Customizing a XL600R into a Cafe Racer/Street tracker to ride South

Ive been working on my newly purchased 1984 XL600R that i plan to ride South of the border into Mexico and Central America...
I havent found much on this topic, i guess its not the practical thing to do.
so i wasnt sure where to post this, but i thought id share....

here are some pics of the bike as bought....

Can you see those pics?
i cant... :huh

hmmm i need a shop manual to navigate me through these forums...

No pics there.

dammit, it doesnt want to upload, i noticed in a few threads the image icon question mark... whats the best way to put photos up? i cut an pasted a link from my instagram...no luck

try this ...

http://magneticsouth.posterous.com/1984-xl-600r

hmm




OPEN BRACKET img CLOSE BRACKET YOURPIC-URL-HERE OPEN BRACKET /img CLOSE BRACKET

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=919

yer great, thats just what i needed in my life- another social media site...

well heres a test from photobucket

.... Yo quiero una como esta !!!!!!! ......

giant photos huh, sorry

At least it worked soo thanks

Id never liked the look of trail bikes, i fell in love with the look and feel of vintage cafe racer style bikes, i own a SR400 in Australia, and originally bought a CB750 in SanFrancisco to do this trip...

Im not the tallest guy in the planet, so first thing i did was cut down the seat, i like to feel the road when im at a stop...







I taped it up in gaffa tape , i hope to find someone in mexico or wherever to do it in leather for alot cheaper than here in the States

Can anyone tell me how to make those pics smaller??

I guess not... so heres some more.



ifound this old ducati headlight with a birds nest inside it.



still looking for some headlight brackets that will fit properly....





off with headlights and 80's fairing..

trying to find an alternative tank that could fit....







The XL frame is a strange shape, unfortunately wasnt going to happen

but I got inspired from this old tank...

I was told by Yoshi from the Garage Company that it wasnt going to happen so i thought id have to use the old tank..

Did a search on you tube for how to clean out a rusty tank and thought id give this a try...

Fill the tank with a bag of aquarium stones



wrap it up with some blankets and towels




And put it in the clothes dryer without heat, fill gaps with pillows so you dont wreck your dryer..



It kinda worked...

I really wanted to change the look so i thought i had nothing to lose...
So i found some styrofoam in the trash...
Shaped it, and thought id have a go at learning to do some fibreglassing...

make your own ride. That gives the uniqueness to your journey

Thanks, Im not sure it will go down well for all those XL600/off road purists, or those round the world touring guys, with their perfectly terrain specific motorcycles and gear...
its not the most practical lil custom job i know, its not perfect but im learning, i'll just have to make work with what ive got ....

Here's some of my ignorant my mistakes..
I wanted a quick temporary fix, so i didnt want to sand it down to the metal
I was never good at fixing my surfboards with fibreglass, i didn't know resin eats styrofoam..




heres the second attempt



hand sanded it down



Wrapped the styrofoam with foil, you can see the lumps on top where the resin started hardening. doh



It was a preety rough job... so bought myself an electric sander.



Started to fill in the gaps with some body filler.