"A Bird in the Hand" take 2. DR650 Deadtail Bobber, now with a sidecar
- Thread starter Hurco550
- Start date
Ive thought the same. I highly doubt they add much strength. It was more likely an economy thing back when they were produced. Noone will likely notice when its all together... but ill know, so theres that haha
I've never built any either, but with the speed holes, those ribs weigh like 3 lbs a piece out of 1/4". plus, without having a tube out back like standard girders, i don't mind a hair of 'extra" weight. Like everything i build, good chance these will end up in the scrap hopper anyways once i decide i hate them ha
SONICJK
Reminds me of...me No, I'm sure of it. I hate him
Fair enough overkill FTW
thats my motto lol I spent to many years doing heavy structural fabrication to build things as light as they can be. Id be kicked off a race team in a second lol
Went a little different direction with the front wheel. I decided that my 18" rear was nice enough that I don't really want to un lace it, so I ordered a standard 19" aluminum front to run instead of the shouldered rim. Also finally got the front rotor, so I can move along with sorting a front end.
I got the new tire in and mounted up finally. It somehow ended up shipped from Massachusetts to California then back to Ohio via the slow train. It's a skinko copy of the old Avon ribbed tires.
I still haven't completely given up on building a girder, but for now im using rd350 triples with xs650 forks. The stem was about an inch to short to fit the kz550 neck. I cut the stem, made a plug/ extension, pressed it in and tig welded it back together.
I still haven't completely given up on building a girder, but for now im using rd350 triples with xs650 forks. The stem was about an inch to short to fit the kz550 neck. I cut the stem, made a plug/ extension, pressed it in and tig welded it back together.
With the front end sorted, I was able to make it an actual roller. I may internally shorten the forks a bit to get them flush with the triples, but for now it feels good just to see it together and actually rolling. Tank and seat mounts up next.
Thanks gents. The rear tire will end up replaced with a street tire vs the kenda dual sport tire that is on it. It will hopefully have a hair less in diameter to help even out the lines. If there was one thing i wish i could go back and change, i still wish i had gone with about 1.5" to 2" less stretch in the hardtail, but it is what it is at this point. I will likely mount the battery and the tool kit between the down tube and the rear fender, which may help take up that space a bit visually and help with proportions. I will also mount a catch can between the motor and down tube to take up some of that space as well.
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I think those will fix the issue of the too much open space and you'll be fine. looks great.
I finally got a bit of time to get the shop sorted. I didn't take a before pic, but @ridesolo can attest, it was a real dumpster fire in there.
@irk miller kept making fun if me for all the zip ties I had holding this thing together, so I'm starting to go through and remedy those things one by one
First of, I made a front seat mount/pivot outta some 11 gauge and a piece of tube.
The seat springs should be delivered today. Once they are, I should be able to finish the seat permanently.
Also, a simple little job, mounted the coil up on the front down tube. It would've barely fit under the tank, and I don't mind getting some of that stuff out where you can see it.
@irk miller kept making fun if me for all the zip ties I had holding this thing together, so I'm starting to go through and remedy those things one by one
First of, I made a front seat mount/pivot outta some 11 gauge and a piece of tube.
The seat springs should be delivered today. Once they are, I should be able to finish the seat permanently.
Also, a simple little job, mounted the coil up on the front down tube. It would've barely fit under the tank, and I don't mind getting some of that stuff out where you can see it.
Haha. Nice to see some mounts happening. And man, it still wish pretty regularly that I lived close enough to take your welding class.
Loving the coil mount. If you can't hide it, might as well make it part of the art.
Loving the coil mount. If you can't hide it, might as well make it part of the art.
Really nice! Though the bobber isn't my style of bike I'm really liking this thing, ALMOST makes me want one! (And Levi will tell ya, that's something.)
You're putting me to shame, brother. I started in on the same thing, but haven't gotten even close as far. I've just got too much stuff in too small a place. Yeah, his was a dumpster fire for sure, unfortunately mine is an entire apartment block fire all in the size of a dumpster. You are an inspiration to me. Anybody got a spare hand grenade?
Eric, I'm close enough to take it and thinking more that I probably should! If course I'd never be able to make welds look as good as his so maybe it'd be better off to NOT take the class and get him to do it! When are they going to offer machining classes down there, Levi?
You're putting me to shame, brother. I started in on the same thing, but haven't gotten even close as far. I've just got too much stuff in too small a place. Yeah, his was a dumpster fire for sure, unfortunately mine is an entire apartment block fire all in the size of a dumpster. You are an inspiration to me. Anybody got a spare hand grenade?
Eric, I'm close enough to take it and thinking more that I probably should! If course I'd never be able to make welds look as good as his so maybe it'd be better off to NOT take the class and get him to do it! When are they going to offer machining classes down there, Levi?
Thanks for the kind words gents!
Still plugging away these last few days. Each little project is taking about 4x as long as it "should", so par for the course I guess haha
I made up a rear tank mount. I think ill eventually make some sort of cover or maybe even a gusset to fill the space between the front seat mount and the rear tank mount. Normally I would have just cut and modified the rear tank mount itself, but these tanks are expensive! I didnt feel like hacking up such a clean original.
Next, in keeping with the "bird in the hand" mentality, I had to switch out the dr350 rear rotor with a dr650 rotor since i already had the caliper bracket and rotor. The dr650 rotor is bigger. Of course what should've been a 5 minute job turned into an hour long ordeal when all 4 allen head bolts stripped. The tig welder saves the day again.
The dr350 and dr650 share an ALMOST identical hub. The only difference is a slight counter bore in the dr650 hub to accept the shouldered rotor bolts. Most guys that swap them just use the 350 rotor bolts with the 650 rotor, but since I destroyed the 350 bolts on the way out, i just counter-bored the hub a bit so that i could utilize the 650 bolts.
Now that its mounted up, I just need to sort the rear brake stay.
Still plugging away these last few days. Each little project is taking about 4x as long as it "should", so par for the course I guess haha
I made up a rear tank mount. I think ill eventually make some sort of cover or maybe even a gusset to fill the space between the front seat mount and the rear tank mount. Normally I would have just cut and modified the rear tank mount itself, but these tanks are expensive! I didnt feel like hacking up such a clean original.
Next, in keeping with the "bird in the hand" mentality, I had to switch out the dr350 rear rotor with a dr650 rotor since i already had the caliper bracket and rotor. The dr650 rotor is bigger. Of course what should've been a 5 minute job turned into an hour long ordeal when all 4 allen head bolts stripped. The tig welder saves the day again.
The dr350 and dr650 share an ALMOST identical hub. The only difference is a slight counter bore in the dr650 hub to accept the shouldered rotor bolts. Most guys that swap them just use the 350 rotor bolts with the 650 rotor, but since I destroyed the 350 bolts on the way out, i just counter-bored the hub a bit so that i could utilize the 650 bolts.
Now that its mounted up, I just need to sort the rear brake stay.
I rigged up a jankey but equally effective pipe notcher on the old south bend lathe. I have to say, it worked surprisingly well.
Once that was sorted, I was able to finally make a cross bar and seat mount. I turned up a couple tapped bungs that got welded into the cross tube.
I ended up going with scissor style springs vs the standard coil. The bottom is mounted with a sleeve/ spacer that allows them to move while springing around.
With that mounted, I got to finally sit on it and am now able to finalize peg locations. The bars are a little low, but its a bobber, and im willing to sacrafice a bit of comfort (of higher bars) for the look. It kinda goes against the (cafe) racer mentality of function over form, but i digress.
Cue the "monkey and football" statement here.
It definitely feels smaller than I thought it would, but not necessarily in a bad way. Im not a small guy at 6' (ish) and 260 (ish) lbs. I don't know that I wanted to build a bobber "big" enough for me anyways. I woulda ended up with one of those OCC monstrocities by the end of it all.
Once that was sorted, I was able to finally make a cross bar and seat mount. I turned up a couple tapped bungs that got welded into the cross tube.
I ended up going with scissor style springs vs the standard coil. The bottom is mounted with a sleeve/ spacer that allows them to move while springing around.
With that mounted, I got to finally sit on it and am now able to finalize peg locations. The bars are a little low, but its a bobber, and im willing to sacrafice a bit of comfort (of higher bars) for the look. It kinda goes against the (cafe) racer mentality of function over form, but i digress.
Cue the "monkey and football" statement here.
It definitely feels smaller than I thought it would, but not necessarily in a bad way. Im not a small guy at 6' (ish) and 260 (ish) lbs. I don't know that I wanted to build a bobber "big" enough for me anyways. I woulda ended up with one of those OCC monstrocities by the end of it all.
