Moonstriker project - '97 1200 Custom

[Dane]

Fucking stop that nonsense. It's all for style and ain't nothin' wrong with that. You are building folk art and it's at least as anti-functional as a longbike. Folk art is fine, but always speak truth about it.

If it were built for a real "apocalypse" it would be a dirtster style machine with a serious (non-rusting plastic) extended range tank, something iike Honda 600 forks, a luggage system and all the other gear serious ADV forum denizens built and use. It would be a war machine and as focused as any military vehicle. It would not be folk art.

These Zombie Jackoff bikes are what people into video games and movies fap to when they dream of a social order they don't function well in being destroyed so their neckbeard fantasy skills would magically get used (instead of them getting shot to pieces by the first real militia types they ran into). That's totally fine, but zombie rides are what they are and they aren't anything else.

Fantasy is a perfectly legit aspect of folk art!

If your fork feels too soft that may be due to the changed CG due to fork extension. Picture how your geometry changes with extended tubes. There should be more rear weight bias now.


That's likely the way to go. Your damper rods will still be submerged by stock quantities of oil (measured volume is accurate) so more isn't likey to change anything, but heavier viscosity might.

You don't get to be picky about what you ride in a wasteland! But you're right. I just wanted an excuse to have another sporty haha. Also I can't manage to take good care of shiny things, so why not embrace the grunge and have some fun with it.

I think I'll try adding half an oz to each fork, if that doesn't change, I have some of the heavy and I'll swap it out for that.

EDIT:

Sketched out one idea for pipes today. Also added in the other ideas I had. This ammo box is pretty big. I think I could fit the battery and all connections inside. Drill and insert lights for neutral, high beam, and oil. 3 position toggle for headlight. Drill in the key ignition, and also mount the voltage regulator to the outside of it, if the oil tank gets in it's way up front. I'm assuming the voltage regulator needs airflow? Otherwise why does it have fins on it?

Changed up oil tank on front of frame, battery by gas tank in ammo can, reserve keg on sissy bar, and if I do long pipes, it might be something like that.

A photo posted by Dane "Milky" Mehl (@danemehl) on Oct 1, 2016 at 4:05pm PDT

[Dane]

Dropped 0.2 oz into each just to hit that spec mark and see if it made a difference. Barely felt anything. So I dropped in half an oz. That definitely felt better. But having the struts in the back is making it hard to tell. I might swap the shocks back on while I adjust the fork oil.

[farmall]

An Apocobike could run something like remote reservoir dirt bike shocks, which are also comfortable and have room for an obnoxious paint job highlighting the reserviors.

There's no reason to add physical discomfort after all.

My gunsmithbro mounted a locking holster to his gas tank. He's got a carry permit and knows all the local cops so it's all good.

[Dane]

An Apocobike could run something like remote reservoir dirt bike shocks, which are also comfortable and have room for an obnoxious paint job highlighting the reserviors.

There's no reason to add physical discomfort after all.

My gunsmithbro mounted a locking holster to his gas tank. He's got a carry permit and knows all the local cops so it's all good.

If the struts don't work out I did consider running some covered shocks. Since they would look obnoxiously big on the narrow rear.

I'm in CA. A carry permit of any kind is extremely difficult to get. Pretty much unless you're a body guard, are a gun shop owner, or have a seriously threatening stalker, the County Sheriff won't issue ANY carry permits.

[Dane]

Left side split tank is left hand threads and non-vented. Since it will be the only tank, it needs a vent. So in my fashion I ghetto'd one up.

My take on a vented gas cap. Looks proper ratty. Left side tank is left hand threads and not vented. I could have pulled the sealing ring out, but that wouldn't have looked very cool.

A photo posted by Dane "Milky" Mehl (@danemehl) on Oct 3, 2016 at 6:32pm PDT

[Twigg92]

[QUOTE=Dane;742403]THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE SPORTSTER SECTION. CAN SOMEONE MOVE IT FOR ME? Thanks

This belongs in the Junk Pile!

[seaking]

[Dane]

What do you mean?

Wait a sec. Do the dimples go on top or bottom?

A photo posted by Dane "Milky" Mehl (@danemehl) on Oct 4, 2016 at 9:08pm PDT

Got my sweet ass risers. Smaller diameter riser bolt though, 7/16". Had to do some modifications to make them work. They're still not completely RIGID. I don't know if there's some other riser bushings I can get that will fit these better.

Tried the other bars but they looked like crap, and not in a good way. So I popped the stock handlebars back on. Clutch and switch wires weren't long enough to run em normal, so I swapped em. I think it looks pretty cool from the front. It will do for now.

Not sure how I feel about the struts. I'm going to try some shorter seat springs, if that doesn't feel any better I might just swap the shocks back in and rigid mount the seat. Could go with the stockers for that norcal look. Or I could drop with some shorter ones. What's the deal with lowering blocks? Are they just horrible for the bike? I have no worry about fender clearance (obviously) just the belt.

If I go that route I'll be re-sketching the back end in a whole different way. I have a feeling that will happen a lot as this build progresses.

[Dane]

Thought the previous owner said he had done progressive springs, I couldn't remember what they looked like from the take-down so I pulled them out and they're definitely stock springs. Ordered up some progressive. We'll see how that helps.

Put the shocks back on for now. Until I get the forks all sorted out, then I'll try the struts again. But I have a feeling I won't like it and I'll be changing the whole build to incorporate rear shocks. Which will involve a redesign of the seat and sissy bar, everything on the back will be changed.

Scooted around town. The bars are actually pretty awesome feeling. This really weird flex though since the riser bushings are the wrong size and I had to MacGyver them to work. It's safe just.... you gotta know about it ahead of time or you'd be seriously confused.

I'm putting a hold on a lot of the aesthetic parts of this build and I'm going to just focus on setting the ride quality the way I want. Then I'll resume the rest. So it's going to look like crap for a while. But at least it's fun to ride again.

I pussed out on the struts for now. Bikes ridin way better on the shocks. Spring seat making this horrible double bounce though so if I keep the shocks that will have to go. Front end diving bad so I've got some progressive springs coming and might change up to heavier oil.

A photo posted by Dane "Milky" Mehl (@danemehl) on Oct 5, 2016 at 1:21pm PDT

[Dane]

And I was bored so I modified to sketch with an idea for the shock route.

Just having fun envisioning the shock version. I kind of like it better. It's getting even farther out of the norm. The rear swingarm angle and distance might be off, I tried my best to guess where it would land with and additional 2". I thought a knob on the shifter might be cooler too. Erased a bunch of the pipe. Still no idea what I want to do for that.

A photo posted by Dane "Milky" Mehl (@danemehl) on Oct 5, 2016 at 5:49pm PDT

[Dane]

Pulled out the springs, collapsed the forks, and measured the oil. I read on here somewhere that the range of 4" - 5" is good for sporties.

So from how much I measured and put in, there should be 10.7 oz in each. Which should be a half oz over spec. (and it's still very squishy)

So because I have 10" over tubes I tried to pull oil out from 14" first, nothing. Tried 14.5", nothing. 15", nothing.

So I added some oil to each and drained it until it was at the 15" mark from the top.

Then I dropped in some progressive springs, made some new spacers and closed it all up. Don't have time to test ride it today but just grabbing a handful of front brake and diving into it, it now feels right.

My measuring devices must be off by quite a bit. I really wish HD would just give the spec as a level and not by ounces.

[FatChibs]

Pretty sure ounces is all you need, when i rebuilt mine (10 overs) i just followed the recommended service manual amount. Why not just pull the tubes and dump the oil out and start again?

[Dane]

Pretty sure ounces is all you need, when i rebuilt mine (10 overs) i just followed the recommended service manual amount. Why not just pull the tubes and dump the oil out and start again?

Yeah that's the same chart I used. I know I measured it right according to my measuring devices, but if they were off, it could be the issue. I'm going to take it on an easy test ride after work tomorrow and see how it's feeling. If it's no bueno, I'm going to have to dump it and have at it again.

EDIT: I just have to guess, but I probably added about an ounce or two more to each fork.

[nickey]

I wouldn't over fill. I would drain them and just add what the chart says.

Maybe a stupid question but do you have a spacer to make up for difference in tube lengths?

If you do both these and still want it stiffer, try a heavier weight oil maybe?

[Dane]

I wouldn't over fill. I would drain them and just add what the chart says.

Maybe a stupid question but do you have a spacer to make up for difference in tube lengths?

If you do both these and still want it stiffer, try a heavier weight oil maybe?

Yeah. I measured the tubes to make sure that they were actually 10" longer than the stock ones. They were, so I ran a 10" spacer. New springs are 3" shorter so there's a 13" spacer in there right now. But progressive suggests a preload of 3/4" - 1" and it's at 1-1/4" right now so I have a message in to them to clarify.

They were just squishy like there was not enough oil. Super soft.