SuzukiSavage.com - my bobber project

Bobbert

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my bobber project
12/17/09 at 12:31:38

Been a while since I posted here. I've been swamped with school and an internship for the past 4 months. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Rob and I live in Los Angeles. (FYI my name is mashup of "Robert" and "Bobber", I am not BobberT)

I took my bike apart in June to replace all the gaskets and check the engine. September was the last time I did anything to the bike until this week when I put some hours in.

Here is the bike before I started the teardown:

Now the fun stuff:

Here you can see that the exhaust valve stem seal was bad. It was burning all the oil in the head and making my bike smell like Quwait in 91.

Oh no! The burning of oil kept my engine too hot, causing these these wires to become brittle and break:

To cut or not to cut?

lets CUT!

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In progress- 1996 Savage: solo seat, pod filter, open exhaust, and custom bars, fender, wiring, paint.

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Rocco Serious Thumper Offline addicted 2 riding TcB Posts: 1049 south florida Gender:	Re: my bobber project Reply #1 - 12/17/09 at 12:35:07 sweeet! i appreciate any teardown!!
Back to top	'95 bobber rat...i guess it's a "bat bike" haha flat black mostly, bare metal tank, header wrap, always a work in progress ! IP Logged

Bobbert

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #2 - 12/17/09 at 12:40:20

horns are no more:

put the engine back in:

a little farther along:

I repainted the frame and the headlight:

I spent countless hours sanding the old zinc coating off the side covers. My suggestion for anyone repeating this is to get MORE POWER *grunt grunt* and just use the wire brush on an angle grinder. Here's the difference. Left is original, right is all cleaned up:

Bike partly back together:

I decided to replace the bars. Here are the old 10" harley apes:

Custom bars courtesy of Front Street Cycles ($125):

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In progress- 1996 Savage: solo seat, pod filter, open exhaust, and custom bars, fender, wiring, paint.

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Bobbert

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #3 - 12/17/09 at 12:52:09

Rocco wrote on 12/17/09 at 12:35:07:

sweeet! i appreciate any teardown!!

Yeah! You really get to know the bike inside and out. It's like having sex with your bike!

I'm going to treat any exposed metal with a good wire brushing. I did it to part of my engine and it looks beautiful.

I'm going to try hardtailing the bike and mounting the seat on springs. If I like the ride then I'm going to have gussets welded between the swingarm and the frame and cut off the shock posts. The savage has a tall narrow frame and a narrow engine but with the belt drive the back end gets real wide.

The bars will be free from electronics and I'm going to replace the grips and levers with something more retro. I'm going to install a switch that cuts all power to headlights and have the high beam switch on the light or down by my crotch with the main disconnect. I'm going with a new headlight that sticks farther out from the trees to accentuate the tall skinny front end.

I'm going manual decomp. I'm going to fab up a handle on the decomp lever and mount the starter button on the frame right next to it. Push the lever, hit the starter button, release the lever, and keep on the button until she fires up.

I've got a $10 combo brake light/plate light that's going to be mounted vertically on the right to balance out the size of the belt drive.

Battery will be mounted either where the old muffler bracket went or in between the foot controls. I love the open look of the bike without the airbox or battery box. Electrics will be grouped under a plate underneath the seat. I tried to repair my burnt out wiring harness but the only wiring connectors I could find were ugly crimp and shrinkwrap ones so I'm buying another wiring harness and working from there.

I'm probably going to make a Diamond Jim straight pipe.

If I'm not burnt out from all this I'm going to take a grinder to the welds in the frame. There's slag all over it.

Since Im going for tall and skinny I'm going to mount a small (2 gal?) tank on top of the frame.

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In progress- 1996 Savage: solo seat, pod filter, open exhaust, and custom bars, fender, wiring, paint.

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JohnBoy

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #4 - 12/17/09 at 22:42:48

Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't understand how you have the rear fender mounted. It appears, from the photos, that you have the fender hard mounted where you cut the horns off. But the rear fender braces appear to be mounted to the swing arm?
How does one mount the fender to the frame, but have it move with the swingarm?

I do admire that you have the guts to cut the frame and “burn your bridges”. I am inspired to do it myself.

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verslagen1 YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline Where there's a will, I want to be in it. Posts: 28884 L.A. California Gender:	Re: my bobber project Reply #5 - 12/17/09 at 22:50:45 Aircraft stripper does a good job on the clear coat on the cases.
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Rocco Serious Thumper Offline addicted 2 riding TcB Posts: 1049 south florida Gender:	Re: my bobber project Reply #6 - 12/17/09 at 23:06:35 haha "sex with your bike" i've been doing it wrong!! lol! i actually like the 10" mini's better, but the drags are sick. and i agree the battery box is the only thing wrong with the looks of things!
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Savage_Amusement Serious Thumper Offline On this steel horse I ride. Posts: 1004 Omaha, NE Gender:	Re: my bobber project Reply #7 - 12/19/09 at 07:44:08 Great work. I'm really interested in some more pics of the back of the bike with the fender attachment and fender struts. This is exactly up my alley for where my project will hopefully soon be heading. Thanks and keep up the great work.
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Charon

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #8 - 12/20/09 at 11:32:58

It isn't clear to me whether you are going to have the headlight remain ON as is stock, or whether you plan to turn it OFF except when you need it. But it occurred to me that, the way the voltage regulator works, you might want to leave it ON. Reason: the voltage regulator/alternator produces full power at all times. As the battery charges, this full power becomes excess to requirements and the voltage regulator shunts the extra to ground. If you turn off the headlight, and perhaps the running lights, the regulator will have even more excess power to shunt. The sixty or seventy watts of headlight, taillight, and running lights will go through the regulator and might cause overheating problems with it. At the very least you will want to make sure the regulator is solidly mounted to something which can act as a heat sink.

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Eschew obfuscation.

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justin_o_guy2

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #9 - 12/20/09 at 13:26:47

Charon wrote on 12/20/09 at 11:32:58:

But it occurred to me that, the way the voltage regulator works, you might want to leave it ON. Reason: the voltage regulator/alternator produces full power at all times. As the battery charges, this full power becomes excess to requirements and the voltage regulator shunts the extra to ground.

That would certainly explain why the system requirements are so close to the output. Theres just not much power to tap to use for accessories. I never understood why they designed the thing that way. Now, it is all clear. Thanks Charon.

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Bobbert

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #10 - 12/20/09 at 14:11:32

Savage_Amusement wrote on 12/19/09 at 07:44:08:

Great work. I'm really interested in some more pics of the back of the bike with the fender attachment and fender struts. This is exactly up my alley for where my project will hopefully soon be heading. Thanks and keep up the great work.

I can tell you that a fender with this much clearance from the tire will not work if the bike is using the stock shocks.

I'll take pictures for you. The fender's just going to be bolted to an angle iron bracket welded onto the swingarm and through holes drilled near the axle plates. I would recommend welding the mounting tabs to the top of the swingarm otherwise the axle adjustment plates bump into the fender struts.

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In progress- 1996 Savage: solo seat, pod filter, open exhaust, and custom bars, fender, wiring, paint.

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Bobbert

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #11 - 12/20/09 at 14:14:54

Charon wrote on 12/20/09 at 11:32:58:

It isn't clear to me whether you are going to have the headlight remain ON as is stock, or whether you plan to turn it OFF except when you need it. But it occurred to me that, the way the voltage regulator works, you might want to leave it ON. Reason: the voltage regulator/alternator produces full power at all times. As the battery charges, this full power becomes excess to requirements and the voltage regulator shunts the extra to ground. If you turn off the headlight, and perhaps the running lights, the regulator will have even more excess power to shunt. The sixty or seventy watts of headlight, taillight, and running lights will go through the regulator and might cause overheating problems with it. At the very least you will want to make sure the regulator is solidly mounted to something which can act as a heat sink.

I was going to have an off switch for starting and to be able to turn off the lights if I'm temporarily stopped in front of a window or warming the bike up.

Does the regulator or the battery dump the excess current?

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In progress- 1996 Savage: solo seat, pod filter, open exhaust, and custom bars, fender, wiring, paint.

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Yonuh Adisi FSO Serious Thumper Offline Savage Jedi (Knight) Posts: 3622 Pilot Valley NV, aka Tatooine Gender:	Re: my bobber project Reply #12 - 12/20/09 at 16:29:18 Bobbers are not usually my thing, I prefer choppers. But dang dude, I have GOT to see that thing when you finish with it, it is gonna be one bad ass machine.
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Charon

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Re: my bobber project
Reply #13 - 12/20/09 at 17:41:08

Actually, I think my statement that the regulator shunts excess current to ground might be in error. But that was a simple way of expressing it. I think it really shunts excess current between the legs of the three-phase alternator (hope that didn't confuse you). The regulator will shunt the excess, not the battery. The regulator senses battery voltage (actually, its own output voltage, which should be the same). When the battery voltage reaches the voltage which indicates full charge, the regulator will start shunting anything in excess of that. The current flows through the stator windings and the regulator. The regulator is normally mounted on the fender, which acts as a heat sink, and the stator windings are in the engine case. The shunted current will cause heat not only in the regulator, but also in the stator windings. I do not know for sure that it would cause any problems, but I thought it might be worth mention.

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Eschew obfuscation.

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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28644 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: my bobber project Reply #14 - 12/20/09 at 18:03:00 We should harness that wasted power and put it to use... ...to,.... power a propeller or somethin'...
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