ON THE ROAD!!!!!...

It's been a long road, and of course the bike isn't finished, but it's on the road!
I rode it in to work this morning and it was just fantastic - admittedly though, it was a little nerve-wracking doing 100+ kmh and thinking 'I put this together...!', but awesome never the less!

I heard a few squeaks, but most of them came, I think, from trucks going by and such....there is a slight squeak under the seat (hard to say where it's coming from with the helmet on), but nothing worth stressing about. After the ride home I'll check all the nuts and bolts I've messed with and make sure they're all tight
still. It could also be the bracket I built last night to hold my tool bag at the front of the bike too..

So, so so happy with it - crack-a-lacking down the road, with so much more power than I'm used to and such a great bike....can't wait for the trip on Friday!

-Happy.

My Shiny Penny...

Well, it's far from 'finished', but it's at a state where it's ready for it's maiden voyage...and it certainly is shiny :)...

 
Ready to be ridden .....on WEDNESDAY!
If only the sun would come out properly so I can get some nice sparkly photos of it.

-Hayds.

5 more sleeps...

Just 5 more sleeps to go (although I may be so excited next Tuesday that I won't sleep, so maybe just the 4 to go?!) until I can ride the vulcan!

The clear coat will be dry by now, so I aim to polish the front and rear fenders tonight and start putting the bike back together tomorrow - followed by a good polish of the tank, wheels, etc...all those things that have been neglected for a few months!

I must also remember to change the oil and oil filter before the trip - the spark plugs should be fine, given I replaced them recently and hopefully the chain is tight enough... I don't want any issues on the trip.

Rear fender:

I have been looking around at different style bikes and am really enjoying the 60's and 70's style of lace patterns - I bought some lace recently and did a couple of trials to see what colour combinations work (just on cardboard) - so am thinking further down the track the tank (and head light) will get a full make over, with sections containing patterns along the lines of this:

Not too much though, I don't want to over do it - just subtle highlights here and there - I think it could add a lot of class to the bike, if done right (and it's a big 'if'!).
Also, depending on how the current setup feels over this 4 day trip, I am very tempted to see how the bike would look/ride with some gold coloured 'tracker' style bars - I have seen some at a shop and quite like them...but worry it will be uncomfortable on my back, like my current bike, which has tracker bars....*pondering*...

-Hayds.

Single digits...

NINE DAYS

TO GO!!!

Next Wednesday - let's hope the clear coating is all done and the bike is back together...and the weather is nice enough to ride in to work!!

-Hayds.

Let there be colour...

Amongst work and helping look after the latest addition to our family, I've been pretty busy trying to get the bike ready for our trip around the Vic High Country in two weeks time (two days after I'm allowed to ride the bike!). I'm sure the bike will never be 'finished' but I like to think it will be ready for the trip!

I wanted to try some painting/prepping/taping methods that I have never tried before, so practiced on my helmet. It came out OK - the main issues are a few slight runs in the gold paint (bad idea to use these 'spray from any angle' cans when doing delicate paint work like this) and I tried to sand the clear coat 24 hours after laying it down, with the intent of doing another couple of coats there after, making it very smooth - but as it turns out the clear wasn't 100% dry and so now there is some 'cloudiness' in there....not ideal, but not the end of the world! I learnt a lot, and that was the main idea.

I then went to work on the black parts that will be under the seat, including the seat bracket, seat pan and chain guard - all different metals! Galvanized Steel, mild steel and chromed steel, in that order. So two different etch primers and lots of sand paper later, they got a few coats of black gloss enamel (everything here comes from spray cans!) and then a few coats of clear

 
The rear fender needed to use another type of etch primer, as that is aluminium, but luckily that was the same one as the chrome....so it got a full coat of gold, taped up, then a few layers of 'deep blue pearl'. I haven't clear coated it yet, but that's coming this weekend!

I would also like to do the headlight in the same blue with a gold pin stripe, but need to see how the chromed (now black) chain guard holds up under wear and tear - if it works well then I'll figure it's safe to do the headlight!
-Hayds.