.Spindat.
Active Member
Hey Everyone,
My name is Eric Spinney, I would have started out in the new member forum but I am just going to dive in head first here to document my build from start to well... where it is now.
Let me just start out by saying my mechanical skills stems from my interest in all things Volkswagen, I have loved motorbikes forever but only got one this past year and itched to make it my own.
My Corrado for interests sake:
Anyway, right, lets continue. A friend began a family which in return made his gain also I loss. But for me, a good foot into the door of cafe modifying my first bike.
A 79 XS400 in great mechanical condition with all very clean parts on it.
The first thing I knew I wanted to change was the bars. They had to go.
Next up, I knew I would never be happy with only one part changed out. It had to have a cafe seat pan, but I am very cheap and wasn't about to go an buy one that was already made. When a friend decided to change direction with his cafe project I jumped at a seat pan he had tacked up a bit and finished it the way I saw fit. Here is what it looked like when I got my mitts on it.
I knew it was not going to be a perfect fit and frame cutting and changing the pan up was going to have to take place, but here are some mach ups that I was going through as the project unfolded.
As you can see I had originally carved some high density foam into shape to fill that 90o angle and I thought it would be okay for a bit..
So now that I knew how everything was going to mount onto the bike, it was time to pick a new colour. I had always loved cream colours with brown accents all around so it only made sense for me to do it to my own stuff.
I wet sanded, polished and waxed the tank, and seat. i never did get to put any real good time into the side covers. I guess I didn't care enough at the time, and am too broke to do anything about it now. But the tank and seat took away from it enough that people never mentioned the shauty work on the side covers.
So I decided to take up sewing and make a seat cover for my foam piece, but it ended up looking like this..
Gross.
So new plan, I welded some more pieces to the pan and picked a new type of thin foam to get covered. Here is the completed (unpainted) pan mounted to the bike.
I had to figure out my mounting for all the lights on the seat, and it was simple. Small turn signals on the side and a tiny tail light. Only had to drill 5 small holes.
Installed:
Maiden Voyage, I was very happy at how comfortable it positioned me:
I brought it to work and wrapped the pipes (it was free), but I don't have any pictures of the header wrap on. But here is a picture of it at the shop at work!
Since all of this I have taken it to our local road race track;
And camping at Digby Warfe Rat Rally;
So that is where it is at now! Of course I have plans for this winter but I'll just try and keep everyone posted as I go. I might even pick up something else for a grand project and leave this be.
Look forward to getting to know everyone!
My name is Eric Spinney, I would have started out in the new member forum but I am just going to dive in head first here to document my build from start to well... where it is now.
Let me just start out by saying my mechanical skills stems from my interest in all things Volkswagen, I have loved motorbikes forever but only got one this past year and itched to make it my own.
My Corrado for interests sake:
Anyway, right, lets continue. A friend began a family which in return made his gain also I loss. But for me, a good foot into the door of cafe modifying my first bike.
A 79 XS400 in great mechanical condition with all very clean parts on it.
The first thing I knew I wanted to change was the bars. They had to go.
Next up, I knew I would never be happy with only one part changed out. It had to have a cafe seat pan, but I am very cheap and wasn't about to go an buy one that was already made. When a friend decided to change direction with his cafe project I jumped at a seat pan he had tacked up a bit and finished it the way I saw fit. Here is what it looked like when I got my mitts on it.
I knew it was not going to be a perfect fit and frame cutting and changing the pan up was going to have to take place, but here are some mach ups that I was going through as the project unfolded.
As you can see I had originally carved some high density foam into shape to fill that 90o angle and I thought it would be okay for a bit..
So now that I knew how everything was going to mount onto the bike, it was time to pick a new colour. I had always loved cream colours with brown accents all around so it only made sense for me to do it to my own stuff.
I wet sanded, polished and waxed the tank, and seat. i never did get to put any real good time into the side covers. I guess I didn't care enough at the time, and am too broke to do anything about it now. But the tank and seat took away from it enough that people never mentioned the shauty work on the side covers.
So I decided to take up sewing and make a seat cover for my foam piece, but it ended up looking like this..
Gross.
So new plan, I welded some more pieces to the pan and picked a new type of thin foam to get covered. Here is the completed (unpainted) pan mounted to the bike.
I had to figure out my mounting for all the lights on the seat, and it was simple. Small turn signals on the side and a tiny tail light. Only had to drill 5 small holes.
Installed:
Maiden Voyage, I was very happy at how comfortable it positioned me:
I brought it to work and wrapped the pipes (it was free), but I don't have any pictures of the header wrap on. But here is a picture of it at the shop at work!
Since all of this I have taken it to our local road race track;
And camping at Digby Warfe Rat Rally;
So that is where it is at now! Of course I have plans for this winter but I'll just try and keep everyone posted as I go. I might even pick up something else for a grand project and leave this be.
Look forward to getting to know everyone!