Friday 30 January 2009

Even I strike gold

Well, having a few links in store to view from time to time is pretty nice.
This one I´ve either forget about or it has been updated.
Load and loads of great BRATSTYLE bobbers.
Already had a lot of the pics on my own place at Flickr or on my hard drive but quite a few new and best of all, several pics of the bikes.
Nice pipes, nice seat cowl from Bratstyle if I´m not wrong (you can buy it yourself from their homepage.

Now THAT is a narrow bike. Very neat paint job on the tank.

So check it out for yourself, but make sure you have plenty of time because you will be there for a long log time.

As for my own bike, the side covers on the engine is shining like crazy now. Polishing is dirty but the result is fantastic. The surface is so smooth that it feels like nothing is going to stick to it, apart from the wax that I will apply later. Pics will come.

Tuesday 27 January 2009

Polishing guides

Well, as you might have read in previous posts, it´s polishing time now while I await some parts and having the tank prepped for paint.
If you are in to polishing parts of your bike, these guides might be very useful.
The one that requires the most elbow grease is this one.
The methods used here makes you able to get cast aluminium to shine like crome.
The before picture, intake manifold for a Supra.
And after of course. Damn that is so much work but the result speaks for itself.

The other link is also very useful but here it´s more use of polishing machines and very good guide to what kind of buffer wheels and compounds to be used on different materials and stages of polishing.

Just a warning, once you start polishing stuff, it´s addictive and you might have to polish everything as unpolished parts look extremely dull.
Once it´s done, you will find that dirt doesn´t stick as easy to the polished parts and as long as you wax it every now and then, you will have a very nice finish to it.

Sunday 25 January 2009

My ISP sucks so here it comes after a slight delay.

Work on my bike slowly but surely comes along pretty nicely.
Polishing all aluminium and stainless steel parts will take some time.
One hell of a dirty work and quite time consuming as well.

Not that I aim for a too shiny bike, but selected parts will sparkle like the stars.
Some bikes shine more than others.

Not that it isn´t nice, just not my thing. Imagine washing it after a few days of driving...

Well, back to my bike for another polishing hour or so.

Sunday 18 January 2009

Project bike comin along

Well, I´ve come small step on the way of bobbing my GS450.
Here is the latest picture.


I´ve done the front brakes, the carbs are cleaned and nice, all electrics work accept the horn, rims painted, exhaust removed to be painted flat black with heat resistant pait, bike lowered with temporary strut awaiting lower rear chocks, tank primed awaiting red/white color and seat half way done. I have a seat cowl from an old Yamaha gas tank that will probably be mounted as well.


There are quite a few bikes that have inspired me. Here are a few:
For once a Harley that I like.

An incredible nice Honda CB 750 D'cafe.
Yoshimura motor, ARD magneto, Kimtab magnesium wheels, A&H brakes, GP fork, Webber carburetors, more super rare parts.
Very special SKRATCH Paint. From Garagecompany. Check under custom bikes.
There is another sister bike to this one, also fantastic but with less spectacular paint.

This one is soooo clean but also dangerous as it doesn´t have any front brake. Look at the clean bar, no cables or anything that disturbs the slick look.
Not sure who made it. Could be Gravel Crew or Heiwa.

Saturday 17 January 2009

New bike blog

Well, I just read a blog comment about a folder I made at flickr, praising my taste in semi vintage Japanese bikes, so I figured "why the hell can´t I do my own blog about these bikes."

I just started to build my first bike. It´s a 1981 Suzuki GS450 that will be bobbed/caffeinated or at least done my way. I do regret selling my 1975 Honda CB500, but what the hell. I can always buy a new one later on if I continue to miss it. The Suz fitted my wallet perfectly right now.

I will post project pictures here, as well as link or pics of bikes/people that have inspired me.

First off is my bike as it looked when I bought it. Not a pretty sight even if it was in a decent state for a 27 year oldbike.

It does look a bit different now as I have done a few thing on it. More pics later.

For inspiration I do visit a few blogs.
The one that inspired me to start this blog is The Return of the Cafe Racers.
I´d love to get that road as my background pic as well.

Well, there are my danish neighbors the Wrenchmonkeys that build beautiful bikes, surely inflensed by Bratstyle.