Buell

I have bought a Buell XB9SX. Its a bike I have always wanted, and got it at the end of September 2016. When they first came out I specifically went to the NEC bike show just to see and sit on one. after all the years of wanting and finally getting it, it did not disappoint. Pulls like a train, amazing handling and sounds awesome. Below is a quick film I made of it.

Bits and Bobs

I didn't bother with the other petrol tank as it became apparent that it was beyond repair and needed someone with decent welding skills so I sold it on eBay for 5 times the amount I paid for it!

I quite like the black R65 tank so I'm going to stick with that.

I have changed the handlebar grips to black Biltwell ones as they are in keeping with the overall black look of the bike. I put on a new front brake disk and re-routed the brake hose. I have taken off the front mudguard because I think it looks better!

I also got the wet and dry out and polished the head fins and fitted a pair of peace/fuck off valve caps!

Bugger All

Well, I've done bugger all on this blog for ages! Ive ordered a Lead solder kit so I can sort the leaky petrol tank I need to fit to the BMW R80.

I attended the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride in Sheffield. I went on the BMW R80 and it ran really well and nothing fell off. I did around 300 miles that day and I'm really pleased with how the BM rides. It easily sits at 70-80 mph and handles corners better than some sports bikes I've owned.

A video and pictures of the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride.........

  

It's been a while

Spent the late summer riding the BMW and it's great!

I have a bigger R80 petrol tank to seal and fit this winter. Once its done I will post some pictures.

Here are a couple of Videos I made of bike tours I have done. Denmark was August 2013 and the South Africa one was filmed in 2005

CLICK Denmark

CLICK South Africa

Flexible Friend!

A long and slow winter but it's starting to pick up, a bit! I've been doing bits and pieces on the BMW.
I bought a pair of cheap scruffy looking silencers from ebay for £30. They are from an earlier twin shock BMW so they could not be just bolted on! I tried putting them straight onto the ends of the header pipes but it didn't look right. I then used the original mounts but I would have to make a connecting pipe.

I used flexible exhaust pipe. It comes in various lengths and diameters, I bought a metre for about £18 and cut it to size, it basically just slides on and then uses the same exhaust clamps. Not sure if I will paint them black!

The silencers sound quite fruity and have a nice twin sound.



The indicators were sourced from that there America! From the Dime City Cycles web site.

They kind of echo the same shape as the rear light

I also had a new number plate made, and another ebay purchase was a LED number plate light.

Every thing is now wired up so I will take it for a MOT next week. 

I need to ride it and make sure nothing falls off!!

Let there be light!

A while ago I picked up an old side light from Newark auto jumble, it cost £1.50 with the lens and still had the original bulb holder inside. I decided it should go on the BMW. The only problem was that it was a side light and I needed a stop and tail light. I stripped the old bulb holder from the original CB-1 rear light and cut off all the extra metal so that it would fit inside the side light. The bulb holder fitted straight into the holder of the side light without any modification.

I went to the Stafford classic bike show and found a rear mudguard/fender for £5 which cleaned up well, had tabs underneath to attach the wiring and fitted perfectly! I have managed to fit the light and hide the wiring under the mudguard.

I was loaned the single seat but it's time to give it back so after a lot of internet searching for the right seat for the bike I settled on a pattern Police seat from Motorworks, no bargains to be had here, but it is very well padded and hopefully will be comfortable on long journeys!

I am struggling to find a set of 4 indicators that look the part, most modern ones look too modern and will not look right next to the old rear light, old indicators are far too big and when I do find some that look ok they cost £50 for 2!! My search continues......

Round headlight

I have finally had some time to work on the R80 after too much work and a nice relaxing motorcycle tour of Spain and France in September.

The first thing to go was the square headlight! Over the summer I bought a head light and brackets from Ebay for a reasonably cheap price. While I was stripping the front end down I fitted new fork seals, progressive springs and gaiters. Fitting the headlight bowl needed a lot of re-routing and tidying up of the dodgy wiring bodges the previous owners had inflicted on the bike.

 I then fitted some nice new black handle bars and brown grips which seem to work quite well.

I was going to buy a new set of indicators for the bike, but found the old ones from the CB-1 will do the job without spending loads on fancy LED ones. I also need to tidy up the back end wiring and lights as well. I should be going to Stafford at the weekend so hopefully get a front/rear mudguard/fender and possibly some kind of old rusty rear carrier while I'm there!

Finest green!!

The CB-1 passed its MOT with ease but started to run rough, it would start and tick over but as soon as the throttle was twisted it would start to die. Off with the carbs! Again!

At the bottom of the float bowls was a green sediment, probably from the tank that got disturbed when stripping the paint off. I poured 6 litres of cheap diet coke into the tank (make sure it's diet or you will end up with a sticky sugary mess inside your tank) and left it overnight to eat away all the crud inside the petrol tank. The next day I drained the coke out and rinsed the tank out with clean water then immediately with petrol. The tank is now spotless inside. I will never drink fizzy pop again!

When I took the bike for its MOT I was speaking to the garage owner who originally imported the bike and sold it to my brother. He stated that he always changed the pilot jets on import bikes as he never knew how long they had been stood unused. Even though I had used the ultra sonic cleaner on the jets and thought they were clean, when I bought new jets the difference in the size of the main hole running through the jet was huge! The pilot jets I fitted were N424-21-35.

Once the carbs were re-cleaned of finest green and new pilot jets fitted the bike started up straight away and is running better than ever!

Finished!!!!

YES as the title suggests the bike is finished!!

I have lacquered the tank in petrol resistant clear lacquer.

I have stripped and rebuilt the forks and fitted new seals as they were knackered! I used this useful website http://www.bluepoof.com/motorcycles/howto/svs_fork_oil/ It's for a SV650 but everything is mostly the same.

My good friend Duncan came round and welded some nuts to the inside of the frame so that I could attach a small aluminium tray under the seat to house the electrics.

As you can see in the picture below, you cannot even see the tray from the side.

I bought a small aluminium mudguard at the Stafford show earlier in the year and have just used the mounting bracket from the original front guard. I painted the bracket black and used 2 bolts to fix it to the mudguard. The small timing cover was flaking its silver paint and this has been painted black as well.
I fitted smaller indicators to the rear of the bike and these just bolted to existing holes in the side panels and wired up to the existing connectors.

I fitted a nice Hagon bar end mirror to finish the bike off and it actually works!

So this is the finished bike. I like to think it looks better than the dodgy photoshop picture that I posted in March. I have enjoyed re building the bike and now have a fun pocket rocket to ride around on.

A couple of Gritty B&W photos set in an urban industrial setting!!

I was first inspired to mildly customise this bike after seeing the UM-2 by Untitled Motorcycles - http://www.untitledmotorcycles.com/2011/03/um-2-photos-by-damian-mcfadde.html
Excellent bikes and useful tips on customising your bike.

I now have a BMW R80 and that will be the next project...

Paint stripper

A long overdue update. I have finally finished the seat unit. I kept having different ideas for the seat/back light arrangement, but I cannot weld so kept it simple with what you see below.

I have a large amount of aluminium offcuts from the Robot wars seat hump that was attached to the BMW in the previous post DISTRACTED. I made a few brackets to attach the VFR400 rear light to the seat cowling and fixed it together using 8mm bolts and lock nuts and then made 2 brackets to hold the cowling to the seat, I used the original seat mounting bolts that were already there, unfortunately I didn't take any close up shots. I then made a number plate holder that attaches to the bolts on the rear light. I didn't want any visible bolt heads on the cowling but like I said I can't weld so I will have to make do with 4 bolt heads showing!

Looks ok!

I then made a small bracket to attach the rear brake reservoir.

The tank is too blue, it needs to be silver!

Get the paint stripper out!!

I have never stripped paint off a tank before so I did some internet research to find the best way of doing it. It was either paint stripper or sanding it off. Both looked messy. Looking at various paint strippers on the market in the UK, it seemed that a lot of paint strippers have had a key ingredient removed to make them safer to use, thus making them useless. I found this paint stripper on ebay and it has the magic ingredient!

I first removed the filler cap and masked it off. I then donned a fetching pair of overalls, thick rubber gloves and safety glasses. Be warned, this stuff will burn if you get it on your skin.

Liberally spread the paint stripper over the tank and wait 10 to 15 minutes 

 It will then start to bubble! This isn't time lapse, it bubbles before your very eyes!

After about 15 minutes it looks like this!

 It took about 1 hour and 3 coats of paint stripper to get it fully stripped. I then buffed up the tank with a fine abrasive wheel attached to a drill to give it the brushed effect.

To put a sticker on or not! before I lacquer the tank.