Slight bobber diversion -- quick study in bobber look

I finally got a motorcycle lift and was able to get the wheels off the ground.   I took the front wheel off to remove the chrome covers off the hubs covering the discs.  These are after market and two of the hex bolts were seized and I had to drill the caps off.  Luckily there were two new spare bolts in the spares kit that came with the bike that matched the others to replace the drilled ones.

While I had the front wheel off I removed the chrome "bumper" and then kept going and removed the front fender.  This is first bobber step I've done.  I call this a quick study in bobber look.

What do you think?

Any one notice the photo bomber?

Note: these tires while having good tread are from 2000 and are showing some signs of cracking. Before I go much further, I have to replace the rubber.

Moving Toward Back To Stock

I replaced the after-market chrome and rubber foot boards with the stock rubber ones. This grounded the look of the bike quite a bit.  I also pulled off all the extra chrome bits where I could easily (like the chrome rear brake fluid reservoir cover). What is happening is the bike is becoming lighter and tighter looking.

There's a bunch of chrome bits that can't be removed.  I will powder coat these in the future when moving toward the bobber look.

I did replace the clear turn signal plastic with the stock orange ones. This was a big look change. Plus I pulled the headlight and front turn signal chrome "bills". Fugly.

A few final changes are coming. New post when these are done. Then we'll consider moving toward the custom, bobber modifications.

Update: discovered that the chrome embellishment on the tail-light was a bolt on piece of plastic over the stock lens.  GONE!

Phase 1 -- Quick Remake

I removed the windscreen and bags today.  Plus restored the chrome passenger pegs back to the original black ones.  The chrome pegs sit the passenger's legs higher.  I wanted my wife to have a little more legroom and to eliminate a bit of chrome.

The windscreen came off quickly (using USA sized allen wrench), but I left the bracket in place.  That will require more effort to remove the bracket.

I pulled the bags off and luckily the spare parts I received had the original bolts.  The bag mountings were fashioned with longer bolts and some oversized nuts as spacers.  Very clever mounting.

With the screen and bags off the bike looks less heavy.

I will ride it a bit with this setup.  There is chrome EVERYWHERE.  There was a small plastic chrome cover over a chrome bracket under the windscreen.  That's gone, but much more remains.

Note: my wife is expressing interest in riding with me again, so a pure bobber solo experience may be out of the question.  I think there is still plenty of improvement that can be made on this bike even with passenger arrangement.  Comments?

Bobber Project Baseline -- 2000 Yamaha Road Star 1600

The first post in this blog details my former rig, 2006 Ural Tourist LX sidecar motorcycle.  Original plan was to sell the Ural and purchase a used Yamaha V Star 650.  The V Star 650 has the softtail feature which I felt was a quick and easy start to my goal of building a bobber that looks right.  That was the plan.  Sometimes plans change.

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley" -- Robert Burns

I posted the Ural on Craigslist and few hours later received a call from a nice, older, German gentleman in St. Petersburg area who just happened to have a trade.  A trade that kind of fit my criteria.  A v-twin with softtail.  It was a 2000 Yamaha Road Star 1600.   Close enough.  We traded even.

Here is the Road Star in all its chrome and glory!

The right hand bag is open, filled with spare parts the trader had on hand

It runs nice and has less than 20,000 miles, estimated.  Hard to tell how much as the odo says 9,600, but the title I was handed said 14,500 miles.  So somewhere along the way, the console speedo/odo was replaced.

Note: in Florida if you trade bikes, don't fake a selling price in the transferred title. Just tell the DMV clerk it was an even trade and they don't charge tax, just noting the original (my) bike's title number in the application. Cheap!

Immediate plans:

• Ride it more to get the feel of it (been 7 years since I've been on two wheels)
• Remove the windscreen (hate not having wind in my face here in FL heat)

Next steps:

• Start the de-chroming process by removing chrome covers, bars, etc.
• Remove the bags
• Determine if can recoup some costs by selling the chrome bits to fund the next step
• Figure out what's left and then start the bobber planning

That's it for now.

Comment below.