Down under, an idiot and a 400F

The Duc is the best choice for both esthetics and function.

Look at the difference in mid pipe angle, I think you could of put a few more deg in that last bend.

Good point. I have some angle flex in the collector so might play around with it a bit today and see if I can get a more acute upsweep angle and see what that looks like.

Measured the length of the hanger from the turn signal mount and it was 235mm which is a little shorter than it looks if you ask me. Still a reasonable length though, so let me play around with some options:



Obviously if I can get that hanger length down to 150mm or close that should be much sturdier.

Pipes are looking very nice! My 2 cents: I think I would shorten up the over all length a bit. Those cans are very large visually and make the bike look stern heavy. My rule of thumb is to not carry the pipes any farther back than where they cross the back of the rear rim. I think the angle is fine, but it would be very helpful to see the bike on its feet, angled on a stand like that make a big difference. You could consider making the mounts on the pipes instead of the mufflers. Then you could have a shorter, stronger strut with less visual impact down near the foot pegs. Personally, I don't mind a big beefy strut like a frame component a la Ducati. If you are determined to re think your tail section, I suggest taking your styling cues from the tank. Making a tail from the back of a duplicate gas tank invariably looks good for a reason. Not suggesting you do that, but mimicking the general shape, contours and body lines of the rest of the bodywork on your bike will go a long way toward getting you an integrated, matching "factory" look. The only thing wrong with the one you have now is that is doesn't match the rest of the bike that well. Alternatively, you could build a tank to match!

So I thought I would play around with the pipe angle to test the potential options and also see if I can shorten up the required muffler hanger. To do it reliably on each side I cut up some internal wall strap as it happened to have a hole gap of 240mm plus a few holes in between that I could test different options too:



So I used the last 3 holes (8, 7 and 6). Hole 8 being 240mm.

Hole 8 (current setup):



Hole 7:



Hole 6:



Initial thoughts are that I like the 6 from the side, as the mid pipe placement is much better as it matches the angles on the frame rails. However I prefer 7 for the angle of the exhausts, they are too high out the rear on 6. However I think both are an improvement on 8 and should mean the stiffness of the hanger will be easier to achieve given the reduction in leverage on a shorter arm. Few more pics of 6:





170mm with 6, so I suspect 7 is 200mm:



Thinking about the bikes final look (thanks for the tip jpmobius) I decided to take it off the stand so I could see what the stance was in reality. This is pretty close (with a 20kg bag of sand to help weigh the rear down as if the motor was full of parts), but my tyres are a little low in air after 5 years of doing nothing, so I'm probably 25mm too low here, plus I have another inch or so in the forks too). I'm really liking the stance when it's dropped on the floor and even with the mufflers at 6, it's a nice look all round:









Did a video of a walkaround as its hard to capture the bike as a whole with just pictures:

http://youtu.be/IePHLHiQZoc

Pipes look good but I see what you mean about the angles. How about having a cone rolled to make silencers look like they extend to the last bend? It would totally change the look.
The walk around gives a better idea of how it looks, rear view is impressive and from top front it looks fantastic

Top front is the one eh! Looks amazing from that angle.

I'm going to let the angles sit for a bit and see if they grow on me. Actually I think the thing that's letting the package down the most at the moment is the seat hump, so I need to come up with a decent solution there before I settle on the exhausts.

Need to add a metal brake to the garage and get making a new seat. Excuse to buy another tool too

Yep, looks dead cool with those silencers tucked in and pretty much parallel to bike. Reminds me of Norton Commando picture I once saw of the street legal drag bike, looked like a bog stock 850 but 'different'

Maybe you should change some more things so you have to buy more tools.

Tyres were really flat. Put 34 psi in and now I have the following front and rear clearance on forks and shock; 110mm & 120mm

Ground clearance to exhaust is 150mm

irk miller said:

Maybe you should change some more things so you have to buy more tools.

Click to expand...

That is an excellent idea!

I agree, the walk around is looking great, maybe an inch or so shorter going into the cans.

If they were just shorter it'd be fantastic.

Too long for my taste but looking better.

Looking really good now, but as the other guys said, the cans could be mounted much further forwards for a more compact look. I'd be tempted to have them under the footpeg brackets, but if you prefer long pipes, then move them about 6 inches forwards.

Good to hear that watermelon seat will be changed for something that better matches the angularity of the tank.

Trying to play around with the seat on my phone and seeing what a more sleek rear hump would look like. Very rough but it looks like something like this would be a significant improvement:

Just gonna leave this: here and :-X

Much better. Now shorten the pipes a touch.

I'd like to see really short pipes under the pegs but I think it might make the bike look short and tall and the longer pipes tend to stretch the image a little.

Yep tune nailed it with that sketch. The seat should really reflect the angular lines on the 400f tank, thats part of what makes these bikes so recognizable. Its almost a copy/paste the back 1/3 of the tank and scale it down a bit to fit on the tail.

Edit: looks like thats exactly what he did ;D

advCo said:

Yep tune nailed it with that sketch. The seat should really reflect the angular lines on the 400f tank, thats part of what makes these bikes so recognizable. Its almost a copy/paste the back 1/3 of the tank and scale it down a bit to fit on the tail.

Edit: looks like thats exactly what he did ;D

Click to expand...

Eye did just that, snipped the tank and dropped in on in paint

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Tune-A-Fish said:

Just gonna leave this: here and :-X

Click to expand...

I'll definitely have a crack at making a tail like that too, much easier than a compound curve given the flat angles. Thanks for the effort to give me some direction. Will have a go at making yours and also my new rounded one, then we can all compare.

If I'm honest I'm not a huge fan of square seats but given the shape of the tank it makes sense to have a go at least. Might see if I can replicate in cardboard and steel first vs 100% steel to make my life a little easier.

Also your reco to put the exhaust hanger mount in the old shock mount position is super slick. I really like it and it means I can get enough plate in there to not only have a stable base for the hanger, but can weld in the plate on the inside and have the hanger attach and have it flush with the tube for the frame. Love it!