Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner put it all back together, different but the same

Went pretty much the whole summer without a bike, many of you may remember I got rear-ended near the end of June. Bike was considered totalled by the insurance company and nearly all of the damage was strictly cosmetic. I did shear off the fork stop on the lower yoke and went through an eight week period of waiting for that little gem to come in. Lots of negotiation with the insurance company to keep it but still get enough money to fix it and here's what I ended up with.

New rear fender, wanted to change up the tail light but that triangular indent was limiting. I ended up cutting that section out and welding in a new piece (donor metal came from the top section of the old fender, least it had the proper curve already). Installed a '39 Ford style rear tail light. It's all LED and bright as he11, flashes brightly when you hit the brake, hoping this draws the attention of all the multi-taskers around here. Got rid of the rear pumpkins and installed lazer-led's on the plate...again blindingly bright for no bigger than what they are.... Finally, lit the plate up with an LED strip, bright white lights and you can see the tag from blocks away.

Had to put a new tank on it as well and since I was replacing tins I went ahead and got a new front fender as well. It's a six inch wide Jesse James Roller fender...came in raw steel, so since I had to paint both fenders and tank I ended up going with SEM's Hot Rod Black. It's not quite a flat black, more of a satin... or as noted by a friend, "Ooooh, love that greasy black paint!"
Finally, since I had to replace a couple of fork shrouds and the levers I replaced them with chrome ones I scored off ebay for dirt cheap.... all that shiny up front had me strip the lower forks and polish those out. Liked the idea of no pumpkins in the rear so put a set of chrome LED bullets on the front end. They mount to a two-piece mini light bar type of set up that uses the headlight mounting bolt... kinda slick.

So anyway.... here it is, few more pics in my album that shows the mods in a little more details.


Rest the pics here.....

looks good, not get rid of them saddle bags... If you cant put it in your pocket, you dont need it!!!!!

looks good!!!! like what you done to rear mudguard and front looks good as well

Very nice looking machine and know you are glad to have her back together once again.... Watch for the cagers approaching from the rear and keep it safe.

Looking good Steve!

very nice.

Good to see you all back together,
now I hope to see you in GA 08.

A beauty for sure. Well done!
I also like the hot-rod black you used.
How did you strip and polish the lower forks?

Lookin good bro! LOVE the paint color... That come in a rattle can?

Greasy black. Perfect!

lookin good

Frank

Thanks everybody... indeed Pete, Georgia for sure!

Benny, SEM makes a similiar paint called Trim Black that does indeed come in a rattle can, can't vouch for it as far as durability or anything. These guys used it, yes the rattle cans to paint the hood of this car... had to be a Fairlane! My first car and even the right year.


The stuff I used is a single stage (no clear needed) two part urethane. Stuff is tough as nails... had a little mishap when I was painting, air hose coupler blew apart and basement full of sawdust in all the nooks and crannies. Sanded it all out the next day to shoot another coat on it, I have never sanded anything so hard in my life, less than 12 hours later and I thought I was gonna have to take a grinder to it.


Oh, and Thanassis, I just used some stuff made by Bix called Tuff Job stipper. Takes powdercoat off in a blink of an eye, don't have to do anything more than hit it with a garden hose. I didn't go crazy on the fork tubes, no sanding or anything, just took them to a buffing wheel with a little bit of rubbing compound.

New personalized plate: OILSLIK or OILSLK if you only get 6 letters.

Sweet looking ride, nice job, thanks for posting,

I dig it! especially the paint and most especially the rear bags!

i can't say much that others haven't... definately diggin it bro.

Nicely done..the twisted arms for the front sigs add a nice mini sparkle...

Steve, wow buddy! what a great job. I can't wait to see it in person. You really do have a eye for detail. I am glad to see you are road bound again. Have you physically totally recovered from the wreck? Good to hear from ya buddy!!!....ride safe...Gordon

Very very nice.....



could you post details of where you got the led's for the rear light

Cheers

Steve

Man, i really like the look of that car. More info on that please. One Tuff looking auto..

Nice work. Love the flamed rear peg holders.
I see IL is also the land of large MC plates.

Excellent Steve. Glad she still looks pretty and runs well. Glad to hear you out and about too. Hope all is well with you and the little woman. Be good Brother!

Nice Job!

mike

Al ,

maryland is the only state that still uses the large
plate for motorcycles.
all others have gone to the standard small plate.

Dayumn that looks good with the white walls and old school bags. That paint brings it all together. Nice job Steve.

Where does one get that SEM stuff?

About the stripper... Did you use that on the fork tubes? Or other stuff?

FAR out! It's sick!

Is nice...very nice..

Bike looks great. Photos are awesome too!

Soren

Thanks again everybody for all the compliments. As you would imagine, no joy in having my bike wrecked. It was nice though putting it back together a little more personalized this time. Few more mods planned once the snow sets in.


Gordy, good to hear from you too bro!... Why does Georgia have to be so far away, in more ways than one. Physically, yeah I'm fine, all the wreck related probs have run their course and now I am back to being my normal broken self. (Replied to your PM, you got that, right?)

Steve, I assume you mean the tail light, yes? I got it at Shiney Hiney . Really a nice light, chromed stainless and well sealed. No visible fasteners, it's exceptionally bright as well.

Ade, can't tell you much about the car bro. Got that pic off of Popular Hotrodding's site as an example for Benny on what the SEM paint in a rattle can could do. Caught my eye for sure as it's the same year and model of my first car, mine was identical to that but gold instead of blue. A tuff looking car indeed!

Benny, you can get the SEM paint directly off their website as well as several other online retailers. I happened to pick up the quart kit of Hot Rod black at a local custom bike shop. I have used alot of 2K urethanes in the past but this stuff is definitely some of the best. I've heard alot of good about their paints available in the rattle cans as well. I'd use it again for sure.
The Tuff Job stipper from Bix I started using years ago to strip some difficult finishes from furniture. It worked so well I tried it on powdercoat and sure enough it takes it off as if it were no more than kid's fingerpaints. Used it to strip the fork tubes, peg hangers and sprocket cover. It's nasty stuff, wear gloves and good ventilation, I'm sure I am lacking a few brain cells from it's stripping goodness, hehehe.

That is friggin' awesome. Glad she is back up and running.

Beautiful Steve, just beautiful. And thanks for the powdercoat stripper, I'll be picking some of that up soon.

Thanks for all the great info!! I have a solid two coats of primer on my headlight bucket now, but I think some greasy black will top it off nice And on to the forks!!

Great looking bike dude. I really like the taillight, and the front fender. The paint is also sweet, as you may have been told once or twice. I also like your seat, is that a cover over the stock seat or a completely different seat? Hope to see you around chitown sometime!

Hey Scott, yeah you would think that we would have crossed paths by now. Maybe we did, was awhile back but I caught a glimpse of a black America turning off Ashland to head west on Elston. Never got a chance to catch up with it though, don't see many of the America/Speedmasters around, lots of Bonnies though.
The seat.... it's the stock seat. I shaved and shaped the foam on it then had it recovered with bison and stingray hides. Guy by the name of Tom up in Milwaukee did it, sorry the company name escapes me, Back in the Saddle perhaps. He did a really nice job on it and was extremely reasonable price wise in comparison to the other places I checked in with.
Doing the Toys for Tots parade this year? Less than a month to go, perhaps we can hook up there with some of the other locals.

Yeah that may have been me, I work by ashland and armitage. Was there a big fat guy riding it? Never done TFT before, some friends and I were thinking about going this year though, we'll have to set something up. weather permitting of course.

Nice job on the bike!

Looking thru your gallery and seen what looked like a '74 T100r in your 'Stable' photo? Nice

Hey man, your bike is beautiful! I love the satin black and the white walls. I am not a bagger kinda guy, but you nailed it with your bike and I really like! NICE JOB!

Thanks Jeff, not sure if it falls into the bagger category but gotta have someplace for the tools and stops at the liquor store, er uh, grocery store.

Yeah Kevin, is an old Daytona. If you go by the VIN number is was made in September which I would have thought to make it a '74, the last and final year for the bike but it always been titled and registered as a '73. Just sold it, guy came and picked it up on Saturday. Had a moment of separation anxiety there, hated to see it go but it was just sitting there wasting away. Went to a good home though, guy that bought it restores them to ride and show.


Oh and Scott, not sure about the "big fat guy" thing bro, was too busy checkin out the bike, is possible the rider might have been a little big boned, hehehehe.