XB12R cafe conversion

[nicholas900]

I'll post more when I get to it if there is interest. All these wires will be shrink wrapped. They will exit from the brake side. There are a few mods that need to be done to the hardware supplied with the light kit, and a few wire hold downs added so it is just about invisible.

On the bottom of the swing arm there is a drain hole that leads to the pocket for the rear caliper. The wires will be run through there and be zip tied to the brake line then up into the bike.

Bottom of swing arm. Wires go through there...

And end up in here...

Then as I mentioned be run along side the brake line until splitting off to go up into the bike. These pics look like a hack job. Once the wires are shrink wrapped and hold downs installed it will look on par with the rest of my wiring work. There will be insulated pull apart terminals for the right side blinker inside the axle.

 

[Sirius815]

[up] Thanks!

 

[Chicknstripn]

Those look awesome! Definitely the first time I've seen it done! Well, that goes for pretty much your whole build! If you don't mind me asking... How much did those signals set you back?

 

[nicholas900]

^ThanksI did a little DIY on the directionals here. I included a link where I bought them from.

 

[Chicknstripn]

Nice write up! You have SO much more patience than I could ever try having! That goes for all your write ups. Cool signals but holy crap... ... they are pricey!!!!

 

[DrogeN Omen]

are those signals $133USD each?

 

[nicholas900]

My shock finally arrived. It came with a cool manual and some goodies.

As I mentioned I asked them to powder coat the spring black vs standard red. They also switched out the standard reservoir fittings. They used some real slick fittings that can be rotated by hand. Not even sure what they are called, but they are awesome. They wouldn't be worth adding to a standard bike, but because I made my own tail section, I needed to have the reservoir hose at a different angle in relation to the shock body. They said they would use a banjo bolt and set the reservoir hose angle at my requested 55°… then I opened the box and found these cool fittings.

 

[Sirius815]

Now that is some slick shit! I didn't know these existed either. Super cool!

 

[Chicknstripn]

Let me guess, you took out a second mortgage for that shock!
Definitely some high speed low drag stuff right there!

 

[303xb]

Update?

 

[djs2k2]

Hey your headers are they coated or polished?

 

[firebolt830]

More Pictures! I am dying to see the final product as you had planned it. I may just end up stealing your idea and converting mine to that style as well.....

Also, are you planning on fabricating a seat cowl for a portion of the seat to give it that bubble back that many cafes have?

 

[Theschirminator]

I would hate to polish that bike up. I'd end up with carpal tunnel lol

 

[EricZ]

Beautiful work, sir! A question: how are you planning on keeping the steel parts you polished from rusting such as the oil lines and axles? Those are just plated steel and will rust without another zinc plating.

 

[Chicknstripn]

Leave it to Eric to notice all the technical stuff! Good questions though.... ....maybe dude just likes to take stuff apart and polish all the time????

 

[nicholas900]

To answer a few questions,

-The header is polished.

-Will the seat have a cafe "bubble back". The seat is actually done. There are pictures of the bike "mocked" up on page 5 (I think).

- The rear axle and swingarm pin were just polished enough to remove some corrosion instead of replacing. The front axle is new. I was careful not to go through the coating. Should be fine. They are cheap to replace if need be.

-I nickel plated the oil lines with a home electroless plating kit. I just plated the steel portion after polishing and cleaning. The stainless portions I just polished. These kits work well for this type of stuff. I've had good success in the past.

-As for the carple tunnel, lol. Polishing is a lot of work initially, but if done well, it is actually pretty easy to take care of. Just a wipe down with a micro fiber cloth after a ride and an application of Wenol once in a while.

It might be a while before I work on the project. Had a dirt bike "incident". Nothing too major. Busted nose, tooth and a concussion. Once I stop feeling like 10 second Tom I'll finish up the bike.

 

[nicholas900]

Made some more progress. I finished up all the wiring finally. Getting close.

Moving the voltage rectifier under seat was a challenge. Or more to the point fitting all the wiring in a small space was. But I do like how it cleaned up all the wiring behind the pulley cover. It came out good. Not as pretty as I would have liked, but its all secure, protected and will be reliable. This is what I came up with.

 

[nicholas900]

I fired it up for the first time also. Everything works as it should. No oil leaks or issues. That's a good feeling! I made a short VIDEO but again phone is messed up. It keeps rotating when I take a picture or video. Need a new phone lol. Please excuse the heavy breathing LOL, got a busted nose.

So now I just need to do a little final trimming on the aluminum skins and final polish them. Stay tuned.

 

[camouflage]

WOW!!! Looking really nice now its all coming together.

That headlight looks kinda familiar........ Arch krgt-1

 

[nicholas900]

Thanks Camo. That bike you linked is awesome! Gonna be checking those guys out and stealing ideas for the next one.