Winter Project, Nirve Switchblade

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2door

2door

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It's starting to take shape now. I had to do a little sheetmetal work on the rear fender for chain clearance. The bend is exactly like the factory one on the pedal chain side. The paint chipped off when I was bending but no biggy. All that ugly gold stuff will go away soon anyway.

Setting on its own and waiting for those ape hanger bars to get here. I'll need new cables because the stock ones are cut short and the tall bars will require longer ones.
Tom
 

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timboellner

timboellner

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Inquiring minds can't help but wonder what kind of tank have you come up with?

Can't wait for the red-white-blue paint scheme to replace the "dry heave" green.

Love the seat pan..you do fine looking work.

TiM
 
2door

2door

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The man I sold the blue Jag to says he thinks he knows where he can get me a tank. I'm still waiting on that one. Another guy offered me two tanks but they're from an early Harley Baja and just not the shape I need. I might take them anyway. Never know what the next bike might be. They'd go good on a cafe racer.

I've found several tanks on Flea-Bay but I'm not much on buying sight-unseen so that's a last resort. There's a motorcycle salvage yard here in Denver and I'm going to make a run on them this week but if I find anything I expect to get raped. They're known for their high prices. They wanted $30.00 for a gas cap for the Yamaha tank on my Norton bike.

I found one on CL but it was gone when I called. Too bad. It would have been perfect.
I'll let you know what I find.

Today I'm designing the headlight mount and still waiting on the handlebars. I can't do much with the throttle and clutch cables until I have the bars.
I found a place that has a good selection of bike/cruiser/chopper stuff. Chubby's Cruisers, a California outfit. They had better prices on the bars than my neighbor, the bike shop owner was going to charge me for the Nirve Ape hangers.

I'll keep you posted.
Tom
 
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moonerdizzle

moonerdizzle

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Cheese head capitol
Also, are you planning on running any type of muffler on your exhaust? Because I ran straight pipes for one night on my chinagirl and she lost all her top end and was wake the dead loud.
 
2door

2door

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moonerdizzle said:
Also, are you planning on running any type of muffler on your exhaust? Because I ran straight pipes for one night on my chinagirl and she lost all her top end and was wake the dead loud.
Click to expand...
I'll have a muffler but I'm searching for a chrome fish tail tip. I've found them at various places on the Net but so overpriced or oversized that it might be something else I'll have to fabricate. I really need a 2" inlet to fit over the end of the muffler but any I've found with an inlet that big would be way out of proportion to the bike. I have a couple of hunks of stainless laying around. The trick will be bending up all those compound curves. The alternative is a smaller inlet size and spliting it so it can be expanded to fit the muffler.
This is something else I'll be looking for at the MC junk yard.


My options are open. No rush. I have all winter. And winters in Colorado can be long. :(
Tom
 
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2door

2door

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FAIL:

What a dork :(

I know all about smoothing the edges, set back and bend allowance, especially with T-6 aluminum when bending it but, I dorked up.
I spent two hours making these headlight brackets then broke the first one when I tried to bend it. Rats!

I knew better but, I was overly optomistic. Now I get to start over. I'll use 2" aluminum angle next time; no bending. Dork! :( :( :(

Tom
 

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killercanuck

killercanuck

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d'oh sucks to break things.

Those SBP pipes are pretty small, might be able to stuff one into a fishtail, eh? Or even have the tail over the end of the muffler or something.

Fired up photoshop to show what popped in my head:

She's going to look awesome with the red/white/blue scheme :)
 

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2door

2door

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Killer,
Good idea but I'm probably going to use a stock chrome muffler out on the end with the fish tail attached, either welded or clamped to it. I've left the pipe long enough to do one of several things. Just need to find the right sized fish tail, then I'm home free.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Tom
 
T

Tinsmith

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Tom, sorry about "failed" attempt to bend it up, but you know how it is. SB has watched me lay out the pattern for the copper tank numerous times only to have to tweek it and start over. Every time you think you have it, you need to lay out a copy in case it doesn't work, so you can adjust it and try again. But before you can try again you need to trace it off in case another change is needed. With the compound bends comes more little adjustments so it takes longer. I don't usually get to discouraged once I start a project knowing what can slow it down, but with so little time to work on it, it stretches out for weeks rather than a couple days. Hang in there I know you get it and it'll all be worth it. Dan
 
silverbear

silverbear

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Jul 9, 2009
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Tom,
I applaud your showing what went wrong with the aluminum. Too often I think the errors and wrong turns inevitable in a build are never mentioned, making it seem like wizardry to new guys since everything seems to come together so easily. What really gets me is just one before and a couple after pictures with nothing indicating all the 'blood, sweat and tears' in between. These builds involve more than just money... lot's of sitting back and looking, what i call 'creative staring', lying awake at night thinking through a problem, trying something that doesn't work... it's all part of the process.

Tim, what did you call the stock color, 'hurl green'? Funny! Tom's wife thinks it's pretty.
SB
 
2door

2door

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One step forward and two back. That's the problem with one-off builds and stone age attempts at custom work. lol.

I was cutting the center out of an old sprocket a few days ago using a hole saw and my drill press because I don't have access to a Bridgport mill any more. The garage was full of smoke from the cutting oil and the noise was awful. My wife came out and asked "What in the world are you doing?" I told her I was "Making a sprocket spacer using bear skins and stone knives." That's the way it felt anyway.

Where there's a will, there's a way. I'll get it done. Thanks for the kind words guys.

Silver Bear, your "Creative Staring" is my "Engineering". Char will come out to the shop and I'll be sitting, doing nothing but looking at a project. "What are you doing?" She asks. "Engineering" I say. She knows what I mean, smiles and goes away leaving me to contemplate the situation. And yes, I've laid awake visualizing some aspect of a build. Seeing the solution to a problem in your mind really helps before putting saw to metal. It's cheaper too :)

Tom
 
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2door

2door

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Because I have chain clearance and good alignment on the motor side, and very long horizontal dropouts for adjustment, I needed a way to tension the pedal chain. A simple fix with a little piece of steel and a derailer sprocket. I'm sure I'll have all the adjustment I'll ever need on the pedal side.

Tom
 

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2door

2door

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Been waiting and today the FedEx guy showed up. No, it wasn't Tom Hanks but he did have my new ape hangers and I put them on this afternoon. I'll have to get some new shifter and front brake cables because the ones that were on the bike were too short with the 14 1/2" rise of these bars but no biggy. I pedal rode it up and down the street and discovered I can't make a 'U' turn like my other bikes. That extended fork and the tall bars make for a long turning radius. Sort of awkward but I'll get used to it with time.

I also worked on the second set of headlight mounts today. This time I used 2" aluminum angle instead of trying to bend T-6. These came out perfect. I'll maybe finish them tomorrow and post a photo or two.
Tom
 

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2door

2door

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Finished the headlight mount today. I wish the housing was chrome but I'll have to settle for paint and clearcoat. I've had good luck with 'Bumper Chrome' paint and clear. It ain't chrome but it'll have to do for this project. The brackets are T-6 aluminum so they polished up nice.

Tom
 

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silverbear

silverbear

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Jul 9, 2009
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Coming right along, Tom. I like your little pedal chain tensioner. I like it so much that I suspect one may appear on a bike of mine one of these days. It's nice having horizontal dropouts with adjusters which many of the old timer frames have, but getting the pedal chain just right can be a hassle. Your solution is elegant and fool proof. Headlight brackets turned out nice, too.
SB
 
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