Been awhile.

Its been awhile since I posted, a while since Ive worked on the Virago. I had abdominal surgery yesterday and I just got home minutes ago. Im really sore, I have 5 incisions and 2 of them hurt.  Should be up and running in a week or so, then back to the bike as soon as the Doc says so.

seat came in

My $10 ebay bidsnipe came in. Looks ok to me. Of course duct tape is the only thing holding everything on still.

Progress!

Been broke as can be past few weeks, and so I of course have gotten very little done with the bike. Today I went to a shop nearby that specializes in dirt track cars. They have everything, even steel tubing for framing. And they have it cheap, I got a +/- 4 foot length of 1 1/4 DOM bent and cut for my upper brace for the hardtail. $23, beat that.  And tonight I did some cutting/fitting. First heres what I started  with today.


Got the cutoff wheel and got rid of the seat rails and more of the frame.


Then I just started fitting. Nothing is tacked on yet, just getting the angles. Did a 4" radius bend with the tubing at almost 180*.


I cut the top mounts off of the shocks I had taken off, they will be welded to the tubes and then fastened to the rear hub where the shocks originally mount.


Ill get the frame cleaned up before I weld this on. Especially near the backbone, want it on there good. I will also get some more of the tubing for the vertical brace from swingarm, using what is still there as of now for slugging. And of course the new piece still needs cutting down to length, should get some of it done tomorrow. Gonna load up the bike and head over to use my step dads welder. Want to also knock out the tank mounts while Im there.

Freedom or Death and BikerMetric

Trent from BikerNetMetricNews has went out on his own with  Biker Metric . He kicks ass and his new site will kick even more. His Freedom or Death Bash is goin on right now in Austin Texas, and I wish I was there too. Good luck with the new site and that kick ass bike of yours.

ahhh summer

Picked up some scrap steel yesterday. some angle iron that I will cut into tabs for the tank mount. And some round stock for the struts. Im still not sold on the struts. Seat will be here in a few days too. All the rest, hopefully soon. I wish I had patience.

D-Day June 6 1944

The Allies invaded Normandy today 66 years ago. My grandfather flew the C47s that dropped the 82nd Airborne early that morning before the 1st waves of landing craft hit the beaches. This picture was taken at Omaha Beach by Robert Capa, he took several rolls of film that morning in the 1st wave. Most of the pictures were lost due to an over eager technichian who hurriedly tried to develope the pictures. I cannot imagine what it was like for those men on that beach that day. 3000 of them didnt make it off of it.

Im still here.

I havent done anything constructive to the bike in 2 weeks, I simply havent had any money whatsoever to spare. I have the old seat on ebay to sell, I also have the new seat and springs on ebay waiting for my payment. TCI and regulator are in New Mexico waiting on payment, I get paid tomorrow so I will finally get them on the way to me.  Also after scanning Craiglist everyday I may even get a shot at another virago for a good price. An 83, different rear suspention, with a 750 engine. Im going to be very good so I can get that too.

Even though I havent worked on the bike, Ive been thinking and looking for ideas. Reading up on certain issues, and Ive got a pretty good idea where Im going, when I get goin again. Should be next week. Unless I get some welds done this weekend.

Memorial Day.

Never Forget.

more sounds

can you tell I havent gotten anything done in a while?

Cheers

Busy week

4 Dr's appointments and one MRI this week. Needless to say, no work on the bike. Glad week is over. Happy Memorial Day weekend, and Thank You Vets.

back to work

ugh. nothing else I can say but ugh. well add an 'F'  that would sum it up. Vacation over, back to work. I hate work. No worky on the bike. Waiting to get the money for the parts I need. The parts are there, waiting, calling my name. The money however hasnt made a noise, still looking. I will find you, money. I will find you. Im still pretty pumped. maybe get the parts this week or next, and then get her fired up soon after. Then, some welding, and sanding and god knows what. Im already looking for the next project. Plus the VTX. I think Im hooked.  If I only had money. damn you.

woo hoo!

Got an email today from Shaun at Slingshot-Cycles. Ive been told for years that the only way I could get brakelines for my VTX was to buy the entire brakeline kit $400. No thanks. Well I contacted Shaun, and instead of the usual BS that it cant be done anyother way, he says he can do it. HELL YEAH. Didnt want to sell me what I didnt need, wanted to help me. Thanks man. Guys like you rule!
side note, didnt work on virago today. Lol like anyone reads this!!! hahaha

nothing much today

Took shocks off last night, propped tank up to get an idea how I want it to ride, and what it will look like. I kinda dig it. Not much else I can do while I wait on parts. But Im likeing what Im seeing. I do like the stance, and I like the tank sitting like it is in pic, maybe angle it down a bit. And I like the ride height with the shocks gone. Its taking shape. Come on parts!!

what now?

This Virago never ceases to amaze me. Im missing the regulator/rectifier too. Lord. But the tanks look nice. So thats been added to the list with the TCI. One guitar gone, one more to go. They are cheap Ill get another if I ever want to play again right? :) Cheaper than this friggin virago!! Took the shocks off today, Im leaning towards hardtailing it. I dont want to do a strut, although that would be easiest. I want to use the swingarm and  weld tubes from the backbone, not sure how Im gonna do it, but what else is new. Next time Ill wait for an XS.

Tanks came in

Through the grace of God or Sonny Barger, the tanks arrived at my house today. I had given up after I talked to a supervisor at the other PO this morning. Those guys need to find something other than customer service to spend there time. Anyway, done with them for now.  Tanks look good, not perfect, but good. Especially for the $75 they cost. They are off an old shovelhead, so Ill have to make a bracket, think I got that figured out. Too bad welding hasnt also been figured out. But in due time, or is it do time. I never know. Looks ok, Ill get it sitting just how I want it, or Ill get another tank. Or cut a finger off, or something. This is gonna be ok. Learning more about the TCI thingy. For those that dont know it stands for Transister Controlled Ignition.  So it cant to my knowledge be bypassed, BUT I have exchanged emails with an expert on these things, and he assure me that I could use the one that the ClubChopper member has, Id just have to switch some wires, and he even sent me the diagram. And if that falls through, he has one that he can sell me. So its still on, may just have to sell another guitar to get it. Money is tight lately. Heres a pic, I love pics. more to come.

Ugh

Well, the Virago is on hold again, that TCI unit is a frigin killer, the one I thought I might have a line on wont work. The unit isnt made anymore, so it ll be a bit before I get my hands on one. So, maybe Ill start working on my main ride, the VTX1800. Not doin much to it, rear fender, bars and cut down the seat. My major roadblock is money, so either cheap or not at all.
VTX as it is now.


VTX in mock up, feeling it out.

Friggin Post Office

another 50 mile round trip to the Garland post office just to find out they still dont know where my tanks are. I forgot to ask them to check in there ass's. Friggin tards. Just about as helpful as herpes but more irritating. (no proof) People, send your stuff UPS, not that they wont screw up from time to time but at least you can track that package every inch of its trip. And find it if its gets off course.  Ok just enough time to rant, Im on my way to get gas for the grill, I will feed my anger. Beef, its whats for dinner. I hope.

BikernetMetric

a big howdy to BikernetMetric. I check up on your site everyday, good luck with freedom or Death! Looks like its goin to be awesome.

So let it be written...

Ok started off buying some old abandoned 1985 yamaha virago xv700 off of craiglist back in April. $200, easy. Why a virago you ask? Why not. Pretty much it was the only one available in my price range at the time. And if you know me, and some of you do, you know that I have to have it now. Patience is total BS. Deal with it like I have for so long.

So I get the rusted abortion back to the house and Im like a dog that finally caught a car ie: I had no clue what to do next. First time and all, I just looked at it. No tank or fenders, dont know if will run. But I knew somewhat what I wanted to end up with. What would you do? Well I pulled out my cut off wheel and went to town cutting the fender rails off and making all sorts of sparks. I felt awesome. Sparks will do that to me. Metal falling on the concrete will do that to me.

Ok so if your wondering why I havent posted a picture of what I was working on yet its simple. I havent figured out how to post pictures yet. Turns out Im new to blogging.

So what we have here is a guy with no experience playing with tools he has no business playing with, on a bike he had no business buying, and bloggin about it. Which he isnt too keen on either... or is it either?  who knows.







The alleged victim.

Fatboy figured something out. Way to go me. Now we can fly.

So where was I? Oh yes, confused at what to do. So I got online and back to the bad influences that started this train wreck. Club Chopper and the Chopper Underground and started looking for chopped viragos. Not many, it turns out that the Virago is not the most popular bike, but has a cult following. I saw some stuff, read some stuff, I know where to go for questions.  So I know I need to see if it will run, and I need to clean the carbs, and get a battery and all sorts of not too exciting stuff, so I instead bought a gas tank off an old shovelhead for cheap off of Eturd. abbra kadabbra







you like?

I started taking the bike apart, old battery out, battery box out, aircleaner assembly and the fake air cleaner assembly off, dash and gauges off, head light off, blinkers off, and drained the oil. Learned something new when I drained the oil. If you take a plastic gallon milk jug, and cut the corner where the handle is, it will *almost* hold the 3+ quarts of yucky dirty oil. The concrete will take on the rest and you will have a big oil puddle. Seems so obvious now. On the plus side, you can do alot of damage to a yamaha with a 10mm socket and some allen wrenches. 

I sold the dash and some other parts on Eturd and made all but $40 back of the original "investment".

So here I am about 3 weeks into this project, and im not really any closer to wherever Im heading. I ordered the tank 3 weeks ago, it was sent to my old house, forwarded to new house but went wrong way, and now it is in transit back to old house. Love the Post Office. For mail. Not for gas tanks with BIG RED FLAMES. It took 4 days to get from Pennsylvania to Texas, 13 days + to get the 25 miles from Garland to Forney. Im goin back to G town tomorrow to rescue it, again. On another plus, I ordered some black powder coated 12 inch mini apehangers, (those are handlebars girls) from TC Bros (no relation) and got them in 3 days, UPS comes thru (shameless plug).  Also finally bagged a battery and all the cleaning junk last night and was about to tear into it, when I found out that Im missing something called a TCI module. Its like really important and costs more than the bike. Great. Lovely. But I may be in luck cuz someone on Club Chopper may have one that I can get for less than normal. We ll see. Hope so, because Im stuck until I get it.



Heres the hulk with the new bars. Its a start, a slow, excruciating start, but progress.