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.

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

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

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

Just an other day at the shop

Our first evening at the new shop...

Michiel has been workin on the intake of the Virago.
Next step is finishing the whole bike. Gonna need some putty to finish all the sheet metal parts.









I also made a start with the Duc. Mounted the clipons an the headlight. Also been experimenting with the height of the fueltank. I think it looks nice this way.
still not to happy about the "streetfighter" look of the bike. I'm trying to get the classy caferacerlook.

moving al the junk

Last sunday, we moved all the stuff from my Parents house to my own garage.
All this time we've been workin' on the Virago and the CX500 in the old barn at my parents place. Off course my place isn't as near as big, but I think its just right..(for now)

Still looks quite tidy as well, I wonder how long we can keep it this way :-D

Virago's final issues

Off course we've been working on the virago this week. At the end of the project we still need to do some minor stuff. (this period always consumes most of our time...)
We closed up the front of the bike. The ground play of the bike is big enough to jump over most speed bumps in the neighborhood.
So weve decided that the angle of the front legs is just right.
Michiel also did some last grinding and finishing of the battery box.

Were getting there...