'66 Desert Sled (Better Late Than Never)

[earwig]

Lots of other minor stuff attended to . . . in no particular order:

I thought I'd recover this old Bates reproduction seat, but it's just not the right seat for this frame. Maybe a hardtail, or something with a rear fender that sits higher in relation to the frame. Nah, there's just no way to make this work.





This rear brake arm has to go. I don't know where it belongs (Norton?), but it's not the right one for this bike.





Crappy photo, but this is the right brake arm . . . much better fit, and the correct offset.





Well . . . this explains why the speedo stopped working on that last little ride! New cable was a quick fix.





This kick start pin is definitely past it's sell-by date. A new one takes the slop out nicely.





Not the petcocks I would have chosen, but my buddy has them in stock, and they're cheap. Just right for this project. The old ones had dead seals and leaked horribly.





And it was well past time to replace the old toggle switch with an actual keyed ignition. Just a Lucas pattern repro, but it does the job.

[oregoncoast]

Keyed ignition?? I thought this was a desert sled

[earwig]

Originally Posted by oregoncoast

Keyed ignition?? I thought this was a desert sled

Maybe you missed the bar-hopper part?

Unless you're just busting my balls?

Nah, that doesn't sound like you.







.

[lstzephyr]

I always check this thread. How about some more?

[Rob Farmer]

I'm in. We need more Brit bike threads

[oregoncoast]

Originally Posted by earwig

Maybe you missed the bar-hopper part?

Unless you're just busting my balls?

.

Me?? Bust balls?? That's just plum crazy


Now, how about some more pictures....

[earwig]

Back to the pipes.

Well, my buddy had another set of pipes that we confirmed are definitely for a 650. They are pretty rusty in places and have a few clumsy repairs and dents, but (as I keep saying) she's no beauty queen.

I hit the high spots with a wire brush (chrome is already destroyed) to knock off the heavy rust and bolted 'em up.

Somewhere along the line somebody slash cut them, not my favorite look, but I'm just experimenting here.




That slash cut landed right beneath my ears when I'm in the saddle. I'm no stranger to loud pipes () but this was way too much, even for me! Very anti-social and truly deafening. Not gonna work.

That afternoon the UPS truck came by bearing gifts for Trudy:




The old Girlings were no longer up to the task, so I'd spent some time talking to Dave at Dave Quinn Motorcycles. He liked the idea of an old desert sled and offered lots of advice. I knew I wanted longer shocks, so we ended up with about a half inch longer sprung for my weight and sans any shrouds. Every time I put new shocks on a vehicle I'm surprised at how good they feel, but this was a truly huge transformation. Wow! Every little improvement really adds up on the old girl. So much more responsive you'd think I'd rebuilt the fork as well. Even affects the way the throttle feels because the slosh is all gone. SWEEEET!

Before I go completely deaf, I'm gonna have to do something about the pipes. I looked everywhere in town, but couldn't come up with any beer-can baffles. I could order some cheapies from JC Whitney, but I'm too impatient, and the slash cut looks crappy to me.

Quick solution, make some brackets and bolt up the old mufflers. These things look like they belong on a Sportster, but have the low quality of a JC Whitney item themselves. Strangely, they actually sound really nice.

A little help from the vise grips to keep them parallel while tightening everything down:




Well, they're a little too long . . . they don't quite match (different inlet sizes) . . . they're positioned a little strangely . . . but they sound good and look OK overall. I can live with this while I keep searching for the right pipes.



ADV inmate Raindog had gifted me a set of slightly used TKC-80's a few years back. Very generous of him

I mounted the rear to my Tiger promptly, but the fronts last much longer, so I had this front lying around. What would you know, it was almost a perfect fit for Trudy's front wheel! A little wider than stock, but it would fit. Yeah, a real period sled would have had a trials tire on the front, but I wanted something good for the street and a little offroad + a nice aggressive look. TKC's were just the ticket.

Ordered a correct sized rear, mounted them up and presto!




More scrambler than desert sled, but not looking too shabby!

[darmst6829]

More scrambler than desert sled, but not looking too shabby![/QUOTE]

Needs a trials tire. That thing looks like crap. Cheng Shin makes a really good tire for not much money.

Dave

[OLD GREEN]

This bike is awesome!!! It was definitely among my favorites at The One Motorcycle show a couple of months back. Keep the build thread coming.

[Otis the Sasquatch]

Originally Posted by earwig

I hit the high spots with a wire brush..........to knock off the heavy rust and bolted 'em up.

If I only had a nickle for every time I said that!

You passed the Attitude Check. Carry on!



Otis

[Xcuvator]

The front tire needs to go. Even a Asian K70 would be a huge improvment, but yes a trials tire.

[lstzephyr]

I like the front tire. I say run it until it dies and then put something else on. Screw it.

[earwig]

Originally Posted by darmst6829

That thing looks like crap.

Thank you.



I took Trudy out to play at my club's annual "Isle of Swine" campout. My late arrival meant I only had about an hour to ride, but she worked really well on the dry dirt and gravel roads where we were camped. Definitely showed that she's on the right track.

But, she came home with only a slight coating of dust . . .



. . . because before the sun actually set I'd done some pretty serious damage to the ligaments in my right leg and my riding was over for the rest of the Summer.

I won't start that story here, but suffice it to say that no motorcycles were involved, and . . . I'm a clumsy oaf.




The good news was that while I was away my wife had reluctantly agreed to bid on a set of pipes on eBay for me. She was worried that she'd be responsible if I didn't win them (I didn't have a sniper app at this time). Well, she needn't have worried, because she did win them for me. Thanks, Sweetie!

These are the pipes I wanted from the start.




I believe they're MCMs. They were in great shape, not rusty but appropriately scratched and worn. Even came with beer can baffles already installed. They don't sound as deep and rumbly as the mufflers on the old pipes, but aren't obnoxiously loud. I can live with the slightly blatty bark, because they look absolutely perfect to my eye.




Next up, I finally found the right single instrument bracket to mount up the correct speedo.




I had previously traded the newer speedo and rubber mount for this properly bruised old magnetic clock. The headlight mesh was an experiment that I decided wasn't quite what I wanted.

If you hadn't noticed already, I'm very anal about all the little details, in fact, there are lots of little things I've omitted from the story because I tend to obsess over every little thing. It's surprising how much work it takes to make her appear natural, and not overly groomed. Especially when I'm overly grooming her.




So, she's getting much closer. I like the way the stubby exhaust sort of visually shortens the whole bike. The standard bikes, with low exhaust, have a stretched look. With short high pipes she shows her evolutionary step to the dirt bikes we recognize today. But, that long seat is still drawing the eye into seeing a horizontal line. Getting the seat right will be a major key to Trudy's look.

Here's the basic look I'm really going for:




The checkerboard on the seat is a bit too much, but all the proportions of this bike look just right to me.

Next I'll get to my first seat attempt . . .

[Strong Bad]

Originally Posted by earwig

Here's the basic look I'm really going for:




The checkerboard on the seat is a bit too much, but all the proportions of this bike look just right to me.

Next I'll get to my first seat attempt . . .

Having grown up racing in the desert, I know what a real old school desert sled should look like, and this is one. Note the trials tire in the front, no desert racer back in the day would ever put a knobbie in the front because he knew that the trials tire floated on top of the sand and didn't knife into it like a knob does. The checkerboard as you call it, is there because the owner of the bike (at least at the time) is a member of the Checkers MC, one of the greatest desert racing clubs of all time. And BTW if you aren't a Checker it is rude to adorn your bike with them.

[earwig]

I'm well aware of the Checkers MC. I must admit, I hadn't put two and two together and realized the connection. None the less, as previously stated, not what I planned to do.

I've already covered the front tire choice, and said I'm aware that a trials tire would look more appropriate. I may well mount one in the future. For now, as it's not a race bike, the front works fine for my purposes.