Looking good.

I got some work done on the harness tonight. I think it will fit in the tunnel between the tank and the upper frame. It's gonna be tight at the front of the tank, but I'll make it work.

Big moment tonight - I started the bike. It started right up and the exhaust sounds perfect. I think now is a good time to get the seat finished.

Old enough to know better.

54

Ahhhh, electrical. My favorite We just wrapped up a 2013 Triumph Bonneville that I completely tucked and re-did the entire harness along with all the EFI stuff and the GIANT Triumph ECU. Looking good Gary! Can't wait to see some final shots!

Start up didn't go smooth. I've got an electrical gremlin. I think there's a bad connector at the starter solenoid. If I play with the connector I can get the bike to start.

Another photo. I ended using a dual headlight. I had a 7" on there, but the forks are so far apart that the billet brackets that I purchased couldn't come together close enough AND keep the directionals in alignment. The are very stiff and can't really be bent into position. I paid $70 for the brackets and didn't want to chance damaging them trying to bend them. So I decided to go with the dual lights. These are 9-1/2 inches apart and keep the directionals facing forward.

Finally off the work bench, a view from the riders perspective. First, this bike is absurdly narrow. The tank is only 7 inches wide and the seat just 6. The bike is also absurdly tall. I'm 6'1" and I can't flat foot this thing.

I rode the bike up and down my driveway a few times and brought it back to the garage to check for leaks and the like. With everything looking good I grabbed my helmet and decided to go for a short ride. I was about 4-5 miles into the ride when I noticed that the electronic gauges blanked out. I thought to myself "this ain't good, time to head home" and as soon as I turned around the bike sputtered and died.

Here is a photo of my son and the unceremonial trip back home the bike had in the back of the truck. My initial thoughts after my brief ride:

- I need to get a front fender on this thing ASAP. It's kicking up stuff and driving it right into the radiator. This wouldn't be such a big deal if I still had the OEM split system, but with the single radiator it's only a matter of time before something goes flying through the center of it.

- I'm a form over function type of person, but for this build I made some cosmetic choices that I knew would not yield the best performance. The front tire was one such choice. With the 130/80-18 rear tire I should have used a 90/90-18 or 100/80-18 front. But to keep the front and rear diameters the same I'm running a 110/90-18 front. That's a big front tire, and as a result the turn-in is a little slow and the steering effort is a little on the high side. I'll see how I feel about this in time. The turn-in and steering effort is very similar to my FZ-06, but not as light as I'm use to with a dirtbike frame. I've been riding dirtbikes for 40 years so it's just a little odd right now.

- The seat is very comfortable. Given how much material I removed from the OEM seat, it was a welcome surprise.

- The intake / filter was another compromise of looks vs. function. The bike may have a minor part throttle lean surge and a few WOT runs from mid throttle resulted in a major bog. But this was done about 1/2 mile to a mile before the battery died so the poor response could have just been a lack of voltage.

I can't wait to sort out the electrical gremlins and get this bike back on the road.