As many of you know,I have been posting bike progress updates on this bike in the "Prepping your bike for Moab" but I thought I would bring it back home here.

Tonight, I got a lot done. I had removed the rear fender to touch up the paint, and I was reconfiguring an old aftermarket rack so I would be able to carry a bit of survival stuff. Good to help drag the bike out of a tight spot too!

You probably already saw the custom painted Hammerheads, but here they are again for thread completeness:





And on the bike:





The shocks are brand new NOS complete with the box. I got a good deal on them as the shocks had no springs, and the springs (separate seller) had no shocks. Assembled they really add a nice vintage race look.

The rack was a nasty accessory rack in pretty bad shape. It started life as chrome, then when it got scratched and a bit corroded, someone painted it silver - and not well either.

I didn't get a good picture of the before, but it was designed to sit at about seat top level so as to clear the stock taillight. On this bike it sat way too high and frankly looked pretty dorque'. I mounted it up, then cut out about two inches of height, moved it forward a bit and re-welded it together with some internal stiffening.

The end result I really am happy with:





Obviously the chrome didn't fair well with the welder, and black fits the bike personality better. Sorry for the picture quality, it was dark and a camera phone . . .








And one from the other side for kind of an overall look:





I just had a couple of case bolts to re-thread and decide if I want to install the Trailtech gauges before the trip. All in all, pretty happy with where the bike I'd at.

Did a bit more work on the bike today. Not much pretty stuff, but progress none the less. Tomorrow will yield some pics.

I relocated the rectifier which was not clearing my tank by much, so it is now on a stalk in the void below the backbone and in front of the coil. Hidden but close to its connections and in a bit of a breeze.

I also added a regulator from a 78 DT400 I had laying about. I mounted it under the seat area where I had originally intended to mount up the CDI box for the electronic ignition which is on hold until after Moab. No need to try the new technology before a trip . . .

I also secured the front cables where they would normally go between the gauges. Just used a short piece of rod and some allen heads. Nice and neat and nothing flopping about.

I am still up in the air about using the Trailtech gauges. I don't have a good mounting solution that I like and time is a wasting. I may just fly by the seat of my pants on this trip. I will have my GPS for mileage and speed if I need it.

I also pulled the front fender for a fresh coat of paint as it has taken some abuse in the garage over the past few months. Same problem I had with the rear which I re-painted when installing the rack. It will get mounted up later tonight and then most of the functional stuff is done.

Can't wait to watch the sun rise in Moab . . .

Wink Wink Nod Nod . . .
So I decided since this bike will actually be ridden quite a bit I hope, I like signals on the street and especially at night. So back to the drawing board.

Stock are both too big and too damn expensive. Need something more stealth anyway, but gotta be 6 volt . . . Most aftermarket stuff now is sport bike oriented and 12 volt LED. The DOT stuff is huge and ugly. So off we go to Ebay.

A seller who does mostly Chinese Honda clone parts, Webllc out of Colorado has been good to men the past. Most of what he has now is chrome, but I got black instead. $20 for 4 shipped!





These take a #63 single filament bulb which are available in 6 volt. They are a smaller, but bright, version of the 1156 blinker bulb.




I swapped out the connectors for Vintage Connections correct stuff to plug right into my harness.

The back of the bike has some great stock mounting points, but the hole is huge for a stock setup. Mike'sXS to the rescue. $4.80 per side gets you stock repop rubber and the right backing washer (had to drill out the hole for this setup).

The wires are exactly the right length and I secured them with a small insulated cable clamp to the taillight moint screw.




Pretty well integrated into the look:




And bright enough to be visible:





Working on the front next. I will get some full pics tomorrow when the rain lets up and the lighting is better.

I had originally thought about running the pickup back to the rear wheel and attach it off of a brake stay rod, or something like that, but decided not to reinvent the wheel - at least not from scratch.

The vapor kit includes a couple of rare earth magnets designed to be epoxied to your front hub somewhere. The speedo works by using the field as it passes and calculating your speed - much like the little bicycle speedos you can get. The difference is that the location on the front of a dirt bike is a bit more exposed to the dangers of off road riding, and old bikes present their own challenges.

I was going to mount the magnet INSIDE the brake drum side and then drill through the brake backing plate to hide everything inside the hub, but it appeared to be just too much of a challenge. I wanted something simple and fairly quick. The solution?





A bit of flat aluminum stock, mounted to the fender/fork brace mount and flexed to be against the backing plate. Then the pickup is mounted in line with the edge of the hub where the magnet is glued into a spoke hole.








Fairly sanitary, and the flat stock protects the pickup tube nicely. I may end up drilling the flat stock at some point for weight and looks, but for now, it works.

I don't have pictures, but the tach pickup is simply a wire wrapped around the plug wire. Simple, but it takes a bit of work to get it right. Turns out there is a lot of dirty electrical field on these old bikes, so simply laying the pickup wire ACROSS the coil wire and securing it with some tape yielded the best results.

They include a plug heat sensor which allows you to keep track of the cylinder head temp. I don't know what is right, but it is mainly so you can track changes. The computer also will track the ambient air temps, has an odometer and several other features I have not yet even figured out!

The only thing you have to really adjust is to input the diameter of the front tire, so the miles per hour (or kilometers per hour if you choose) is accurate! It's that easy!

At this point, other than future evolution of the bike, it is finished, and rideable. It's maiden voyage was, of all places, Moab Utah.



This ain't no Garage Queen. But then again, neither is this . . .



There is more to this story and a link to the bikes photo shoot with SIEGE will be posted here shortly . . .

A few more photos from deep in the hard drives of our archives . . .










More when SIEGE finishes his shoot!

And for those of you who like a professional's touch . . . My friend and talented Arteest SIEGE at work!



For the rest of the story on the photo shoot, go to his site at





May not be safe for work . . . EEEK

This is a thoroughly enjoyable thread, from acquisition and paperwork, through discovery and build, to details and finally a pro photo shoot. Its inspiring to see someone else doing an intensive project. Massive kudos!

OnFire