Kawasaki - Chopping Begins

I can honestly now claim to be building my first "chopper." I whacked off the tail section and a bunch of brackets from the frame of the Bushmaster. All told, I removed 7 pounds off a 23 pound frame. Obviously I'll be building back up that rear section with new metal, but it will be simplified and triangulated, with different upper rear shock mounts.

C'

Kawasaki Teardown

I got busy this evening, tearing down the Bushmaster:

Engine out, seat off, lots of dead weight removed. In this shot, I've got it hunkered down on its front and rear suspension to try and get a ride height I plan on running:

Most of the rear subframe is going to be replaced:

Headband? Check. Wife beater? Check. Bulging farmer's tan? Check.

If I have time for lunch tomorrow, I might give it a good douche off.

C'

I'm a Winner!

A few months ago, my friend Ralph over at Chalopy blog ran a contest, for the best little cc Hondas. I entered a couple of my bikes, and would you believe Salty (my C110 project) won 2nd place. Proof here:

http://chalopy.blogspot.com/2011/09/verdict.html

My prize was this:

That's right, a LP of "The Big Sounds of the Drags!" He also included a Jan and Dean LP, because I'm double awesome.

Thanks Ralph!

Mastering the Bush

As the Bridgestone BS-7 project is winding down, I can't help but turn my attention to another project bike. I have several to choose from, but I want something different from the usual Honda C100 based bike, or another cafe/racer bike. So how about a Kawasaki?

I've had this 1969 Kawasaki G3TR Bushmaster for quite a while. In fact, this photo was taken at our old townhouse, so it must have been approaching five years now. I bought it off a gentleman in SanFran, for something paltry like $100. As you can see, it needs lots of work:

I've been wanting to do something along the lines of a "Brat Style" build. Which is a no-frills 1970s hot rod sort of thing. Biggish tires, lowered a bunch, more relaxed riding position. My first quick concept sketch is this:

Chop the frame a bit, lower it, new seat, move the tank back a little, biggish tires, and try to keep it as clean as possible. I also have a vision of a totally righteous 1970s style fuel tank art, complete with a naked lady and a dragon. Maybe a naked lady riding a dragon. Mr A has agreed to help me with that, so it should be awesome.

C'

Bridgestone BS-7: More Shots

Just a few shots of the BS7. This time with a smaller side panel, and a little badge. This was the original badge from the front headlight housing, and it fits on my custom built housing.

Badge:

Front view:

Bridgestone BS-7: Front Fender and Side Cover

I got a bit of work done this morning on the Bridgestone. Actually, the front fender has been a multiple day process, as I was having a hard time finding a fender that would work. As it happens, I had a spare Yamaha fender in the spares pile. It was a full fender style, but was heavily mangled. So I chopped it up, then made a mounting bracket for it out of aluminum. It got paint this morning.

Front fender mounted, with a nice little front brake cable guide attached to it:

Speaking of cables, I made up a front brake cable, throttle cable, and a clutch cable from spares. I cut everything to length, then soldered on new end pieces. Everything routes nicely around the new headlight fairing. Oh yeah, I made a headlight fairing! It is a very thin piece of aluminum from a spot light shield. I managed to cut and shape it into something decent looking. It uses a small Honda C100 headlight:

On the other side of the bike, I made up a simple side cover that covers up the battery. It also has a mount for the on/off ignition switch. I currently have it in a lightly polished aluminum. It might look better red. I'm not sure yet:

Another view of the front fender, headlight housing, and side cover:

C'

Homebrew: Summerfest

I don't actually have the recipe handy, but I'll post it up when I find it.  This was just a simple summerfest type recipe, using a pale extract, 1# of munich, and some magnum and cascade hops.  It turned out pretty good.  Not very clear, but it does have a nice malty taste and a light finish.

edit: recipe below

Summer Ale
Batch 2.30 gal
Gravity 1.064 OG
Estimated FG 1.016 FG
Recipe Bitterness 36 IBU
Alcohol by Volume 6.2%
Recipe Color 11° SRM
Alcohol by Weight 4.9%

Ingredients
Quantity Grain Type Use
3.40 lb Briess LME - Golden Light Extract Extract
1.00 lb Munich (US) Grain Mashed

Quantity Hop Type Time
0.25 oz Magnum Whole 40 minutes
0.50 oz Cascade Whole 20 minutes
0.50 oz Crystal Whole 5 minutes

Quantity Misc Notes
0.25 unit Generic Other 1/4 oz of grains of paradise, crushed and
put in boil. also transferred to primary
0.75 unit Irish Moss Fining 3/4 tsp
0.50 unit Safale US-05 Dry Ale Yeast Yeast Temperature Range: 59°-75° F 11.5 GRAMS

Recipe Notes
Malty summer fest style beer. Light color, but with some rich munich malts
Transferring from primary to secondary at 10-days, will dry hop with 1/4oz. of crystal hops for one week.

C'

Bridgestone BS-7: Exhaust Finished

I got out this morning, before it got hot, and worked on the exhaust. I wrapped it with exhaust wrap, then built a little aluminum heat shield. Nothing too exciting, but i fun to shape the heat shield out of some scrap aluminum sheet.

I also fit a new carburetor Thursday evening, as the original was acting goofy after I cleaned it out. I had a spare 20mm Keihin carb, but it is a bit bigger in overall outside dimensions compared to the stock 15mm that came on the bike. I built a new intake manifold that was just a tick shorter, and angled up about 5-degrees. This allowed the carb body to clear the frame on top, and the engine case on bottom.

I'll likely see if I can kick it over tomorrow morning.

C'

The Great Octoberfest Recap

After a long weekend of Octoberfest sampling, here are my ratings, from left to right:

A note about the scale. (1) doesn't mean pure crap. It means it is barely an Octoberfest. In this case, all were good beers. Most just massively better than others.

Hacker-Pschorr - (10) excellent aroma, flavor, mouthfeel

Paulaner - (8) great flavor, nice and smooth

Holbrau - (8) massive flavor, less smooth, almost a bit harsh

Ayinger - (7) very well balanced, good flavor

Spaten - (6) good flavor, well balanced, just a tad bland in comparison to above

Sam Adams (3) just bland overall

Spaten Oktoberfest

12 oz.

5.9% abv

A nice Octoberfest. Very smooth and flavorful, but more on the smooth side. Just a hint of "green bottle beer" syndrome too, with a light funk on the aroma. Loads better than the Sam Adams, but rating less than the others I've tried. A good solid 6.

C'

Bridgestone BS-7: Exhaust Options

A couple options for the exhaust on the BS-7.

The stock setup, with the original chrome downpipe and muffler. It weighs 9 pounds, plus a pound for the rather robust mounting bracket, and is very much built for low-end performance. It also makes it harder to package the rear brake lever and footpeg.

Something I cobbled together over the weekend. It uses an old S90 muffler as the basis, cut into pieces and welded back up into the desired shape. It is built to give peak power a bit higher up (6,000rpm) in the range. It comes in at 4 pounds, and mounts to an existing hole in the frame. I plan on wrapping it in exhaust wrap, and building a small heat shield to keep my right leg from getting burned.

I prefer the high pipe, as it will make more power, and gives more clearance.

Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen

16.9 oz.

no abv given

Yes, another Octoberfest. This time from Ayinger, which happens to be located in Aying, Germany. This is the complete opposite of the last offering, as it is exceptionally smooth throughout. Not as strong as some offerings, but it just stays solid from aroma to aftertaste. A good solid 6-7 on the taste scale, without a hint of roughness.

C'

Holbrau Oktoberfest

11.2 oz.

no abv given

Another Octoberfest to sample. And like the Hacker-Pschorr below, this one has tons of flavor and aroma. It is almost too strong in the middle, with huge amounts of malt and more alcohol warmth than the others. While it is stronger, I think the Hacker-Pschorr is better balanced and smoother. Still extremely good though.

C'