Posts filed under 'i like bikes'
I have some stylistic ideas for fixing up the xs650 but don’t know a lot about the technical details of automotive painting so I did some research today.
Looking around on the web, I have to say that the average custom American bike strikes me as kinda average. The same low ride, 1 of 3 handlebar choices, 1 of 10 grips. 1 of 4 airbrushed themes (fantastical wizards, skulls, dragons and snakes, ye olde airbrushed girlies, the ubiquitous flames, and nostalgia-driven designs). 1 of 3 tank styles. I don’t know, something about it just makes me feel impatient.
Many of them don’t even look that fun to ride. They look to me like they might just fall over on a tight curve or bottom out on the 1-inch lipped cul-de-sac driveway.
What’s happened to the aesthetic of customizing one’s bike? I suppose I’ll leave that question to the academics to answer.
In the meantime, despite my own distaste for most of what I found online, I did collect some valuable information about what’s involved in customizing my own bike into something that I do like.
Powdercoating is an involved process that would be appropriate for parts that I want to be uniform. I’m not sure that’s what I want and I probably don’t want to invest too much $$ in a first-timers project.
I watched Mike Learn’s airbrush demos which are good. If I had any talent at all in that arena I’d sign up for his seminars. But I can barely sign my name let alone draw a consistent line. I don’t think I’ll be doing any airbrushing.
My design can be accomplished with a combination of pinstriping and masking. From what I can tell, the Beugler striping kit is a must-have. For masking, the easiest thing for me to do would be to create a design in Illustrator and “print” it to a cutter plotter. Mike Learn swears by his Roland Camm cutter plotter. Fortunately, my local sign making company will cut a design for me for about $25.
So, that’s what I learned today.
November 2nd, 2005
I never would have guessed that Vincent Motorcycles was now located in San Diego and under a new release phase. I was doing an Google image search of British bikes and one of the top returns for Vincent bikes was this wonderful short history .
In any case the Vincent HRD is being revived. It uses a Honda engine so I suppose it’s somewhat a nostalgia/image thing. I’m not so certain that Honda engines are all that special. But they’re probably fine for the average biker.
I think of the pros and cons of performance engines v. floor models as pretty similar to the Windows v. Linux debate. It just depends upon your motivation and usage. I’ll bet I’d be pretty pleased with a modern Vincent cruiser and I’m sure it performs satisfactorily.
fun cruiser This would be really fun with the Matchless Silverhawk flat pipes. Actually, those pipes would probably look good on any bike.
Now, all I’ll need is a few $k. Well, more than a few $k. I’d guess they’ll start around $25k for all those nostaligic warm fuzzies.
November 1st, 2005
Well, yes, it did sound cool when I thought the loudness was the increased power in the 2:1 pipes … then I learned that it was only running on one cylinder. Boy did I feel silly riding it home … the ride suddenly felt more like a limp.
The first time I rode it, it was speedy. The second time I took it out for a real ride and it just had no power. At full throttle on a relatively flat speedway, I couldn’t get it over 45mph. Now, I remember my ‘79 Special was a very speedy bike and the ’72s are no exception. The speedometer goes to 140mph. I know this one really wants to be speedy. So, I took it into the shop and the owner (who owns the same year/model) recognized the sound immediately.
I suspect that the guy I bought it from had left the bike outside all summer and fall and we had 2 really wet months during his ownership time. There are the beginnings of rust on it and the tank is really rusty. I think that the first time my brother and I rode it, we probably succeeded in running a bunch of rust into the carbs, plugging one up.
So, there I have it, I’ll be picking up my much speedier bike on Tuesday from him. I wanted a professional evaluation of the bike anyway so that all works out. I hadn’t yet examined the engine number, but it turns out the engine is a ‘74 TX-A 650 on my ‘72 xs650 frame, and the front end is something else and the starter switch is off a ‘74 as well.
anyway, so next up is creaming the tank so I don’t lose a cylinder again and then painting. then all the little things - center stand, fix the loose kickstand, etc.
October 30th, 2005
The bike is mine! Waiting to be painted and maybe chopped a little! I saw an ad on Craig’s List for a ‘72 xs650. We borrowed a truck and drove up to Oak Harbor on a Friday afternoon around 5pm across the Narrows Bridge which is never a fun task during rush hour.
We got there just in the last rays of light. He had the bike out and warmed up (hmmm). Unfortunately, the clutch cable was so gunked up that I couldn’t really take the bike for a ride. It needs a little more work than the seller indicated on the phone and the seller didn’t seem to know much about bikes or riding. Looked like it had been left outside since beginning of last summer when he bought it. He felt the bike was too big.
As soon as I sat on it, I had to have it. It was just so … familiar. I spent so much time on my ‘79 650 that even 15 years later it felt completely natural. So, I bought it.
We loaded it into the truck and proceded down down the dark country road in the wind and rain, fantasizing about summers to come, colors to paint, shiny chrome and ceramic paint and speedy rides.
October 18th, 2005
Honda by far has the best comparison matrix. Very cool, I can filter by seat height, organized by price and size it’s very good information design. I’d love to do something like this for comparing all bikes that I’m interested in. Hmmm. Good idea.
Bikes
- HD 2006 Softail Deluxe - 24.5 inches high. Price equivalent of a down payment on a house. Good rental choice for a trip next summer.
- HD Sportster 883 Hugger Low (26 inches) - I’ve seen lots of these available used. Need to learn about differences from year to year. price for new $7k, $5.5k for used.
- Amy liked the HD Sportster 1200 Custom which was 26.5 in. high - half inch too high for me to put both feet firmly on the ground.
- Honda’s retro Shadow Aero seat height 25.5inches and the orange ‘06 is not boring. Costs about the same as the HD 883 Hugger though and I hate the “shadow” branding painted on the gas tank. Maybe it’s the font that’s boring. Or the name. Surely Honda can afford a decent graphic designer.
- I don’t know much about Victory/Polaris motorcycles but some of them are at 24-26 inches high which is nice. A bit spendy though. If this were my budget I’d be more serious about the HD Deluxe linked above.
- looking through the specs at Kawasaki and Yamaha, it looks like they’re all too high - 29 inches and higher. hrmf.
- Suzuki - I don’t understand how they size and am not motivated to research it at the moment. The Suzukis I’ve seen that look good are too big for me.
- My brother recommended the Honda NightHawk, early 90’s .. mostly because he wants one but with 6 bikes, he’s afraid one or more of his bikes might get jealous and require attention if he were to add to the collection
- The Kawasaki W2 looks good too, but the seat height is a little daunting
September 19th, 2005
Next Posts
Previous Posts