DR650 Street Tracker Build

[EvanADV]

This is cool. Great work.

I've got a bike in the shed I have an idea for now...

[Pablo83]

[therealbigman]

[Bambi]

Hello there,
Jaglite should be back on air soon, as he wrote on Febuary 1.:
'i am leaving in the morning for three weeks so i will try to get this caught up to date tonight.
Details of some aspects may be added later.'
Kind regards, Bambi ... curious how the story goes on and for more details ...

[JagLite]

More or less that is.

I am busy playing catch-up at work and home as usual.

Thanks for the helpful comments everyone, I appreciate it.

I ordered a piece of Kydex to experiment with.
It sounds like an ideal material for my use.

I will do a much better job on the next pipe I weld up and I will follow the suggestions offered.
The pipe was one of my first welding projects and I have improved since then.
I feel like I am up to the "beginner" level.

Regarding the slope of the bike (nose down) in the pictures, the pictures with the black (unpainted) tank shows the bike with the rear shock in the "high" position while the pictures with the tank in grey primer show the bike with the rear shock in the "lowered" position which is 2" lower at the seat. I will be using an adjustable clevis on the shock to tune the handling but I am reasonably sure the final ride height will be close to the "lowered" height of the stock shock as seen in the pictures.

More pictures of small projects:

A simple aluminum mount for the relocated indicator lights cut from scrap aluminum angle:



Mounted on the bracket:



Mounted on the bike:





But after getting a little electronic tach and looking at where/how to mount it, I decided I didn't like the stock indicator lights and don't need them since I can see the front blinkers flashing so I took them back off and stuck the tach on the mount instead.





Notice the Sigma elecronic (bicycle) speedo mounted on the bars
No, the wire isn't where it is going to go, just strung along for now.

I also mentioned cutting and lowering the foot pegs:

This how it was positioned prior to my diagonal cut



I beveled both sides of the cut on both pieces so I could get a good weld.
In the picture above I had just started to grind a bevel when I remembered to take a picture. I often forget to take in-progress pictures because I am having fun getting things done. Usually I only remember when I complete a project...

This shot shows how I slid the peg down and back to weld it up.



Again I didn't take any pictures while welding but here it is finished and installed after lots of grinding and a bit of paint.





Now I am eager to get the final paint on and hooking up the oil cooler!

[Bronco638]

If the Kydex frame shields come out good, let me know. I'll buy a set!

[JagLite]

Now that I have returned, I am trying to get back to my project schedule of doing "something" every day, I stopped at the local auto paint supply company to buy the base and clear coat paints.

The color is custom mixed with reducer and then put in an aerosol spray can.
$32.00 a can!!!!!!!
OUCH.
However, that is much cheaper than buying a can of paint and reducer for $300.

The two part clear coat is only $18 a can. (!)

And I had thought $30+ for the quart of primer was expensive.

I spent a few minutes with the shop owner discussing options and this seems like the best way to go. Although a high quality vinyl wrap sounds very interesting too. Next time?

I told him the size of the parts and he recommended I get two cans of each to be sure to have enough. The black paint will last in the can for a long time, like any spray paint he said, so I can use it again. The clear only lasts a few hours once the two chambers are mixed. But, if I don't use one can, I can return it.

He gave me instructions on using automotive paint in a rattle can that are a bit different from regular rattle can paint. Like, do NOT sand between coats! I should do my best to not get runs or sags in each coat. If necessary I can light sand a small area should a bug get on it but to not plan to sand, and do not sand all of it. Interesting, eh?

He also told me to spray the clear on within hours of the color coat, not to wait a week for the color to dry, and then to sand. So, my plan to shoot the clear over the gold pinstripes and lettering is a no-go. Oh well, the positive side is that if I don't like the graphics they will be easy to change. Probably better that way since I rarely get things the way I want them the first time.

Now, as soon as I get over this blasted cold that has me sneezing and coughing day and night, I will start painting.

[yokesman]

I posted this else where, runs can be handled with a shot of thinner, this blends it into the surrounding paint. in this case a cheap airbrush handy for just the purpose.

[JagLite]

Originally Posted by yokesman

I posted this else where, runs can be handled with a shot of thinner, this blends it into the surrounding paint. in this case a cheap airbrush handy for just the purpose.

Sounds good.
If I had an airbrush...

Thanks for the idea!

[JagLite]

I wet sanded the tank and seat and it looked good.
I swept the garage one day and let it settle a day before spraying to try to minimize the dust in the air and then I wet the floor down and set up my paint area.

The black base coat was mixed at our local auto paint specialist shop and loaded into two spray cans for $32 each.
The cans are by Spray Max and are supposed to have excellent spray heads.

The black went on nicely but didn't go very far. I was able to do a light tack coat and then after waiting the 7 minutes the paint calls for between coats I put on two solid coats using both cans. Looking good!

Then the Spray Max special two part clear with hardener got mixed and ready to go. I practiced spraying on some cardboard and I was really impressed with the flow and pattern of the clear. I put down a light tack coat and then the first of two heavy coats. It looked really nice and I was very pleased with it...

And then when I turned the tank around to spray the second coat the tank tipped over on my mickey mouse mount and I caught it but put a large palm print of my glove on the upper right side.

Blast!

What to do?
An experienced painter would know but I didn't, so I decided to finish off the can of clear and hope for the best. I put the last coat on heavy and even more where the hand print was and it actually looked pretty good. Not perfect but better than I had feared. I left it for an hour and when I checked it I found a few runs. Disappointing, but not really a surprise.

Of course I painted on Saturday afternoon and the paint shop was closed so it was Monday when I could take it by and ask what I can do now. They told me to let it dry a couple days and then to carefully wet sand the runs down flush and then wet sand the entire tank with 1500 again and spray another coat of clear. There is also quite a few dust marks so maybe the next coat will not get as contaminated. Since I do some woodwork in the garage it is impossible to get it clean like a paint booth.

Here is what it looks like now with some runs...





The runs are visible on the top of the flat side below the cap as white spots reflecting the flash.

I hope that next week I will be able to post a couple pictures of it with a better clear coat finish.
Then I let it dry for a week before buffing it out and putting the stickers and stripes on...

I have entered the bike in our annual motorcycle show in April so I am under a deadline now to finish it!

Yes, that is an oil cooler/tank hanging on the downtube. I am still thinking out where to mount it and then make up the new oil lines. The cooler will be painted black (surprise!) to make it less obvious.

[JagLite]

I refinished the clear coat on the tank and then buffed and polished it out.
Here it is now:






The back of the tank in front of the seat looks bad but that is actually the reflection of the seat material on the front of the seat. Really!



I tried to get reflections in the paint to show how straight and even the tank turned out.
I am glad it came out looking nice and not homemade.
All it takes is endless hours of sanding and filling and sanding and...

And at the end of the day I have to put my toys away until the next time I can work on them...



A small one car garage that I DO put my car in at night so I have to sort of stack everything in the end and then get it out and set up again.
I have friends here with garages that have never put their cars inside.

I'm a wimp, I admit it.
This morning it was zero degrees F again and the wind was blowing.
And it snowed another 15 inches that I had to plow with the ATV to be able to get up the driveway to go to work.
But a warm car in the morning makes such a difference in my day.

Two news items.
First, the aftermarket oil cooler I bought will not work so I am going to use the old one even though it is ugly.
A good cleaning, some paint, and maybe a bent aluminum shroud or protective surface to make it look better.
I will use the aftermarket oil cooler on my TW200 instead.

The other news item is major, a life changing event.
We are buying another house and selling our little cabin on the mountain.
The good part is it will be a 8 minute drive to work instead of 30 minutes, it has a detached two car garage AND an attached single car garage.

I told my wife she can do what she wants with the house but the shop is mine!

Or it could all fall apart.
We have an accepted offer and it is in escrow now with a 45-60 day closing but I know how often problems kill a sale. So I'm not packing yet.

The bike show is April 13 & 14 and I sure hope the snow melts a lot before then since my trailer is under 36" of snow, and buried 10' back from the driveway.
I have my bike entered and that will probably be the last time the tank and tail will ever look good.
It is a bike to ride after all!
I am going to put the clear plastic on the sides like is used on cars to protect the paint. Should help.

Still to come is the lettering and pinstripes, the oil cooler, the chain and chain guide, and securing that front brake hose.

Thanks for watching

[PhiSig1071]

That is really cool.

Now you need to hit up procycle for a 790 kit.

[JagLite]

Originally Posted by PhiSig1071

Now you need to hit up procycle for a 790 kit.

I thoroughly agree!

[DRjoe]

Looking good.
That paint came up nice.

[TheWall]

Subscribed!

Nice job on the build -- you've done a great job so far!

I've got a project in the garage that has started to get frustrating, so it's good for me to see someone else's project nearing completion to keep me motivated to keep working on mine :)