LITTLE SWEETY

[trikebldr]

Mine was red, too! Did they offer two different fenders for them, because mine came with the same, exact fender as on yours, Tony. Maybe they were the weak part on the bike and somebody made up a stronger fender for them.

Will you be painting the bike, or blasting and powdercoating. (like I need to ask!) Keep this going, with lots of pics! Maybe make up a rack to carry it on the back of your V-XII?

[Lucasind]

Ya know bruce .....I was thinking the same thing as your thought here !
As I was removing this front fender....it sure seemed like a factory front fender install. A guy can usually tell when something has been added to a bike, as things just don't seem right, and there is always the sign of being in a big hurry and incorrect fasteners and such. I don't see that here. but I just don't know the model very well. I contacted a guy about the front fender and he told me that in fact they were the weak point and after a few crashes (which most kids will do) the front fenders were in worse shape than the one I posted here for sale on ebay, and were just removed and discarded. He said that Honda regretted making that piece in plastic and should have opted for a metal one .
As far as the paint goes...I will do that here......but I don't see it getting attached to the XII as my wife says she is gonna learn to ride it after I get it done, she has never operated a clutch before ,so we shall see how this goes !

[trikebldr]

Hey, Tony, put some high-additive oil in that engine to cause the clutch to slip a little bit so she can't hurt the bike. Sort of like the slipper clutches we used in our go-karts!

[Lucasind]

very funny ! I doubt she will ever ride the bike when it's done anyway !
In 42 years ....after she conks the engine out,she usually don't want to try again (even after a lot of encouragement) so I just leave it at that !

Anyway..... been putting in the hours on the restoration . I thought you all might get a kick out of this latest installment to the story ! Well...if you have been following along from the beginning of this thread, ya know that "uncle Bob" passed away, and the bike had sat in the same spot for 30+ years ...waiting for me ! As it turns out, the hollow interior of this "stamped frame" Honda, apparently was the ideal place for a family of MICE to call HOME
They sure were a busy lot....and by the time I decided to walk in the house to get my digital camera,I had thrown in the trash can more than what ya see in the pictures !



You see the battery area hole in the side of the frame,I got this nest out by hand.





I decided to carry the frame out of the shop .and put a hundred PSI of air pressure to the frame holes
and got out even more ! These mice had it pretty good for a long time ...till I went and made them homeless !

[Lucasind]

Friday after work I got the majority of my parts for this resto.project finished up an put "in primer" but then my plans for the weekend were suddenly changed when my son Brad decided that he wanted to ask for my help making his Kawasaki ZRX 1100 look like some of the "tricked out" ones that he see's on-line.
So my project got moved off of my work table ...and put on the back work bench.
Always ready to work on a bike....I agreed to help, and let's get started ! the black rims are to change color to gold and all other related parts and fasteners are getting cleaned and repainted,



Cold .wet day here today , any paint work had to be done inside the heated shop...so the rest of the bikes had to be covered to keep all of the over spray off.

[Lucasind]

I guess I needed a short break from working on MY project ,Helping the young lad out on this project to get this job DONE ...so I can get back to my resto. project before the REAL riding season kicks in !

[cushman eagle]

Those wheels look great .Wouldn't they look great on trikeblders sidecar rig?

[trikebldr]

Wouldn't they look great on trikeblders sidecar rig?

No, no, no, no, no! Tony's wheel is even brighter gold than what I painted my sidecar wheel, and I am preparing to spray a subdued shade over what's on it now. It's either that or completely repaint both wheels on the bike like the one on the sidecar. I prefer Kawasaki's lighter shade of gold! Besides, I ended up with two small runs in my first paint job on the face of the wheel.
But, that is a nice bright shade of gold and will really make that bike stand out with it's green paint!

[Lucasind]

Bruce, I would opt to re-do the one wheel on the side car...as opposed to doing BOTH of the bike's wheels to match IT It sure is a lot of work ! Over Sat. and Sun. ,I think we were about 11 hours into this ,and we havn't even started on the front yet ! I'm sure that I might drive my kid a bit crazy with the length of my "prep before paint" process....but as you know 90 % of good painting results goes into the prep work. I'm kinda glad to see him out in the shop learning to do this kinda work, it makes me crazy the way today's youth waste so much time playing video games on the computer.
This will probably be done by the next weekend, I will post some more pictures of the project as our work progresses.....................................Tony

[trikebldr]

Bruce, I would opt to re-do the one wheel on the side car...as opposed to doing BOTH of the bike's wheels to match IT It sure is a lot of work ! Over Sat. and Sun. ,I think we were about 11 hours into this ,and we havn't even started on the front yet ! I'm sure that I might drive my kid a bit crazy with the length of my "prep before paint" process....but as you know 90 % of good painting results goes into the prep work.

Got that right about the prep work! Looks like your wheel in the pic is painted on all surfaces. Easy-peasy! My sidecar wheel has several natural surfaces, like the flat part of the rim sides, the edges of the spokes, and the faces of the hub. All have to be masked off, then the masking tape carefully trimmed clean along the edges. Both sides of the wheel are like this.
Then, the front wheel from the bike is even more detailed! Spoke edges are natural, along with the rim sides. But, the hardest part would be masking the surfaces that the brake rotors fit into. They are very narrow surfaces at a right angle to each other. I will repaint my sidecar wheel ten times before repainting the bike's front wheel! I have no idea yet what the rear wheel would be like for masking, but I do know it's a bear to get clean enough for painting at all.

So, got any more done on his bike? Kinda anxious to see those bright gold wheels with that bright green paint.

[Lucasind]

Makin' progress !

[Lucasind]

I know what your sayin' there Bruce,about those 1300 rims ! You may remember that I re-did mine last winter,the gold factory painted rims weren't "jellin' with my blacked out bike,so that had to change and that was very time consuming, but with guys like us there isn't much that we won't go thru for our beloved Kawasaki's !

As far as the ZRX 1100 project.... last night (Thurs.) , I had my laptop out in the shop while we were going back and forth about the Knoxville 1300 rig that Triton found, and we were getting a big kick out of the conversation ! (me ,my son Brad, and one of his buddies).

We got the bike 95% done last night, all parts painted and put back on the bike, then REMOVAL of some pieces. brad ordered a stainless steel rear fender "eliminator kit" (against MY input...but what are ya gonna do,it's his bike and he can do what he wants with it ! ) That alteration was very time consuming but got er done, then he ordered some little low profile mirrors to replace the stock ones, the parts provided in the kit were of no help,and I had to make some pieces to get that part completed.they are installed in the handlebar ends as opposed to up high,giving the bike a low and sleek appearance .We had the front rotors painted black,but when we torqued the fasteners down...the tightening caused the paint to stress fracture ...so that led to the process of removing all of the paint and primer,and return the front rotors to the way they were.(gold from the factory)
He has been known to ride the bike on sunny days during the winter, when there is still snow on the ground,and rock salt on the streets ,so the exhaust system was looking pretty bad ,and that had to be re-done.I was out of flat black exhaust paint ,so the pipe got painted with gloss this time. The stock turn signals were also replaced,with some tiny chrome ones. here is where we are with the project as of last night :





You will also notice that the passenger grab bars have been removed (again...his bike ,his look)and left 2 gaping holes in each side of the tail section, so after I got done with my only service call today, I stopped and Lowes and looked around for something to put there and still look cool ! I found that the purchase of 4 bar stool leg bottom ends fit perfect ! of course Brad did not like them being chrome , so he painted them black, and will be installed over the weekend . He is taking this bike to the rally this June, and said he will be entering in all of the "bike games" and WINNING ! .................................Tony

[Lucasind]

So we just finished putting a "glow light" kit on the bike..... current temperature here in the 40's,
Brad got suited up for a ride, put on his new "rooster head" helmet and away he goes !

[trikebldr]

Well, now, that is just backwards! Front caliper is black, rear is gold. Front rotor is gold, rear is black! I do like those gold wheels!

Actually, Tony, he's pretty smart removing those grab bars! Then, SHE has to hold onto him! Have you lost that natural instinct with age?

That bike makes my right arm hurt just looking at it! Oh, to be young again! There was a time when I refused to have a fairing of any kind. Then there was a time I refused anything more than a Vetter fairing. Now I refuse anything less than a sidecar, pulled back bars and a back rest!!! My last bike will probably have a built in pacemaker, oxygen generator and pee-bag in one saddlebag!

[Lucasind]

"Trikebldr" wrote : Well, now, that is just backwards! Front caliper is black, rear is gold. Front rotor is gold, rear is black! I do like those gold wheels!


Yeah yeah ...I know, They were matching for awhile ! The rear was done first (rotor and caliper) As said above,had some issues with the front paint so the front went back to the way it came from the factory.

I wanted it OFF of my air lift, cause I will be doing a "dynojet stage 3" jet kit on the 1100( black) that you see in the background of picture #2 on Sunday morning . that bike is sold but the new owner wants it faster than it already is,

You are correct about the girls being on the bike ! no shortage of takers there !

As far as what type of bike that we liked when we were his age (21) ...you and I were of like minds !
I used to say I would NEVER ride a "old farts' bike with a fairing ...... Now I don't like riding one that don't have a fairing ! ...............................Tony

[cushman eagle]

I thought I was the only one who said I would never ride a bike with a fairing and bags. Of course that was what,like 35 years ago I do occasionally ride the Cushman,does that count?I already have 50 miles on her for the year.

[trikebldr]

Hey, Loren, how about a sidecar for the Cushman?

[Lucasind]

I told Brian (who bought the black ZREX 1100) to be over by 8:30 a.m. to clean his bike while I am doing the carb work, here he's over at 7:15 a.m. and cooking himself some eggs in my kitchen when I came downstairs ! ( I didn't know a free breakfast came with the bike ! )

anyway .... after seeing how nice my son Brad's bike turned out , he asked if I would help him do SOME of the same work to his bike . O.K.let's get started ! We put in a 7;30 to 1:30 work session on the bike and that's it for me ! I thru a roasting chicken in the oven, and hit the ol' lazy boy !
(...but the carbs are done)

[cushman eagle]

Hey, Loren, how about a sidecar for the Cushman?

I have seen pictures of sidecars on Cushman's ,but with a factory rating of 8HP,I don't quite know why.

[trikebldr]

Hey, Loren, how about a sidecar for the Cushman?

I have seen pictures of sidecars on Cushman's ,but with a factory rating of 8HP,I don't quite know why.

Shriners' parades, leisurely summer evening rides around the town, getting groceries, taking the dog to the groomer's, getting the grandkids to behave.

I wouldn't be so worried about the horsepower as much as I would about the braking power!

Tony, be careful or you may get yourself into a small business re-doing one specific bike! Don't get into a rut!