Cheap Junk, 1979 Honda Twinstar

[fatleon]

Nice. I like the stand too.

Thanks man. I was glad I already had most of the supplies for it, low budget ftw.

 

[DohcBikes]

low budget ftw.

Never include 'budget' and 'ftw' together ever again

 

[Erskine]

I love your approach ..... my kind of style. I think a build is like a sculpture, starting of with a rough hewn block and slowly chipping away, evolving and refining all the way as opposed to trying to get it perfect first time.
I'm in.

 

[fatleon]

I love your approach ..... my kind of style. I think a build is like a sculpture, starting of with a rough hewn block and slowly chipping away, evolving and refining all the way as opposed to trying to get it perfect first time.
I'm in.

Thanks Erskine.

I haven't got much done lately, had a busy weekend. Also I decided to get my Cub going again. I cleaned the carb and tank, and it needs a new battery and headlight bulb. I'll be able to ride this while I work on Cheap Junk. Of course I have to work in a tight spot cause I decided to work on the Cub after I got Cheap Junk up on the stand in the middle of the garage. :

I started looking at the headlight I plan on using, I got from some of my Grandpa's stuff. I wondered if it was an old Harley and Indian light cause he was into them, but I couldn't find any useful marks on it. Then last night I found 'MotoLamp' stamped into it. I think its from the late 30s to mid 40s.
So now I'm thinking should I sell this light to fund more of the build, or use it cause its cool and old.

I do have this light from a 70s Yamaha I could use, and it's ugly enough to work on my project. I even have some mounting ears... that are too big for my forks.

Thanks for watching.

 

[Erskine]

I'd use the yam light and flog the vintage one to someone who can reinstate it on a righteous build.

 

[fatleon]

I'd use the yam light and flog the vintage one to someone who can reinstate it on a righteous build.

Are you saying my build isn't righteous!? ;D
I'm leaning that way, since I have the mounts. Also I think the smaller headlight might look better on my Junk.

I've been brainstorming what to make the rear bump out of. I'd like to find some recognizable object with the right shape to use. But it could get tricky having the bump and also a brake light and license plate. I've had a couple other thoughts.
One is to not have a bump, just mount the things like the battery/capacitor, regulator, and fuses behind the seat with the brake light and license plate; like some Ghost Busters machine.
The other is to put those things in this old lunchbox I have. That would give me a little storage space too. I could put my registration in there, and maybe a wrench. The down side to the lunchbox is I'd prolly have to modify the bottom for tire clearance. And I wouldn't mount the regulator in there cause it wouldn't get cooled.
Here's some pics of the lunchbox.

I do like the latching box thing, I'll keep my eyes open for others like it.

 

[fatleon]

Tonight I rebuilt my head set (thats a bicycle term, is it the same for motorcycles?) and installed the yamaha headlight.
No pics of the head set, but we've all seen greasy bearing balls before. I did find a surprise though, I guess whoever rebuilt the head set last lost some of the balls so they just put in some others that were 1/4" instead of 3/16". With the right size balls in there now the stem fits much better than before.

I also shortened my clutch cable using the solder and new cable-end method. Proper lenght cables look so good.

Here's the headlight. I like it, I think the size works on this bike.

Also the parts for my Cub should be here this week. It'll be nice to get it back on the road and out of the way in the garage.

Thanks for looking.

 

[japstar]

I wouldn't ride it myself, but i dig it 8)
Taking rat bikes to the extreme limit

I'm curious for the end result.

But I would grond the top triple down to teh bare minimum

 

[Erskine]

Rock on.

 

[fatleon]

Thanks guys.

I'm not sure this is the limit, I've seen some much rattier choppers. But I haven't seen a cafe this ratty before.

I might do some grinding on the top triple later, but I'm going to wait till I have the speedometer/switches worked out first.

I should be done with the Cub soon and then I can finish up the gas tank.

 

[fatleon]

Well I'm done with fab work on my tank. I still need to clean/seal the inside, but I haven't decided what to do yet. Most of the inside is galvanized, but the areas where I welded it aren't. I would like to use something like Red Kote but I don't know if it would stick to the galvanizing, I know paint doesn't. I could use something to remove the galvanizing, but if the Red Kote will stick to it having that extra layer would be nice. If anyone has an idea I'd like to hear it.

I welded two bungs into the tank. I decided not to use the petcock, it's too bulky. Instead I'm going to use two valves, both connected to a common fuel rail that will feed both carbs. One valve will have a stand pipe in it, and the other will be reserve.

I made these for the front mounts.

And glued them on with some 3M panel bond stuff.

Then I made a tank strap using an old belt, a nut and bolt, and the door lock rod out of my friends Samurai.

I'm starting a new job on Tuesday, so I'll have more money for the project and less time to work on it. I don't know what I'll work on next, maybe the seat if I come up with an idea I like.

Thanks for looking.

 

[canyoncarver]

I'm not sure about the tank sealers on galvanized stuff. I look at the Por15 stuff before Redcote though. I dig the leather tank strap. Congrats on the new job.

 

[grcamna5]

subscribed

 

[fatleon]

I'm not sure about the tank sealers on galvanized stuff. I look at the Por15 stuff before Redcote though. I dig the leather tank strap. Congrats on the new job.

Good to know, I'll check that out. Thanks man.

Welcome aboard grcamna.

I set the rear suspension to 1/2 inch past full compression, and started playing with a seat design tonight. The tire comes up about 1 and 1/2 inches past the top of the frame, so whatever I end up doing it'll have to have quite a bump in it. Should be comfy. :

Thanks for looking.