It's doubtful everyone will enjoy this, possibly even doubtful that most of you might enjoy this but I'm posting it up anyhow because unlike most of my projects I actually remembered to take some pictures every now and again. Been wanting to build a bobber for some time and although they tend to be a bit ratty by nature mine is a full on "rat". 'ey! It's what I like.
Bike is an '86 Savage 650. Build's been going on for a little under a month and I still give it another three weeks to a month before they're complete. (This is only covering the Savage build...)

I'll start with the night I picked her up;


Went straight to tearing her apart, removed the suspension, removed the tank and sprayed it olive drab (Was going for a jungle rat theme though you'll see I changed my mind and went a different route later on.)


Started clipping the wiring and trying to figure out what could and couldn't be eliminated with a lot of help from my buddy Cooncy. We came across some things we didn't know and while searching good ol' Google we found this here forum! (And wiring diagrams that you gentlemen were nice enough to share with others, appreciate it.)


Just checkin' stuff and spraying a lot of the bike black already.




Had to order a new front/rear tire 'cause they were utterly consumed by dry-rot. Got a 3/4" white wall for the front and a solid black for the rear. Front wheel was sprayed in bright (but flat) red and the rear in flat black like the rest of the bike.
I sprayed coats of OD Green and then flat black on the tank, then sanded the top down to bare metal and some corners and let a rag with clorox sit on it for about an hour to start the rusting process.



I then took a brush and painted the fighter jet shark mouth on both sides of the tank. Made the gas cap out of some electrical conduit parts from Home Depot and used RTV to make a gasket for it. It's self-tapped on to the tank and is not leaking any fuel even when upside down.



Got some black drag bars for it off of eBay (was actually having a tough time finding the proper metal to make my own bars so... had to get it [because I'm so darn impatient]).





As I make more progress I'll post more pics and info.
You guys have been a great help and I'll try and explain anything any of you may want to know. Thanks for lookin'  

MotoBuddha wrote on 02/27/11 at 14:51:35:


It might be! Rear wheel isn't bolted down all the way yet, gotta pull it back off so I can grease everything up. Tensioners haven't been touched; belt's loose as hell.  

bill67 wrote on 02/27/11 at 16:46:56:


Some are shot with my iPhone and some with my GoPro. The GoPro pictures are most certainly fisheye shots but the bike being fairly centered in the picture would stop the lens from messing with the bike itself (enough to get a comment about the wheel being crooked at least). This is just the angle the picture was taken from which I believe is called an 'optical confusion'. See what they did there? Illusion? Confusion? YA!  

Edited*

MotoBuddha wrote on 02/27/11 at 17:12:42:


Funny you mention the vice grips! I'm using some old, rusty needlenose pliers as extra leverage for my fuel on/off. I'll post pics once it's up. Today I removed the pegs from my foot controls and we're welding some real, dimilitarized grenades on there instead.

I'll post some pics of how we mounted the solo seat tomorrow incase anyone cares to see that.

The hole in the tank is huge and I've thought long and hard as to what to put in there. I was thinking a pocket from a pool table. Already snapped a shot with a bottle of blue label in it! I'll post that one too, hehe.

did you guys notice the gas cap?

it's hard, but look past the blue label.

You might want to put a little lube on that gas cap before is rusts closed and you need a pipe wrench to fill up.

Gotta admit, that is one TOUGH lookin' Rat man! I was liking the O.D. green paint on 'er though ...

Thanks for the comments guys!

MotoBuddha wrote on 02/28/11 at 04:27:19:


The threads that get screwed in look brand spanking new, but I probably should just in case. It IS mighty humid in Miami during the summer.