Therathole.org - Home of the Packrat

While I was waiting on the tins to come in I went to work cleaning up some of the warts left behind and began work on the forwards. I've ridden quite a few newer bikes with aftermarket sheet steel mounted forwards and the one thing that stood out in my mind was how easily they flexed when you put some pressure on them. I am used to having solidly mounted pegs, and in a crisis when every muscle is tense this worried me. I cut some sections out of an old frame and ground them to mate up to the curve of the down tubes then welded them in place, The outer sleeve actually wraps around the frame. These things are solid! I don't care if they aren't as dainty and cute as the aftermarket options. Screw cute and flimsy. I still have to make the pivot points and controls. Even these will more resemble a truck than a pretty chromed bicycle shifter.

The rear of the frame had to be widened an extra inch to accommodate that rear fender. It is supposed to mount turned a little farther forward but I prefer the tail coming straight down. The front fender would not stay put for the pics so it looks a little low and tipped too far at the back, but does fit the wheel and forks extremely well. Right now I am just using some old wheels and tires to do the initial mockup. I swapped the shorter original 74 swingarm out for a 78 I had which is approximately 1" longer and lowered the bike about 1-1/2". I plan to use shorty 11" shocks for the rear in place of the odd-ball air shocks on it which are there just for mockup purposes. Tank mounts will have to wait until the chrome center panel is in since I have nothing to go on as far as mount points and width are concerned. Because the slope on the backbone is not near as steep as the old rigids and FLH I am having to use a smaller tunnel towards the bottom of the tanks for the backbone. It looks almost level here but will end up with a slight incline when mounted.

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Second mockup with almost everything in place...

The seat, p-pad, shocks, and exhaust came in and I was able to set them on there pretty much where I want them. The seat is friggin' huge! It's a Corbin repro with vinyl skirt although I am not to sure the skirt will stay. The vinyl is fairly obvious and close up looks a little tacky. The seat and p-pad were eBitch snags. I was worried the exhaust would ride too low with the short shocks and hinder cornering but as far as I am concerned they could not have lined up any better. They definitely give the bike a classic look, much more so than the stock Honda 4 into 4 or 4 into 2 flare or megaphones. It's 10 degrees F in the garage so no work on the bike until it warms up a bit. That's just too damn cold and welds might end up a bit brittle cooling too fast. Not to mention I'd freeze my jewels off. I am going to have to weld on some exhaust mounts in addition to the fender and tank mounts since the urban hillbillies cut the stock exhaust mount points off.

All the tins, beehive tail light, caps, and petcock came from Fog Hollow and they had the parts for me in about a week.
The short shocks and exhaust came from CycleRecycle2 and were here in just a day's time. Thanks to Rick and Rob for their help and input.

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