New project: XS1100 endurance racer

[daveyg]

Imagine the braking power they give. The closer to the edge of the tire the calipers are the better braking power they give. You could probably do stoppies with those rotors, if the forks would hold the weight of the bike.

Bad idea. I would do it.
But I'm sure the SWMBO wouldn't like it.

[Mathh]

Well, I have been fairly busy lately so no real leaps forward in the build.
Some small things like the forkbrace/fender mount, but nothing impressive..
The almost flat mounted R1 shock did not perform well, so I have been looking for a substitute. The only shock that's a bit suitable is a TL1000R replacement shock that gets rid of the stock horror on this bike. In France I scored this Fournales gas shock of 240mm. I think it looks great on the bike. I just need to modify the mounting points but that should not be a problem...



I made some front wheels spacers from a piece of aluminum that I had lying around..





I had to make another workbench because of lack of working space.





And for the monocoque I made an English wheel from scrap steel beams and bought 2 m2 alu sheet form 2 mm thick. Must remember to put a bucket filled with ice to the side when I start using it. That's first aid for the flattend fingers

[Ken Talbot]

Amazing! All that fancy fitting and welding for a custom frame, home built English wheel, custom workbench, amazingly well organized shop, etc, etc. And then, there's that $hitt!y old piece of firewood propping it up and a hacked-off sledge hammer! And look at that beautiful buffing wheel set-up!!! I am thoroughly amazed, humbled, and amused, all at once.

[mro]

Hey Ken,
did you notice the battle ship thick deck plate he used for the bike lift top. A true XSive

mro

[xschop]

Inspiration

MacGyver is my mentor...but....
MathH your work is an inspiration to us "Yanks"

I hope you can get a video out after she's up and running...

[Mathh]

Thanks for the compliments guys. The log and the hammer are genuine old skool oak and came with the workshop And that bike lift deck....... well I watch Discovery a lot (really BIG machines...).
@ xschop : a video? It's not that long ago that I finally got comfortable with posting pics on the net..... video is hightech! But I will give it a try, that's a promise.

[exquized1]

Mathh

Can you post some more pics of your lift table and how you went about making it. I'm sure there is a few of us that would be interested in making one. Any tips or tricks would help us with no imaginary skills. LOL a detailed plan and material list would help me out much more but I know thats asking way too much. Your skills just floor me everything you build is amazing.

[roccet]

endurance racer

Do you have that solid model available ??? what format ??
what do i have to do to get it.. ?

[Mathh]

hi exquized1, I will post some extra pics in a couple of days. I made it without any real plans, but it is relatively straightforward ...
@Roccet: not sure what you mean?

[Rick]

lol , now i know why u didnt get to germany , uve been busy here all along , catch u soon math

[Mathh]

hydraulic workbench

Hi Exquized1, hope this helps!

I made some pics this week, but please understand that I am not a workbench builder by profession. So there will no doubt be easier, cheaper and better solutions than mine.
First of all I wanted my bench to be as stable as possible. For that you have to consider several things: start with a big footprint, as big as possible. Make sure the bench does not wobble when loaded: put all hinges as far as possible on the outsides. And last but not least: use a hydraulic jack as big as possible. The best solution is a jack designed for trucks.



When putting the jack in the middle of the bench, the pumping handle can still be reached and used from the outer side. However these things are very expensive, so in this case I chose a car type jack with a large lifting capacity (3 metric tons).



That way you can move it up with only little pumping action. These jacks also reach higher working levels than the smaller ones. Only downside of this system is that the pumping side of the bench rises sooner than the other side (this side only follows).
I wanted to use this bench for restoring classic bikes with as much storing room for parts as possible. So long term projects. Therefore it is supplied with some mounting points on the front to slide in an extension if needed.



I also always combine my benches with an electrical cable winch mounted on the ceiling. This way it is always possible to secure the bike or engine and frame separately in several ways.



As I wanted the bench BIG so I went for 40x40x2 mm square tubing. The frame on the floor is 600mm wide and 2100mm long. Working space is 690mm wide and 2200mm long (3mm thick). Remember this is big, most tables are much smaller. The sides are bent upwards 20mm to keep parts from falling down. Lots of hooks are welded all around the underside of the upper deck in order to strap things down.



Total height when fully up is 88cm, higher than most benches. On the jack end I welded a stop to lock a wheel up to 190mm wide and 19” high comfortably with a ratchet strap. I think this is a save way to prevent a bike from falling down the platform when the jack comes down in a hurry by accident.



First we stripped the hydraulic lift from all unnecessary parts as wheels, swiveling top and some strips. Than we made the outer perimeter of the bottom frame and decided were to put the jack which we welded securely to the frame. Make sure that the operating handle sticks out behind the workbench.







In order to get the hydraulic lift working in correspondence with the arms you must make sure the pivot points of the jack and the bottom of the arms line up exactly. If not it will block at a some point during lifting. Same with the upper of the arms and the top of the jack when in upright position. Be sure everything moves freely before you start any final welding. I added some grease nipples in the pivot points as well (out of harms way).







Because it is heavy I welded the wheels from the jack to the front of the bench. That makes it a lot easier to move around.



Last thing to do is drill some holes to prevent the bench from lowering due to hydraulic failure. Still have to do that on this one… I made some axles on the lathe to shove in these holes and block everything.



Good luck!

[3Phase]

Nice work benches! I like the one you made using the truck jack because I already have a jack similar to the Rassant in your pictures.

[Mathh]

well, I must admit it has been a while but .... busy, busy, busy. everybody overhere knows how that works,

You cannot yet see it on the pics but i removed the shock mounts and have been trying new versions, 3 different ones until now, still not satisfied..
I emailed with Fournales in France and they supplied me with a user manual but they also told me that the exact pressure for my project can only be obtained by experimenting.
I now put in 10 bar of air pressure (150psi) and it is not enough so now I am looking for a handpump used on mountainbike shocks that can handle 30 bar (450psi).
Because the engine moved over the frame tubes I did some welding to give them an extra mm of thickness, than added some holes with M8 thread and now I can secure the engine.



My friend Tom from the UK delivered my correct Talon sprocket (40T/530) on my doorstep, which I installed and then i shortened the chain. As soon as Fournales the shock has the correct pressure I can lower the frame to give it weight and weld the shock mounts on the swingarm and align the wheels



In the mean time I tried heaps of fuel tanks in combination with the desired seat, to look for a styling direction but nothing that i liked. And yes, i even tried the XS1100 fuel tank. then I ripped of the tank of my Z1300 dfi and I must admit it looks very, very period and cool! Maybe a bit too big, lower the front part, make the rear a bit less wide, but I might get used to it. I am now considering to buy an old tank and cut that one up and when I have the final shape I will make a new monocoque in aluminum.

[MeatTooth]

Wow that is sexy! I can't wait to see this one finished! You have got to submit this bike to some publications and share it with the world when you are done.

[Mathh]

it's been a while

It's been a while, sorry for that. 3 weeks ago I started in my new fulltime job and I have been abroad constantly and time will be very scarce for the next 3 months.
A guy I know has all the spares for the dutch Z1300 club, so I could try the Canadian (16ltrs), the US (20 ltrs) and the euro version (27 ltrs) of the 1300 fuel tank. My first contact for finding the rare fairing told me it would be impossible as the builder was ill and it was unsure if he could ever build it. So I ordered some RCB1000 look-a-like fairings and seat in France with the help of our mutual friend Baloo from Baloo racing (he has the yellow xs endurance racer). Last saturday I received those.
The canadian tank was super flat and looked silly, so no pics there. First pic shows the US tank with the first fairing fitted with holes for the lights, second one shows the euro fuel tank. Looks way better imo.





The seat is a lot higher than the US tank and it just doesn't look right, although it follows the frame lines better (bit smaller) than the euro tank.
So the decision has been made: I'll definitely go on with the euro version tank.
Third pic shows the euro tank in combo with the second version (no holes for the lights).





I mounted the fairing higher than normal and at first instance it looks odd because of the very low headstock. That's because I want to sit as straight as possible instead of leaning forward, better for me back... Maybe it can still be lowered a tiny bit.
I will also add the oil cooler opening to the bottom of the final fairing (don't know which one yet) so the front of the fairing will get bigger and lower, making the hole between the fairing and the front fender smaller.



The rear end of the fairing pointing upwards now will be changed downward later..