first real customer for bike build of old school hardtail bobber.

[Nightengale]

so i am finally doing what i love for money. One of my highschool friends saw what i did to my bike and asked me to do the same to a bike of his. i said hell yess. a few months ago he brought me the bike, a 1979 kz 900

this is what it looked like once i started to take it apart and start making it a hardtail bobber.


started cutting off the rear section getting it cleaned up








then i started the hardtail






i have a few more pics as soon as i get them loaded to photobucket. let me know what you think.

[GLoweVA]

Hey John, I was wondering what you were up to.
Looks like fun. At least you've got a place inside to work on it.

[Nightengale]

fun

Hey John, I was wondering what you were up to.
Looks like fun. At least you've got a place inside to work on it.

i was just thinking of you today. i was on my way home from work and saw a few bikes on the road and was wondering how things were going with the bike? doing this bike is going to be a little more involved than mine, but is fun as hell. you should stop by some time and see it. i also am talking to TC right now about getting him to help me with the second gear fix. i am trying to get it done before the riding season starts.

[Nightengale]

hardtail almost finished, still need to remove the swingarm and put on the 16 inch tire


got the swing arm removed and installed the 16 inch tire instead of the 18 inch that was on there.


now i need to install the side braces and put gussets in the rear to help reinforce the rear

[fredintoon]

hardtail almost finished, still need to remove the swingarm and put on the 16 inch tire
got the swing arm removed and installed the 16 inch tire instead of the 18 inch that was on there.
now i need to install the side braces and put gussets in the rear to help reinforce the rear

Hi Nightengale,
had I replied to post #1 instead of post #4 I'd have set myself up as an exemplar of that old Scottish saying:-
Bairns and fools shouldnae see a boat half built
As it is, at least you have made a proper hardtail conversion rather than making a half-arsed strutted swingarm thing like most folks do.
Next to try, converting to a 1/4-elliptic leaf spring trailing link front end ala Indian?

[Nightengale]

i do want to do that

that is one thing that i am looking at doing, making my own front end. i was also looking at the leafspring set up.

rearend finished





now to reinstall rear tire, get side supports installed, and start on some of the finishing details.

[Petersg_99]

I was wondering why you were putting tensioner slots in until I saw the chain in the background and remembered you're doing this to a buddy's bike. The work looks good.

[cpmaynard1980]

I like it! Would have killed for spoke wheels when i had my kz1000

[Nightengale]

spokes

I like it! Would have killed for spoke wheels when i had my kz1000

yeah i hear you i like the spokes better, and the spokes look almost new with fresh powder coat. but the guy i am building it for wants the mags, he just likes the looks better.

drilled a few holes in the rear gusset to add a little design to it, they were lookin kind of bulky and plain.

[Nightengale]

tank just came in

this is the tank off a gs550 it was one of the only tanks that i could find that fit and had the shape my friend wanted.

before some minor modifications



after



couple different angles.

[fredintoon]

yeah i hear you i like the spokes better, and the spokes look almost new with fresh powder coat. but the guy i am building it for wants the mags, he just likes the looks better. - - -

Hi Nightengale,
almost everybody reckons wire wheels look nicer.
That is, clean shiny wire wheels.
One time I swapped my XS650's cast wheels for wire wheels because I liked the way they looked.
The chore of keeping them clean and shiny was one of the reasons I swapped back to cast wheels.
The other reason was that cast wheels can run tubeless tires.
Tubeless tires are great.

[Nightengale]

hadn't thought of it that way but that does make sense.

[cpmaynard1980]

progress looks good but that thing looks like it will be riding super low with that 16in wheel.

[Nightengale]

tank you

looked at the tank and how it sat on the bike and it was a little to low towards where its gonna meet the seat, and seemed to mess up the lines of the bike (see previous pic). so i raised the rear of the tank to where the lines of the tank just flowed with the lines of the frame. and this is what i came up with.

to low


height adjusted


filler section made.

it took me all night to make this peice and shape it to look like the tank was molded to the frame. alot of cutting and hammering.

[Nightengale]

side view

better side view


with pannel side view


weild this up and a little body work and paint and this tank will look like it was molded into the frame.