Project Chris

[The Renaissance Man]

I decided to make some bucks for forming the leather. Hopefully this will make stretching it over the seat pads easier than it has been in the past.

I soaked the leather in warm water first and then pressed the leather over the buck. I also put a layer of thin plastic (cut from a grocery bag) to keep the moisture out of the plywood. I'll leave this overnight to let it dry.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The leather is out of the bucks. So far so good, I'll let them finish drying before I do anything else.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The leather is fully dried and ready to be trimmed and glued in place. I'm very happy with the moulded profiles!
I also glued the foam padding to the base plates and shaped them.

I should have these ready to mount tomorrow!

 

[The Renaissance Man]

The leather is done! What do ya think?

 

[Scribble]

Sweetness

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

I think at the rate your going it won't be done till after next summer..

 

[The Renaissance Man]

I think at the rate your going it won't be done till after next summer..

Things have really s l o w e d . . . d o w n without the build off deadline pushing me along!

 

[metalchewy]

That seat looks awesome. I really like the way it is turning out.

Building..... Riding.....

 

[sdframe]

WOW!!! Love that seat.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Had to see the saddle on the bike now that it's done. So I bolted it up and rolled it outside for a few pics.

Because the tank is wider, I decided to make a headlight to fill the extra space on the nose. It will be removable for access to the wiring and batteries. This is the 'cover' that I was working on at the end of the build-off right before I bailed out.

 

[A.S.BOLTNUT]

Over all lookin good , but the seat looks small compared to the proportions of the bike as a whole....

 

[The Renaissance Man]

Over all lookin good , but the seat looks small compared to the proportions of the bike as a whole....

It's strange, but it is comparable in size to a lot of common saddles. I think because of the individual seat pads, it looks smaller. I actually like how it works as a bobber style on this bike though.

Just for reference, I measured from end to end (9') and across (8.25) and it's the same exact measurements as the saddle on my bike 'Southern Flyer'. It's just not as thick.

 

[Fv2]

What's the tank look like from the front?

 

[The Renaissance Man]

What's the tank look like from the front?

This is obviously still unfinished, but when the tank is permanently bonded together the bottom half of the headlight will be part of the tank and the top half will have a machine screw holding it down. The top of the tank from the head tube back will be fiberglassed together followed by body work to smooth it into one piece. The smaller pod lights will be amber and I'll fit an LED in the headlight.

 

[Fv2]

This is obviously still unfinished, but when the tank is permanently bonded together the bottom half of the headlight will be part of the tank and the top half will have a machine screw holding it down. The top of the tank from the head tube back will be fiberglassed together followed by body work to smooth it into one piece. The smaller pod lights will be amber and I'll fit an LED in the headlight.
View attachment 66168

That kind of puts me in mind of a Tucker.
If that center light just turned with the steering.

 

[RustySprockets]

I like it. Been contemplating, for a while now, the look of a single central oval applied to your conversion tank, similar to KF's Verboten. For some reason, I just like the aggressive appearance of that shark maw.

 

[Duchess]

I love the center light idea, plus it will be a more useful light to see by.

How are you thinking of routing the front brake cable with a threaded fork and the nose sticking out?

That kind of puts me in mind of a Tucker.
If that center light just turned with the steering.

I had the same thought with my TRM tank with the small lights using an internal linkage, but there was too much other stuff to put in there and I didn't think I could get enough angle change, but that could work much better with a single light. This bike doesn't have the rotating part of the stem within the tank, but I think a cable linkage coming out of the tank to interact with an arm that rotates with the stem, like a cantilever front brake cable stop, reflector mount, or similar. Then again, there's already a LOT going on here as it is.

 

[The Renaissance Man]

How are you thinking of routing the front brake cable with a threaded fork and the nose sticking out?

The throttle, clutch and front brake cables will all pass through the tank on either side of the headlight and exit underneath next to the head tube. My preliminary test fit indicated that there will be enough slack in the cables that binding will not be an issue. Fingers are crossed that it will indeed work with everything in a finished position.

 

[Dr. Tankenstein]

Could I like this bike any more?!?!?.....Nope.
OK, maybe if you were building it for me....yeah, that would do it..


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[Duchess]

The thing I miss about design school was the ideas we would all get that sprung from other peoples' ideas—not a copy or adaptation of what they did, but a kick down a path we wouldn't otherwise have seen. Looking at this again, I'm envisioning a modification to one of these (standard width) tanks something like a P-40. Shoot, I don't have the room for more bikes!