Surgery Now completed on the Bros :D

[RatbikerNate]

OK finaly found some time and inspiration to finish the Bros, as you'll know if you followed this thread: https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=136461
I'd already greatly improved the back end but unfortunately that made the front look even more mundane, I had a bit of a think and realised that the clocks and idiot lights would have to go as would the headlight if i wanted to shake off the looks-like-everyone else syndrome the bike was still afflicted with.

I had three choices for headlights and having taken a sort of vote on RatBike.org it was decided that big twins would be the way to go, functional and decent looking.

The clocks were easy as piss, simply unbolt them, throw them away and bung on a bicycle speedo. But the lights would need a custom made bracket, so off I went for a rummage in the shed.

Bodge-It-Yourself Twin Headlamp Bracket.

This'll probably seem super basic to some but it might help someone is some way or other.

Materials:
I had some old 1" flat bar that's been laying at the bottom of the garden since I threw it at someones cat, I figured I'd use that as there's nothing else in my junk pile that's suitable.

OK step 1: Hold the bar up for a rough measurement, I'm a lazy bastard so I don't waste any pointless effort with a tape measure. Just eye it up about right and lob it off with the grinder.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack1.jpg

Once it was cut down I scored it with a grinder about where I thought it'd need to be bent.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack2.jpg

Then chucked it on the floor and battered with a lump hammer it till it was about the right angle. YES I'D HAD A FEW BEERS AND I BENT IT THE WRONG WAY! THE SCORE SHOULD BE ON THE INSIDE BUT IT STILL WORKED SO NEVERMIND

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack3.jpg

Hmmmm that looks somewhere near right.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack4.jpg

Held it up for another look.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack5.jpg

Then followed these steps again for another bend, once again guessing the bends etc rather than measuring. And making sure the score was on the INSIDE this time

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/brack7.jpg

OK looking good, now I just made another one the same, by simply copying the first one, scoring it, then battering it on the floor till it matched.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack14.jpg

OK time to drill a bolt hole in roughly the right place, so I can mount the brackets onto the lights.....

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/brack8.jpg

Holes looked ok, so I'm using the original headlight bolts to fix the brackets on.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack9.jpg

So far so good, both brackets look fairly similarish..

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/brack10.jpg

Right so now I cut a couple more bits of flat bar about 4 or 5 inches long, then clamped them to the fork with a G-Clap. Then held the lights in place and tacked them with a quick weld.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/brack11-1.jpg

OK so having taken them off the bike and done a decent job of the welds, I was ready to fix them on the bike. I decided it would be a good idea to pad the back of them using some old innertube that was lying around so they had a little movement and would'nt damage the fork leg.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/brack12.jpg

One last quick try before I fit it properly by fitting a jubilee clip at the top and bottom (shown here with arrows.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/Brack13a.jpg

Just a case of a jubilee clip at the top and bottom of each bracket and it's solid as hell.

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/17.jpg

Sorted:

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/18.jpg

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/20-1.jpg

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/21.jpg

And here's the end result:


BEFORE:

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/DSCF0960.jpg

AFTER:

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/19.jpg

https://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g9/vincentnotts/Bros/DSCF1791.jpg

[Jenks]

awesome nate!
____________________
1978 MZ TS 250 1 Supa 5
1992 yamaha fzr1000 exup
1998 aprilia af1 sintesi

[Gazdaman]

Good bodge!

Gaz

[tutton]

Looks really nice
just wondering how anyone is going to be able to see brake light lmao!
____________________
Past: '05 Peugeot XPS '99 Aprillia RS125 '94 FZR600R
Current: '02 ZX636 A1P '51 CCM R30

[400bandit]

Pretty sweet bodge there.

I noticed that you have a bicycle speedo on there, how did you mount the sensor and magnet? I'm thinking just aralditing the magnet to the wheel and cable tie the sensor on?

Joe

(Oh, can you see what the speedo says at night?)
____________________
Current Bikes 650 Honda Bros, VTR1000 Firestorm // Past Bikes: Sachs Madass 50/110cc - Bandit 400 - FZR750
(+ a XS650 in lots of pieces in my garage and other places...)

[Odie]

Interested in your old clocks, have a cx rat project they would look sweet on.
Let me know what you want for them.
____________________
You are so ugly when you were born the doctor said "I?m gonna drop it, if it falls is a rat, if it flies is a bat."

[RatbikerNate]

[mattish]

that looks awsum, really inspired me ... I want one, may sell the car to do one. Hopefully wont get nicked like my rd either!

[Odie]

cheers nate, but am really after some-thing with electronic tacho and a temp gauge, NTV or Bros clocks fit the bill perfectly especially as they are honda.
cheers though
Rick
____________________
You are so ugly when you were born the doctor said "I?m gonna drop it, if it falls is a rat, if it flies is a bat."