Virago badge part 2

We're still not sure about, the badge. Well actually, I like it but michiel is still in doubt. I think I know what he means, the badge is a kind of cartoon-style, and the rest of the bike is more dark and brutal.
Nevertheless I think the contrast with the color is ok.
We'll see how it holds :-D

Virago badge

The master at work...

Asked Robert to paint us a nice logo for the virago tank. He's really good in painting small and very detailled Warhammer figures. He's the perfect man for the job.
I think its coming along really nice. :-D
He still needs to do some finishing up and also make a badge for the other side of the tank as well.
Go Robert!

been a while..

It been a while since my last post on this blog. Nevertheless workin' on the virago and the Duc went on. There have been some major changes.
The virago is now in his last stage. We have almost finished it.
There are still some minor things to do.
We removed one of the two brake discs in the front and we changed the color of the engine in black. We used "kachel-zwart" for this and it really worked well.
Its a kind of shoe-polish you can use to turn your old cast-iron stove black again. We like de result..
We also removed all the paint from the tank and the side caps. So its all plain metal. The finshing layer is done with owatrol. nice...









The duc is coming along nicely aswell. Ive moved the battery out of sight. It is now situated underneath the rear-axle.
Also did some minor things like making a proper mount for the gastank, and paining the rear of the bike.

Now im working on bracket for the steps, the brake lever and gearshifter.
Trying to make everything as minimalistic as possible. well see how things come around. :-)
Owh do check out michiels responsible grinding technics. Gloves, ear protection, goggels.... I think he lost his leg here.. :-D

The new seat

The new seat arrived yesterday. It really is a nice piece of work!
Thanks Ramon! A really well done job!
I really like the classic style of the off-white in combination with the black tank.
Still have to paint the rear off the bike (is now blue-ish)

Michiel also had some rear air-shocks laying around. We tried them on the duc.
I think they fit the bike. Haven't had the chance of takin it for a nice ride, so im not sure how they react. Bit they look very ok!






Michiel also took the virago for a last ride befor we started takin it apart for the paint job. How cool is this bike. :-D

love those little bikes

Found a very nice page with some nice little custom SR500s just like our freshly bought bike. You can really see the potential of this little one.

http://www.geocities.jp/qcyqq122/matsumaru_store/html/okyakusan.html

Some few examples..

the sr500

just some photos to get things started...





from http://www.pipeburn.com/home/tag/sr500
(michiel check de tank)

been a while

Yes, its been a long time since I posted on this blog.
Some serious things happend these last weeks..
My dad died and my wife got pregnant. So I didnt have much time to do any serious workin on the ducati. Life can ben weird sometimes...

Last week I did make some progress on the bike, I finished up the groundplate of the seat and send it to a really good "seat-maker" in purmerend. I'm expectin to receive the seat next week. he already send me some crappy fotos (made with his cellphone) but they looked promessing.

Owh also check MIOBs blog. We bought ourselves a veryveryvery crappy sr500.
First we have to finish up and sell the virago. But we cant wait, puttin our fingers on this baby!

did some nice work!

Last week I had some time to do those last important things on the duc.
I received my tail light from Louis and I made a nice bracket to mount it together with the awfull license plate tot the back of the bike.
I really like the result.




Also made a ground plate for the buddy (to be..) Things are beginning to look "finished"... I couldnt resist takin the duc for a nice evening stroll.
The noise coming from the exausts is still too loud, still need to do something about that. But nevertheless it is very driveable.



A yes the air filters... did some really custom home made stuff action here. The cups are made of tea-filters (xenos) and I glued them (two component glue..) to the original intake-rings of the Dellorto carbs....sooo very easy... :-D

now and then..

Ok just for fun..
this is what it was.






and this is how I ruined it. :-D

...*&^( licenseplate

Ok...there's always the part u have to do stuff to your bike you really don't want to.
mounting the licenseplate is one of those things...
They always seem too big...too ugly and off course there's no place to put it.

I tried to find the least ugliest spot on the bike.. but im still not sure.
Which of the two do you thing is the best?
dont pay attention to the rear light. This one is just to get an idea.
There's a new one on its way.. :-D

we're gettin there

Of course, in my two weeks of a well deserved holiday, I found some time, workin on the Duc.
With the help of Miob we managed to make a first test tour around the neighborhood.
I was reeealy pleased with the amound of power the 650cc two cilinder engine provided.
It could really keep up with the CB750 of michiel.
Of course we also lost the tail light.. Its somewhere out there in the betuwe, despite our search, was unfindable.

Anyway, we also made a start with the exhausts. This way things seem a bit extreme but we like it. I'll have to make shields on the pipes so I wont burn my legs.
I almost finished the left exhaust pipe. still need some more bended pipe for the right side.

the tail part two...

Been workin on the tail again. Made the brackets to fit it to the Duc's frame.
Also fitted the tail light. Still got some finishing to do, but the looks are definitely there.
To make the frame as 'open' as possible I'm trying to mount all the electric parts out ofsight..but thats not that easy...

Could also make a new wiring loom, but I first want to get it running.