we're doing some work on tanker's bike too!
the original photo in the auto trader, that got us out to hespeler to look at the bike in june 2005.
when we got it home - it came with the slip streamer SS28 windshield as shown, the willie & max bags seen on it, and a vista cruise throttle lock cruise control.
closeup of the block. not a lot of room to work there!
tanker's bike was leaking a bit of oil when we bought it, as a result of poorly seated gaskets from a prior rebuild. it got worse over the summer, and would spit hot oil on his arms as he rode! on september 19, 2005, on the SCRC 270 jellybean ride, the oil splashed up so badly that it drowned the plugs. tanker's ride ended after 13km of a 170km ride! so we took it to wayne "chink" evers of cambridge custom cycle (519-740-1993) at the end of september to have the gaskets re-done, and he discovered the rocker arm covers had not been lined up properly before being torqued down, and had cracked! he repaired them, did brake service, fixed the front brake light switch, cleaned and tuned the carbs, flushed the coolant, put new plugs in, and got the bike ready for march 10th, 2006. as you can see, tanker really missed his bike!
we also had wayne order in a hiway bar, and mounted it the day after we got the bike home.
time: 30 minutes
tools needed: 3mm hex key, 9/16" socket, ratchet, helper
instructions: thread the long brackets over the ends of the bar, and line up with the frame downtubes. finagle the short brackets onto the inside of the downtubes, set the tabs in the long brackets, and put bolts through from the inside (note: this is a pain in the ass, takes 2 people, and a lot of patience). then put the acorn nuts on the outside, and tighten using the ratchet, ensuring that the bar is level and the v-shape in the middle is pointing downwards to ensure rad and fender clearance. then tighten the set screws on the brackets at the bar with the hex key, using loctite on the threads (we didn't, but you should - you can also use a drill to dimple the bar where the set screw sits). then put the bar ends (where the pegs connect) on the ends of the bars, level up, and tighten set screws (again, loctite or dimpling is your friend). then position the female ends of the pegs on the male bar ends, and thread the provided bolts through the holes. tighten until the pegs fold up, but take some effort to do so
since we got the bar on, this is the image i usually see in my rearview mirror! tanker really likes his hiway pegs ;)
shortly after he got his hiway bar (and after a breakdown due to bad gas), i got tanker a ride bell from bruce at gateway ride bells. no problems with his bike since!
this is the back of the bell - skulls on the front, bones on the back! no wonder tanker likes it ;)
saturday of easter weekend 2006, we took his bike up to zdeno cycle and had a brand new set of dunlop 404 blackwalls installed with money tank's folks sent him for his birthday :) good thing too - he was down to less than a mil of tread on the rear!
the biker's friend bag, size large, ordered may 5/06 arrived may 10/06. nice lookin' gear!
time: 5 minutes
tools needed: none!
instructions: attach one end of the provided bungee cords to the front d-ring on the bottom of the bag. loop it around the rear turn signal stalk, and connect to the rear d-ring on the bag. repeat on other side. then loop the provided releasable zip ties through the sissy bar, between the pad and the bar, underneath the mounting bracket, and through the rear d-ring on the bag. repeat on other side. center the bag, tighten the zip ties, and you're done!
although it looks like it pushes him forward more than you'd like..
..he really seems to like it!
before and after shots of a patch we got from double r leathers' pavilion at our bike night on may 9/06. tanker's bike will be a skulls and ace of spades theme, so we thought the patch for his vest would be great, but that looks like ritchie rich's skull! too cartoonish, so i made it a little more "tankerish" for him ;)
there are grips and a chrome oil filler cap on order right now, and we plan to give his front fender a spiked mohawk! plus some other mods to come soon...will post more as more gets completed!
on may 19th, tanker's new chrome oil cap went on!
looks kinda slick! :)
on may 20th, we finally picked up 20 warhead-style christmas tree spikes to do the fender and windshield!
here's his fender before. pretty ho-hum, really..
the first step was to put the bike up on its center stand to get all the weight off the front wheel, and remove the fork spacer.
time: 5 minutes
tools needed: small flat-bladed screwdriver, 6mm hex socket, ratchet
instructions: prise off the chrome caps from the tops of the allen head bolts (note: tank's were pretty hatched, but since i couldn't use the ones from my stock risers on my show chromes, and they were for 6mm hex, i gave him mine. that's right - a piece of my bully is now part of tank's bike!), loosen all allen head bolts, pull off spacer
next step is to undo the fender bolts and the speedo cable ('cause the wire goes through a rectangular retainer on the right side - when facing the bike - of the fender, and there's no gap to pop it out)
time: 10 minutes
tools needed: #2 phillips screwdriver, 10mm box wrench
instructions: from under the right fork, undo the speedo wire set screw (between the fork and the wheel) with the phillips screwdriver. pull the wrie away from the rotor, and pull out from retainer at the rotor, and pull through retainer on the fender. then undo the 4 fender bolts (2 on either side of the fender, between the forks and the top of the front wheel) with the box wrench (you do not have clearance to get a standard socket in there). then carefully pull the two brake cables out of the retainers on either side of the fender. one everything is clear, rotate the fender towards the back of the bike to remove
now we just have to ask ourselves if this poor fender has ever been washed or polished. filthy!
but a bit of steel wool and elbow grease soon gets the little rust spots off and clears up any cloudiness
then we taped a line down the center
and marked the area covered by the spacer, and dots where we wanted to drill.
halfway through doing the second hole, the effin bit i was using broke!
fortunately, i remembered i have a set of hardened steel bits inherited from my grandfather, so we set about it with one of those
time: 20 minutes
tools needed: 5/32" drill bit, electric drill (preferably not cordless - they're only good for lighter applications, and this ain't one of them!)
instructions: when your fender is taped and holes are marked, position the drill bit over the marks, steady the fender (tanker is shown doing so with his foot), and put significant pressure on the drill to ensure the bit doesn't go skating all over the place. start slow, and increase speed until you penetrate the fender
if you've done it right, you should now have a more-or-less straight line of holes down the dead center of your fender. it ain't perfect, but it ain't bad either! and now you can start threading in your spikes
time: 15 minutes
tools needed: #2 phillips screwdriver, loctite, lock washers, flat-headed 1/2" #8-32 screws, 13 screw-on spikes note: the little schmalloy screws provided with screw spikes are fine for putting them on leathers, but i wouldn't trust them to stay on a bike. we bought all new hardware for tanker's, and i highly suggest you do the same!
instructions: cover the threads of the screws in loctite, and put a lock washer on each one. push the screws through from the bottom of the fender, then thread on the spikes. tighten each one enough to crush the lock washer with the screwdriver.
as i say, it ain't perfect, but after all it is a punk rawk bike!
since tanker was out getting me a bite to eat while i took the fender off, i couldn't possibly expect him to know how to put it back on..
but at least he was nice enough to take pictures while i mounted it for him ;)
note: the stupid freakin' speedo cable has to be put back (or so they tell me), and there is a little tab that sticks out of speedo unit at the rotor that has to line up with a little notch in the casing of the wire. this is a pain in the arse like nothing else, and i suggest that those shy on patience not attempt it at all!
i think the whole thing came together really well, though!
totally tankerized!
and for those who concern themselves about these things (like me, for one), here is a video showing the clearance test we did on the highway bar and radiator. the highway bar does touch the second-rearmost spike under extreme fork compression, but all it does is bend it slightly downward. no chance that tank'll be punching a hole in his rad (whew!)
then we went ahead and put a line of 7 spikes across the top of his windshield...proceed to page 2!
go to page 2 - or - go to k's mods
