Here are a couple of images of the bike now that its back home at the shop. I need to wire it and button up a few small items and it’ll be ready to fire up and begin breaking in the 100 inch mill. To see a few more angles go to this link http://www.dougz.com/custom_bikes.php?sgid=153
Over the next couple of weeks I’ll begin posting images of different parts of this transformation and the logic behind the design of those components.
I’ve had a couple of people inquire as to whether I’d sell just the frame modification. I’m guessing they like the idea of a drop seat with the six inch swingarm extension, and honestly I think this would look pretty slick that way as well. When I get caught up with work in the shop in a couple of weeks I’ll pull an image of the naked roller (like the one you see here) into my art program and will work up a couple of ‘sketches’ to show this transformation in a completely different style.
The Pro-Tour ‘S’ was VERY well received at the Donnie Smith show this past weekend, with 99% positive comments and the other 1% were comments about what people would do differently – which I don’t consider negative at all – I’ve already considered a few of those remarks and you may see a Pro-Tour ‘S’2 stemming from those. It’ll be a while before I can attack that, but I think some of the purists will really like what I’ve got in mind!
When I get the bike unloaded later today I’ll shoot some images and get ‘em posted for all to see.
For everyone that I met this weekend at the Donnie, and viewing this site for the first time – THANK YOU SO MUCH for stopping by to see and sit on the bike! I really enjoyed the weekend and meeting you all and look forward to working with many of you in the future!
I decided to toss in this image of the bike in the blog this morning because by this afternoon its going to look a whole lot more like a finished bike. The handlebars are being wired while the majority of the bodywork/sheetmetal is baking after finishing clear yesterday. The swingarm goes in next, followed by the oil tank, then the rear wheel to turn it into a rolling chassis. Not much time to talk about what I’ve been doing for the last week, but if I added a post every day it would’ve been pretty boring for the last few days because all I would’ve been saying is “I prepped this or that for paint, then painted it”. It would’ve been like a broken record. I have to say, it is amazing how much time it takes to do a bike this style – when there won’t be a single piece of chrome on the entire thing when its done – it takes an unbelievable amount of time to prep and shoot components the color of the bike. There are so many pieces that you can’t do them all at the same time because there simply isn’t enough room in the paint booth to put all the parts and be able to move around in there to shoot ‘em and not accidentally knock something over. So its gotta be done in stages, shooting the parts as you’ll need them to keep reassembly going while paint is curing. Its a bunch of work for a one man operation.
Just because I haven’t posted anything in a few days, rest assured I haven’t stopped working on the bike. Since the last posting I’ve installed the engine, made molds for the inner and outer shapes that make up the mid-frame storage areas as well as molds for the doors that will seal up the larger storage areas in the clamshell. My upholstery guy Mike Joseph, is working on the cushions for the seat and just about every part that will receive paint has been prepped and is sitting in the staging area. I spent most of today prepping the wheels for paint. They’re going to be painted a slightly darker version of the House of Kolor Galaxy Grey that I used on the engine and chassis. I love the look of the carbon fiber wheels my buddy Skeeter Todd has on his new Turbo X-Wedge bike, but I can’t swing the cost of those wheels, so I’m going to emulate the color of the carbon fiber on my MUCH less expensive rolling stock. I’m pretty happy with the lack of weight on my wheels – especially the rear one – which will use up a minimal amount of horsepower spinning it up. The front wheel weighs 13.5 pounds and the rear one weighs a measly 16.5 pounds.
I’m also going to use the darker Galaxy Grey on the handlebar controls, the risers and top clamp. I’ve modified the top clamp by TIG welding a mount for the Autometer speedo/tach I’ll be using on the bike. Which reminds me of something else I created in the last few days – a cup for the speedo/tach. When my brother Dean and I built our Super Pro 67 Camaro we had a Monster Tach in it, and I really like the racey look of that tachometer – the Autometer speedo/tach carries the look of a Monster tach, but they made it ONLY as a drop-in for stock H-D dashes. Well, I’ve changed that and now I have a cup that will allow people to use this sweet gauge on any stock or custom built bike. I’ll toss in an image of that once its painted and has the gauge installed and hopefully by then I’ll have a price figured out for anyone interested in purchasing one from me. I might even get brave enough to make one out of carbon fiber…
Here’s another one of those items that wouldn’t necessarily need to be done on a budget minded transformation, when transforming a stock XL into a Pro-Tour ‘S’. This donor chassis had a bunch of chips and some surface rust after 18 years of use (its a 1992 chassis) so it made perfect sense to paint the entire chassis.
If someone were on a tight budget we could paint just the back 1/3 of the chassis – the area where the frame modification is done – which would save a bunch of cash by not tearing the entire bike apart.
Tomorrow morning I’ll bake the frame for a couple of hours at 140 degrees, which will make the clearcoat super hard, then in the afternoon I’ll install the engine. I’m extremely excited to start reassembly on this project.
That’ll be at the rear wheel. Thats all I got for this post!
Being I’m painting the frame on this one I’m taking advantage of using weld-on tabs for the FrameLock www.framelock.com I’ll use whenever the bike is transported. If this were a budget transformation and someone wanted to use a FrameLock when transporting their bike, they provide frame clamps that wrap around the frame rails. Whenever possible I like to weld on these tabs because you can’t see them, keeping the look of the bottom frame rails clean. The XL chassis has two bridges joining left and right frame rails and I welded these to the front bridge. If you trailer your bike every now and then, there simply isn’t a safer way to do it! Check out their videos at www.framelock.com.
A couple of quick shots of the jig to give everyone an idea of what it looks like. The 1 x 2 box tubing that serves as the backbone of the jig drops to beneath the battery tray and bolts to two brackets that attach to the rear engine mount. I’ll have this jig powder coated and will have it at the ready for the next Pro-Tour ‘S’ transformation.
Our R&D department (that’d be me) never rests, and I’m constantly trying to think of ways to make this kit more affordable. I think the latest idea will knock about two days of work out of the project, and that’s a lot of cash when you start looking at the hours saved. I shot an image of the side of the bike without the mid-frame storage and clamshell attached, pulled that image into my art program on the computer and designed a girder to replace all the bent tubing I’m using on this first Pro-Tour ‘S’. These girders will be every bit as sturdy as the tubing and can quickly be knocked out with a waterjet.
Lucky for me, one of my best clients is Randy Winchel who owns DRM Industries in Lake Delton, Wis. They have the capability to create anything you can imagine in metal, with a full fabrication and machine shop, CNC workcenters, the waterjet as mentioned and many more pieces of high-tech equipment to make my life easier. Then when they’re done creating these parts they also have an E-Coating facility to put a nice protective finish on metal parts so they won’t rust, and only require a slight scuff to be ready for paint. Call ‘em up – they’re always happy to work with new clients.
To the right is the 1/2 inch thick brace that will be used on the next project. The girders will bolt to this brace. As you can see, its a bit longer in front and rear, than the brace I’m using on this first bike. The extra length serves three purposes – It will give me a top/rear mounting location for the mid-frame storage, so I won’t need to weld on a little mounting tab like you see here. With the additional rear length all I’ll need to do is weld on a couple of threaded bungs for a place to attach the rubber rests that the clamshell sets on, and as you can see it ‘wraps’ slightly around the top shock mount to ensure even more rigidity, and the extra length in the front serves the same purpose – reaching further down the seat rails to further stiffen that area. Its probably overkill, but I’d rather go that route than have something that won’t last. After all, this bike ain’t gonna be no trailer queen! OK – enough blabberin’ – I’ve gotta get a jig made for that frame modification…
