60/6 Cafe project, Or, be glad you didn't find this on YOUR project

wow :eek1

they did a real nice job there man

Gorgeous bike - thanks for sharing your project -

Kjolly: just did a quick look at your link to your wife's grandfather's 1924 ride across the US... them were the days of REAL adventure, WOW!

Love the shot of the Wyoming trails, and of the Golden Gate prior to any bridge... very awesome, and gives us an insight into history from a very different perspective than what we usually see and hear.



Cool pics and story, and thank you for sharing that!

Wow, it is nice to see it all come together, the seat really does finish the look of the bike. I just won an auction for 10sq. ft. of brown tipped cow hide in a lovely shade of dark brown that I am planning on using to have my seat covered. Still looking for foam.....I know you used your old seat foam, any sources for foam though? Im not entirely sure what to order and a little hesitant about buying foam sight unseen online.


Looks beautiful, I hope mine turns out half as nice. Velcro is a good idea too, I had envisioned the leather being fastened around the pan on mine, but I think that works and looks great.

PS- are you guys planning on keeping that thing sans the roundels or just waiting for the clear coat? I am undecided about the look....I have seen some without roundels that really looked clean and custom and others where it just looked bare..... I am sure your good judgement will guide you in the right direction as it always seems to.

That cushion really brings the look together, impressive.

tathambenjamin:

Try Riggs brothers in St.Charles for seat foam.

Whoo!!! Seat!!!





















Is it just me or should he focus on cleaning up and painting the motor now?

Haven't been checking this thread for a while, but I just flipped through it. Wow. What a beautiful bike.

Keep up the good work.

What I like about it is that it sort of looks like a muscle car.



The bold red with black stripe seems well matched to the era.

Seemed like the bike did come together with the seat to me too.

Feels like a cafe' bobber to me.

I like it.

And I'm not a fan of red and black color schemes.

Nice job Bob.

Muscle car! A 60/6 muscle car: sorta like a Dodge Dart muscle car...

Will has designed a BMW graphic that he is going to hand paint onto the roundel, then we will clear coat the whole ting.......



Someday.

Hey, even wanna-bes can kick ass when they try hard enough!



and another.

The black and red color scheme adds to the muscle, no doubt.







And its a well known fact that black wheels add muscle, too.....

Hey Bpeckm --

It was a blast pulling that stuff together - I was amazed that all the photos, the journal, the postcards and letters survived all together in one place. It's not rebuilding an R/60 - once again - beautiful job you did - inspiring what you did with just your noggin and a wire wheel - but it's nice to save the story from a dusty attic.

Kevo

In reference to doing the foam-form thing, I just came across an interesting website from San Jose BMW regarding a fuel tank that they had built, using a foam original as a pattern for the metal worker.

The web page is this one. They call it the Bonneville bike project.


Here are some pictures showing the meat of the matter:

They start with expanding foam, poured into a rough mold. Near as I can tell, they used the underside of an existing tank (so as to get the right recesses for the undertank goodies) to build some sort of a mold that they duplicate and fill with expanding foam.





Which they rough-shape:



Trying it on for size as they shape:

They come up with the shape they want, made of foam:



The finished tank is a thing of beauty:




The bike has engine mods, custom exhausts, and is a true racer:






Anyway, cool project. I never would have thought of foam as a means for patternmaking for a metal tank.... but it does allow for some dreaming

Thanks, mang. I perused that link. So, how did they transfer the shap to the aluminum? I maen, you can't pound on it or anything. Do they just hammer and compare? It's a cool way to make a fiberglass tank for sure, just don't get how they do the metal. Am I missing something?

Glad I'm not the only one left wondering........



Only thing I can think of: metal workers use patterns made from pieces that they tape together.... then they can take the pattern apart, cut a piece of metal to that shape, and "stitch" it back together by welding?

Somewhere I had a great thread showing a guy making a replacement for the airbox cover using patterns.... let me look for it.....

Ok, this project is a world unto itself, and worth reading about, with unbe-f'ing-leivable detail and craftmanship.... behold the finished product:




The pattern-making in question is for the piece that replaces the starter cover and airbox, on top of the engine.

This is the link to the bike-building, much of which was CAD designed!

To make a long, long story short, they made a wood pattern to the shape that they wanted, then covered it with pattern-making material (?) of some sort:





which they mark up into three pieces





They take the raw aluminum to their shaping tools and start to shape the metal, using the pattern to direct how and where to pound, pull, roll, etc....



When the three pieces are bent and molded to their satisfaction, they are welded together and fitted to the motor.










So, that is the "pattern making" done with paper patterns. I have no idea how the tank was made by San Jose BMW, but thought that the above would be an interesting edificational procedural for those with curious minds....

That is some bike, and the website is worth a look.... if only to see how much patience some people have!

'S all, folks!

Happy TurkeyDay Recovery Days

Got more info, and more photos, of the SanJose Bonneville bike: tank was hand pounded by Evan Wilcox, using the foam as a guide/template. Still, nothing short of orgasmic:





There is a thread started on ADV by Chris (builder of the bike) with some additional photos and information. ............

Check it out: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=412101

OK, so the bike is mostly done... I got the plate mount figured out, installed and even wired so that I have a night-legal bike! Will post photos, when I think to take some.........

Been scoping out little goodies: next plan is to pull the headlight ears, cut them down to lower the headlight, pull the front blinker mounts and install the little blinkers on the headlight ears... those big rectangular ones just don't go with the bike, now. Someday!

Also been looking at rearsets: I feel like I am sitting upright from the waist down and leaning forward from the waist up.... when I hook my boots over the passenger footrests, they are too far back (whereas on the /2, the rear footrests are perfect for hooking the boot heels (when not shifting, braking, etc)

After researching the Raasks, they seem less than wonderful. I found these Aussie-built units that look real nice (not that I would spend the money, but they DO look nicely done)




Their parts are BMW-specific, so it is nice to find how they custom-fit on these old beemers. Love this detail on the brake side: it appears that the foot-lever acts directly on the brake spindle on the bike, and note the nice little cutout to make it look like it belongs there....


They make some other nice looking stuff, too, including the short pipes with a billet-turned endpiece which is very handsome, clipons, tripleclamp tops, and others.




And a very handsome airbox cover, seen above and below:



Check out their website: cafebeemer.com in Australia

PS I found the website hard to read with their color scheme, but you can "highlight" to make it readable.

AND, with todays exchange rate, the prices are not horrible horrible: the rearsets came out to about $320 USD, just a bit more than Raasks at $295.

I have a set of Rask rear sets and so far I havnt been able to bring myself to bolt them onto my bike. Theyre just not very nicely made.

This same Australian guy was posting about his parts on Boxerworks.com last year, so I contacted him about buying some parts. Please be aware: Those rear sets only fit the later model R-100 bikes with the foot peg mounts welded to the frame. They unfortunately will not fit the popular /5 and /6 bikes.

I have emailed the guy whos making these rearsets and he says that he is intending to make rearsets for the /6's but needs a bike to measure (As most of us know, the frame measurements are exactly the same on the /5, /6 and /7's.) but after an entire years worth of emails back and forth with him telling me to "bring your bike over to my place so that I can measure it" :eek1 I give up. Making up a new mounting plate must be too much trouble....

I guess that I'm gonna have to spend even MORE money and order rear sets from Wudo in Germany. I'd better hurry though..... With the number of Airheads Plumetting so quickly, they'll stop selling stuff for em pretty soon too.