Taking Shape

This week I received two important parts to making significant progress on the bike - the new tail section and the new tail light assembly.

As you can imagine I was very excited to get back into the shop and see how these parts fit onto the bike.  I also wanted to get the throttle rebuilt and finish off the handlebars.  Unfortunately, I also needed to go into work on Saturday, so I only had a few hours to get things done.

In order to start mocking up the new tail section I first needed to remove the old seat.  This was relatively simple.  The seat unlocks from the right side of the bike (the side with the brake controls) and opens like the lid of a trunk, with the hinge on the opposite side of the bike.  From there one removes the pins holding the hinge together and the seat lifts off.

I was eager to see how the bike would look with the new tail section and I wanted to know what issues I would have when it was time to attach the new tail section to the bike.  The first problem was anticipated and obvious.  The old tail light had to go.

I started looking for the bolts which held the tail light in place and also started looking for the wires that needed to be unplugged.  It turned out that those were under the seat, so I had to work the wiring back out through the back fender to get the tail light completely unhooked.

Once the tail light was gone the new tail section rested on the bike perfectly.  For the first time the new profile of the bike came into focus.

Like much of the chrome on the bike, the rear fender was a little tarnished.  Having already removed the tail light I knew it would be easy to unbolt the rear fender and give it a bit of attention.  This is how it looked when I first removed it:

I did two things to refurbish the fender.  First I took a little WD-40 and steel wool to clean up the chrome.  Next I used the sand blaster to get rid of the corrosion on the inside of the fender.  I then placed the fender back on the bike and took another picture.  This time you could see my reflection in it.

We don't know yet whether we're going to keep the fender as it is or cut it to a new shape.  We probably need to keep a portion of the fender in order to properly mount the new tail light (another fabrication issue that requires some careful consideration).  But right now the fender doesn't fit the overall flow of the bike's profile very well.

Another issue is the new tail section's interaction with the rear blinkers.  At this point it looks like the blinkers have to be removed in order for the new tail section to fit properly.  This actually works to make attaching the tail section easier, as it provides mounting points where the blinkers are now.  The problem is that if the rear blinkers are removed then the front blinkers must also be removed in order to pass inspection (no blinkers is ok, half of them is not ok).  The front blinkers are attached to a post which is welded to the frame, and we had hoped to avoid cutting the frame.

This is an interesting portion of the project.  There are several potential solutions to the fabrication hurdles, and we have to determine which is the most appropriate.  I have a feeling that much of the time spent on this project in the near future will involve sitting and staring and occasionally moving a couple of things around.  We haven't yet made any final decisions regarding final fabrication.

We had a little bit of time after working on the rear fender so we re-built the throttle.  Unfortunately we ran out of time before we could slip on the new grip and mirror.  This did not stop me from convincing Megan to take a few pictures of me sitting on the bike with the new tail section.

I am very excited about the overall look of the bike and the new riding position is frankly ideal.  I have always been excited to see how this bike would finally look, but now I am equally excited to find out how this bike finally rides.