The Twinstar Project

CALfeRacer said:
Sounds like I need to get the VIN verified for Vermont plates, so I might just suck it up, take a sick day, and go to the DMV to get CA plates.

You shouldn't have to, the VIN verification is only for 350cc+ bikes.
 
advCo said:
You shouldn't have to, the VIN verification is only for 350cc+ bikes.

That's what I thought, but I feel like I remember seeing somewhere that they changed it for out-of-staters. Worth a shot!
 
CALfeRacer said:
That's what I thought, but I feel like I remember seeing somewhere that they changed it for out-of-staters. Worth a shot!

I doubt it, the last one I did was less than a year ago for a KZ250, no issues for me whatsoever. I always just call them and get their value on the bike for the taxes, its pretty easy to get someone on the phone. They usually base the tax on NADA "good" value for the bike I believe. Usually costs me around $70
 
Got some work done tonight, I’m starting to get settled in the new garage. Main tasks were cleaning/painting some bits and extending the kickstand.
As it was, the kickstand was way too short and the bike felt like it was going to fall over. I decided to go for it with what I had around, which might not have been the best way. I just cut it and welded in a big bolt I had laying around from ??? On the bottom I drilled 3 holes and plug welded it, on the top I just welded the head to the stand since it was about the same size. It feels sturdy, and if it breaks I can always just try again . The bike sits at a much better angle now (see pic)
Other than that, just some rust cleanup and painting, only pic I snapped was of the plate mount.
Still need to get my shit together and apply for the registration, and will have to tackle side covers at some point. I have a couple bags of carbon laying around, but I don’t have enough experience with composites to be very confident. Then again I don’t want metal side covers right over my battery... more to come!
 

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Haven’t made much progress lately. Been using all my project time on a new hobby (guitar building) instead of the bikes. Last night I decided to work on side covers though, trying something new.
I didn’t want to make them out of sheet metal since the battery terminals are exposed and don’t want to risk making contact/shorting out. So I decided to try making them out of a sheet of plastic that was the “glass” on an IKEA poster frame which fell off my wall and broke. I made templates out of cardboard then scored the plastic with a razor blade to get a rough shape, and used a dremel to sand down to a final shape. To put bends in, I used a heat gun and the side of my work bench. The right cover (pictured) turned out really well! The left cover was much more complex, and I ended up cracking the plastic in a couple spots. I used gorilla tape to hold it together on the back, and I’m gonna try to use my soldering iron to melt it back together tonight.once they’re done I’ll scuff them up and put a coat of paint on.
I also need to decide how I’m going to mount them...
 

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Put the side covers on today. Not thrilled with the left one, but the right one came out good. I just sprayed them with some leftover blue paint I had laying around. Paint reacted weird in some spots, not sure why. I did also spend all of about 2 minutes prepping for paint though.
 

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Not so bad. Left side might look a little better with that bottom edge rounded instead of the sharp angle. The paint may have reacted with whatever is underneath...they would almost dissappear if painted black.
 
goldy said:
Not so bad. Left side might look a little better with that bottom edge rounded instead of the sharp angle. The paint may have reacted with whatever is underneath...they would almost dissappear if painted black.
Thanks! The left side is definitely going to need a re-do, it cracked in a couple spots when I was heating/bending it. That line on the bottom is basically just where the battery ends and then straight up along the line of the frame, I do like the idea of rounding it off though.
 
Ha-ha-ha! While I'm on a roll...there wouldn't be anything wrong with making a curved muffler bracket that would sweep in behind that shorty and hide the mounting arrangement.
 
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