$50 mod thread

V-V-V-Vvviiiibrations!!!!!

Are your hands going numb after a few otherwise pleasurable miles on your hack of choice?
There are a few things you can do to tame the vibrations that you're more than likely dealing with right now.

Bars:
You've decided to stick with some form of handlebars, either because of necessity (clip-ons can be spendy) or taste...but your digits go all tingly after a couple dashes though your favorite canyon. If your bars are one piece ie; drag bars, superbike bars and even apes, you have a couple areas to pay attention to.
1) Check your mounts. If you have rubber isolated risers, check those donuts and replace worn or damaged parts as needed.
2) Weights. Seems simple, but the addition of bar end weights from just about any modern bike will help the situation by changing the assemblies resonant frequency (what RPM it's going to shake the worst at).
3) Fill. Try filling your hollow bars with something like birdshot or copper BBs. This will also go miles toward moving the worst of the vibrations out of the bandwidth or normal use, meaning that perhaps they still shake at idle and above 9krpm but from off idle up to that point they will be much smoother on the old paws. I've known some crafty guys who've gone so far as to fill their bars with BBs then go back and backfill the entire bar/BB combo with silicone caulk. I didn't ride that bike but I've heard that it's very nice on the hands.
4) Grips. Looks at most old school (as they pertain to us) race or cafe bikes and you're likely to see similarly old school puffy grips. Adding a bit of cush at the grip is a good way to ease the buzz......and they look cool. You now have a number of color choices including some neat two tones I've seen lately.

I've done all the above (except the caulk) on several of my bikes that are equipped with bars and they work well.

Clip-ons

The same approach can be taken with your clip-ons though probably not to the extent above. However, it will still help.
In the case of these Tomaselli adjustables, there's not much room for fill but one can still manage a nice chubby bar end weight and puffy grips.
 
JRK, I put your epoxy paint to the test last night and it turned out great. Shot my CL450 frame and swing arm. I had a couple small spots bubble on me, but it looks like it was the metal below and not the paint.

Came home for lunch to check it out. It's got a nice, thick gloss finish on it.
 
Here is a super easy and environmentally safe way to clean a rusty tank. Now I said it was environmentally safe. that doesn't mean there isn't some danger here so use common sense and do this outside.

Total cost if you have to buy a manual charger is about $40-$50 (i got mine at sears for $30)

Hey,

I have a really easy, Cheap and effective method of cleaning a tank and when your done you can pour it out on the ground and not get arrested!

Another one off the internet, I've tried it and it works!

Electrolosys of water

Basically, you fill your tank with white vinegar and water (maybe a little salt) you add a steel rod to the tank hook it up to a MANUAL battery charger and you essentially elctroplate your steel rod with the rust in your tank.

The Steel rod must be taped so that bare metal doesn't touch the tank anywhere I used a piece of rebar taped where needed with electrical tape. I would imagine stainless would work even better. You fill the tank with a water/vinegar solution (60/40 should do) then hook up a MANUAL battery charger at somewhere between 6 and 12 amps, negative to the steel rod and positive to the tank( iused the tank mount bracket). let that cook for a while, an hour to two plus depending on how bad your tank is and your amperage, It is best to do it a slower (less amperage pace) DO THIS OUTSIDE OR IN A WELL VENTILLATED AREA as this process creates a toxic gas. You will see it frothing and bubbling etc. after a while dump out the solution (its just vinegar and salt) and check it. repeat as needed. If your tank is deeply pitted you probably won't get rid of all the rust but you probably will make the tank usefull again.

I have done this several times and have been amazed at the results!
 
i was standing at the bench grinder today running the sprocket nuts and disc bolts throught the wire wheel getting the rust off in prep for reassembly and thought why am i doing this they're just gonna rust again. The I looked up and saw my gun cleaning kit and flashed on gun bluing, it coats and seal gun barrels why not nuts and bolts???? So i tried it and they came out great. I don't know how long they will last on a bike but anything is better than the usual flash rust we get here in Florida or the expense of stainless hardware. I tried to take some pics but my cheapo camera wouldn't focus that close, but try it and see for yourself.

Terry
J'ville, Fl.
 
Terry said:
i was standing at the bench grinder today running the sprocket nuts and disc bolts throught the wire wheel getting the rust off in prep for reassembly and thought why am i doing this they're just gonna rust again. The I looked up and saw my gun cleaning kit and flashed on gun bluing, it coats and seal gun barrels why not nuts and bolts???? So i tried it and they came out great. I don't know how long they will last on a bike but anything is better than the usual flash rust we get here in Florida or the expense of stainless hardware. I tried to take some pics but my cheapo camera wouldn't focus that close, but try it and see for yourself.

Terry
J'ville, Fl.

ha, i thought about this the other day. i just put my nipples in laquer. uhh, i mean. well yeah i dipped them in laquer. figure it will keep em sealed for a bit. ill post photos when i get near a computer and a camera at the same time
 
dcmspikes said:
ha, i thought about this the other day. i just put my nipples in laquer. uhh, i mean. well yeah i dipped them in laquer. figure it will keep em sealed for a bit. ill post photos when i get near a computer and a camera at the same time

I had to double-take while reading this post :p
 
huh huh.... They said nuts and nipples... huh huh.... ;D I heart big nipples.

loudest143
*that boy's not right.
 
free 'bar end' mirrors

Don't know if this makes the grade or not, so if it's too lame the moderator can delete and it won't offend me!

You don't want those crazy big stock mirrors ruining the lines of your bike, but you haven't got your bar end mirrors yet... just take off your stockers, swap sides and screw them on from underneath. cleans up the look above the handlebars, retains the mirrors, and says 'hey, i'm too cool for stock'. works on my 3fiddy and should work with most others too. price? free!

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Swagger said:
Cool idea, they clear the tank ok at full lock? That'd be a rude surprise!
on the 3fiddy they do... takes some fiddiling. plus if you wanted to bend them a bit you could get more clearance if you were having interference problems with a different bike.
 
I wanted a low profile indicator light setup on this project and came up with this. It was real cheap and I think looks pretty cool too.

It takes care of the left and right turn signal indicators, neutral light, and high beam indicator. Obviously you could do as many lights as you wanted.

Here’s what I used for materials and their costs:

3’ x ¾” aluminum flat bar = $6.00
3’ x ½” OD aluminum tubing = $7.00
4 LED lights from radioshack = $1.99 each
Finishing washers for the top of the LEDs= $1.99
Stainless allen head bolts and nuts= next to nothing.

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The LED lights are about ¾ long so I simply cut the tubing about an inch long and the flat bar is about 4" long.
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Then it was just a bit sanding, polishing, drilling and assembly.
The LEDs are threaded and the nuts they come with are just the right size to fit perfectly inside the tubes, so with the finishing washers on top bar, the nuts allow for the lights to be tightened down snug. Then the top bar and lower bar hold all the tubes together real tight.
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I made a mount for the clocks that bolts underneath into the old handlebar holes and used that to mount the light bar as well.
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It fits in between the top tree and clocks real nice and is pretty discrete and clean.
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You sir, are a genius! That is one of the coolest idiot light consoles I've ever seen.

Do you mind if I copy it?

Scott
 
Yeah, I'll be using that one too. nice. If you didn't know what it was, you wouldn't know what it was, and that is a good thing.
 
I'm sure this took you some time to get it all dialed in right. Your hard work paid off, it's really pretty awesome. Simple, fuctional, and an extremely creative use of 'off the rack' stock and parts. NICE JOB I really like this.

loudest143
 
Copy away guys!

It did take some time but wasn't too bad. It was mostly spent on getting each tube to the exact mm and perfectly square cuts. Even with a bandsaw and bench sander, some were off a hair and would keep from tightening down all the way. Last thing i wanted was rattling aluminum. But eventually I got them to sit just right!
 
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