1974 Commando alloy front fender, another Z50 leaving the shop.

Along the way in the process, it slowly emerges with each round of pounding and smoothing.

Made from a single piece of .050 aluminum sheet like the fairing, a lot of shrinking and stretching was done to get it here. The pounding was done on a shot bag with wood and plastic hammers,, with planishing over pieces of bowling pins and steel mandrels.

Still need to work out the mounts for the left side of the fender.

Where it all starts with a thin flat aluminum sheet.

Thank you Jet Tools! The three-way shear/roller/brake tool along with the shrinker and English wheel made this possible. The entire process took about one full day.. Because of the deep domes of the fairing, the quick-release handle was heated and bent in to get it a little more out of the way..

The Jet tools shrinker was another tool instrumental in getting the fender, seat and fairing done. Because of the deep jaws, it can reach further across the piece you are working.

Some of the low-tech homebrew tools used in the aluminum pounding. Bowling pins are pretty easy to find and their hard oak composition makes them great tor pounding.

This is yet another 1971 Z50A getting a 88cc bore kit and race head. This was a survivor that I repainted the tank along with some engine and other restoration work. It is getting the same package of mods as Blaine’s Z50 and will be going to his buddy Kevin. They will have a pair of near-identical twins.

Here is the finished product with a fresh seat cover added to the engine work.

I love these little ones. Candy colors and chrome always gets me.

Here the Honda Trail Bikes bore kit is partially installed along with a new timing chain, high volume oil pump, new seals, and hardware, including the case screws.

Non motorcycle stuff: This is a German silver script made for a Morales guitar. The guitars were a knock-off of the Mosrite Ventures guitar named after a popular wrestler in 1960’s Japan. I was asked to make the lower script to replace the missing two letters.

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.