Update!
It's been a while since I updated this thread. I've been riding and slowly adding to the Jetta. I've got several things done and in the process of doing more! I found the culprit to my slight speed wobble problem at high speeds. It was because the stock bars where pushed just a little too far forward for the rake that this bike has. Once I pulled them back an inch or two that problem went completely away but caused another issue. Now my knees would hit the bars in turns and with the bars back started to feel a little cramped.
Since the stock bars no longer felt comfortable or looked as good, I decided to get some new bars. After lots of thought I decided I wanted to stick to the early 20" BMX (old school stingrays) roots and went with some mini apes. They fit the bike like they could have came from the factory like that and feel super comfortable.
During a ride in the middle of the summer my "poo poo" exhausts bracket broke making it drag on the ground at 30 mph in traffic! That pipe is such a cheap POS that I ripped it off and threw a unmodified stock exhaust on to get me by until I got something else.
When I put the stock exhaust on, my bike went from a blubbery beast that could only do 30mph, to a screamer that at ~30mph hit the powerband and rocketed up to 39 like it wasn't a problem. In fact it sounded like a finely tuned supercharger just whining and sucking in alotta air! With no four stroking at all! This is with a 58 jet in the R/T carb. Even though the stock exhaust wasn't gutted or anything it was still super loud. Mainly because the stock pipe points right at the ground under me and the sound bounces right back up in my ear.
Since I (originally) wasn't going for performance on this build I was looking for an exhaust that just looked good, was simple, and pointed the sound behind me. I found Bikeberry's "long shot" exhaust to fit that bill. Unfortunately when it arrived it did not fit. Not even close. It went in the parts pile. I'm sure it will work fine on my 26" bike.
Not wanting to put the stock muffler back on I robbed the SBP expansion chamber off of my BMX build. I wanna finish this build before I restart working on the BMX again. So I'll get another SBP pipe for the BMX later on. I also found a small flat foam filter on fleabay that actually (barely) fit in that tiny space. With the new pipe the Jetta has a bigger and more pronounced power band. It comes on mid-high rpms. I'm not sure how fast it is yet but when the powerband really kicked in around 25-30 its was as if I just hit nitrous! This thing has some pep! Anyway, once I hit 46 I let off cause (I started to see god!) it feels super sketchy even doing over 30 on this little bike! It's just the adrenaline rush I need.
When I had the crappy poo poo pipe on I would only mix in 35 mph traffic if I had too. The bike was so choked by that tiny inlet on that pipe. Now I feel fully confident to mix it up with cars on the busier 35 mph roads.
Another thing I robbed from the BMX build was the chrome motor covers. Once I had the mini apes on it was just crying for a little more chrome. I plan to top it off with a pedal choppers head if it will fit in that spot. It looks to be similar size and height as a stock head which is what I need.
Got a new headlight all together. I got that hella bulb and it blew right off. The only thing I ever got to work (with the 12v mini-gen) where very dim led bulbs that eventually vibrate apart in a short time. So, I looked around and found the perfect LED mini spot bar driving light. Similar to those long LED lights that are popular on off road jeeps and trucks. Only this one is a lot shorter and smaller. So far its bright enough to see and be seen. I haven't tried it in total darkness but it seems bright enough. I also got a new super bright flashing/strobe/constant on led for the rear and a new tail light with a wireless turn signal/brake light setup. Unfortunately the taillight arrived and was DOA. I sent it back and have a replacement on the way. Should be here next week. It looked pretty good though and is light years ahead of the ugly cheap dim signal/brake light setup that's on it right now.
Last few little details at the moment are a chrome clutch lever (my stock one was black) to match my duel pull brake lever. I have a chrome engine kill/lights switch on the way to replace the messy looking setup I have now. I replaced the stock pedals with barefoot beach cruiser style pedals. They feel really nice and the grip tape on them works nice to keep your feet from sliding around.
Once this batch of parts all arrives and I get them on, I'll update with some pics. Shouldn't be too long. After that its just small finishing touches like maybe pin striping, chrome nut covers and little do-dads like that to give it that finished look.
This bike went from a tame possible loaner cruiser, to a too fast (no such thing) screamer! I guess she wanted to be fast all along even if I originally planned to make it tame. I need to think of a way to restrict it now because its way too fast to just let an inexperienced rider hop on and go (without me). Pics coming soon.
