1974 Commando front fairing build, small parts for the Bornfree Show Freebird.

There may have to be some adjustments of the gauges, as they are a bit high for the fairing, and the windshield looks better a little lower.

Now that the alloy seat pan and front fairing completed, is going to be the front fender made of the same alloy. The new Lucas wire harness has been fitted to the front portion of the frame to test the fit and learn how the wires are routed.

With fabrication almost done, planning the finishes gets a little more serious. The owner of the bike wants a bumblebee scheme: yellow, black, and red accents.

The front end is looking a little tighter!

The wire form for the fairing was made from 3/16” rod and 16 gauge sheet.

The wire form was painted and then the aluminum skin was wrapped along the edges to complete the basic shape.

Still have to work on the muffler and exhaust pipe mounts.

Another brass hardware piece for the 1957 Triumph “Freebird” being built for The Bornfree Show #11. A bracket to secure it will need to be made.

Picked because of it’s wear, a tiny bit of cadmium plating can be seen here and there.

Honda CB50, Z50 bikes, Commando fairing build, Elvi rides, Amal carb swap time.

Got new fenders, tires, tubes, and alloy rims for Blaine’s 1971 Honda Z50. These tires are a little taller than the originals. We got them on in his shop up in Oklahoma over the holiday. This little guy is ready to rip!

Working on a front fairing for the 1974 Norton Commando cafe build. The skin is .050 aluminum, with a 3/16”steel wire frame. My process is somewhat backwards in that I usually start shaping the skin first and work on the wireframe after. This is the same basic technique I used on “The 7” bike fairing.

The wire form for the fairing is being worked out here. There is a little dance you have to do between the gauges, headlight, forks, bars, and controls…and it should look good too, by the way.

The visor temporarily in place to check the fit.

Busy little Elvi prepare their bikes for the Fort Worth Parade of Lights. It was pretty cold by the end of the night. The front two bikes in the center of the picture are bikes I built, along with the Bat Bike on the front right, and the Hater bike on the far left.Our bikes and suits were lit with LED’s.

An Amal monoblock carb barrel from the 1967 Bonneville. The deep pitting convinced me it was time for a set of Amal 930’s. Big D Cycles set me up with some screw plates for the filters, new carbs and cables. More to come on that.

Noticed the drooping left turn signal too late. So much fun to ride, but the small displacement means you have to push the bike pretty hard to keep up with traffic.

Big Bend Triumphs, finishing the 1948 BSA WM-20, and the "Hater" bike.

My buddy Jake Hayhurst brought “Frank” (short for Frankenstein,) a 1971 Bonneville frame with a 1973 750cc engine. Frank and Goldie seen here in front of Jake’s tent, just hanging and dreaming about the desert.

Our group of eight minus one (I was behind the camera.) These guys were awesome to ride and hang with, and are now my brothers. Our group was made up of three Ducati Scramblers, two modern Triumph Bonnies, a lone Kawasaki 250, and two 1971 Triumphs. Big Bend is an almost surreal environ, with a stark beauty that is hard to forget.

Goldie’s exhaust bracket with a stress crack and the bush-fix that allowed me to keep riding after the pipe completely fell off while riding. Just prior to this we were running somewhere North of 80MPH. Certainly glad it didn’t happen then!

Jake’s brother, Daniel and Paul Risse up the side of a mountain, and our bikes seen as small dots on the roadside below. The Rio Grande river can be seen on the left, with Mexico on the other side.

On a particularly deep sand and gravel wash, where riding was akin to being on ice. That’s Jake on Frank, ready to ride.

Some changes on the 1999 Honda Z-50 “Hater” bike since the July post. A heavy-duty manual clutch and Takegawa hydraulic clutch actuator, a freshly repainted tank with the underside reformed to accommodate the Mikuni VM26 carb, and fresh graphics for the whole bike were some of the changes.

A larger 17 tooth counter sprocket, new Renthal Gold MX chain and chain roller, alloy footpegs, new folding shifter, and a larger air filter rounded out the rest of the changes.

The 1948 BSA WM-20 came back to the shop briefly to find a loose tail light wire. While it was here again, a custom snap-on air filter was made.

The filter was made from two different sizes of brass mesh and a brass strip making the bezel. An o-ring inside keeps it quite snug on the velocity stack.

Custom tail light and license plate bracket, rear grab bar, kickstand lever, sorted electrics, new carb, gas leaks fixed, and an engine revival, and she is ready for riding again.