Updates

As today is the last day "off" before I head back to school for the year, I thought I'd update the blog somewhat.  Work won't stop, but I think the updates might get a bit irregular, as work on the bikes now shifts to the weekends only.

With my plan to move the exhaust, I now have room under the seat for the electrical components.  As the ECU was formerly placed under the tank, and above the warm engine, this wasn't a bad idea, in my opinion.  Not sure how hot things would have gotten, but avoiding cooking electrical parts is never a bad idea.  Years of building and rebuilding bikes, or converting them to race use had me collect some soft metal "tangs" that are used to secure wiring.  You can see a couple pressed into service here.

I've also done some more thinking re the exhaust.  If I've got a retro-themed machine in regards to the spoked wheels and bodywork, the exhaust should follow suit.  That means I think I am going to track down a reverse megaphone muffler.  The hindle exhausts weren't wasted by any means... the original has found a home on the zx7r... its titanium, and a bit shorter... so if I do dump the big greenzilla, I won't be too broken up.  The shiny aluminum one, at 20" long, is now off and protected in the box in storage.  Storage for what, I don't know.  So, with the megaphone, a way to mount that muffler is important, and some vibration isolation would be nice.  A sleepless night considering options was assuaged by some ebay searching.  An R1 has a mid-section hanger, in aluminum, with a steel tophat spacer and rubber bushing.  I got one for $1.99 off of ebay.  The rubber bushing might be a service item, but at least I'll be able to track one down from the local bike shop.  My first idea is to thread it into the rearset plates.  Blurry picture to the left.  The muffler should tuck up under my right boot, and take advantage of the gull arm in the swingarm.  Dime city cycles has both an 18" quiet one, and a 12" louder one.  Methinks the 12" will fit better.

I've got everything wired up, at least temporarily. The narrow tail light is DOT marked, so it's legal.  The turn signals aren't, but the owner of the local bike shop assured me that he'd safety the bike with them.  Underneath my hand is the LED licence plate light, which I will wire into the tail light harness.  I just need to figure out where I will mount this assembly.

I've given up on the version 2 seat.  It was too narrow, the rear end kicked up too far, and I didn't really like the look of it.  I finally found a seat that was wide enough in the front, and had the proper hump shape.  It's also plenty long enough, with a nice seat base, so I can adjust it for length with the dremel.  Once fitted, I'll make a fibreglass seat pan for the foam and cover to be attached.  I anticipated cutting a half moon out of the front to make a tight tank-seat interface.

Front turn signals fitted.  I found some sturdy aluminum angle from "something else" I had lying around, and used the fork clamps left over from the aborted number plate project.  You can see a few wires still dangling about... I am waiting on a resupply of proper connectors so I'm not tempted to use preinsulated crap from Canadian tire.