Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner more speedmaster work

Hey every one
thought I would post a progress update on my “free time eating machine”.

I'm a sucker for skulls - where did you get the battery cover skull?

If I'm not mistaken he made it.
I like the seat man way cool.

I think the tire looks fatter because he bobbed the fender.Looks like an 880 Marathon to me.

looks good, nice job

Frank

Sweet bike dude, love the artwork on the seat.

Nice pics. What kind of camera? I'm in the market.

There was a guy on Ebay selling recon. Fujis 6 MP with photo printer and case. I think she paid around $100 but you know how Ebay goes,it depends who bids. We got 2 one for her and 1 for our daughter.

Nice job on the bike. Time to get rid of those pumpkins up front I guess.

I'm not a big fan of the stripped down, bobbed, blacked out speedmaster look but in this case I'll make an exception. Wow, love that bike!

goofslapper, all I can say is wow! It looks great!

Maybe you could try to get a set of '07 Speedy wheels.

Soren

pedalmasher - I sculpted the skull myself and then cast it. The rear tire is stock just shot with a 28mm lens, I like to pretend my rear wheel is fat:)

The_Dog33 – thanks, the seat was a long learning process for me but was worth the time.

FriarJohn – I am shooting with a Nikon D70 with various lenses

SpeedyKiwi – I hate the lollypops or pumpkins as you called them. I don’t have much cash and was considering just taking them off. Not sure how much of a safety concern front signals are.


Thank you everyone for taking the time to offer some nice compliments.

Matt:

Great work, and great website!!

AHHHH! Custom Knee pads! Why didn't I think of that!!!! God, I can't believe I was thinking of BUYING some. duh.
Please inform.....what type of glue to keep them on????
Thanks,
Tali

talishar – my new bike motto “why buy what I can make”. Leather is pretty porous so you could probably use various different things to stick it. This is untested but I am using 1 min epoxy from the automotive store (make sure you wear gloves if you use the stuff!), seams to be holding solid. Some sites recommended something called automotive goo. This was not ideal for me because that stuff takes 12 hours to set and frankly I don’t have that kind of time to stand around and hold it to my tank

Hey Matt, can one cold cast a chrome look or can these cold castings be chromed? How hard is the finished material? Can it be worked with a dremel?

The resin I cast with is very durable it has a very small amount of flex in it which is a good thing for vibration. When cold cast with a metal, say brass, it is almost just like brass. Almost being the key word. I would never use a cold cast part for something structural like risers or a kickstand. Cold cast is also not as heat resistant so you could not cast something for your exhaust, other then those rules all else is fair game.

I have a buddy who does spectra chroming (also powder coating, polishing and fabrication). This is the same type of process that is used on the dash that ships with the Speedmaster. He can chrome anything I cast. A translucent coat at the end can also be added to make the chrome a color, black chrome, gold chrome, custom color chrome, etc. Like the dash on the triumph this finish is very tough.

Very cool and thank you for the info. I have a project that I have been working on in 1/4" aluminum. Due to the intricacies of the design, it is proving to be a daunting task. This cold casting process is looking like it might just be the ticket. I plan to now carve my design in a hardwood and use that to create two plaster molds which I could then cold cast into.

Where in Florida are you? Perhaps I could then send my finished parts to your friend for chroming?

btw, the pieces would not be either strutural or near any heat sources.....

NP

You could certainly cast what you have done so far in resin and then continue to work it using a Dremal. If you are going to use plaster for your casting material just make sure to watch your undercuts.

I live in the Orlando area and would be happy to give you the contact to my buddy if you want to chrome your finished piece.

Undercuts? Is that where something would stick up in the cast, like a ridge? The design is definitely 3D with hills and valleys.

Nice work.

No phil he means where the upper part would be over hanging a lower area causeing a problem getting it out a rigid mold. He uses a flexible mold to cast in not plaster but a silicone rubber able to be flexed out of such areas.

excellent looking bike

I love the brown leather..

Bonny, Dog is correct, you want to make sure when making a plaster mold or “hard mold’ that you don’t inadvertently lock your mold to your sculpture.

I will post some chrome pics soon

Thank you again for the compliments.

Matt,
Thanks to your inspiration I will make custom knee pads. I also want to make a custom clutch cover insert (shiney part that says Triumph on the left side). Once again, I just need 36 hrs in a day to complete my mental list of goodies.
"Make not buy" is a wonderful philosophy. It's a big help when you find yourself scheduling for a $350 tattoo. (I walked out of the shop thinking- there goes a list of goodies for Speedmonster, what am I doing!!!)
Tali

I would like to see pix when you do the knee pads. I too have been thinking about a custom primary cover insert. Maybe a stainless spider web. Or a cold cast skull.(thanx goofslapper)

Sweet ride. I love the flat black on the tank and the brown knee pads. Are they leather too?

It makes me feel good to know that I am inspiring you all.
The knee pads are leather; make sure you treat both sides before you glue them on. I thought about tooling them but then decided against it, if I have to replace one it will be easier on me that way.

Can’t wait to see what you do Dog

What are the pipes?

Brent just came out with this. Looks like a custom sprocket cover could be pretty simple using something carved out of flat stock and the correct spacers/bolts. Opens up a lot of possabilities.

I've been planning on doing something like that ever since I saw the lexan sprocket cover in the Triumph Sixty8 line. It's going to be my first project for the waterjet guys in Great Falls. I just haven't settled on a design yet.

I almost took a job at a place with a waterjet

That would be so cool. Think of all the stuff you could make. Talk about fringe benefits.

I went to Brent's Thruxton site and that sprocket cover looks very tough/cool mounted on the bike. I like that the circle lines up over the nut. Still, I envision quite a different design for my bike.

Just posted some new pictures of my speedy lowered and bobbed in my gallery. I'm not sure how to post them in the forums

Here's your pics Shawn. Hope you don't mind Matt?

guitarted – pipes are adapted from some shortys, end segment is custom fabricated and then painted with heat paint

why are skulls cool? I have no idea they just are, I have to refrain from going overboard other wise you all would be saying “that skull looks really cool with the motorcycle on it”.

Goblin – nice job on the bike looks really nice, would you mind sharing some info on the parts you used to lower the front and back?

I used Progressive 412-4254 rear shocks and Progressive fork lowering kit 10-1564 The front had an option of either 1" or 2" drop I went with 2". The only problem is that I may have to make a new kick stand as the stock is a little long but as long as I park it level and turn the bars to the left it's ok.