More Benelli Sei

Posted some pics of this bike a long time ago. Here are some more:

found some time

and made a headlight bracket. After getting used to it for a few minutes I decided it looks really cool. Would have been nice if the headlight would have been just a little bigger, but it isn't. The photo doesn't really do the headlight justice though.

I'll have to find a new master brake cylinder with an integrated brake light switch, than I'll be able to lower the light a bit further. 

That's it for now, back to the study....

Intermezzo

I've been very busy with my study the last couple of weeks and the next 4 weeks or so are going to be even worse. This means: no bike building, so no updates. In he mean time, check out this very nice blog:

520 chain cafe

Or get some inspiration from this:

Been to a swapmeet

Vehikel was in town again. Less sellers and even higher prices than last time. Some really interesting stuff to see though. I didn't bring my camera and I'll spare you from looking at my cell phone photo's. For a photo impression it's better to have a look at bubble visor's blog:

bubble visor

I did manage to find some useful stuff though. Found a starter solenoid and starter button for the Virago and hand grips and a headlight for the CB750. 

Exhausting

The CB has a big problem: The front fender can hit the exhaust when rinding over a bump or braking. I can tell you: It's pretty hard to kepe the shiny side up when it does that. So things needed to be changed. At first I planned on buying a 'new' exhaust, like this one:

But it seems people want money for stuff like that and I don't like to spend money when I don't have to. So I decided to take a piece out of the exhaust that came with the bike. So I started measuring

and cutting

and welding. The fender just stays clear of the exhaust now. 

This is under braking, you can see the front and the exhaust going really low, but not touching anything. Now I need to recondition the forks, there's so much oil coming past the seals that even BP would be embarrassed. Another for somewhere in the near future: Try to lose a few decibels in the exhaust. Sounds great though, like half of this province will have heard ;)

Making friends with the neighbours

Or maybe not.... Modified one of the Virago's mufflers to look and sound cool on the CB. Certainly sounds cool enough now. And everybody in a large radius around my garden can probably give you an opinion about the sounds. Not too sure they'll all be very positive though....

Been riding, again

For a whole 5 meters or so :D. This time not on the cb, but on the XV. It was a short ride, we had some trouble with the carb, in the end it turned on of the vacuum hoses had come off. But hey, it runs! And the idling sounds is incredible. Some cool fireworks too!

Don't forget to watch it till the last second ;)

I've been riding

On the CB that is. Removed the top fairing + bracket, adjusted the clip ons and kicked it too life. I only did a couple of hundred meters, just to check the gearbox. The chain is still too long (too loose) and I ran straight into a problem. I already was afraid it would happen (or better put: I knew it would happen): The front dives under braking, the front wheel gets closer to the frame and gets stuck in between the exhaust pipes. Bummer. I want to keep the front this low, So I'll think I'll mount the CB750 forks that came with the triple tree, make them a little shorter and beef 'm up.

I just love the aggressive stance with the low front:

But I also managed to get a new research for my study. I'm really excited about the subject, but it also means I'll have to work really hard the next 6 weeks. There won't be many updates on this site, sorry. The good news is: We'll be working on the Virago again tonight.

Back on two wheels

Received the necessary parts yesterday, finally. Took a break from studying and put the forks back on the bike. The difference is instantly noticeable: It's so much smoother with the new bearings. Also raised the back of the fairing a bit. On one hand it looks better, it's nicely in line with the bottom of the tank. On the other hand: I can only do this by putting the fairing on top of the fairing frame, that'll be visible.  I can live with that, but worse is that I'll have to raise the clip ons even further up than on this photo. I'm not so sure I can live with that. It'll lessen the 'sportiness' of the bike and I don't think it'll look very good.

hmmm.

Virago update

It's been a while, I know, but we finally found some time again to work on the Virago while the CB 750 is still sitting in the backyard, waiting for parts.

Last time the bike wouldn't start, the starter motor just wouldn't turn over. We figured out it had to be the starter relais, so this time I brought a new one. I hooked it up while the bike was sitting in on the work table and hit the starter button: It worked. So after quite a bit of effort we had the bike of the table and outside so we wouldn't fill the shed with exhaust fumes and tried to start it. You guessed it right: Nothing. Just a ticking sound from the relais. It took us a pretty long time to figure out what the problem was: The side stand is too long, so we use a block of wood under the forward controls to park the bike. It turns out that the weight of the bike slightly rotates the forward controls causing the bracket for the brake pump on the forward controls to short circuit the wire to the starter motor... Anyway: It starts and it runs. We need to fine tune the carb, but this is enough for now. Next time we'll start on making a new wiring loom.