Kind sir, you are too modest regarding your skills! You have one of the cleanest, most professional K-Bike's to grace these pages. Excellent work! You are teasing us by leaving out the details behind multiple changes you have implemented.........I would like to hear more! :clap:
TrueAce,
Stage 1 was by far the most challenging since I was pretty much a fish out of water. I could have taken the bike down the street to the renown moto shop Revival Cycles, but that would mean taking out a home equity loan and sleeping on the couch :nono . So, I just dove in and did what I was capable and solicit others for task such as welding and upholstery.
Front End:
- Got LED headlight and fork brackets. Wiring was straight forward.
- I was perplexed as to why BMW designed such a huge instrument cluster and put all of the electronic components inside. There was no such thing as a plug and play replacement at that time. I called some shops that sell cafe racer products and got "what the hell is a k-bike" response lol. So, I made a bracket that would lay the cluster down flatter and added a tube to hold the front blinkers. Called it good enough.
- It still looked weird to me, as you can see from the 1st pic of stage 1, for the huge cluster to lay on top of the headlight. I searched for something aftermarket to help hide it a bit without having to try and fabricate one from scratch. I found the fly screen from the Ducati Monster to be a good fit. Made a simple bracket that attached to the bottom of the cluster. Painted it black.
- Relocated the ignition key to the rear. Just a simple metal tube housing to keep it in place.
- Added fork boots since I like that look rather naked forks.
- Got Renthal handlebar, but then switched to a set of Suzuki SV650 strap-ons with a 1.5" riser found on CL.
- The paint on the gas tank and radiator fairings was in great shape, so I left it alone. Added racing stripes by simply using automotive trim paint.
- Removed the paint to the front wheel fenders since it was rather chipped up.
- Got a set of bar end mirrors and the front half was done.
Back End:
- I lost a lot of sleep in trying to figure out what to do about the seat. I look extensively on the interweb for an aftermarket one. The ones that I like were too narrow, which would mean extensive reconfiguration of the rear subframe. I have no experience in metal fabrication or welding. Outsourcing that work would have been rather expensive.
- I took the path of least resistance and shorten the rear seat frame and reusing the original tail loop. Added a piece for the licence plate and tabs to hold the rear blinkers. Had a welder weld it together. To be honest, this section of the bike is not the cleanest for me. The tail loop doesn't really match the line of the seat pan. Perhaps stage 4 work will rectify that.
- I decided to try and design the seat myself as I felt it was one of the most important feature of the bike. If you don't get the seat right, everything else would just look pieced together. I tried to follow the lines and contour of the gas tank. Made a model out of cardboard. Seat pan was made from a piece of aluminum. Took it to an automotive upholsterer and got it made with high grade vinyl fabric. Added a BMW emblem. It's held in place with just 2 simple bolts in the rear.
- Got number plates as side panels.
- Replaced original exhaust with a Staintune one found on CL, which is much lighter.
- Removed the center stand to shed weight
- Bates style LED brake light. Rear wiring was straight forward too.
- Progressive 412 shock was fairly new, so I kept it.
- Both tires were pretty much brand new when I purchase the bike.
- Found a rear wheel hub cover on eBay
That's all she wrote for stage 1
!