one to fit an 05...and since I'm low on funds anyways, I had the crazy idea I'd attempt to make one myself.


"Crazy" idea because I've never done it before.  I could probably find a "Seat pan 101" step by step guide, but I thought I'd first ask anyone out there for their tricks.  I'm needing a process, really, for the seat pan only.  email me with the wisdom.

Choke knob in place...

Using a piece from the stock mounting plate, The choke knob attaches quite nicely to the side mounting plate.  You work with what you have, and what I have is limited.  Lesson - Two heads are better than one (especially if one of the heads is thinking).  Thanks again Pops!

A little grinding of the tab might be in order.

Sissy Bar...

Raw, 1/2" square stock, 30" H.  My simple idea, but it's a first and I'm pleased with the result.

This was done at my pal Hammer's place of business.  He delivered it tonight, and I owe him big.  This will be a nice touch to the 1200.

Next steps include inserting a bracket to attach the backrest pad and drilling holes to fit the rigid sideplates.  And lastly, off to paint.

Thanks again, H.

Speedometer side mount in place...

Removed the instruments from their stock bracket...

 And dropped the Speedometer into the side mount bracket (ditching the Tachometer)...

While pulling the wiring back, I realized the choke knob was in the way of the instrument panel being seated properly.  Removed the choke...to be relocated somewhere else.

Thanks, Francesco, for the beautiful piece!!

Bike work

Being home (sick with the rest of the family) allowed me some time to work on the small, quick bike projects.  I've been procrastinating.

Changed out the stock headlight on the 05 with a triangle headlight.

BEFORE

AFTER

As simple as this was, the headlight (and taillight) would not turn on after wiring it back in.  Turns out the wiring in the headlight was assembled in reverse and shipped that way.  That took me and Pops a little while to discover.




You can see from the picture that the speedo and tach were next to go.  After a little tweaking, the side mount from Crazy Oils has been mounted.  I'll post pics when the speedo is in it's proper place.  Soon Francesco!!  Thanks Pops, for the big help today.

Bike ideas from an undecided...

I've been daydreaming about minor modifications I want to make to the XL 1200R.  Small stuff at first, but I want to change the look of the bike.  Below is what I have to work with, and some ideas.
*keeping the swingarm on this one

T-BARS

COBRA 2-UP SEAT THAT FITS SWINGARM

Tall, tapered sissy bar that fits into side plates.  Small pad on the low end for passenger (wife's preference).

I HAVE THE SIDE MOUNT!!, BY CRAZYOILS

 

Haven't made a decision on pipes, air cleaner or headlight yet.






Send me some ideas, advice on direction to take, parts, or a case of PBR to settle me thoughts.

Side speedometer mount...

Francesco and his pal, The Creech are handcrafting one of these for my '05 XL1200R.  Check them out at Crazyoils, and also at Francesco's blog.

Thought on today's rainy Monday morning....

....make a list of projects/mods on the '75 to keep busy during the winter.

....(the '05 might go under the knife as well)

Pre-Fall Surgery

Will be prepping the patient for carb cleaning / rebuilding.