Finishing the mod. Looking for your thoughts

[digitalsam]

Alrighty. Here she is. My modified 1980 XS11 Special. I am upholstering the seat tonight and am still looking for end caps for the chopped rear of the frame. I kept it a softtail and only lowered the seat a few inches by using less foam. Built the seat pan from fiberglass. Stole the double headlight idea from Da Bubble, Thanks man. The fender is from a 1972 Honda CB450 (ebay $20), I still need to cut the old mounting brackets off and hide the wiring. The fender brackets are temporary too. I am still waiting for chromed metal rods to arrive. The fender is attached to the swing arm to avoid hitting the tire and the mirrors are old Roadstar mirrors off of ebay ($15).

Still needs the carbs cleaned and a good bit of cleaning up, but what you see is basically what she will look like.

Let me know what you all think...

[Silent]

Looks good

[fredintoon]

Hi Sam,
looks great. Your chiropractor thanks you for keeping the rear suspension.
What you could do with those open frame tubes is to put a masonry anchor in them and thread in a chrome-headed or stainless bolt.
Or if you have a "Bro with lathe" have him turn you a pair of aluminum plugs to drive in there.
Or if you wanted to lose those big red lamps, use masonry anchors and bolts to hold on a flatbar with a strip-shaped tail light and two matching skinny rear signals mounted on it.

[xs11bobber]

I'm gonna say put some chrome/polished end caps on there with a set screw underneath. Could top them off and maybe you could pull it off as part of the turn signals. Or you could cut them off near the upper shock mount and they're hidden by the seat. Still want to plug them somehow due to rust.

[XScafe]

Looks pretty good.
It has a "small" look to it and not the big hulky bike that they really are.

When I cut my frame I found chrome inset caps at Home Depot for $2 each. Applied some silicone around edges and tapped them into frame with rubber mallet.

[CatatonicBug]

I'm still not sure about the idea of mounting the fender to the swingarm. Does that work?? I can just imagine the rear end of the fender flailing up and down as you are going down the road, and the force of that motion snapping the whole fender off. Not to mention snapping those big lights off the back first!