Progress - seat

Until 1970 you could get a nice big solo saddle with springs inside the frame as an option. By all accounts it is the most comfortable saddle on a motorcycle ever. I'm sticking with my little Bates copy but using the factory spring setup. Well, my version of it. The post kits with the springs are over $200. Since I'm using a different seat, I have the ability to make most of the parts, and I'm cheap. 

XLH models had the coil mounted on this bracket. This a similar bracket held the seat posts in place. You can sort of see the bronze bushings I turned under it. Below the bushings are a bunch of die springs I borrowed from work to use until I figure out specifically what I need. 

I only got part of one post done but the seat position is right on. I can actually clear the carb with my knee now. The foot pegs need to do about an 8" retreat but that's appropriate for an XLR and I prefer my feet directly under my ass anyway. My fork brace came in today as well. 

It'll be a little work to mount it but I like the look and these forks are pretty spindly so they can use the added stiffening.

BAR MOUNT

The stock bar mount for my Sportster was for a two-piece bar. Separate lefts and rights.

Left side has timing advance, right has throttle. Both internal. The mount is cast steel and in only bored in from each end just long enough to grip the spline on the end of the bars. For using a one piece bar you need to get post 74 parts. Or get creative.

I cut a chunk of handlebar and chucked it in the lathe. Clamped the bar mount on it, tweaked the other end around until both ends were as concentric as possible. Bore up to roughly center to match old bore. The old bore was a little big, that's why the ends aren't quite cleaned up.After boring to center flip it around on the chunk of handlebar and reset it. Bore to meet the other bore you just finished. Fingers crossed the bores meet in the middle. 

 

I made a quick fixture to hold the part in the vise. Just a chunk of aluminum that I drilled two holes in. As ugly as that block of aluminum is, it was flat and parallel within .002". I turned, drilled and tapped a couple bosses for the new bolts. Clamped the part up and scalloped the bar mount mirroring the hole location centerlines of the opposing bolts.

The Chief welded them up. Thanks Pops.

I cut the new split. 

That'll work.

After deburring I blasted it and test fit it. I'm quite happy with how this looks. It's got the same style as the original and I can use whatever bar I want. I tried to paint it but used a ten year old can of paint and it worked about as well as tossing some house paint through a box fan. Needless to say I'll need to blast it again and repaint but the fab work is done on this piece. Now to get that steering damper adapted to this bike (it's not HD but it was free). 

SU - Skinner's Union

I'm sure pine is an appropriate choice for a carb spacer. I just hope the varnish doesn't catch fire. Man this thing is huge but I'm kind of digging it. More later.

Long way to go but I know where I'm going finally

I got the tank on Saturday. I started a remodel on my living room so all I could do was take it out of the box and plop it on the frame but I'm quite pleased. The tank has a lot of wear and tear but is very clean on the inside. The word patina is so overused these days but basically the condition of the tank is on par with the condition of the rest of the bike. The rear fender has been bead blasted to remove the paint (I did this years ago) but it will get a polish of some sort. Probably a little better than what Scotch-Brite will yield. It has a few dings and some pitting. I found that on an unknown chassis out in the woods somewhere about twenty years ago and have been saving it for just such a project. I was concerned about the p-pad being too tall but after tweaking the seat I think it's going to work fine. I've got a board propping it up presently. having the seat nice and high also lets me use the stock ignition switch location which happens to be under the seat. I don't want to change what I don't have to change, you know? I would not have considered painting this bike this color blue, by the way. I like blue but I was leaning toward green or black or a combo of the two. I like the blue very much. I've got some things to fab but not much to hold me up. The wiring is really going to be the big issue right now. With the changes I've made combined with some decisions of the previous owner it's going to pretty much be a complete rewire. I guess it will give me something to do since we had our obligatory March fucking blizzard this morning. I really hope that shit ends soon.
Rock on.

I'm diggin' it

Got my bars today. It's the exact bend I've been looking for. Very much like a BSA M-bend but just a little wider and one inch. Mocked up the alloy fender too. I like the way it looks but I need a different P-pad. Mounting will be a challenge but I like a challenge.

I need a different tank as this still looks choppery but I have a plan for that. I'm pretty fastener light in the shop so I need to make a list of hardware I need. Not real happy with the current bar mount situation but maybe with the proper bolts and some black paint it will be presentable. I can't feel my fingers, better go inside. Rock on.

Because I simply cannot leave well enough alone

I'm changing the goal of the Sportster. I've never kept any motorcycle forever so with that in mind I want to pay special attention to how much money I spend the old girl. I'm notorious for never finishing projects as well. With that in mind, the number one goal with the Sportster is to a) actually make the thing rideable in my lifetime and b) when the time comes to sell, not take a bath on the whole deal. That part is not changing. What is changing is what the bike is going to look and or feel like when it is done. I was going to try to put the bike back together with most of the original parts and have a mostly stock Sportster. Well...now that I think of it that's not really changing either. Much. So I'm standing in the garage the other night staring at the XLH in question and contemplating what to do next. Then I start stressing on the amount of work involved and quite frankly considering my own mortality and how life is short. Without getting too philosophical the short story is, I turned off the light and went in the house.
So I ran across this picture on the Sideburn blog...

I love the mirror placement.

Light. Bulb. Man, this Triumph is fucking bitchin'. It looks like the kind of bike you can just get on and ride, you know? Not coast to coast. Not with luggage. I already have one of those anyhow. Just ride for the thrill of riding and if you run out of road fuck it, you're running on MT53's baby, just keep on motoring. So let's overthink analyze this for a moment, shall we? Mostly stock so not a lot of complicated shit to worry about. Check. Racebike feel. Check. (that's my wheelhouse). Not so refined that we need to worry about paint chips or some oil dripping. Check. A few custom touches to scratch the creative itch. Check. I have most of the parts already. Check. Fairly comfortable at least from a riding position standpoint. Sit up and beg. Check.
So I went home and pulled the tins off and did a few minutes of cleaning. I have a rear fender I think I can use. I'm pretty sure the Old Man has a fork brace laying around. I've got a seat. I've got alloy rims. I still need bars. I should have the fender in my hands by Monday. The next thing will be to make a subframe to hold up the fender and or the occasional spouse. Not that my spouse is occasional. It's just that the only passenger I will probably have will be my spouse and that will only happen on occasion. I think the digression has become my trademark. Anyway, I'm considering moving the shocks to a bit more vertical and having a loop up and over the fender. I will mock up something with conduit and see how it pans out. The only real stumbling block now is the tank. I think that's another post.
In between remodeling my house, working 60hrs a week, and being a father and husband I should have this knocked out by oh, let's say...2030. Give or take. I'm kidding but I really think this plan can actually expedite the project. Assuming the engine is mechanically sound.

Thinking pipes

Man it's cold here. 7 degrees as I write this. So since the holidays are over and we're getting into cabin fever season my little pea brain is drifting back to motorcycles. Specifically my Sportster. Like all my projects I have these delusions of grandeur about taking things to the extremes. That's probably why I rarely finish any of them. As I've said, this bike is an experiment. I need to prove to myself that I can buy a bike for a decent price, make it into what I want it to be, ride it and when the time comes to sell it not take a bath on the silly thing. The past model was overpay for junk, buy a bunch of expensive parts, sit on it all for a couple years, sell it for half what I've got in it. So far so good on this one. Mrs. Surly wasn't happy about taking the capital out of savings for the bike but the price was reasonable for all parties. I got some of the parts I needed in a trade so I'm only out a little shipping money. Other than that I paid for title work and some oil. I need handlebars next. The ones that were on the bike just did not fit me. The bike in it's old configuration would not fit someone 5'11" with monkey arms like mine. The way it's setup now with the flat bar is a pretty comfortable deal. The bar is pretty funky and the risers are...well, I'm not using those. I need to get a set up for the handlebars but that's another post.

This being an XLH, means it has the oil tank mounted off to the right to make room for the battery. The enormous battery. It's real close to the size of the one in my car. That's going to be an issue if I want to do anything with pipes. The ones that are on there fit fine. I could use them and the bike came with another set of staggered duals. The idea here is to be fairly close to stock with some custom touches. I'd like some interesting exhaust but I want to be careful not to get too carried away.

I'm not going with fishtails but I like these.

These are quite sexy too. I unfortunately do not know where this pic came from. 

With both of these styles there are issues with the timer (distributor) being in the way and with the top pic my oil tank would be in the way as well. I'm not changing the ignition around but I might think about going with a smaller battery and re-configuring the oil tank. Changing the oil tank wont be a big deal but the filter is in there and from there the project grows legs. That's where I have to check myself. The pipes will be custom built by me and the Old Man so I can work around what I've got but I don't want to have the whole bike be three feet wide from stacking up oil tanks, shocks, pipes, and the like. 

Of course, I have to keep the whole vision of what I want the finished bike to look like in mind. 

Rare and expensive originals

If I had the stock exhaust I'd run it and shut up but it's hard to come by and pretty pricey so I'll pass. I'm pretty much over worrying about what the blondes on the beach think anyhow. Apparently a guy on the XL forum (who seems to actually know what he's talking about) proved that the crossover tube adds a couple of horsepower just as the factory claimed. People just like the look of the staggered duals, I suppose. I'm getting old apparently because I don't want my bikes too loud anymore. Mostly because I leave the house early in the morning and I like to fly below the radar as far as my neighbors are concerned. 

Definitely a clearance issue with the timer if I went this route. 

Not sure who took the shot, bike built by Cheapskate Cycles

No denying these are freaking sweet. 

Might be on to something with these. We could probably squeeze all that in there. Not sure how they would work, performance-wise but at least there is some sort of muffler. And yes, I know it's not a Sportster. 

These are bad-ass but probably too much work to make it fit on the XLH.

Photo by Mark Kawakami Bike by Top Shelf Customs

More coolness here. Quite original flares on the ends of these. I'm sure we can make something work. It comes down to how much work we want to put in to achieve the overall look versus slapping on some drag pipes and moving on.

Warmer, drier, and much dustier

I've spent the last few weekends working on making the garage a bit more suited to working on things through the cold months. The attic is now about 95% insulated over the garage (I ran out of insulation or it would be done). The cold air used to just blow in the eaves and down through the drywall seams. I still have to get the seams done on the ceiling but what a difference the insulation makes! The main wall of the "shop" side is all nice and pretty now. Time for some proper shelving and some cool posters and motorcycle ephemera. It's far from done in there but I've got to get things back to normal usable so I can get the wife's car in there and work on a few things for Christmas. The overhead door has had some issued since I moved in and I've finally gotten it weather tight...ish. It's no submarine but I don't think I'll have snow drifts on the inside like a few years ago and you can't put your hand through the gaps in the woodwork anymore. Apparently the previous owners thought if you just wrap the rotted wood in aluminum it will keep the rain from flowing in. For the record, this is a fallacy. Now I'm working on putting things back where they belong and cleaning up the mess. Between the rock wool fiasco from the walls, the residual fiberglass of the attic, and the drywall dust it's pretty dusty in there. I've been wearing a dust mask almost every time I spend any time in there. Yesterday I did not and I'm feeling it today. I believe dumbass is the term for folks doing things they should not when they know better. Speaking of dumbass, I did not take any before photos. I'm going to have to look around because I may have a pic that shows the minty green goodness of the old wall. I can compare that to the new grey wall. It's not the coolest thing ever but it's coming along. Hopefully I can get in there and work on some bike projects soon and some house projects as well. I've got two saws to restore and I need to remodel pretty much my entire house.

Here's some Dusty that's a bit more palatable.

 I should have some Sportster news soon. I have a box scheduled to arrive tomorrow that should include some pretty cool stuff. Well, that's subjective but cool to a guy who is missing plenty of parts for his Sportster.

Happy Halloween and What I didn't do on my Fall Vacation

No, not gonna be all negative Nancy. I was hoping to get a little work done on the Sportster but it just didn't happen. I went down to the Grumpy Unk compound for a few days to help clean out the barn. Turns out Unk was a bit of a pack rat and not really into barn maintenance. I was supposed to have three or four folks to help me and we had big plans. Yeah, it was just me and the wife with a little help from Therapy Boy. Good kid, that one but he was nursing some bug so wasn't 100%. No big deal. The wife  took care of a huge burn pile and kilt' a snake with a pitchfork. Makes her sound tough but she felt horrible about it. She just meant to move it. My plan was to come back and get the garage dialed in for the winter and then spend a little time with my kids. I got a little done on the garage and there's never enough time with the kids. That means I didn't do squat on the Sportster. I have a deal pending on some parts and an idea or two for some other things but I need a place to work. The garage is a flippin disaster at the moment. The idea was to tidy up the drywall that was never finished...in 1977. And insulate the attic and exterior walls. I won't go into the nightmare that was blowing insulation into the wall. What a fiasco. The important thing is I need a warm place to work in the winter. The garage was just to drafty and cold last winter to get anything done. Boo Hoo, right? O.K., enough bitching. Soon it'll be winter so I'll get it all nice and tidy so I can work on the scoots and maybe get a few honey-doos done as well. Have a fun Halloween. Eat too much candy, life is short. Unk preferred gummy bears. I'm more of a chocolate guy.

Current State of Afairs

I'm taking a vacation. Sort of. I'm taking a week off work and I plan to relax but not exclusively. I'm going to attempt to get the garage insulated and all that entails. It's not really a big job but I don't have the greatest history with efficiency. I also hope to get some work done on the Sporty. As it turns out the rear fender I have on her is not correct but is quite desirable to owners of earlier XLCH's. To the untrained eye it's the same shit. Sort of interesting in a resto-nerd sort of way. So this is what the Sportster looks like today.

We shall see what the Sportster looks like in a week. Probably about the same but hopefully the garage will be warmer so I can work out there a bit more comfortably in the winter.

No measurable progress on the bikes

I've determined that the rear shock on the VFR is a joke. I bought a used stocker off eBay and will be sending it off for a re-spring/re-valve. When I get some cash together that is. Been commuting on the VFR and it's really a great bike. It's just got a shock that was built on price it seems.

Pic from XLForum

I've been poking at the Sportster a bit and making lists, mental and physical. It needs a few important things like a choke cable. Mostly I've been doing research. I'm hesitant to buy anything. My m.o. in the past has been buy a bike cheap, buy a bunch of expensive parts, lose interest, sell at a loss. All I have purchased at this point is oil.

Pic from XLForum

I found a tank in the Old Man's barn that looks like it will work well for test & tune. Nice and clean inside. Sill need to find the right pair of bars. I may have found some other parts for my bike from the P.O.

Sportster progress

O.K., no real progress to speak of but I have a plan. I want to get this baby road-worthy without spending too much coin. I'm already near the dog house. No need to be actually in there. While doing image searches for Sportsters, I ran across this:

I can't remember where the picture came from sadly. I'd love to credit the owner and see a few more angles. It's got a stock look with some nice custom touches. Let's see what mine would look like with a similar treatment, shall we?

Hmmm.....not bad. Need to lose those bars and the foam and chrome grip/footpeg combo. Not my cup o' tea. I don't have a stock tail light but they can be had. I had that Lucas copy in the garage and it works but I'm thinking the stocker is the way to go. The point is, this is the way I'm headed and right now I don't have to buy anything. Scratch that. I need shocks. These are both frozen and the one on the opposite side is conveniently frozen about an inch shorter than this one. I'll need to go back to the fat bob tanks to get it running as it's the only one that appears to be able to hold fuel without adding debris to it. The one on the bike in the picture is bent pretty bad on the other side and very rusty. But hey, one out of four aint bad.

This one's for Red. Just cause it's cool. Love those pipes. 

More Uncles and motorcycles

Over the past weekend Mrs. Surly and I went down to Seymour to hang out and went to a little party in honor of my Crazy Uncle who passed away last year. We had a great time and with the help of my Old Man, we dragged back Unk's 1971 BSA Lightning. He wanted us to have it and now we do. Not sure how joint ownership is going to shake out but this would be the third BSA twin and fourth total BSA I have been the proud (or partial) owner of. One of my friends is a motorcycle savant and has a set of sleeved carbs for this baby. With those and a little TLC, I could have this thing running in a weekend. If only I had a weekend.

The Beesa in STB's pickup.

In an unfortunate coincidence, another uncle passed away a few years ago as well. He had a 1969 XLH Sportster. I eluded to it back in June of 2011. There was a bunch of stuff that we helped sell for my aunt but understandably, she wasn't ready to sell the scooter at the time. I respectfully asked for right of first refusal and long story short...I'm picking it up on Sunday.

There's a sporting motorcycle hidden somewhere in this picture.

So I've been trying to keep the garage and my life uncluttered and I wind up with half a motorcycle and a Harley. Well I suppose that since it's Independence Day here in the good old U.S. of A the purchase of some Milwaukee iron offsets the partial ownership of the BSA from jolly old England.

This would be the target. Pic lifted from The Zon

It certainly warrants it's own post(s), but this is what I'm thinking I'll do with the Sporty. The blue bike is what it would have looked like originally. The Old Man thinks the hardtail is a bad idea. I don't know why that would make any difference to him considering he has about 10 bikes and only one is rideable. If it's parked, what difference would it make if it's uncomfortable? Just kidding Chief. I think making something like the above would be pretty attainable without too much money being spent. Of course, I've said that before.

Happy Independence Day!

Ironhead

I guess if you look at pictures of enough H-Ds, eventually you'll want one. I'm there. Crap, how did I let this happen? Now, like all my motorcycling pipe dreams this will probably never come to fruition but here's what I've been thinking. And when I say thinking I mean morning, noon, and night. I can't shake this. There is a remote possibility that I could wind up with this:

The how's and why's of this are not appropriate to discuss here but if the planets align, it could be mine for a fair price. 1969 XLH. I've no clue as to how it would run or the state of the internals. It could be put back to stock fairly easily. I'm thinking, given my 'druthers, that I'd like to have something more like...

The three above pics were snatched from the web.

 If these pics belong to you hit me up and I'll give credit or remove them. 

...KR flat tracker style. I'm sure my Dad would never notice the Ceriani front end had gone missing from his parts stash. If I didn't get too picky about things I'm sure it wouldn't cost all that much. Throw away all the stuff that doesn't make it go or stop. Bolt on hardtail (sorry Chief), set of dirt track bars, Bates style seat and a P pad. I'm sure my neighbors will just love the straight pipes waking them up at 5:30 as I leave for work.
I don't love all choppers per se but It's the handbuilt aspect of it. Certain styles of chopper I absolutely love and others I wouldn't even notice if I was standing in a field full of them. That said you'll probably never see me owning a chopper. I sure love looking at pictures of them, though. I've always associated motorcycles with racebikes. Sitting on something that has forward controls or bars with grips at odd angles is just so foreign to me I'd never be comfortable. It would need to have the foundation of a racebike. When thinking about the Sportster above, "what would this bike look like with my stamp on it?".  XR750 replica street trackers abound and could get pricey. They look too specific. Also, I think if I was gonna build that style bike I'd do it with a Jap bike. I don't know why. Maybe because I know where I can score an SR500 on the cheap... I know ironheads are evil. There's a real good reason most guys run the new stuff. I think I just need to get it out of my system. There's only one way to do that.

New links

 Photo Copyright 2011 Matt Mengel

I added a few new links to the photography section. They happen to be folks who photograph motorcycles.