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Well I set off with a block of foam and an idea for a cafe cowl for my 750. Somewhere between all the inhaled solvents and cases of beer I wound up with this. I`m not saying it`s any particular style or inspired by anything but I`d appreciate any impressions, thoughts, or concerns.
For the moment it`s just the foam plug I`m going to make a fiberglass mold out of. You`ll have to use your imagination since I just laid in on top of the rear fender so it`s not lined up with how it`ll eventually mount.
Here`s a quick photoshop I ran up to rotate it out to give you a better impression of the final alignment:
Yeah, the problem I was running into was that a cafe cowl is just too rounded to meet up with the rather squared stock tank. Moving the stock tailpiece up into a mono seat definitely looks great, I was just looking for a chance to mess around with foam and fibreglass.
I like it, it's a unique look. You might want to futz with it a little to get the bottom line to flow from the bottom of the tank better. Personally I'd also round the very back just a touch more, again mimicking the tank a little.
I`ll try to match the pan to the tank the best I can when I`m fabricating the spacers to mount it. I`m still not sure exactly how I`m going to upholster it and that might factor in.
As for the back end: it`s pretty much shaped to fit my existing integrated tail light with maybe .25 inch around. I was thinking of rounding off the top lip some more but I need a 2x4 panel to mount the light to.
Basically the theme I`m taking with this bike is `what if somebody built a street fighter in the 70s?`
Not to say I`m trying to build a fighter either, but I am thinking of going with dual chrome headlights and this tail is somewhat my attempt to merge modern upswept tail design that would fit the curves and lines of my bike.
Also I`ll get an updated pic tomorrow, but I cut maybe another 1/2 inch off the `upsweep`today, resulting in a slimmer look overall and a shorter rear panel.
you sir are the answers to my prayers!!!!
i was looking to purchase the exact same tail light to go with the exact same tail piece! now i know what it will look like! thank you thank you!!!!
No prob. Think I found it posted on eBay as a scooter light. You`ll have to get yourself a new relay or you`ll flick too fast. The back plate was just a matter of unscrewing the stock light, cutting a pvc board to shape and drilling through the toolbox in the stock seat to mount it and run the wiring.
Yeah man, that makes sense. The bottom line can be handled with how you trim the glass, how you shim it, all kinds of stuff. I didn't figure you were wedded to the exact line you've got here since it's a photochop of a mockup, but just my picky observation. As for the back, seeing it from behind with those tail lights makes more sense. I think it's going to be a rad seat/cowl when you're done if you do it just like it is or if you do some minor tweaking. Can't wait to see the end result!
Even after laminating with super 77 and laying down tin foil, I had some gelcoat leak onto the plug and eat away at it. Wasn`t a big deal as it just meant I just had to sand down the mold till the original countour was back. Turns out it wasn`t that simple and I wound up with a less than perfect finish and some spots where the gelcoat didn`t adhear to my final. I`ll be spending some time sanding (lucky I layed down 6 layers of gelcoat and staggered the colours) and filling in the cracks with a bondo/resin mix before painting. I`m just glad it wasn`t a total writeoff.
Here`s some pics of the sub-frame I welded up for it. I`m thinking the idea is to bolt the upolstery through the fiberglass and attach some hinges to use the stock ones.
Here's the final sanded and cut seat sitting on the subframe. All that's left is to fill some gelcoat cracks from the unmolding, paint, run the lights and make the hinges work.
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