Swiss Cheese

Well after getting my knuckles wrapped by my mate Rob who'd sold me the bike originally, and getting some very polite and constructive feedback from the fellas on XS650.com, it was obvious the taillight assembly had to be re-located.

Truth be told I was pretty hasty with where I had originally mounted last weekend, with my wanting to smash it off with my boots everytime I walked past it in the living room!

Unfortunately my ballsup has left me with a fender that resembles Swiss Cheese. I'm proud to say that I'm probably the best person I know when it comes to making holes in perfectly good metal, however, I'm not so good at repairing them.

I'm really very happy with how it looks now, with the lines of the bike remaining relatively undisturbed.

Stay put!

After test fitting my 7 Metal West ribbed front fender on both Harley Sportster and the original XS650 fender stays, it was clear that I needed to construct my own to minimise the clearance between the top of the tyre and fender.

One of the challenges that I faced was that the ribbed fender didn't have the same radius as my 19" wheel and Firestone tyre combo. I decided that trying to position the fender so that the gap was smaller at the front than at the rear duck tail would be the best compromise.

Having a front fender is another strict regulation enforced within Australia, which is why I have to run one whether it looks good or not!

The pics below show the trial mock up, with my still needing to radius the sharp edges.

Regs and rules, rules and regs

Living in this fine state of NSW throws up many a drama when it comes to building a project such as this. As much as I wanted to side mount the taillight and licence plate, it would be asking for a whole lot of trouble from the local constabulary.

One of the painful rules and regulations includes having to mount the taillight dead centre of the rear fender. Unfortunately it does ruin the lines of the ass end, however, I'm making the best of a crap situation.

I went with the "Black Beauty" taillight because it has a Bates style appearance similar to the main headlight. It's also a cool design that is adjustable.

I now intended to keep the blinkers in the general vicinity of the rear lamp so that I could minimise the running of wiring all over the place, and to also help keep following drivers focused upon a single region of the bike.

To do this I simply welded on a steel tube with suitable threads to allow the blinkers to screw in neatly, hiding the wiring in the process.

The wiring will be fed within the fender's rib keeping a good clean appearance.

One of the things that bugged me was the way I rushed mounting the fender stay last week, so today I remounted it so it is more perpendicular to the ground. I'll have to fill in the left over holes as a result.

70's effect

The urge to stuff around with the shots I'd taken yesterday was too strong.

Since the pics where taken within the neighbourhood that I grew up in during the 1970's, and the fact that my bike is a 1975 year model, I thought a 70's treatment would be appropriate.

Glamour shots (progress)

As promised during yesterday's post, I managed to find a few moments to take a few in-progress "glamour" shots, prior to tearing it down for the remainder of the project.