New look

These pics are a little dark, it was cloudy.

Today was the day. I went at the tank and fairing with 1500, then 2000 grit sandpaper. I tried to polish the fairing with my drill motor and a small pad, but just couldn't get any heat in the paint. So when Mike got home, I rode it down there. His brother Rick volunteered to do a little buffing and I'm very happy with the result.  

Then, I rode it home in the rain.

The waiting is the hardest part

Waiting to sand a little and buff, that is. The paint is dry, but I want to give it just a little more time to harden. There's a little dirt in it, but once I finger it a little, it should really shine, 'cause it already looks great in the sun.

Paint fumes can be harmful

After finding the perfect tank, the only thing left was to get the yellow out, so Mike and I went at it. Domer Custom Cycles doesn't take President's Day off.

I had been running my mini fairing in black abs, really a pretty maintenance-free way to go, but since we were painting, I scuffed it a little and it turned grey.

Mike had removed the stock decal from the tank, and it turned grey too.

 You can see the heater, the weather was not cooperating, and it was cool outside.

Then, things started turning black.

Don't wanna forget the bottom.

Color done.

After much thought and discussion, the No.1 logo won out for the minimalist graffic.

Could've been a little lower, too late now!

Now for some clear.
High tech paint stand.

Spray away! Repeated five times.

Shiney!

I can't wait to see it mounted, and out in the sunlight.

Thanks again, Mike!

New tank!

This baby is mint! Not enough black, however. This will change.

Lowered the fairing on the Sportster

I started the day by taking the stock tank off and putting the smaller peanut tank on. I backed the bike onto my lift so I could move the fork lock to lock, as I had intended to bash the shit out of the tank to enable me to move the bars. As luck would have it, the thing bolted right on and full movement of the handlebar was possible.

So, with that settled, I went to work lowering the fairing and guages. It wasn't too bad, but a lot of on and off to fit the pieces square. It was worth the effort, I think. Makes the bike look lower and longer.

I ordered the LePara seat yesterday, and it came today!

Looks almost like I lowered the bike more.
That tank is a lot smaller.

I'm starting to hate my handlebar. Thinking about trying to make my own. I have to get the tank done.

Rear fender work

My fender paint had long enough to get hard, so I started sanding. Mike had knocked most of the big chunks down, so all that was left was the fine tuning.

I spent a couple hours on it, then let Mike go at it with the buffer. After that, it was just a matter of putting it back together and making a wire harness. I have to thank my friend PeeWee at Ace Cycle for the help with the wire.

Then, put it on without scratching anything!

I made a "seat" out of some stuff I had laying around. It'll do until I find a deal on a nice one.

I'm gonna try to work on my new tank, but I may spend some time on the guage cluster next.

Domer Custom Cycles news

I bought a gas tank for the Sportster, and today we started fooling with it.

You can see the paint drying on my chopped fender next to the 2.2 tank. It'll be shiny soon, then I'll put the new wiring on it and install it. I rode my Busa to New Smyrna HD this afternoon and got the electrical parts to make a loom that will plug into the stock wiring.

 I really need to think about the seat. The one I like, I don't like.

The petcock was on the wrong side for my application, but Mike said it wouldn't be a problem. It wasn't. He cut the old one out with a hole saw, then cut a hole in the other side, and away we went.
Cleanup while I cut the patch.

Little welding action.

It came out great, thanks to Mike.

Now, I'm thinking it'd be cool to go farther with it and clearance the sides of the tank for clipon bars and maybe put a sight gauge on it. Maybe even change the filler neck to something different. I'll do some searching around to see what I can find.  

Out for lunch

Rode over to Tavares with my friend and neighbor Mike to meetup and with some guys from the internet. We met up with another Mike on the way, he actually bought his Buell S1 from me.

Old Red, ready to go-

It was a beautiful morning and a great ride over through the countryside. We got there at the right time, ans soon people started showing, over thirty bikes! Not bad for a SuperBowl Sunday.

The Ruby Street Grille patio is a good spot for lunch-

LaFayete's bike has over 100K on it now!

They had bike parking, I missed it. Don't want to miss being green.

People were having fun riding the train.

All in all, a nice time. Thanks to Marty for the idea.

And the stickers.

It lives!

I took the tank off the old Buell and salved it up with some JB Weld. It wont be long til the whole bottom is covered.

After cleaning the inside as best I could, I put it back together and shot a couple gallons of gas into it. It didn't turn over two turns before it started right up! Smokin' a little-

Well, maybe more than a little-

It cleared up though and ran fine. Not bad considering it hasn't been run in at least six months. I think I have a bad valve guide in it. Those S1 heads weren't as good a deal as I thought.

Maybe riding it for a couple days will motivate me to work on it a little.