76 KZ900 B1 - from crates.

So a bit of progress. Doing curved stays wasn't the simplest, but I'm happy with the results and really would have always wished I went for the curves if I'd done straight ones.

Here are the stays in place in advance of tacking them in place.

One came out about 1/4" shorter than the other, but they were the same measurements in relationship to the various reference points I chose on the frame (and they fit), so I left well enough alone.

Fish-mouthing fun! Dealing with the various planes and angles made for a somewhat challenging (and rewarding) process.

And the fruit of my labors. So far, so good...

RobK wrote:

And the fruit of my labors. So far, so good...

I would say that this picture is worth the effort of bending those tubes. I like that. Guess that the original sidecovers are out? Have you figured out where you'll attach the upper shock mount, and lower linkage mount? I have some pictures of how I did mine if you need them. You're off to a really good start. Keep up the good work.

I was wondering about the oem sidecovers as well. What do you have planned for your sidecovers? There are several frequent fliers here than can show you how they did their monoshock mounts. They are all similar, but none of them are the same
I like how you were able to make a compound curve in those tubes, that would have been difficult with a bender or roller

testarossa wrote:

RobK wrote:

And the fruit of my labors. So far, so good...

I would say that this picture is worth the effort of bending those tubes. I like that. Guess that the original side-covers are out? Have you figured out where you'll attach the upper shock mount, and lower linkage mount? I have some pictures of how I did mine if you need them. You're off to a really good start. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the kind words - I'm happy with the result, too.

And yeah, I like the original side covers, but I wanted this more, so they're going on Ebay, (though I'm holding on to the badges as I'd like to work out a new place for them). I'm not sure yet if I'll leave this new triangle open, or use some sheet metal to make new covers.

I've got a pretty good idea about how to do the lower mounts (and I've been grinding off the broken center stand mounts to make way), and I've been thinking of using 1/4" plate to make a couple of tabs that stick out the required length.

For the upper mount, I'm still working on it. The simple way seems to be more 1/4" plate spanning the cradle rails (like on the Icon Z1), but the geometry of the J-shock from the ZX-6R seems to dictate a upper mount that is further back, so I'm a little worried about having to make the upper tabs pretty long, (and putting a lot of leveraged force on them). The other thought was something from above, like Old Man Rock's, which could be some kind of upside-down tripod, or some kind of trellising. Not the fastest way, but the challenge makes it fun.

I'd love to see how you solved the problem. Are the pics here on KZrider?

porchev914 wrote:

I was wondering about the oem sidecovers as well. What do you have planned for your sidecovers? There are several frequent fliers here than can show you how they did their monoshock mounts. They are all similar, but none of them are the same
I like how you were able to make a compound curve in those tubes, that would have been difficult with a bender or roller

Not sure about the covers - maybe open, maybe sheet metal.

To be honest the curve was easier than expected. My neighbor down the road works in theater design and over a beer I mentioned that I wanted to do a curve, but was unsure how to do it and didn't want to buy a $700 tube bender for two bends. He pretty much told me not to worry about it and just give it a go. "What's the worst that happens? You mangle $15 worth of tubing!"

Then I found a site called metalgeek.com which is where I got the design for jig. There's also a bunch of good stuff like curvature estimators and fish-mouth template generators. Worth a look if you interested.

Here's a link to the section on tube bending...
www.metalgeek.com/archives/2005/05/01/000047.php

When it came time to bend the tubes, I made sure I had a solid footing and then put my whole body into it. Worked first time.

BTW - There is a small tab in between the centerstand mounts (about 1" tall).

Can anyone tell me what it's for? I bought this bike completely disassembled and so not sure what it's function is. My best guess is that it's the upper center stand spring mount, but would like to now for sure before the angle grinder comes out.

Thanks.

Nice job on the tubes. I made a swingarm for a quad a while back using heavy guage tubing. I was going to buy a tubing notcher like you have, but I found I could bang out a birdsmouth in no time using a pneumatic deburr tool. I just traced a mark using a scrap piece of tubing. Use those spiral carbide bits like for engine porting.

You better believe my pics are on KZR. This link will take you to page 2 of my build: kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...mit=20&limitstart=20

That's where it starts. Unfortunately it's all sorta spread out in my thread. If I have time later, I'll put all of the pertinant pictures together, and post them for you. Sounds like your idea is about the same way I did mine. You will probably need to do something like OMR for the upper mount. I was just lucky since the GSXR still had a double cradle frame. The newer bikes tilt the shock further back.

RobK wrote:

BTW - There is a small tab in between the centerstand mounts (about 1" tall).

Can anyone tell me what it's for? I bought this bike completely disassembled and so not sure what it's function is. My best guess is that it's the upper center stand spring mount, but would like to now for sure before the angle grinder comes out.

Thanks.

It's for the center stand spring. You can cut it out. You would have to be real creative to use a center stand with a mono shock setup.