FATTRAT.........

I hope to be back on-line by this evening. I bailed outa cyber land, cell land, and TV land a month ago. The only difficulty I had was virtual withdrawls from cyber biker chat..... gonna be good to be back in the 'Net groove again.

The retroRed cafe racer project was officially underway at the start of this week. Aside from powder coating, difficulty getting my suspension sorted out, and having to order parts, my procrastination is most to blame for the delay. Well, that and 8,000 miles spent in the saddle of a recently purchased FZ1.

The project bike?
2005 790cc standard, Black engine, Ferrari Red body parts, old school bubble style fairing, and Thruxton type seat cowl. Factory headers, flat Black D&D's, gun metal Gray alloy Excel's with Buchanan spokes. Rear sets, Sportster bars, bobbed front & rear fenders, but I haven't decided on style of mirror yet.
I expect no more than 59 horses to the rear wheel, as I plan to leave the air box alone...... save for a K&N, NH bellmouth, and Thruxton needles (and my ProCom).

I tried to clean the headers of their soot as best I can, then I plan to coat them with that Blue Kreem goop meant to minimize bluing. I used Blue Job to remove 300 miles of discoloration, removed the air injection, and plan to wipe the headers down with alcohol before first getting them hot. I gave thought to having a Black ceramic coating applied to the headers, but that looks better on a Yamaha XS650 than on a Bonneville.

Then I gotta fire that puppy up, change the oil, and take it in for it's first service..... the VERY FIRST service. It doesn't even have 400 miles on it yet!

Normandy,
Only thing I've learned was that my alloy Excel's don't powder coat well. I also learned that it's not a good idea to compromise your spokes by shopping for Black ones.... but they would look soooo cool! I think one guy I spoke to suggested that spoke wheels flex too much, and that Black paint might be a better/cheaper alternative.

If it was me, I would find a shop with a reputation of successfully powder coating the likes of our steel wheels. I would also replace the cheap Triumph spokes with some Buchanan stainless steel spokes. Because there is no contrast between my gun metal gray alloys and the tire, a glossy Black powder coat would be the best way to go if you choose to go for it. (I wish I had chosen another color when I agreed to have the alloys anodized.)

Good luck, and I'm sure it'll look GOOD!
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Yo Meat'
I'm trying to get back on as a Prison Guard before I retire. I did it for ten years, and have been playing Prison Canteen Manager for the last decade. Thirty years with the State and closing in on 55, I need to give thought to my retirement benifits.
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D9,
It's good to be back.
I've been logging quick pic's of the little things done with the retroRed racer. It's still a sad skeleton of a bike in the middle of my living room, but little by little it's gonna come together. Right now the biggest hurdle is locating a socket head bolt (M10 x 22((1.25)). It clamps the tube at the bottom triple tree, and Triumph wants six bucks and three weeks for it..... I thought I'd beat 'em at their game and get it a local hardware store.... nope, nothing, nowhere.

Now I'm back on line and wasting time on the 'Net (again), rather than working in the living room with a Saturday Blues show on the radio while putting my rear sets on, assembling the speedo, buff the pipes some more, put the headlamp housing together, etc,etc,etc.....

Oh ! I remember you. Hey don't tell them you know me I may have to tell them about my dark side. I bet you'll get your Bonneville finished before I do. :chug:



[ This message was edited by: Bryan on 2006-11-05 01:15 ]

Bryan,
We was looking BAD that day, hey what?!!

That was the day my Bonnie with it's home made "Fatratt" pipes (can you say LOUD!) were reportedly putting 70 horsepower to the rear wheel. Though she was running good, and it felt fast, I'm inclined to believe the Dyno at Mitchell's Harley was either a bit optimistic, set on STD, both, and/or conditions were juuuuust right for partying!

Dyno'ed again on a different machine gave me similar results, but the filter of the air/fuel sniffer was not cleaned and the reading gave me mixed signals. I was at the peek of my paranoia about getting busted with obnoxiously LOUD pipes, and have since added an additional baffle to my 'Fatratts'. They run their best with the additional baffle hanging out of the end of the pipes..... but it looks funky. I have since added an additional piece of pipe to conceal the baffle, but it suddenly constricted it. The pipes now sit gathering dust in my garage.

I just modified my D&D's again, using the same 'Big City Thunder' baffle, but with the factory core instead of a straight through pipe. I'll try it out and if it's too loud, I'll either add a JC Whitney baffle on the end, or pack the pipe with packing.

Yeah, that's right...... "70 hp" to the rear wheel of a 790 with nothing but a bellmouth, K&N, and Thruxton needles. Still hard to believe, but on two different Dyno's??? Frankly, I don't believe it either. But I was there, it was my bike, and I saws it with mine own eyes! (Might even still have the print-out) I honestly think it was simultaneously anomalies, flukes.... BOTH times.

[ This message was edited by: FattRat on 2006-11-05 11:05 ]