Anyone near Ft. Benning, GA willing to help with a build?

[Outlaw4shrt]

It is with some reservation that I post my current project on the forum but I could really use some help if anyone is willing. I have a 1981 XS1100H that I've updated with modern brakes, swingarm, and suspension. Essentially it is a restomod/hotrod because I don't think it falls into the chopper/bobber category, possibly cafe racer if I change to a solo tail. I've read some posts recently where there are those who dislike modifying this bike from standard so I apologize in advance if I've offended anyone with my choice of modifications. I do need help though in order to finish my project the way I would like.

The bike was originally a full bagger and the wiring harness has been chopped to hell by the PO in an attempt to add as many lights, horns, speakers, sirens, etc. to the bike as possible. What I would like to do is repair the harness, keep the turn signals and brake lights obviously, but completely remove the gauge cluster [i.e. no tach, speedo, warning lights, etc.] as it is hideous and takes away from the look I am going for. As I understand, the warning light cluster cannot be removed without sacrificing the functioning of all of the signals.

Also, I bought a lincoln electric AC-225 arc welder in order to weld on an xs650 rear hoop to the tail, weld over the area I cut in order to allow the chain to clear the frame, and then weld on some additional frame bracing. I've never welded before and had planned on just jumping in head first with this project, but it seems like there's a lot of experience on this forum and if there's anyone close to Fort Benning, GA that would be willing to help or just pass on some tips it would be greatly appreciated.

I'm attaching a before picture and a couple current picture of the bike but I've taken pictures of the entire build thus far that I can post if anyone is interested.

Thanks in advance,

Adrian


Before


As of 1 February 2012

[BA80]

Upgrading is one thing, hardtailing is another. Although a lot of us prefer the "stock" look at least you have improved the suspension instead of eliminating it.

[natemoen]

DANG! Belt drive?!? Impressive!. I would love to see how those ammo cans were originally mounted if you have some pics from when they were on there!

Most places it is illegal to drive without a speedo, just as a heads up.

[Outlaw4shrt]

DANG! Belt drive?!? Impressive!. I would love to see how those ammo cans were originally mounted if you have some pics from when they were on there!

Most places it is illegal to drive without a speedo, just as a heads up.

No, it's chain. I got an XSCHOP chain drive conversion second hand from a guy in Australia for a pretty penny. It has a 47 tooth rear sprocket on the rear so that the chain rides high enough over the swingarm so as to not rub too badly. Not sure what kind of gas mileage I will get with a 13/47 set-up but it should pull pretty hard in the first two gears.

Didn't even think about the legality of not running a speedo, darn. I guess I'll need to come up with something for that because I can't run the original cable set-up for the gauges because of the forks that are on there.

Suspension wise I have 2001 FZ1 front forks with Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 catridge kits, in the rear I have a 2001 FZ1 swingarm that I modified to allow for a dual shock set-up with bitubo three-way adjustable shocks, and I'm running 17" FZ1 front and rear wheels with michelin power pure tires. I didn't go with inverted forks or a single shock set-up because I wanted to keep a "retro" look.

[Outlaw4shrt]

Donor bike:


Chain set-up:

[cywelchjr]

It may take some searching, but someone on here found some pretty small profile digital gauges that might work ok on there. Their adjustable to just about anything and IIRC they had one that does both speed AND rpm in a single small gauge.

Try this thread here, I think maybe the gauges talked about in here might work for you? Additionally, all Yamaha gauges use the same wierd drive ratio, so if you can get a cable drive for the front wheel, assuming there is a drive on the front at all, it would drive the OEM speedo, but I'm guessing that wouldn't fit what your going for.

[natemoen]

No thread there Cy. Try again

[cywelchjr]

No thread there Cy. Try again

Sorry, Try this http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18398 thread here.

Forgot to paste in the link I had copied.

[motoman]

I do get down to Columbus on occassion since mother-inlaw lives there. would be glad to offer my fab/welding knowledge if needed. Mother inlaw is located bout 2miles from airport in Columbus......JAT.

[Rasputin]

Personally I could not ride without a speedometer. As I drive for a living my license is far to valueable to waste on the chance I may get too many tickets and lose it. We have a points system here that takes habitual offenders off the road for a period depending on how many of these points one acccumulates.
Just find any old speedometer you like the looks of to mount. Heck you can use a bicycle one for all it matters. Does not matter if it works at all. The cops will only see it when you are stopped so they wont know if it is hooked up or not.

[cywelchjr]

Or if nothing else, put a GPS on there and use it in Speedometer mode, it's actually most of the time more accurate than a normal speedometer anyways. When I rode with psychoreefer that's what he had on his bike for a speedometer, and it seemed to work just fine for him.

[crazy steve]

...What I would like to do is repair the harness, keep the turn signals and brake lights obviously, but completely remove the gauge cluster [i.e. no tach, speedo, warning lights, etc.] as it is hideous and takes away from the look I am going for. As I understand, the warning light cluster cannot be removed without sacrificing the functioning of all of the signals.

Also, I bought a lincoln electric AC-225 arc welder in order to weld on an xs650 rear hoop to the tail, weld over the area I cut in order to allow the chain to clear the frame, and then weld on some additional frame bracing. I've never welded before and had planned on just jumping in head first with this project, but it seems like there's a lot of experience on this forum and if there's anyone close to Fort Benning, GA that would be willing to help or just pass on some tips it would be greatly appreciated....

So far so good; that's a pretty nice looking project

The wiring harness... your best bet is to just repair it, and don't bother trying to remove any 'excess' OEM wires unless you want to totally unwrap/rewrap it which is a PITA; any weight loss will be miniscule, and most wires will have more than one function. You can remove the turn indicator lights (by simply using an aftermarket flasher), but I'd have second thoughts about losing the neutral and oil lights too. Those could be replaced with some other style light though.

Welding on the frame. If you've never welded before, find somebody who knows how, or take a class. A straight AC arc machine (or do you have a AC/DC welder? BIG difference..) is a bit tough to master, and motorcycle frames are built out of fairly thin material, very easy to burn holes in them. I'm a bit worried that you had to cut the frame for chain clearance, as that part of the frame is a high-stress area so any repairs/welding done there need to be right. Additional frame bracing will likely only add weight; a better idea would be to replace the rubber motor mounts with solid ones, making the motor a stressed member, and using a full-width bolt (with a close-tolerance spacer to fill any 'open' spots) for the swingarm pivot if that's not what you already have. I'm too far away to help, sorry....

[Outlaw4shrt]

It may take some searching, but someone on here found some pretty small profile digital gauges that might work ok on there. Their adjustable to just about anything and IIRC they had one that does both speed AND rpm in a single small gauge.

Try this thread here, I think maybe the gauges talked about in here might work for you? Additionally, all Yamaha gauges use the same wierd drive ratio, so if you can get a cable drive for the front wheel, assuming there is a drive on the front at all, it would drive the OEM speedo, but I'm guessing that wouldn't fit what your going for.

I really like the bicycle speedo idea! Thanks. Small and tidy and mostly out of sight. I wonder if I can get it to fit in the hole for the gauge cables that lead out of the stock headlight bezel, hmmm...?

There is no drive on the front wheel unfortunately. I found some gauges that I liked on the dime city cycles page but the only ones that I liked or in my price range of what I was willing to spend for gauges were cable.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Outlaw4shrt]

DANG! Belt drive?!? Impressive!. I would love to see how those ammo cans were originally mounted if you have some pics from when they were on there!

Most places it is illegal to drive without a speedo, just as a heads up.

I believe I do have some pictures of the original set-up somewhere. I actually have the original set-up still if you want it. If I can find the pictures I will post them up.

[Outlaw4shrt]

So far so good; that's a pretty nice looking project

The wiring harness... your best bet is to just repair it, and don't bother trying to remove any 'excess' OEM wires unless you want to totally unwrap/rewrap it which is a PITA; any weight loss will be miniscule, and most wires will have more than one function. You can remove the turn indicator lights (by simply using an aftermarket flasher), but I'd have second thoughts about losing the neutral and oil lights too. Those could be replaced with some other style light though.

Welding on the frame. If you've never welded before, find somebody who knows how, or take a class. A straight AC arc machine (or do you have a AC/DC welder? BIG difference..) is a bit tough to master, and motorcycle frames are built out of fairly thin material, very easy to burn holes in them. I'm a bit worried that you had to cut the frame for chain clearance, as that part of the frame is a high-stress area so any repairs/welding done there need to be right. Additional frame bracing will likely only add weight; a better idea would be to replace the rubber motor mounts with solid ones, making the motor a stressed member, and using a full-width bolt (with a close-tolerance spacer to fill any 'open' spots) for the swingarm pivot if that's not what you already have. I'm too far away to help, sorry....

My issue right now is with trying to repair the wiring harness. It's just been hacked to pieces with leads and grounds from the stock harness that have been cut and left unconnected. Oddly enough, the bike still starts and runs fine the last time I had it together. I've been trying to use the wiring diagram from the clymer manual to figure it out but at this point I am pretty lost. I think I may have to pull the majority of the harness apart just to figure out what the PO did so I can repair it but that's going to be a serious PITA. I have no intentions of cutting and pulling the harness apart just for the sake of weight savings. I'll try to take some pictures of what I am talking about and post them up to see if visually, anyone can take a look at it and see what I need to do.

As far as the frame welding goes, I totally agree, it needs to be done right. I did have the frame braced by the same people that welded my swingarm. I'm attaching some pictures below to help show what I'm taking about. I have a similar notch on the inside tube of the frame that I wanted to weld a few patches of steel over in order to cover the hole but I guess it might be easier to just use JB Weld for that. I want to get a hoop welded on the rear, which I wanted to tackle myself or with some help, but I can just as easily have the people that welded my frame and swingarm already do that. Just trying to get some more DIY experience with my LE AC 225.





I replaced the top front motor mounts, have not had the chance to do the other four yet, with energy suspension polyurathene pushings. They seem pretty stout and are a lot better than the 30 year old bushings that were in there before.