Honda Shadow 750

Not to be overly critical, but it seems that you may be taking the most expedient route rather than the correct one at times. I must say that I am less than impressed with your solutions for your rear suspension, shifter, coil mounts and air filters. I understand that we all do some things for mock ups and whatnot, but I am not sure that you are heading in the right direction in all of these things. It might be just me and I know you have said that you have checked the rear shock travel, but I believe that the geometry is all wrong and you won't have compression, rebound or spring rates which will be decent, much less optimal.
I commented on this build on the Caferacer.net forum and got perma-banned from there, although I did have a few choice words and taunts directed at the poor excuses for moderators. I hope I don't get banned from here for these well intentioned comments.
 
I LIKE this build. Mad fabrication skills and guts to try stuff. That's the way to go. This will be a favorite for many. I can't wait to see it go. This is not a "usual bike" to start with and for that, I have respect.
 
ex119x said:
Not to be overly critical, but it seems that you may be taking the most expedient route rather than the correct one at times. I must say that I am less than impressed with your solutions for your rear suspension, shifter, coil mounts and air filters. I understand that we all do some things for mock ups and whatnot, but I am not sure that you are heading in the right direction in all of these things. It might be just me and I know you have said that you have checked the rear shock travel, but I believe that the geometry is all wrong and you won't have compression, rebound or spring rates which will be decent, much less optimal.
I commented on this build on the Caferacer.net forum and got perma-banned from there, although I did have a few choice words and taunts directed at the poor excuses for moderators. I hope I don't get banned from here for these well intentioned comments.
Click to expand...

he doesn't care in the slightest.
 
brad black said:
he doesn't care in the slightest.
Click to expand...
I agree and there is no reason he should, it is his build and his bike. Also, note that I don't dislike the bike or the build, but, since it is posted up that is inviting comment, so I made mine. I might not even be right (but I am), just wanted to put my thoughts out there for him or anybody else building something to consider. With a build this extensive, it is very unlikely that the first attempt at solving a difficult issue will be the final outcome.
 
Held off on this project for a while as I sorted out the title...which was stupid...but it is sorted. Back at the thing today but didn't have a lot of time.

All I got sorted out was the brace for the rear caliper and some gussets for the swingarm bracing. The gusset is 1/4" plating...I have a welding shop that does a lot of my wind turbine projects for me and he says he could weld the tubing to the cast steel on the swingarm, and I believe him, but I think I'm going to round off the tubing there and cap it instead of joining to the cast section. I'm almost ready to pull it all back apart finish welding all the joints.

Caliper was easy enough. I tried to find a GSXR caliper and hanger but came up dry, might go back that route later, but this works for now. I will have to make a custom bolt for the brace to mount properly, but that's easy enough.

Not much of an update on the project, but I'm hoping to have more serious progress soon!


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I'm not sure just yet IF I like it, but the arm fits. Yay. This is a 2006 Shadow 750. I have a 2002 Shadow 750 here, too, and it fits that one better. Oh well. Still hurdles. I will have to make spacers to get it seated properly in the frame. I will also have to cut a small wedge out of the frame's backbone for clearance. And there's no way I can leave the exhaust this way...I can't go through the effort of putting a single side swignarm on this thing and then leave a muffler in front of it. The shock will still work but I will likely need to find a slightly less stiff spring.

The BIGGEST hurdle, though, is chain clearance. I got plenty underneath but not on top. With the other siwngarm I was able to lower it to get past this problem. Can't do that with this one. I'm going to have to get creative. An idler will probably have to be involved.

This is about 40lbs lighter, lol, and shortens the wheelbase about 3"...both of which I really like.

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Hotdogs?

Okay...after cutting the exhausts off and getting the geometry and shock sorted....it's definitely staying.

Chain clearance was still an issue, and I needed a taller sprocket on the back to get the gearing I want AND maybe help with the chain clearance issue. No one makes 520 sprockets for the VFR hub, though, so I had to improvise. Busted out some Blender and 3D builder and made a guide that let me cut out the center bore of a 44t steel R1 sprocket I had on hand:

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This let me lay the R1 sprocket on the bottom with the VFR sprocket on top and then shimmy around the assembly to get them centered. Obviously a solid disk would have been better but my printer doesn't have enough bed space for it. Holes are just to save resin.

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After getting it all centered and clamped down I used a razor to score the finish so I know where to cut.

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All said it lined up really nice...more so than I honestly expected....I have .008" runout and I was honestly eyeballing the cuts lol. I couldn't do it again.

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Aligning the swingarm ended up being simpler than expected. Crammed all the way against the right side of the frame aligns the sprockets and wheel...so lucky hit there. I did have to make a little spacer to cram into the right side for the bearings to ride with minimal clearance between the frame and swingarm. On the other side I was able to use the stock Shadow spacers...again just lucky. I did not end up having to notch the frame.

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Shock mount is done. I'll round it off when I tear the bike back down for paint. The arm has slightly less leverage against the shock here than it did with the first swingarm, but not a great deal less. I think it'll be okay with less preload but I may end up having to get a lighter spring. That'll require sitting down with paper and pencil and doing math...or I might just play it out and see how it feels. Still a little bummed about losing the original layout, I put a lot of time and effort into sorting that thing out, but this is good too.

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And again after trimming the exhaust off and seeing the new lines...I like it. A lot.

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I want to find some simple can mufflers to go under the tail. Rear cylinder will hook around in front of the backbone and then up under the tail, the front cylinder will go straight back where I had the rear cylinder going before. I'm thinking of getting one of these cheap eBay dual mufflers...it's got a convenient mount already welde up and I can just cut the Y off the back and plumb it all together.

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What I'd really like to find, though, is a couple cans like what came with the Devil true duals you use to find on RC51's and TL1000R's..
 
Geez, I love it. You should start sending photos to Hollywood for the next Terminator or Mad Max movie they make! That thing could exist in the Marvel Universe!
(It would fund all of those mods you're doing to it, right?)
 
Okay, so I really like those cone style mufflers and I was really partial to the look of them sticking out behind the seat...so I rigged them back up under the seat just to see what they'd look like. I may swap them out to some newer ones because I don't like the chrome at all, or I may just blast it off these things...or I might go with some traditional cans. We'll see. But I do like the look.

I also finally got around to making the spacers to fit the Yamaha mono-blocks to the Triumph forks.

Lastly, I had to roll everything outside so I could sweep up all the shavings and stuff, so I got some outside pics in the sun!

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...bonus poodle...

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SWEET! Too bad there's not an easy way to make the mufflers double as your rear lights with red LEDs and a heat resistant circuit board...!
 

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That does look pretty interesting haha...temps by that point shouldn't be unmanageable, but it lats lateral visibility and that's required in Texas. I'll actually be doing a LED light strip wrapped around the tail. It's easy to wire in and DOT approved. Finding a way to hang the license plate is more problematic.

I know being at this point means progress has been made...that the end is in sight...but I always hate this part. I can finish the rest of the project and then sit over this point for months because I don't want to take it apart. But I'm trying to muscle through it, I want to be able to ride this bike this summer. There really wasn't a ton of welding to do...I've still got one joint I need to grind off and redo but the rest is done. I'll take half an hour this evening to clean it all and maybe get it primed. Fresh paint tomorrow. Maybe I can be reassembling by the weekend.

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Welds finished, primed, and painted. I know the tail looks long and unsupported but the tubing if pretty heavy and all the weight is as the front near the tank mount.

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Also cleaning up the engine. Repainted the case and heads. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to just clean up the chrome on the on the side covers or paint them a burnt silver color. I'm thinking of going that route because it'll match the swingarm a little more neatly...otherwise this bike is going to have a LOT of glossy/matte black and then BAM brushed aluminum swingarm.

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Yuk. This bike was found laying on its side under a tree. It'd been there for years...

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That said, though, the inside of the cases was surprisingly clean.



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I am thinking that I will keep the chrome covers for now.

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Had to address one of the most important components...a bike without a paddock stand is a bike without a home.

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and on to reassembly...

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Nice, as for the lights in the pipes, it would be neat and if you did them protruding past the tips so they are visible from the side I think it would work. Should at least give it a thought.
 
Yeah they cleaned up okay, it was just gross. With a little B12 and air both throttles completely blew out.

More work on the 2006 Honda Shadow 750 Spirit (I've been calling it an Ace but I learned this morning this is allegedly a Spirit).

Got my exhaust set up, ground down, re-welded in places, and painted. It's painted with a generic epoxy so it'll burn off the first thing the thing is heated up, but it gives me a good idea of how it'll look redone in stainless. I will probably sell my CX500 once this bike is done, and then I'll have a new exhaust made in stainless...probably with some slightly shorter mufflers.

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I also finalized how where I'm sticking the coils. I've been switching back and forth between the stock coils and some stick coils but fitment has been crazy with both. I sorted out I can fit them in the area that the fins would be on the #1. That spot looks funky anyway since it's normally occupied by an airbox so the coils fill that void. I'm thinking of running with yellow wires lol.

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I LOVE how skinny this thing is!

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And a money shot just to help with size perspective. I'm 6' even these days for reference...I use to be 6'2" and not sure what happened...

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