TCU Biker Build Off 09 - Santee GSXR

[chopaweeza]

Oi . That time of the year again . This time I'm going to be finishing off a project I started back in 07' but haven't had the time to finish.

It's an 88' GSXR750 bunch of parts . A 77' Santee swingarm frame originally housing a CB750 . And a bunch of other stuff .

The frame came from Cromag as part of a bunch of CB750 parts that Neo Dutch & I bought. Being a twisted bastard I straight away saw the logic in dumping the dead Honda engine and re-working the frame to take some more modern gear. Here is what it looked like back then.


After flogging off the bit's I didn't want I was left with a bare frame . Under the bog I found that the neck had cracked nearly all the way to the top so I jigged the frame , had a new neck made and welded it in. The swingarm out of the donor Slingshot was a close fit so I cut out the swingarm pivots , made up new one's and welded those in. The mono-shock set up took quite a few attempts to get right but in the end I was able to sort that out as well .

Here's a mock up picture.


In the mock up you can see roughly what I want to do with it . Need to widen the rear guard but you get the idea . Got a set of trick rear sets , new Vance & Hines muffler and a new DNA headlight cheap at the Deus Swapmeet . The foot controls match the lines of the frame perfectly so I'll be flipping them around and mounting them as forwards . They were brand new and were sold off cheap because a 50c bolt was bent . The muffler had also never been on a bike but it had some peeling chrome on the alloy end tip so I bead blasted it off and it looks great . A bloke picked my brains on modifying his frame so I was able to get the headlight for only $50. Rich folks have the nicest junk. Add to the mix I have a heavily modifed Kawasaki Mean Streak tank that I did awhile back , an Acewell 2853 , an ABM top yolk and a bunch of other stuff I'm pretty much good to go.

Start on it on Friday and the contest runs through to the end of April . Alot of hard work to do but nothing beyond me. Neo Dutch has already designed the paintwork and like all mad genius types has only given teasing hints as to what it will be . Glossop Street Auto Electrics are doing the sparks . The rest is being done by me . All good fun eh.

[chopaweeza]

Watch all the action and check out the competition here .

http://www.thechopperunderground.com...p?showforum=78

[TurboKat]

The side on shot looks pretty mean, long & low is a good look for a chop.
Dunno about the King & Queen seat though... if it was mine I'd stick the seat as low & as far back as possible on the frame & mount the rear guard on the swingarm (single seat only obviously)
I like this look.

[TurboKat]

[TurboKat]

I'll be keeping an eye on that link, good luck with the build mate, do us proud eh? [8D]

[evad]

Good luck Chop, knock em dead

[chopaweeza]

Well, it's January 1st . The build has started . While I really did the lower style of the chop you've pictured TK I'm going to stick with this frame rather then build another from scratch. Probably next time though.

While every other bastard in the build is still pissed or asleep I'm up and into it. First thing I did was to re-check the frame for alignment . When I first got this frame is was twisted , cracked and damaged so there were repairs that were needed . The frame that went through tmy Jig after I had re-necked this one showed a mis-alignment in the headstock as a result of sag in the table the Jig was mounted to . So first order of business this morning was to check this one . Sure enough , this headtstock also shows mis-alignment (1.8 degrees). Not as much as the picture would suggest but enough that after I have another beer the grinder comes out and the neck comes off. Gives me a chance to adjust the rake angle just alittle to give what I hope is a slightly better look. Learn the lessons of the Blackjack - re-check everything and don't be satisfied with near enough. My neighbours are really going to hate my guts with all the cutting , grinding & welding today but fuck 'em . I'm in this to win and second place is not an option.

[Gix11]

Yea, I'll watch this one as well.

[zx12argh]

Good luck chop! This should be good.

[TurboKat]

Jeez the old XS 650 is a popular unit for choppage eh? Quite a few blokes going with them as a base.
The dude building the frame with the lower rear rails only is gunna be in trouble fur shur [V]
It's a bummer with the guys who don't post their pics in the thread, I can't see them coz I'm not a member.

Oldskool has a rigid chop frame (I think he said it was from Scotland of all places) with GSXR engine mounts & he's got a shed full of misc motorcycle parts too. I'm gunna talk him into entering next years BBO. []

[chopaweeza]

Only took a few hours to cut the neck off and get it all sorted . No biggy. Did abit so far . Have the bars mostly done and only have to make the center piece to mount the Acewell speedo for them to be ready for paint . Made up a mount for the front of the tank out of D section flat bar and part of a 28' Ford steering arm . It's now all trimmed and will get tacked on when I get home. No one will see it but the devil is in the details and I like it. Here's some in progress piccys . The bars now have 7/8ths end pieces(but still the same overall width) , the tank mount is trimmed & ready to go and the new steering angle has tightened the bike right up . All good so far .

[BANDITROD]

shit wayne you dont fuck around do ya mate looks the goods so far mate i will watching and waitng for updates

[chopaweeza]

Got the bars finished and the Acewell 2753 fitted . Bloody comfy and now I have orders for several others as a result. Mounted the tank . Rather then buy a 9" fatbob rear guard off Ebay I just widened one I had in stock . Need to clean it up , weld in some supports and bog it up to be right . 5 competitors are out now. 1 dropped out and 4 were eliminated for failing the minimum requirements . Some bloody nice work(and some shockers too) but it's all good and with 15 weeks left I intend to kick arse .

[chopaweeza]

Rear end mostly sorted . Standard Fatbob rear guard widened twice to get the size exact. Shitloads cheaper then buying an off the shelf 10" wide rear thats for sure .Start on mounting the engine soon.

[Hagarr]

Excellent work Choppa.

I'm speechless at your talent!!

keep it goin'

[pt]

Mate you have amazing vision, drive and skills. I woulda fucked something up royally already but you just keep churning out ace stuff right from the word go. i hope you wipe the floor and win this one!

[chopaweeza]

I'm just a bloke much like most of you lot . Mostly self taught and the pile of mistakes I've learned from is taken to the tip frequently . Very little of what I do is out of the range of most of the guys on this board believe it or don't. I taught myself to weld , taught myself sheet metal , Frame building/modifying I learned from reading the stuff a top bloke called Blackjack writes and pretty much everything else is self taught too . Every bike I make , every part I make and every new idea I make metal improves my skill . None of that is beyond most of the guys here . Just need a passion for what you do , a bit of pride in your work and the belief that one day your parts will be as good as those off the shelf.

The trick to keeping momentum is a comprehensive job sheet . I break everything needed to be done on the bike down into large jobs and then break those down into sub-assemblies(ie. 4-10 or so small jobs) . Each 20-60 minute small job I do instead of watching a re-run on the box knocks another off the sheet . Do say half a dozen small jobs and thats the struts done . Do another 14 and the mono-shock modification to the frame is done and so forth . Not counting the work I did before the BBO I've knocked off 33 small jobs on the sheet and 4 major jobs in 21 days . Anyone can do it really .

[CBRRRT]

Top marks to you mate, I'm not into the chopper thing myself, but I do admire the work that goes into it, and like you I have no formal training just the will to have a fuckin good crack at it.

I can normally see in my head what it is going to look like before I start to build something, and like you I dont look at a job as a whole and think fuck me thats a lot of work.

I devide the jobs up and they get smaller.

Looking forward to the finished product mate.

Keep up the good work.

[Fight_fan]

Awesome Wayne! Keep up that effort n u'l wipe the floor with the competition mate!

[chopaweeza]

Test mounted the engine. Am happy . Has to come back 20-30mm and thats a job for tomorrow as is starting on the rest of the engine mounts All to plan .