Bars

So my bars were 8 7/8" wide on the bottom and my top tree is 8 3/8" wide.  So most people will never notice but I wanted them to be the same width so I decided to take a 1/2" out of the bars.

So I figured I would cut them in half and then cut 1/2" off then plug them and weld it back together.  I placed the cut so the weld would be under the clamp so if I didn't get it completely smoothed back out you would never see it.  Well, that didn't matter because I ended up having to cut them again and have a piece welded in.  For some reason I was getting a lot of porosity in the weld.  I tried to grind it out with no luck.  Ended up cutting it out and adding a small piece and that made sure the metal was clean and still porosity.  Needless to say I was fucking pissed.   I am still not sure why the porosity is there.  Only thing I can think of is there is a small leak in the gas hose that is pulling in air with the argon and causing it but I am not sure.  So I was at the point that if I messed it up again I was not sure I was going to be able to save the bars so I dropped them off at a local shop and had them weld them up.  Not very happy about the situation but they are done.

I decided since I was sanding down the welds from the narrowing job that I would smooth all the welds out.

Controls

Took a set of stock HD controls and cleaned them up a bit.  I didnt care for the lip around the one edge, I guess that was to mate up to the switch housings.  Now I just need to re paint them and they will be set.

Before

After

The Little Things

I hope you all had a great holiday season and here is to a great new year on two wheels.  Be safe out there.

So I really think it is the little things that make a bike.  So today I took some time and worked on the lower triple tree and smoothed it out.  First up was the tab sticking off the side.  I guess they might have been used to mount a wind shield or something, I will never use them so off the go.

There was also a ridge around the whole thing, I guess it might be from the casting or something.  Anyway I wanted to get rid of it so a little time with the file and some sand paper and it is nice and clean now.