final pics of hte xs chop

[lostsoul74]

lol, no chickies on this one, thats what the other bikes in the garage are for. This is a hardtail basically, not a very comfy ride in the back, expecially if they cant see the road to know when to brace themselves.... Fender is more a design look, not really designed to handle weight, even though i could easily, but with the little bit of travel in the rear, i'd bottom out if i added another 120 lbs straight on the rear. yea, actually I think i'll slap some black on the forks today, got a can of industrial black i usually use for frames, foam brush it on, and it lays like glass, ultra strong industrial urathane enamal.

[lostsoul74]

as for fisheye, yea the first time i painted it was a disaster, i tried that Total Prep junk ad advanced auto, followed the instructions, and once everything was done, as soon as I started spraying the primer, everything started fisheyeing right up.
I looked into fisheye removers, but thats no better then spraying laquer, you cant put anything over it later. my cheat I personally use, i just use regular household degreaser, spray tank/car/etc down, use a 300 grit sanding spunge, to get a combination degreaser/desilicone, and wetsand, and while still wet, just thrust water down it to flow everything off. I dont use tack rags or anything, no chance on any lint, I just blow it off with air when done, have a smoke, mix up my primer, by then 20 minutes has gone by and ready to spray. OH YEA, very important, I grab any piece of scrap metal laying around, put it in the ground, and run a jump wire from my metal saw horses to the metal to ground it. Why?? As to not staticly attract dust during flash stage. Something i've read, and so far it works great for me, and i paint it right in my yard. (i also use hte hose during cleaning process to mist the yard around to help keep blowing debri dow). I usually use Ful-Thane paint, absolutely love it, lays like glass, great leveling, and really... really... deep depth. It looks like i've sprayed 5-7 layers of clear over it. I've heard some negative things about HOK, I guess they've done so much sponsoring on build shows, that everyone requests it, but i've both read and heard from pro painters that theyre not impressed, that they usually use a different brand to clear it with. Just what i've heard, but i'm no pro painter at all, hell, i use a cheapo 21 gallon offbrand compressor, seperator, and a 12 dollar harbour freght gun, but comes out mint so far!!. Again, i'd recomend for roughly the same price as trinity, the Eastwood brand on ebay, i've read good things about them, but only a couple bucks more. A gallon of Trinity was 74, and a gallon of eastwood was 89, but hell, I payed 60 a quart for ful-thane from my local shop, so i figured i'd take a chance, I'll use it cause i got it, but next order i'll try eastwood. Heres my second paint job ever, it's ful-thane, it's obviously hard to tell from a picture, but even in the picture, you can see it looks like glass, pro quality, and very depth apearing. (thats an old 78 gs750 i got for 300 bucks, just a cafe seat and a few other mods, total cost plus bike, 600 bucks, paint came out show quality.

[skids]

Looks real nice! Nice looking rear fender also...

[petejw]

beautiful work on both bikes. :-)

[lostsoul74]

thanks guys!!

[niemo435]

Hey lost soul, i started on a project too, basically same as yours. I was wondering how exactly you took apart those rear coilovers. I planned on cutting my springs too, but i heard the spring wont compress down, and on my first look I cant see how to take them apart in the first place! haha thanks man, I hope mine can look half as good as yours

[lostsoul74]

I dont take them apart, although it would be nicer and easier if i could, if i could, i'd cut at the top where hiddin by cover instead of lower. Me, i just use cutting disk, these are 10 1/2 inches, exactly 5 links cut off. For what ever reason, 5 links seems to be the majic number for me, i've done 5 bikes with lowered tails, and all were 5 links, I usually do 3 at first, then check height.
I first start by measuring the distance between inside fender and rear tire, to see how much i can chop off, remember, cutting your springs make them ALOT stiffer, kind of like a progressive lowering shock, stiffer and shorter. Chopping 5 links have basically takin out any give, i may have 1/4-3/8 give now, instead of 2 inches. But i would imagine if i only chopped 3 links, i'd have 1 1/4 of travel.

For cutting, i usually count up exactly 3 links/spring/coil up, then cut exactly 90 degrees with the shock, not the spring, you want the cut to be as flat as possible to lay properly back into the lower perch.
Not sure if you have a special or a standard, but on my standard, it was a tapered spring, so I couldnt cut them. meaning that the top was wider then the bottom, you cant cut a tapered spring, because then it would be too wide to land correctly in the perch. my old special was just a straight spring and was fine, but my standard was tapered, so i just went on ebay and grabbed the first set of cheap springs that had nice chrome and straight springs with proper eyes for mount. I think these ones were for a xs750. but theres hundreds of different bikes that will fit, you just want anything with the same eye holes with a straight spring, yours may already be stragiht, i dont know.
But once you have a straight non tapered spring. after you've cut at exactly 90 degrees to the shock, the spring will pop, i then just turn the rings around within eachother so that the two sections twist into 1, which then takes off all of the tension, i can then freely chop 1/2 link at a time untill i fully remove what i've got off (you'll see that you have to cut in halfs otherwize you cant get the rings off).
pretty simple.
Though personally, depending on your application and how extreme you want, i'd suggest a pair of 11 inch harley shocks, theyre about 70 bucks on ebay, you'll get a lower stance, but still have more comfort then ultra stiff cut springs. you can always dial them up if theyre too low.

[lostsoul74]

ps, if yours are tapered, and you go on ebay to find a straight pair, dont buy gs springs, theyhave a split top pearch, that if decompressed, fall apart, has to have solid perch top and bottom, you can usually get springs with good chrome on em for about 10 bucks on flea bay.

[niemo435]

Thanks for the info. i think i understand haha. ill cut them and see what happens. I think you have a better idea w/ the harley shocks. I may look into that. ill get some pics up soon. So you said you havent done alot of work on bikes, do you do your own welding? i think it would be a ton easier if I bought my own wire feed, i hate having to borrow my buddies

[lostsoul74]

yea, depending upo9n the look, the harleys are better, but with this particular bike, it was all about the rear fender and smallest gap, so thats why i went cut springs instead, basically making it a hardtail. No, i havnt needed a welder yet, done 7 bikes now and havnt welded anything yet, though it's on my wish list, probobly a hobart 110, stay away from the cheapies, it's better to buy a decent used one then a new cheap one. Wish i would of had a welder for the headlight mount on this one, but went RAT style and just chopped up an old framing square and bolted it in.... lol. This whole bike originally was suppose to go Rat style, but ruined it by giving it a paint job, looked better before, more attitude and originality, now it just looks like every other bike out there.....

[niemo435]

That sucks that it looks like other bikes up there. where im from this will be the sickest one around haha. probably not but it will be cool as hell. thanks for the advice, im gonna start looking soon.

[digitalsam]

Is the rear fender the original xs11 fender? or is that after market?

If it is the original, how did you go about modding it for mounting?

[lostsoul74]

yes and no, it's actually a fender from a special on a standard. Originaly it was the original from the standard, but hte standard had bigger holes (or more, cant remember) from the old taillight, so i just ebayed a 99 cent fender (8 bucks shipping) off fleabay. But if i recall right, i think the original standard was a touch smaller and slid forward a little easier. For mounting, i just unbolted it, stripped the tail light, wedged it in between the frame forward, and used a rubber mallet to drive it forward down to where the original plastic trim/water repellent meet (snugged in tight right behind the tool box, i think i had to use a pair of tin snips to cut the black plastic a little so it would slide forward). After i got placement and decided what looked right and a little clearence for my stiff springs, i just drilled through the rear frame rails and put some bolts through, simple job, i think maybe it took me a half hour from start to finish. The front fender actually is off a 78 gs750. I made a gs750 cafe, and the stock fender with stock wheels hugged the wheel PERFECT, as if it was aftermarket, zero gap, modern look. when i put it on the xs, there was a gap front and back, tight in middle, so the gs must of had a taller tire, for now i just slightly bent the fender to give it a tighter look, but when i replace the front wheel, i'll get the same size tire that was on the gs for zero clearence. I think it was only the 76-78 that had that style, without hte gap and without the upward curved lip, nice low profile with clean edging. sort of like this one, but was even more dramatic with zero clearence on mine cause of the taller tire. Although at first, i didnt use a front fender at all, i prefered the look much better, gave this alot more attitude and uniqueness, but got caught in the rain a few many times, so had to throw something on, think i got the gs fender for like 3 bucks off fleabay.




ps, i think i'll be selling this bike soon anyways, really not happy with the overall final look, looks too common, maybe it just needs a custom paint job or something, but i've got an old kz1000 drag bike sitting in the garage, already raked and stretched, think maybe i'll lift the front, drop the rear, and make a unique drag chopper over hte winter with it.

[lostsoul74]

oh yea, i should of added, that once i unbolted and removed hte old seat, disconnected the signals and tail lights, and removed the fender, once i placed the fender where i wanted it, i put a mark where the long rear frame rails met the bottom of the angle of the fender, pushed the fender back up out of hte way, and just cut off the rails where they needed, roughly about 2 inches past the shock mounts, giving me plenty of room to drill a hole for mounting tail lights and fishing hte wires back through the frame and popping then out under hte seat area.

[Bowtied]

That thing is awesome! I need to do that to my bike i guess! I like that alot! I got my bars coming in the mail real soon. Should be here monday tuesday at the latest! Is that the stock fender you just moved it forward a little? Thats an awesome idea! I need to rig up a side mount tag and brake light on mine and figure out the fender situation! Looks good man. Thanks for the inspiration!