July 2016 BOTM Voting

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  • Total voters
    72
  • Poll closed .

Tim

Administrator
Staff member
Vote! Builders post up your stories and pics! If you want the poll photo changed let me know.
 
Tough month for sure. These two are both amazing caliber builds!
 
What about the Upstate Scrambler?
Cb350 Tracker / Scrambler - The UpstateScrambler

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So..what to say. I’d owned a few motorcycles before this, all of which never needed anything more than an oil change and a carb cleaning. “Luna” is my first go at a custom rebuild from a non-running bike. We all know the 360 as the cliché “café racer,” so naturally when I happened upon this one it just made sense - easily available parts and plenty of guys on here who know all sorts of awesome shit about the 360 (you guys know who you are). I have somewhat of a mechanical background, but I had never fabricated any working parts, especially for use on a street legal vehicle. With not much more than a service manual, some wrenches, and a 10’ x 12’ shed (built solely to build this motorcycle in, ha!), I dove in way over my head, threw away parts before I knew what I needed and started to make mistakes.

Before I dug in:
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The 10' x 12' box got pretty crowded:

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Over 800 hours later, I’d learned to weld, built custom pipes, tore down/rebuilt the engine without losing too many parts, managed to fabricate a seat and fenders from scratch with foam and fiberglass, and reconfigure just about all of the necessary parts for a functional motorbike. I won't get in to the nitty gritty, but its all floating around in the thread here. Whew.

The motor was rebuilt for learning purposes and to check general health, and after a little of crazyPJs voodoo she came alive again, just in time for winter. The beginning of this season has been dedicated to finally figuring out how the hell to get this thing setup after a rebuild, breaking in the tires and finally hitting some twisties. I will admit, I'm no motorcycle builder or mechanic by any means, and I'm definitely still working out a couple kinks...but there's not much better feeling than rolling something you've built yourself out of the shed and riding around town. With a little bit of time and a lot of help from the DTT community, this build has been possible and I couldn't be happier with it.

So thank you guys, and now I won't waste any more of your time with words...

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This month is really tough, two deserving builds with innovation, skill and technique all apparent. I'm black n blue beating myself up to make a decision ;) Black or blue, black or blue???

Done...respect to both builders.
 
Wow. Only two bikes this month, but I have some tough competition. That's a great 360.

I'll try to keep this brief, and only hit the highlights. As you can see, I really try to hand-make as much as possible in house. Thanks!

The Upstate Scrambler started as a bone-stock cb350. While it was almost 100% original, almost every part on the bike was rusted, rotted or dented. The left cylinder had virtually no compression, and I was told that it hadn't run in 20 years. Once it was home I stripped it down and began the design process. This was a customer build so I started by finding out where he would be riding, and what he needed in a bike. He originally was looking for a full café racer build with low bars, thin seat and the iconic seat hump. But, then we started talking about the 33 acres of land that he has in Cape Cod with winding gravel roads. I told him that I could build him a dual purpose bike that had the aesthetic feel of a café racer, but could be drive in town or hammered down back roads. He gave the nod of approval and work began.



I started off by removing the stamped steel subframe and building a new one from 1" tube along with new shock mounts. The new subframe sweeps up a bit from stock which allows me to run longer shocks without pitching the bike foreword lowering the trail numbers. Next came the brushed aluminum battery box.




This bike would get all handmade bodywork. I made some quick half-bucks from foam to get a visual of the general shapes. The rear tail and front fender would be aluminum for corrosion resistance in case of rock chips, and the tank from steel for durability against vibration.







The wheels were re-laced with wider rims, and the front was converted to 19" for better stability on sketchy roads. The exhaust was hand built from 304 stainless with a cone engineering muffler. The engine was torn down for a top end rebuild.





Some other little details:







This is getting long... so I'll skip to the final product.









Thank you for the consideration!
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
Nice work man. I struggle with the void in the middle, but the work is undeniable.

Thank you.

The void isn't really my preference either. Building bikes for customers is great because I get to build more bikes than if I was just self-funding, but you don't always get things 100% your way.

I'll be focusing on my xs650 build now, all done to my taste. I think that you'll like the outcome there.
 
Its just I got a soft spot for the "average joe build" of adventurco. I can relate to a guy w limited tools, experience and budget. Following along with that "average joe" as he learns, both failures and triumphs and to finish out something as nice as adverturco has, Its an impressive build for a bike built at home. Both learning and taking the time to share some pretty cool hand built custom stuff. Pretty cool shit.

Pics I think he should shared here.

Building his very own custom LED tail light. Pretty neat stuff.

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And yes, no denying Ncologerojr did an awesome job. Has shown he cares more about the build than run of the mill pro builder. It shouldnt always be about bottom line profit. And thats cool too. 8)
 
I left this vote up to the mrs. (well, technically still the ms.), because i couldnt decide. great bikes both of you!
 
trek97 said:
Its just I got a soft spot for the "average joe build" of adventurco. I can relate to a guy w limited tools, experience and budget. Following along with that "average joe" as he learns, both failures and triumphs and to finish out something as nice as adverturco has, Its an impressive build for a bike built at home. Both learning and taking the time to share some pretty cool hand built custom stuff. Pretty cool shit.

Thanks man, I really appreciate it. I suppose I should have showed more of the process, since that's what it's all about eh? The backyard build was frustrating, dragging out the generator to weld, painting in terrible conditions, etc. But to me it makes it that much more a labor of love than anything.

Cheers


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As much as I love Luna....the handmade bodywork swings it on this one for me!

Both bikes are fantastic!
 
trek97 said:
And yes, no denying Ncologerojr did an awesome job. Has shown he cares more about the build than run of the mill pro builder. It shouldnt always be about bottom line profit. And thats cool too. 8)

Thank you, I appreciate it. But, I think referring to me as a "pro builder" is an insult to the real pros out there.

I still make plenty of mistakes.




Adventurco built a great bike, especially for his limited experience. My first bike posted on the DTT forums was built in a pop-up garage with a generator fed welder.



I remember how good it felt to roll that thing out of the little tent and down the road. Adventurco got my vote.
 
ncologerojr said:
I remember how good it felt to roll that thing out of the little tent and down the road. Adventurco got my vote.

Very sporting of you sir!



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ncologerojr said:
Thank you, I appreciate it. But, I think referring to me as a "pro builder" is an insult to the real pros out there.

I still make plenty of mistakes.




Adventurco built a great bike, especially for his limited experience. My first bike posted on the DTT forums was built in a pop-up garage with a generator fed welder.

Thank you sir. And by gosh that's one impressive pile of mistakes


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