The Ratzuki Project

[dragoon]

Mornin' Pally

[pilot]

Somewhere I have seen one of those outfitted for world travel. I thought it was on HorizonsUnlimited, but I did a search and didn't find it. The guy put on a big tank, longer travel suspension, lights, bags, and such. Looked kind of rough, but worked great.

[Pally McGee]

This bike will be just for fun. Any world travelling will be done on my KLR when I get it.


Mornin' Goonie!

[norton73]

This is cool! A forum where I can learn how to customize. You're doin' great Pally, I think I'm gonna learn a lot from you over here. let's see more

[Krautbikeman]

Originally Posted by GaelicDog

I know you'll be back to check on your thread so here goes, GOOD POST! I have to go along with the others here, RAT bikes are supposed to look, well, er,,, ratty! If you want to restore it, restore it. Other wise rat that bad boy out!



Rememeber, FLAT BLACK spray paint is the color of choice! BBQ grill paint is for the motor!

Holy schnikies! That looks like a VMax engine, but with chain drive ... If it is indeed powered by Max, whoa!

[Krautbikeman]

Originally Posted by Pally McGee

Don't forget that faceshield for the grinder too, Pally. ATGATT you know!

Very nice work, and not just the metal craftmanship. Your pictorial outline of progress is great.

[FixxiT]

Hows come you did'nt sweep up the schmegma before cracking out the magnets now you gots filings all stuck onnum....

BTDT.... hate when that happens

[Pally McGee]

Originally Posted by FixxiT

Hows come you did'nt sweep up the schmegma before cracking out the magnets now you gots filings all stuck onnum....

BTDT.... hate when that happens

I only clean them when they won't seat right. Otherwise its a pain in the ass.

Just a verbal update tonight folks. No real quality time to spend on Ratzuki. The Missus was home early today and the 3-hour window I get between my quitting time and the time she gets home from her longer commute had vanished. I did however clean some of the debris from the garage. Someday I need to get into my shop and organize it. Its rarely dirty - just cluttered and I hate that so much. Drill bits, endmills, screws, peices of steel and brass, and horn and mother of pearl. Such is the life of a knifemaker. There is always some scrap of something laying around you don't want to throw away because it would make a nice inlay or whatever.

I did take off the old shocks. I want to put on the GS550 shocks I won off an ebay auction and see what the travel is going to be. Sure woudl be nice to get that fender as low to the tire as possible without scraping. Of course, I figure a new pair of tires - ones I will actually ride upon - should be installed, but wtf... I'll guesstimate and make a "quality decision." I'm thinking right off: Swingarm extension plus 1/2". That should do the trick.

Taking off the old shocks was as far as I got before Missus McGee yelled out at me that supper was ready. Take a look at my gut... I've never been late for supper my whole life!

During my fiddling around with the fender and the shocks tonight I noted places that will have to be trimmed to provide clearance. The torsion rod - the rod the stabilizes the rear disc - rubs the new fender and should have some clearance. It's mounted to the swingarm itself, and will really bugger things up it I didn't relieve out that area.

That's about it for my report tonight. Hopefully tomorrow (the wife has a banquet dinner... ) I should have some time. I plan to add some small skirts to the sides of the fender and bob about 4" off the back it. The skirts will add some fullness to the sides, and I believe at that point it will cease to look like a trailer fender.

Stay tuned! Here are my future mini-projects for Ratzuki:

- Solo seat from metal sheet to padded and upholstered
- Triple clamp trimmed and machined to reflect smaller area for non-OEM speedometer
- Installation of a Dynatek CDI ignition, which I already have on hand.
- Panniers. I'll be welding up my own panniers to look like a pair of Jesse's or Happy Trails - complete with "canyon cut". The sheet metal is already cut to size and ready for assembly.
- Wiring. Lots of wiring. A complete new wiring loom will be made from 14 and 16 guage high-purity stranded copper wire. I'll be making my own wiring schematic. The one in the Clymers manual I have is garbage.
- Engine work. Probably not much work to this engine, but I am actively searching for another engine to rebuild. When I do, it's overhaul time.
- Lots more stuff too. As I think of it, and photograph it, I'll post it.

Cheers, folks!

[Loadedagain]

pally! we need pics

[mutineer]

PALLY,this may be the trickest thread going in here right.


That fender is badass.

[Pally McGee]

Originally Posted by Loadedagain

pally! we need pics

Missus will be at a banquet tonight in Manchester. This is my son's "Friday Night," so I am sure he's going to clean up and go mac one of his girlfriends. That leaves me and Nemo to get some stuff done on the bike. See you back here tonight!

[dragoon]

Mornin' Pally

[knary]

Originally Posted by norton73

Ok, Pally, I'll give you another chance after all the problems in JM. The first post I saw from you was this one about the Ratsushi. Gave me hope that you are a Ok guy. then you bombed.
I used to work for a car dealer in the early 90s, and one of the other mechanics wanted to get a bike, and kept after me about what's faster? Ninja, Katana, Hurricanes, etc. This from a guy who had only ridden a 70s DT250 Yamaha in his backyard.
Once Terminator 2 came out, he rushed down to the HD dealer and ordered up a Fatboy. Although the bike wouldn't come in for 6-9 months, he had all the HD gear the next day, I don't think he wore anything other than HD stuff again. Sidewalk Commandos were what we used to call these guys.
Anyway, the to get to the point, one of the other mechanics got given a Suzuki just like yours. He had just bought a house (first) had a kid on the way, so money was tight, and he spent the winter fixxing it up. Pulled the moter, painted everything, rebuilt the top end, borrowed carb synch stuff from me, new fork tubes and seals, etc. Did one hell off a good job
Rode it proudly into work that spring, justly too. Mr HD, I've got a real bike, (soon) declared it a piece of shit, the only real bike is a HD, you need to go trade that POS now for a real bike while it's worth something.
This precipitated a fight between those of us non-HD owners and him. I told Mr HD that I thought the Suzuki and it's owner was a lot cooler than MR HD, because he actually built his bike, had a lot more reason for pride of ownership. Any idiot can run down to the store and buy a HD, only special people can build their own bike.
So, Pally, I realize this is long winded, but I hope you get my point. Do a good job on it, make us (and yourself) proud

Pally, I was wrong. Make us proud.

[Meathead]

Go Pally! Go Pally! Go Pally!


I'm inspired. Maybe I'll stop by some shit-bike shops this afternoon.

[Pally McGee]

Side panels and weld-up

Hey good evening, everyone!

I took some time tonight before starting the fab-up to swap in the eBay shocks. I wanted to be sure my new fender would actually have no clearance issues with the stock shocks and also clear the tire at full compression. Since my son had a date with the twins tonight, he was totally (and predictably) assholish about helping his dear old dad, but I got his to squash down the ass end of the ‘zuki and I was able to come up with a fairly safe position for the fender. Here is a pic of the fender – still only tack-welded – set between the frame with a cardboard template of the side panels. It looks pretty good, so I’ll be heading into the next step, which is making two "valances," or side panels for the rear fender.



I only had this smaller chunk of 18ga steel sheet to make the sides from. I have a few larger sheets in my other building, but that’s a few miles away, and I’m whipped tonight, so its "back up and punt." I’ll scab-weld a smaller tip to the piece that runs off the sheet. NO PROBLEM!



A minor tirade on the cutting of sheet metal. If I had 2500 clams, a plasma-cutter would be in my shop right now. I use one at my friend’s shop, and by God, It’s fantastic. It would zip through this sheet of steel faster than you can say Jack-in-the-Green! But alas, I must resort to more conventional means. One of my pride and joys is this very-old Delta metal-cutting bandsaw. It was made in 1947, and I salvaged it from a pile of rubble behind an old shop that used to make tacks. It was a total freebie. I overhauled this saw, with complete refurbishment of new bearings and seals in the gearbox, modern urethane tires on the blade wheels, and many good coats of quality paint. I fabbed the base, and added a brand-new motor and anti-vibration drive belt and new pulleys. It should go for at least another 100 years like this. With a decent Lenox sawblade, it’ll chug through ¼" titanium plate I use when I am making folding knives.



Sure makes a fine cut!



Both side panels cut and shaped on the belt grinder. The little tip is ready for welding .



Da da da da! The sides welded onto the fender. Looks okay. It’s always hard to tell how it will look at this stage. Fabricating takes hours of sticking some part up against the bike and querying the mind’s eye for what it will look like. If you are like me, you are so fussy, nothing looks right, and all you can do is hope for whatever you like the best. Sad, but that’s me. A perfectionist living in a world that doesn’t need that trait.



Here we go. Took me a while to weld this up. My welder was buggering me tonight. Low on argon, I had to cut back on it to make it last - hence less shielding than I am used to. I welded up both sides to be sure. It will mean more finish-work, but the results will be better.



Here’s another angle. A good, solid fender now. Going to be rat-ish, though. I’m done for the night. Tired. Welding always takes it out of me. I have MCS, so welding fumes always get to me. I’ll be coughing fo ra few days now until my lungs clear.



Salute to the RatZuki! Next installment may not be until Monday. Tomorrow night is dinner with Missus McGee. Saturday I have a "Hammer-In" with my bladesmith pals. Saturday night is a FFA drink-fest at the pub in BeanTown with Padraig and JeffAugie. I doubt I’ll see home that night, and I will probably just get a room at the Sheraton in Cambridge. I usually do when I’ve had too much.



Sniff, sniff, sniff, Hey DAD! Sniff, sniff, WTF is that? Sniff sniff, hey put that down and come kick the ball for me! Sniff Sniff!