Sr500 build

Yesterday we managed to do some work on the SR500. Michiel started with soldering a new wiring loom. From our other projects we learned that a heavily simplified loom is the key for a clean and good workin bike.

We also started with some stuff that involved the grinder.. :-)
We did some good alteration to the frame and things are startin to look nice already.

Virago for sale..

For Sale!


Check it out on:

http://link.marktplaats.nl/578843287

http://www.shedbuiltbikes.com/the-virago-is-for-sale/

The virago back in the old days

Found some old pictures of the day we just picked up the virago. Michiel is making a test run here. Later during the build we noticed that it was only running on one cilinder..:-S noobs..
Also some pictures of our first attempt strippin the bike and rippin off all the junk and ugly stuff. (check the uglyness of that frame)

As you can see in the last picture the bike looks somewhat different now. :-)
We were planning on doing a photoshoot with a girlfriend of michiel today, but the weather is absolutely horroble..
We are planning to sell the virago for some time now, but first we need some nice pics.

3D printer

As an engineer I've been interested in these things for quite some time now, printing and building almost everything you can imagine on your desktop. It sounds like science fiction, but these things are fairly easy to build.

I can think of à million things I'd make for the bike building, so ok, I just had to buy one!!

My reprap printer came in a kit, almost everything included...almost.. The reseller had to ship in parts up to four times, because hè forgot to put them in the first shipment..
Anyway I'm pretty far with the build, tonight Ill be do some testin and see if i can get the electronics hooked up.

As u can see on The photo, lot of parts are printed on an other printer, so you can print one for your mates :-D

Ill keep u posted!

the Sr500 at last...

So we finally did it... We picked up the Sr500 that we bought some time ago.. it was waiting for us all this time in the shed at my mums place.
We started rippin off all the cables and junk and very quickly things already began to look good.

Grinding away all the little mounts and other worthless peaces of the frame resulted in some really nice pictures.
Anyway, were lookin forward on building this thing. We already had some parts laying around so we couldnt resist checkin out how'd they look on the bike.

Our intention is to build somekind off scramber but we'll see how things turn out.

airco meister :-D

Ok this has nothing to do with the duc or the virago or any bike, but still wanted to share this..it is always satusfying fixing things :-D


As we say in dutch "er gaat niks boven lekker een avondje sleutelen"


Fixed the airco system of my car today, normally something you let your local garage take care off.
But last year the airco also broke down and the garage charged me for 200 euros to fix/recharge it..

Obviousley when you can fix it yourselves, it is soo much cooler! so i did some research on the web and I found this:

If youre system is too low on refrigerant, this is the stuff you have to put back into the system :-D
So I located the low-pressure refil point of the airco.. Turned out to be on the right above the right front weel. Anyways, the system can only be refilled when the airco pump is running. But mine wasnt running because of the low level of refrigerant. I had to raise the pressure gauge all the way into the red to get it running..that was quit scary...
But eventually it started pumpin and the gauge went back into the blue zone. nice..
Nice cool air now come thru the vent-holes of my focus...
Hopfully it will be hot enough soon, so Ill be able to use it :-)

So there it is, alway try fixin things yourselves, mostly it isnt all that difficult. 

mounted the new swingarm

We had a very - very- very good day today. The weather was awesome, the virago got fixed and we also mounted my new swingarm on the Duc.

Before....with the "old" verlicchi-swingarm

It was quitte a hassle to remove the swingarm without the mid-stand, but we were creative as always..

With the "new" original swingarm mounted...yeah

Fits the bike perfectly...

Still got some finishing up to do, and I havent had the chance to take it for a ride. But I think this one is a stayer.. :-D
The alu verlicchi swingarm is so incredibly light, compare to the standard swingarm. Nevertheless the great look of the standard swing is worth the few extra kilo's for me, as I'm not going to race with this thing anyway. :-D

We also worked on the virago today. The starter fix we did last time, didnt help so we had to demount the whole thing....Again!!
Anyway, we made some modifications inside the starter itself, by welding and fixating the inner friction-clutch-thing. We also plugged in some new bougies...
Surprisinly the Virago started up after not running for 4 weeks, and only with once single touch of the starter button..
We almost given op on this bike, the starter-systen just has given us so much trouble, but the bike itself is so very brutal and runs like a cannon ball. Anyways...its time for us to end the virago project. And now with the working starter, we can..
But first were going to do some fotoshoots with it. :-D

The virago

nice..

 

Very very awsome xs650...

via pipeburn.com

My mother in Law..

Yeah, last wednesday, my parents in law brought me a very nice present.
Tadaa!

The guy who owned (the parts of) this alazzurra lived in the same town as my parents in law...so that was a done deal :-D 
I think this is going to look great on the duc. It is actually bigger that I thought it would be, also feels pretty solid. The previous owner finished the swingarm with a pretty nice paintjob.
I'm not sure if i need some spacers between the swingarm and the weel, but we'll see..

Verlicchi swingarm..

Turns out that the "ugly" swingarm of the Duc is actually a Verlicchi type, from the famous Italian custom frame-builder. Still I think changing it with the standard type will do the caferacer look some good.

The frame of the duc isnt all that rigid, its quite flexible. Puttin on the standard swingarm isnt going to improve this Im afraid. So I'll think I'm not selling the Verlicchi just jet, just in case.

 

We also took the virago and the duc for a little test run in the neighborhood. Because of the changes of the exhaust and the air filters of the Duc, we needed to adjust the carburettor jets, he has a nice drill for this. 

The Duc now runs very well, nice..

Tomorrow we'll be visiting the Rusty Gold Swap Meeting in Amsterdam, I'm planning to go on the Duc but its 70 km's.. , never dit more then 30 with the Duc....

I hope all goes well. I'll try not to loose too much parts on the way :-D

Update of tha duck

Its been a while since I last posted something usefull on this blog. I just havent had the time for it.
Got a really cool son last January, his name is Max! Could this got something to do with my lack of time..
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, we made some nice pictures ofthe duck.
Lost my licenceplate (including the brackets that were welded to my frame) but I got a new one..
Also finished the steps and gear shifter. Still need to find a proper rear break pump.
The battery is now underneath the swingarm. The amount ofparts under the seat is now very little. Looks minimalistic this way.

More of the photies michiel made can be found on his new website http://www.shedbuiltbikes.com/vincents-ducati/

The rear swingarm of my duck is quite ugly. Im not sure if a swingarm (made from round pipes) from a pantah is compatible with my bike. I think it is, where all parts are almost identical between the alazzurra and the pantah.

I think this would improve the classic look of the bike.
Damn I got some polishing to do...

Quick and dirty

Okay, I havent had the time to do some proper foto shooting, but to get an idea of the bike how it is right now, this one is made with my iphone..(I know, quality sucks bigtime..)
Ill try to post some better photos lateron.