[yantosh]

they're not very pretty, but they're not paid to be pretty.... they're paid to get the job done

 

[yantosh]

flats milled, spacers split , tails mounted on the jig

the other end needs to centralised , but that's for another day

 

[yantosh]

started glueing it together , i'll get a bit more done tomorrow, need to pop the wheel in and see where I can put bracing tubes , no, i still don't weld like Spondon, but I think it'll look cool enough when done

 

[yantosh]

glued together, no bearings, wrong spindles ,etc, but i like it

 

[yantosh]

my plan when making the arm had been to tack the brace on, bring it to the bike, check everything cleared...yadda yadda yadda .... but i'm a dick'ead..... so i just welded it on , as you do

soon as i'd finished welding the brace i thought , "that looks a bit low" ..."bet that interferes with the chain run" .... well guess what .... I was fuckin right , bugger

not to worry, once the wheel is centred and the shocks are on i'll modify it to suit , tell everyone it was a fancy design feature

 

[yantosh]

The stock , newer CB seat I cut up to make fit... it's been fucked off, and it's taken with it any notion of this bike having two seats , i'm really not a 2 seat kinda person

kinda mocked up where I want the tail to be, still want the big red baboon arse that it came with , and without any further ado, proceeded to hacksaw some more of the frame off

 

[yantosh]

i'd made the shock mounts to keep the arm at the stock angle, but the subframe rails are just too low, looks shit , so off with the top mounts and start again....

a quite fortuitous decision it would turn out, as the inside of the old mount was solid with rust, Honda only half welded the tube on, and the tube was rusted right through

to be fair, the shock mount plates would have held it all fine..... but still

so a piece of the top rail i'd just sliced off was drafted in to replace the amputated section, a bone graft if you like

left hand side was rusty, but still solid

 

[yantosh]

Mr angle grinder had a word with the plastic tail piece , and the excess material was convinced to move on , might be noticeable from the pics, this'll make it easier to fit a seat base , and means it can be slotted over the frame rails . The original mounting bracket was slotted to allow it to be manipulated into shape (forgot a pic) , then it was tacked onto the frame, the bike is starting to show it's self

without top shock mounts it can't be rolled outside , so they are next weeks task, tomorrows task being the making of templates

 

[yantosh]

stuck the two side panels on today ..... they're just to wide, i like the slim look of the rails and don't want a big fat seat. The panels at the front can come in a little,but no too much , or they'll hit the carbs, but the back can come in plenty. What I don't want is flat ally panels, much loved by 90's chopper builders, looks shit ...... I want to keep the CB650'ness of it , albeit BFT'd , the plan as it stands is to use the originals as bucks and pull a couple of glass replica's, they can be cut , shut and abused and once i'm happy break out the carbon fibre

templates have been drawn up for the top shock mounts, once they are tacked on i can drag it out for a view from afar

and i've started on a to do list.... I love a list

 

[yantosh]

frames for the top shock mounts machined up, friend is doing the spindles, i want big radii on them for strength, and quite frankly he's better at that than me

yes these are quite skeletal, but i'm banking on 12mm ( 0.472 freedom units) thick being strong enough

 

[shinyribs]

Well, that's just cool 😎 👍👍

 

[yantosh]

i take no credit for the spindles, all i did was draw them

by the weekend i should be able to have it on its feet

 

[yantosh]

managed to get a rear spindle nut made up today , stainless

I'd do more tonight, but there is a wee dram needing my attention

 

[yantosh]

bent up a cross piece and tacked the rear shock mounts on, I don't have the proper die's for 20mm tube, so it has squashed a couple of bits, once the frame is stripped i'll braze up the little flats and make it nice . Triangulation tubes will come off this bit too

 

[yantosh]

it is kinda hanging together, lack of rear wheel spacers don't help when pushing it, but it made it outside for a photo, and a sweep of the shed floor

side stand is now a smidge short and the centre stand is a waste of time, for by the fact it won't fold up anymore due to brace , but it'll stay on until it isn't needed anymore

changed my mind on the side panels, the width balances out the width of the top shock mounts

no photo from the rear, lack of spacers has the wheel lying all over the place , looks terrible , looking at it upsets my happiness

 

[yantosh]

new centre for the rear disc , space it out 6mm

and started machining the disc to suit it


and no, that's not the mill table i'm machining into, before anyone gets apoplectic

 

[yantosh]

that's the spindle, spacers, nuts, disc pretty much good to go. one of the spacers is temporary, it'll be replaced with the caliper hanger

 

[yantosh]

disc back in one piece , caliper fits and doesn't hit the spokes

and the wheel fits, and spins nice

 

[yantosh]

the spindle ends are too long just now, but they can stay that way for now. I turned one end a little, so as not to damage the thread when chapping it in or out

caliper hanger is next on the list, It'll need to be steel, not enough space for an alloy one

 

[yantosh]

that bit where i said i'd make the caliper hanger from steel.... yeah.... that never happened , it's a back brake, ally will be fine. It needs a little tweaking, but it'll work just fine