New project complete

[Joe Bartelt]

I'm new to this site but I thought I would post some pics of my newest project to see what the thoughts are on it. It started off life as a 1980 xs1100 that I found on Craigslist for $500.00. The bike had not been started for 18 years and was hit by a snow plow in 1985 so the bars, tank, and headlight were messed up and the seat had been chewed to pieces by mice. However it only had 9,100 miles on the odometer. The headlight bucket is from a 72 XS650 and I stretched it 3" and installed halogen light with internal led turn signals. the rear fender was removed and a new tail piece fabricated from stainless steel with integral led turn signals and brake light. The side mount license plate holder was also fabricated from SS. I fabricated new side covers and a new seat pan from steel. and had custom emblems water-jet from stainless. Lastly the rear controls were were made from SS and mounted in the same location holes as the original rear pegs. All in all I have a grand total of $1,600.00 and 60 hour of work into this bike but I'm pretty happy with the results.

The beginning



During fabrication






The final results.

[jwhughes3]

You did good Joe....its unique and functional.

Nice work on the tailpiece.

John

[XJkid]

Very original! How's that seat feel on the 'ol 'Nads? I like your use of stainless. I have used some myself on my '82 for a windshield and heatshields on the mufflers. It gives it that Mad Max/steampunk look. Also because it is tough material,doesn't rust(easily),can be given various textures with sandpaper/steel wool and needs no paint.My next use is for wind deflectors on the forks.I also have a small SS heat exchanger that I want to use as an oil cooler.

Did you lurk in the backround on this site while building it? Just wondering why you waited until now to make yourself known.

[Joe Bartelt]

Very original! How's that seat feel on the 'ol 'Nads? I like your use of stainless. I have used some myself on my '82 for a windshield and heatshields on the mufflers. It gives it that Mad Max/steampunk look. Also because it is tough material,doesn't rust(easily),can be given various textures with sandpaper/steel wool and needs no paint.My next use is for wind deflectors on the forks.I also have a small SS heat exchanger that I want to use as an oil cooler.

Did you lurk in the backround on this site while building it? Just wondering why you waited until now to make yourself known.

I just got registered on the site today. I have been following a number of the technical threads for a few months and figured it was time to make some contribution.

I hated the feel of the seat at first, more of getting jacked in the tailbone then crushing the Nads when hitting a hard bump.
Then I added an extra 3/4" of high density foam. Now its not bad. I have carpal tunnel in both hands so I can only ride for 30 to 40 minutes at time, so seat comfort was not my first priority. I wanted something that seat was lower to the ground and handled better in the city then my midnight special.

[jwhughes3]

Joe try foam Grip Puppies along with weighting your bar ends to isolate vibration out of bars. It may help prolong your riding. Also as much setback as possible keeps you upright with no pressure on hands.

John

[haywardguy929]

Great job, that will turn some heads for sure. Thanks for posting the pictures.

[XJkid]

[QUOTE=jwhughes3;386537] weighting your bar ends to isolate vibration out of bars. It may help prolong your riding.

Huzzah!!! So that is what those pieces inside my bars were for! I bought some bars off of an '83 Virago because they were longer and angled back more (short arms) and they had these solid pieces inside the grip section. I did not use the grip section of the '83 bars, so I tossed them aside.In the meantime, my bars vibrate, especially the throttle side, and my right thumb gets kind of numb. I shall cut the weights shorter and install them. This issue had bothered me for a long time. Thanx!!