Painting

Well, I´m in the middle of painting my gas tank. Just laid the base coat. It will be white/red.
I found some awesome pictures from a Japanese company called Factory R54.
Check their paint job and fantastic bikes.
This one inspired me a lot:Another pic that I love since I saw it the first time is this one.
So-Cal set some speed records on the salt flats with this (or it´s predecessor).
I really like the simplicity of the red/white curve. Sometimes seen reversed that is red front white back.
I guess a variety of this theme can be seen on this sweet bike:
Just a quick update today. Please continue to mail me pictures of your projects.

First reader contribution

Jack from Finland is the first reader out.
He says "My main ride is an Indian Big Chief 1925 with hopped up mix an' match motor from 39-46."
I think it looks awesome and would love to see it in person.
So, get your bike out in the soft spring light and take some pictures, or get some from your garage, kitchen floor och back yard.

As for my bike, I seem to have a spark plug wire as I don´t get any spark on the right hand side, but get 4.5Ohm on the coil itself.
Will have to wait until next week as I am going to wreck a kitchen wall this weekend.

If you are looking for bikerblogs, check bikerblogs.blogspot.com. Nothing but links to just bikerblogs.
Happy wrenching and have a great weekend.

Fiddling

Sorry guys for being out of the blog for a while.
My bike is in mocked up state and I tried to start it this weekend just before the snow came back. I HATE late winter, and I love early spring.
Sadly, no spark at all. I will buy some new spark plugs tomorrow and try again.
If it starts properly, I will tighten all bolts, nuts and lube it up.
I am sooooooo keen on getting it on the road for a spin.
The first ever.

As for the stock side covers, they will just have to go asap.
I might do something like this:Could be a bit over the top, but look far better than stock anyway.

Wish I had the dough to get this done. This bike is out of this world.

I´m not sure how it drives, but parked, it´s second to none.

And since no-one mailed me about their own bikes, no bike but my favs will appear here.
If you want that to change, get on with it and send me some pics.
Later...

Finding ideas

There are quite a few guys like me out here. People that use ctrl+d and ctrl+s a lot.
Many of you have been to my page at Flickr.com to get inspiration.
Some of you have maybe seen the other groups that I belong to.
Japan choppers is one with hours of great pictures, mostly choppers and bobbers.
If you are more into café racers, look at here or here at Ace Café London.
Here is Ringadingdoos collection of bikes.
Home made choppers and bobbers here

I can not stress enough the fantastic source of ideas that you can find in various forums.
The Chopper Underground has a lot of XS650 builds, Dotheton have a great section if you need/want to make your own seat or get ideas for your Café tank and The GS Resources is absolutely fantastic if you have a Suzuki GS/GSX. Here you have a world of knowledge, loads of ideas if you want to modify your bikes either as a bobber, café or want to just get wherever you are going a lot faster.

Interactivity

Guys, I have been showing some great bikes here from the best of the best manufacturers. I have pointed out some tricks so you can get your bike low in the back and how to lower the stock forks, some neat details like drilled rear brake drums, cool vintage tail light and my own attempts to make my sorry ass stock bike into a neat budget bobber.
I thought I´d give you guys a chance to show off your bikes here.
Send me a link, some pics or link directly via comments on this post.
If I like the bikes, I´ll post the here asap.
And also, if YOU have any links that I have missed out on, give me a hint.
Action please.

If your budget is more in the line of loose change, if you are sick and tired of polishing idiots like me and choose a different path to walk, Ratbikes might be the way to go.
There is, of course, a place here for those as well. Some are pretty cool, others just plain ugly but I´m sure all are attitude and loads of fun. Often, a kick ass bike gets more attention than the billet HD for $50 000. Kill Billet is a place for you then, or Rat Bike Zone.
Some bikes posted there are seriously hot.
Look at this one. When I posted stuff for long and low bikes, I had now idea that this was possible.A Rover V8 can not only be put in a Locost Super7 or a Hot Rod, but obviously also on a bike.

There are other paths as well. This is a Swedish 1999 Royal Enfield.
My bike will come in from the cold tomorrow and I will try to make a temporary gas tank and try to start her up before she gets into the kitchen. Just want to hear her roar. I´ll just stick the mufflers on so I don´t scare the neighbors.
And guys, don´t forget to send in your stuff.

To all you other bloggers that link to me, thank you all so much.
I will spend a day soon to link back to you.

Yamaha XS - one of the most modified japs ever

The Yamaha XS model is beautiful as is, but there are sooooo many different mods done to it and also a fairly big aftermarket as well. The 650 is the crown of all models, even though the 400 and 500 are great. Of course, our favorite fabricators in Japan has done loads of highly modded bikes. Bratstyle has some nasty bikes with suicide shifters. Look at this one and enjoy. But go to their homepage if you havn´t been there yet.

Internet rules when it comes to launching your projects or showing off. Look here at Bay City design at the making of a metric chopper. This would give you some ideas for your project regardless of your bike model. The making of a hardtail is always interesting.

You can also buy weld-on hardtails at some shops. Google that or check this one.
TC Bro Choppers make one and ships worldwide.

There are some dedicated XS650 forums as well. 650rider is one of them. Look closely as the tips and tricks are many and covers just about every problem that can occur.

Look at these fine samples of XS bikes.

Heiwa has done this fantastic bike below. Big engine, but it looks nimble anyway.
Now when you are done here, go to Heiwa and prepare to want one you too. I for one, am certian that my next bike will be an XS, unless I can afford a W650 from Kawasaki of course.

My bike is out in the cold as I have my kids this week. The kitchen is to crowded with a bike and two daughters that wants to help me out. But spring is here soon I hope, and the bike SHALL run on 01april.