Japan Meets Britain
Yeah I sorta wondered that too when I was doing all this work. What I did add on the back was the Norton upper shock knobs, the checkers on the shocks, and a '59 Club' decal on the back fender (the painted checkers are also on the rear fender). The only other thing I could really do would be a polished alloy swingarm or chain guard, or change the rear shocks to partially exposed springs, but I think I'm teetering on the edge of going too far as it is, so I think I'm really done, aesthetically anyway. However, a chain guard might be possible (or um, a wheelie bar????). As far as removing anything from the front, I suppose the headlight visor could come off, but the pocket watch is actually quite useful, and I quite like the pedestrian slicer and bacon cutters on front. And with all the trials and tribulations to get that external spring front end done, I better like that!
I was thinking of changing the crossed flag decals on the side covers -- same basic thing, but perhaps incorporates either a laurel leaf ring, or the World Champion stripes or something along those lines. Dunno - maybe I should just leave well enough alone! What I have decided is that I'm going to have the cable guide on the fender stay for the speedo cable done properly. That little 'fix' that I did is perfectly fine, but since the cable is held in place that way, it can't slide around. I'm concerned that it could get damaged that way, though it seems fine at the moment. If you have any aesthetic thoughts for the rear, I'm all ears. But, my personal thought is that I've gone as far as I'd like to go with this 'art piece'.
Last edited by Vince Lupo on Fri May 15, 2009 4:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
I just had another look at the bike (the odometer just hit the 17,000 mile mark!) to see about possibly doing a chrome chain guard. I think black is the best way to go at the moment -- I like that contrast of the silver-black-silver-black, and I think that adding chrome down there wouldn't really gain anything, except possibly parting with $ 250.00 for chroming work.
I think after fixing that cable guide on the right fender stay, I'm done. Time to ride..... only things i could think of:
that old indian me and my buddy picked up had a voltage reader on the side cover... maybe something like that would be neat. and the tail light. i saw that guy that took that 50's chevy light and rigged that up. looked great. and complimented the form of the bike much more than the stock. '65 CB77
'66 CB450k0 '93 HD FXR
Okay well that didn't last long. I just sent a chain guard off to the chromer, so that should be on in about two weeks. I have such incredible self control, don't I?
The only kind of tail light that I like - besides the one that's on there - is the kind that you'd normally see on a Vincent...you know, the ones that say STOP. Don't know about that though - that seems to be more 1950's. The only other thing I'd be looking into right now would be one of those CYB steering dampers, but the damper and the replacement upper engine mount bolt are not cheap, so I don't know if that would be worth it or not. But, remember that incredible self control, eh?!
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