[Rev.Chuck]

Back again(last time was july, 2005). Due to finances, the project was on hold. Now we begin again.
Looks like this now:

With budget in mind, I installed the stock seat:

It looks like hell.
Can't afford to buy a solo set up. Time to make one.
Fortunatly I drink a lot of cheap beer so I have lots of template stock:

It had to be tall enough to fit the battery:

I can make it a little shorter. What do you guys think?:

With a "seat pad":

I have started the base, but not the rear cowling. If the opinion is that it should be more compact there is still time to make the change. The final project will also be more curved to match the tank.

Please don't look to close at the welds. I have not done any gas welding in a while and it looks like shit.
Opinions are welcome. Thanks, Chuck

 

[philos1]

Yeah, I agree that the "bump" should be a little shorter (often the "good way" is to be shorter than the tank).

The rest of the bike is looking good.

Are those shocks from MIKESxs? how do you like them?

 

[Rev.Chuck]

They are old NOS Marzocchis. I think they may even be off an RD I had stolen about 15 years ago, as those are the only ones I have seen locally. There are also a few other parts in the pile of stuff I got from this one guy that look a whole lot like the stuff on my stolen bike. Oh, well, I have it once again.

I can lower the hump about and inch, and keep the stock battery. I may end up using a cell pack like you would see on an RC car. The rest of the electrics are going under the big hump in the fuel tank.

 

[coolatula]

quote:Originally posted by Rev.Chuck

They are old NOS Marzocchis. I think they may even be off an RD I had stolen about 15 years ago, as those are the only ones I have seen locally. There are also a few other parts in the pile of stuff I got from this one guy that look a whole lot like the stuff on my stolen bike. Oh, well, I have it once again.

I can lower the hump about and inch, and keep the stock battery. I may end up using a cell pack like you would see on an RC car. The rest of the electrics are going under the big hump in the fuel tank.

You could also use a smaller gel/sealed battery and lay it flat. Then you could make the cowl a lot lower.

My rule of thumb is the cowl should be no wider than the narrowest part of the fuel tank and as short or shorter than the fuel tank.

Also the bottom tank line and bottom seat pan/cowl line should be horizontal and be in-line with each other.

I have noticed after viewing hundreds(thousands?) of old race/cafe bike pics that the ones I like the best follow those same simple rules of thumb.

There is something in the feeble human brain(some call it "good/bad taste" or a "good eye")that tells a person "Hey,that
bike,car,truck,woman etc. is good looking and that one not so much".

 

[catboy]

impressive livery of bicycles in the background!

my .02: that fairing destroys the otherwise BEAUTIFUL lines across the top of that bike! removing the fairng might give you a better reference line for the height of the cowl. HOWEVER, since you're trying to hide the battery up in there, with function ALWAYS trumping form, it is what it is...and as far as i'm concerned, that's always going to look better than some prescribed aesthetic rule of thumb. i mean, with a rider in the seat, why does it matter if the cowl is slightly taller than the tank. it's made to ride, not look at.

 

[Swagger]

three words:

Seat

Fork-brace

RIP!!!!

Ok...perhaps that's four but......nice looking bike! Diggin' the beer case bodywork too!

 

[Rev.Chuck]

quote:Originally posted by catboy

impressive livery of bicycles in the background!

my .02: that fairing destroys the otherwise BEAUTIFUL lines across the top of that bike! removing the fairng might give you a better reference line for the height of the cowl. HOWEVER, since you're trying to hide the battery up in there, with function ALWAYS trumping form, it is what it is...and as far as i'm concerned, that's always going to look better than some prescribed aesthetic rule of thumb. i mean, with a rider in the seat, why does it matter if the cowl is slightly taller than the tank. it's made to ride, not look at.

Thanks, I got bikes every where, I fix them for a living.

Like everyone was saying, the cowl really is to tall and the trick is going to be another smaller battery.

As far as leveling the bottom of the seat pan with tank, that might be a little tougher. The shape of the tank requires the hump you see in the front of the set pan. If I drop the pan to be even with the tank(The flat part will be right on the rails with a one inch lip that would cover the rails) that will make the hump in the front pretty tall. Altho if I can get it covered right it will be kind of like the old Eddy Lawson KZs with the look of a horse saddle.

 

[Diamondj]

You can put one of these on it's side and make your bumstop lower:

http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-5ah-sealed-lead-acid-battery.html

or maybe this:

http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-7ah-sealed-lead-acid-battery.html

decent price too....

Jim

 

[chrisf]

a couple thoughts/questions...

Where are you putting the rest of the electrinics?

Are you running premix? If not, an oil tank can be made to hide the battery.

Actually, why do you want to hide the battery?

Have you looked under fuel tank? There is tons of room in there to hide a small battery. Since it is a kick-only bike, you could probably get away with 3 or 4amp/hr battery. Those are small. Look at ups systems for phone system and pc backups.

 

[chrisf]

also. It looks like you could lose a few inches in length in the seating area. On my bikes, I could drop a plumb bob from the furthest edge of the seat bump and it would drop right down the axle line. Yours sticks out a few inches past that.

--chris

 

[catboy]

who cares? why would he need to lose anything if that's the position he feels most comfortable in with his feet on the rearsets and his hands on the bars? everyone's built differently; maybe he's got a longer torso than you, or longer arms than you, or shorter legs than you.

again, this prescribed aesthetic thing...

 

[chrisf]

He asked for suggestions, and I provided a few. I could honestly give two shits what he ends up doing.

--chris

 

[Rev.Chuck]

The seat length is so that I can fit on the bike.
The electrics(Pretty much just the black box for the ignition and the fuse box) will fit with no problem in the hollow of the tank.
Premix. The bike had no oiler when I got it and even in my huge pile of RD stuff, I did not have another. Sucks a little because I really like the auto lube, it was idiot proof. But it missing was enough justification to remove every thing from the center of the bike and clean it up.

There is a lot of the modern cafe bike that is "look". While it derives from the racers and rockers of the late fifties looking for lightness and speed, it is now for that period appearance(which I like a lot).

 

[coolatula]

"again, this prescribed aesthetic thing..."

Because it works more times than not?
The OP also asked for opinions,so well...that was my opinion. If the O.P. doesn't want to use my advice then that is completely up to them.

Believe it or not the average human mind puts things in "order" even if that person is not aware of it. When you look at an object(machine,car bike),another human etc. The mind will say "Hey,that's appealing/attractive" or "that's ugly/unattractive".

The Norton Manx type racers are my favorite style/look of bikes,but even some of those seemed to be little "off" in the way they looked. After studying the differences between the bikes I liked and the bikes I didn't like as much(not counting the colors,materials used etc.) I began to notice WHY some weren't as appealing to me as other were.

It had to do more with HOW the parts/pieces were fitted. I noticed that even bikes that used virtually the same type/style parts that one may have looked really,really cool while the other one just didn't mesh well with it's parts.

Here's some bikes that just have that "look" I like so well.
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike Directories/Norton Bikes/images/Norton 40M_jpg.jpg
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike Directories/Norton Bikes/images/Norton Unity Equip 2_jpg.jpg

and here's some that just appear to be a little off to me.
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike Directories/Norton Bikes/images/Norton Manx 30M_jpg.jpg
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike Directories/Norton Bikes/images/Norton 1954_jpg.jpg
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike%20Directories/Victoria%20Bikes/images/Victoria-Bergmeister-54(2)-.jpg
http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike Directories/Suzuki Bikes/images/Suzuki-SP500-Vic-Camp.jpg

 

[Swagger]

quote:Originally posted by coolatula
"again, this prescribed aesthetic thing..."

Well and truly said, regardless of intent.

Personally I like the back of the bumstop (where you umm....bumm stops) to be centerline to the rear axle and for the cowl to extend somewhere close to the rim with just a bit of tire out back. However as noted by the OP...the bike has to fit. I still like the beer-case body work!