Bikes at the Vehikel swap meet (March 2012)

I needed to get the BMW up to temperature to set the timing (see the previous blog post). At the moment the Vehikel swap meet is going on only a few minutes from my house (see my report from the Vehikel swap meet last December: Vehikel). I don't really need any parts and the entrance is quite expensive, so I just went there to have a look at the bikes parked outside.

Conditions were far from ideal, so the photo's aren't that great, but some of the bikes were really interesting:

The first one: Our Honda CX500 chopper project

I don't remember which one of use started all this, but years and years ago a friend of mine and me decided we wanted to have a go at customizing our own bike. Neither of us had any experience on pretty much anything related to working on bikes, thought Vincent had done some work on a few mopeds.

We wanted to build a chopper, because that looked like the most fun thing to build. Since it was going to be a chopper, we wanted a twin. The problem is: the risk of failure was certainly there, so it had to be really, really, really cheap. We found this Honda CX500:

No need to wonder why it was so cheap.....

Engine, wheels and frame were the only usable parts. Good, they were the only parts we needed.

My first bike is in the background. A Yamaha YZF750 R

This photo proves it: There are bikes out there that are ever uglier than the Virago we used for our second build.

Now we had a bike, we needed the basic tools no bike builder can do without: An Angle grinder and a welder.

Vincent doing some welding

Me doing some grinding

We started off with stripping it:

A naked CX. You can see why the frame feels like rubber when you ride a CX. 

All metal work was new to use, so making a suitable battery box took quite an effort:

Trying to look angry for that 'real bikers look'. Having a great time though. The welder in the left of the photo is probably the most crappy welder ever.

Crappy welder + no skills = A lot of finishing to do. We just started welding with the welder and invented how it works as we went along

The box has a pretty tight fit. The indentation leave just enough space for the air filters. I am proud of how it turned out.

I think we redid the forward controls about 3 times before we were happy with them:

Gear lever: start

Gear lever: Almost finished

The crude set up of the forward controls

I received a lot of questions about the rear fender. It is not a stock fender. I think it originally is a Harley fender, but we changed it quite a bit:

The fender was in a pretty bad shape, but we got it for free.

After a while, things started to take shape:

Cool moments while bike building: Trying out new parts (the tank in this case) and instantly realizing it looks exactly how you wanted it to look on the bike.

But new rear springs and a Kawasaki handle bar changed the look to the final look:

I et a lot of quisteions about the mufflers. I dont know where they are from, I just know they are made for a Harley. They work fine on the Honda too.

You can see the airfilters sticking out sideways here. we had to scratch that idea, it disrupted the airflow too much. We later also changed the tail light. We learned by trial and error and had a great time doing so.

The first test rides. Memorable moments in any bike build.

Usually I am way too big for bikes. On this one it doesn't look too bad.

Time for paint:

Painting is by far the most dreaded part of a bike build for me. 

And the final result:

As a first build, I think we were very successful in creating what we wanted: A styklish bike without going over the top. It got us both hooked on building bikes.

A list with most of the changes (I will have forgotten a few):

- Mustang tank (modified)

- Kawasaki handlebars

- Exhaust with H-box (home made)

- Harley Mufflers

- Ural seat

- Harley fenders (modified)

- Suzuki Savage rear suspention

- Heinkel (?) Headlight (modified)
- Headlight brackets (modified)

- Aftermarket tail light

- After market brake pump

- Emco air filters

- Old warm water bottle for cooling fluid

- Home made forward controls and linkage system

- Home made battery and electrics box

- electrics (modified)

- Handlebar mirror (home made)

- Frame (modified)

- Oil breather system (modified)

- Tank brackets (home made)

- Triple trees

- Risers

- Cockpit (home made)

- Tank and electrics box emblems (home made)

- And quite a few more mods, not all are visible.

First internatianal chopperstyle bling bling (but not so much....) bike show

It was a HUGHE success in my eyes. Chopperstyle is a closed Dutch low budget bike builders forum and we had a forum meeting yesterday. Most people I had already seen a few times before, but it was great too see some more faces behind the nicknames. And it was even better to see their creations in real live. Some creations made you wonder if the Dutch weed smoking laws might be a bit too soft ;). In short: People were great, bikes were great. Stayed a hell of a lot longer than I had planned to.

Anyway, here are some photo's. I will post some more in the coming days, but I'll have to spread it out over the comming days/weeks a bit or my photobucket account will max out again way before the end of the month.

The day ended with a spectacular thunderstorm:

More later.

Honda CJ360 brat jabjobshop

Chopperstyle is a closed Dutch forum for low budget bike builders. The closed part is on one hand a very good thing (it keeps out highway-hawk Harley riders), but on the other hand a shame. Some really, really nice bikes on there. Member Tim from Belgium has nearly finished his CJ360 and it is exquisite. Very stylish and very well build.

Ural by Saint Motorcycles

Sweet!!

Via PSB

JR'S SWEET R75/5

I don't do much reblogging. Most blogs I visit are much larger than mine, so I just assume that when I post something, you'll have seen it somewhere else already. But this time I'm making an exception for this BMW. I found it on the excellent Spanish El Solitarion MC blog and I love it. Subtle changes are sometimes so much more telling than radical rebuilds. This is what El Solitario has to say about the bike:

This runner sits proud and cheeky, kicking ass daily on Madrid's stop lights. JR is a big fan of the 75/5 and when he found this 1972 unit, he didn't think it twice before jumping on her. Originally a Belgium bike, was imported and registered in Spain under historic plates. Once resting in his garage, JR rushed to the grinders and shaved off the clumsy lookin subframe, adding the sweet "Speedster" tail that she irreverently shows off now. Other mods; are the lower shocks that balance the stance, blacked (Wassell style) ribbed fender, classic Ford Model A rear light in an upright position, custom seat, Firestone Deluxe Classics (400.19 on the front and 450.18 on the rear), Renthal MX bars, shortened pipes and a classy & well executed 2 tone paint to finish the deal.
As JR shouts:"... is not a bobber, not a chopper not a racer... its just a F***ing ROD BIKE that never rests!"