A body of work!

Today I finished the fabrication of the body work and I am so relieved! This is the first time I have ever made anything out of aluminum sheet metal and I have to say it was a bit of a challenge. I did something a little unusual in that I kept most of the edges really sharp. I like the stealthy look of it and it will really compliment the sheet metal fork as well. Originally I intended to make the seat and tank one piece all welded together but after experiencing how much stresses will cause some welded areas to crack I decided it would be best to fasten them together. The vertical seam matches a detail on the fork which will help pull it all together.

Special #6 in El Diablo Magazine

Check out page 245

http://www.eldiablomagazine.com/mag/09/index.html

I'm liking it!

A few weeks ago while my brother was in town I dragged him into the shop to help me mock up the Beezerker for the final time before I tore it down to rebuild the motor. It was the most complete I had ever seen the bike and was the first time I got to sit on it and make "brum, brum" sounds while my brother took some pictures. I'm really looking forward to seeing how it stacks up to the big boys at AMD this August.

Aluminum is your friend!

For the past couple of weeks I have been beating aluminum into submission and having a blast. I have never made a complete body from aluminum... come to think of it, I've never fabricated a tank from aluminum. What you see here still has a ways to go and will look pretty different when I'm done. Along with the body work I have been filling short windows of time with smaller projects like a velocity stack and an extension to the engine case to what I am calling the chain guard. The case stopped abruptly and it just didn't flow into the frame and now it looks much better.

Down Time

It's much needed and there is little that I enjoy more than walking the kids down to the beach when we get home from a long day in the shop. Here is little Sophie down at Alki beach last night... we got there just in time to catch the sun set.

Back on track

After being gone on vacation for two weeks I was very excited to get back in the shop. Here is a shot of one of the stainless headers I built just before I left for Tokyo. The other image is of the shift arm and linkage in the works. The peg will mount where that socket head is. All pieces are stainless steel.