Black Friday

Hopefully no one got trampled to death at Wal-mart today. I made some progress with the bike this week and thought I would post it up to brighten up this darkest of Friday's. I was able to put the new wheels on and the side stand.





And here is a preview pic of the bike with some oddball parts that were laying around the garage.

Building wheels

One of the ongoing projects that I have had with building this bike has been the wheels. From finding the right front hub, to tracking down the vintage 70's deep dish akronts, I have been working on these wheels for as long as I have been building this bike. I finally got all the pieces together and had a chance build the wheels. Here is the rear wheel before being assembled.



Here is the front wheel after assembly



Both wheels fully assembled. Awaiting freshly packed bearings and truing.



A brand new set of Avon Speedmasters. 3.00x21 up front and 4.00x18 out back.



Here's the rear wheel waiting for the new rubber.




And here they are all together and with the new rubber mounted up.

Swap Meet Gold

So, Me and a friend went up to the Long Beach Swap meet this weekend in search of some chopper gold. I was going up to mainly look for a ribbed duckbill fender, but was unable to find one. What I did find was a set of footpeg mounts and some footpegs. What I like about these footpegs is that alot of Harley owners replace them with aftermarket pegs and people are selling them dirt cheap. Good news for me.



I also found this sweet set of grips. I'm not exactly sure what colors my bike will be when its done, but maybe these will give me a direction in which to head.

The gusset is in!

So, I was able to put some work in on the chop tonight. Last week we put in the gusset base plate to fill the big gap between the two lower downtubes. This will allow for a single gusset that should look loads better than the previous setup.



I needed the gusset cut out so I made a cardboard template to aid in the fabrication.



I knew a guy that knew a guy that could cut this out for me. All it cost me was a 12 pack.



I drew up some speed holes for aestetics (let's face it, these holes won't make it that much lighter or faster).



And after the drill press did it's job.



And finally, the finished product.

Look, it's got wheels.

Got a chance to throw the front end on the chopper project and put the wheels on.



And here it is with a different set of handlebars. Neither set will make the final cut, but I threw them on there to check out the various looks.

The new project

So I picked up this carcass that was once an XS650. Here's a pic shortly after I got it. At some point this bike caught fire and was shoved in some ol' ladies backyard, where it spent the next 15-20 years sitting outside.



And here it is after I chopped it in half. The hardtail was made by G&L choppers. Took them two months longer to get it done than expected, but the quality is good.



And here is my buddy Dan welding up the pieces....



...and the finished product.