Time to build another bike

[SD202]

a bike build! this will be awesome judging by your previous bike.

[storey618]

already looks better with that front end!

[Capt. Obvious]

The Yamaha is currently with my friend Rob to take care of some of the welding and fab work that I can't handle myself. Once I get it back from him, I'll hopefully be making a lot of progress pretty quickly.

[Meeve]

im so in for a bike build!

[anti.engineered]

That looks great. Do you have some advice for me looking to fit my '06 675 with a single sided rear swing arm? I have some fab experience with cars but none with bikes. I'm about to read the build thread of your other bike as I spotted you've done it there. I was thinking a 1050 rear end but it doesn't bolt up. Not afraid of making things work, but I wouldn't know where to start haha.

[Capt. Obvious]

That looks great. Do you have some advice for me looking to fit my '06 675 with a single sided rear swing arm?

The first thing to do is make sure there is enough physical room for the swingarm you want to actually fit on your bike. I made this mistake on my Suzuki when I bought the Triumph rear swingarm and then realized it was a good 2" too wide to actually fit in the frame on the Bandit.

This is a good thread with a lot of good info about swingarm sizes:

http://www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8638&page=3

The hardest part about fitting a SSSA to your bike is making sure the sprockets are aligned and the wheel is centered (or as close to centered as possible). Don't worry too much if the wheel isn't perfectly centered on the bike, chain alignment is the most important part. You will never notice it if the rear wheel is offset a few mm to either side.

You might need new bearings or bushings to match up the new swing arm with the existing swingarm pivot bolt. Here's a good place to search for bearing:

http://www.bocabearings.com/

I couldn't find the right bearings for the swap on my Bandit, so I ended up machining sleeves out of bearing brass for my bike.

[cruuz]

Lolz I pm'd him the same info. Vxb.com is also an excellent place for bearings

[Capt. Obvious]

This round of fab work took longer than anticipated, but as usual it was worth it. Rob does amazing work. One of these days I'll have myself a proper shop/garage where I can fab things on my own... but until then Flipside is my go-to.

The frame was modified so the battery can be hidden under the tank, and a new subframe was made for the seat that also raises the tank a few inches, and changes how it mounts to the bike.









Next up is making an all-new wiring harness, a bunch more fab work for misc. small parts, fitting the new laced wheels, and getting the thing all put together and running to make sure everything works correctly.

Then it all comes back apart again for paint/powder/polishing and whatnot.

[WaStateKillerBee]

This...

Is awesome! I really want to build a bike after I finish my rabbit. Looking forward to updates!

[Capt. Obvious]

Got the 15x3 XV535 rear wheel machined to accept the Virago drive flange and it bolted right up after swapping the bearings. The hub on this wheel is a little wider than the factory wheel, so I'll need to machine the axle a bit so it can slide all the way through (the spacers are "built in" on the axle on these). Bonus: I have room for a 150mm wide tire in the rear with this wheel, as opposed to the 130 it had stock.



I ordered a 16x3 wheel for the front, but when it arrived it was actually 17x4.5, so I had to send that back. A new one is on the way now, hopefully the correct size this time...

The front wheel is going to be a bit of a Frankenstein, but it should be fairly straightforward once I'm done with the machining. The rim and hub is from a Harley Road King, which will be fit to the Triumph Speed Triple forks with some 25mm-20mm axle spacers, then I will need to machine a set of 1st gen Suzuki Hayabusa front brake rotors to bolt up to the Harley hubs, plus some spacers to get the calipers centered on the rotors. You don't see many bobbers with 4-piston, 320mm brakes.

[TruTaing]

Man. This is awesome. I love your builds! I really like how the battery is hidden! Great idea!

[Capt. Obvious]

Ran into a bit of a roadblock with the front wheel. I really wanted to use a 16" wheel on the front of this bike so I could run super chunky tires, but the wider hub that the Road King models use is too wide to work on these forks, and it would cost too much to do the machining required to make it fit for the budget I have for this bike. So, I ordered a 19" wheel from a Dyna, which will only require a little bit of machining.



I also started on the new electrical system. I'm stalled on this at the moment as I'm waiting for some parts to show up, namely the new starter solenoid/main relay (the old ones worked fine, but I'd rather not put 33 year old electrical components back on this bike).

Besides the C5 digital ignition, the bike is also getting a Motogadget MLock keyless RFID ignition, an LED headlight, and a new 4-brush starter (the starters are a common issue on these, and were under-powered, which led to a lot of starting issues that these bikes are known for).



Damn, I have a lot of work to do if I'm gonna have this done by the end of May...

[BuFFyZA]

Looking awesome!

[cruuz]

Got a link to the 4 brush starter? I should replace the one on my 920

[Capt. Obvious]

Here's the starter I bought:
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Starter-Midnight-Motorcycle-SM13445-42X-81800-60-00/dp/B003V1AD34/ref=pd_sbs_263_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=41W4LTEP09L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0GKTH86BK0CQRBD5C1Z2"]Amazon.com: Starter Yamaha XV700 XV750 XV920 XV920R Virago Midnight Motorcycle SM13445 SM2241 RS41204 42X-81800-60-00: Automotive[/ame]

Comes with a new power cable also, which is a nice bonus. Don't forget you have to drain the oil and remove the left side engine cover to remove the starter.