Hellraiser under the weather, Blitz under the cover

This has not been the best week in my calendar year. I have been pretty much in bad shape over the past couple of days. The weather has been fluctuating with a lot of humidity carrying loads of viruses in the air. To worsen matters, most of my stuff from the US is on back order and now I have to deal with a new employee at my supplier side making thing slower then ever. I am hoping to put the final touches on Blitzy soon, although to tell you the truth, I am not keen on driving these days.

Blitzy's seat pan

Today I took the Blitzy to Salmeen's shop in Shuwaikh, the task is to manufacture a seat pan to hide Blitzy's wiring. The task is tedious, first off the designated area need to be shielded with tape. The bike had to be covered to protect from any resins drips. The fiberglass mesh was laid, then resins mixture was applied thoroughly making sure all the air in between the mesh was forced out. Second layer was cut and applied and the third using the same procedure. After 2 hours the pan has taken a rough form, its a matter of waiting for the resins mixture to dry, hoping it will be done by tomorrow.

Back to the drawing board

After the first long ride on the Bomber a couple of issues considered minor, or major depending how you look at it, have surfaced on the bike.

 

Lessons learned after the first long ride:

• Remember to loctite your bolts, I ended up loosing my points cover due to engine vibration. Lets face the Bomber is not a smoothie.
• Bobber air filters with sponge elements are not designed for performance. The result is poor and restrictive air flow, forcing the sponge to be torn and digested by the engine and spit out form the exhaust, not a healthy diet.
• Rear tire to fender clearance, yes I did use the hose for measurement, however clearance was not enough to clear the bolts holding the rear light, although I triple checked, I did miss out on the heat factor. This  made my tire get deep scars making it useless after 200km of driving.
• Since I am due for a tire change, guess what? I am smacking the 180 and yes a larger fender and another paint 280$ worth of damages.

Almost There!

Blitz Bomber is home and no!!! I did not get to have the test ride on Thursday, it was simply too hot and there are still minor issues to be fixed on the Bomber. Below is the latest set of Pics, soon I will be posting a video.

Blitz Bomber hits the street!.

This is a review of the first bike ride, after 3 month in the workshop, the green machine hits the pavement. Forget about carburetor, lights and whatever minor issues that popped up at the last minute.  The main thing is to test the Blitz.

Ergonomics: Seating Position is leaning a bit forward, still comfortable, the springer seat needs some getting used , the pegs might need relocation two inches forward, I don't feel cramped with my 6 feet height, but a couple of inches will help, too early to talk about long haul comfort, this will need a trip of  200km to give you the final verdict.

On the road: The first thing that hit me is the feel of lightness that the Blitz  have, all Harley's tip the scale at 300KG+ , not light in my book, however the bike feels nimble. The Blitz is stable with loads of clearance on both sides. the 16/150 up front a far cry from the original 21/90, gives it stability and begs for high speed cornering. negotiating curves at 120KM is a breeze, and no sign of flexing or wobbles. The rear end is the lightest part of the bike and has the tendency to slide if pushed hard, this is attributed to the relatively small patch of rubber  the 150/16 a 180 section would have been better. Overall I like the frame geometry and if you really want to l know, I did push the Blitz to 170KM took my hands of the handlebar to check for any geometrical deficiencies. Verdict I am still here and writing this blog.

Bring on the horses: The Blitz engine has been rebuild, with 1550 high compression piston, Woods Cams, Alloy Pushrods, 42 mm Mikuni that sucks and high lift springs. Engine is a bit noisy but the exhaust note is gorgeous, the RSD 2-1 give the bike a nasty note once you flick that throttle open. The engine has loads of torque, easily spins the rear wheel at the red light, however power is delivered progressively and the torque is available on tap with in the whole power range. This is the 4th engine I build, and by far my favorite. Verdict too early to judge but 170km on the first day with lousy carb is not a sign of weakness.

Tonight I might take Blitzy out for a drive and see what it is made off.

Bad Luck or Jinxed

A sort of curse placed on a person that makes them prey to large numbers of minor misfortunes and other forms of bad luck. Unfortunately I do not believe in the theory of being  jinxed, however I  am a subscriber to the theory of challenges, when building a custom bike. Why am i raising this issue, its because Abdulla believes that the Blitz project is jinxed for the multitude of issues that have surfaced throughout the building of the bike. So whats new?  Problem with my used carburetor bought used off eBAy a couple of month back. After readying the bike for the test drive and rolling it out to the street, it failed to start, even though the previous day there was no signs of  carburation flow. The engine was starved and petrol did not flow to the cylinders, which prompted us to take it apart and clean it. The  Blitz started, however the problem of high idle is still persisting making it a bit uneasy to drive. Furthermore the rear brake light is always lit due to some short in the wiring harness. overall Nothing alarming still a few glitches to iron out, this is expected in any build.

Final Progress Report

Blitzy is nearing D-Day, although this bike has been marred with tiny little issues and set backs  that made me wonder sometimes what went wrong.

 

 

For starters

• This my first Bobber not an excuse but I really did not know what to expect.
• Wheels were off a 2008 model so modifications were needed
• Coil Relocation nothing called after market fits
• Front Axle delay  in manufacturing
• Seat Pan Wrong parts
• Broken Vacuum Sensor
• Triple tree stolen by powder coating shop
• Cylinder heads bought as SE were stock
• Rear fender too big, cut down to size
• Steering bad workman ship cuts internal wires
• Dash plate manufactured
• Turn Signal missing one

With all of the above we managed to pull it off and yesterday, we started the bike, running rough need to check ignition setting.

Things to do for today to close the project

• Rear light dual filament exchange
• Wiring for fuel indicator
• Adjust Ignition
• Mount Seat and cut bolts to length
• Ignition wires length
• Exhaust Nut
• Test Ride
• Seat Pan
• Ammo Box Mount

Kudos for Shuwaish

I will start off this post by thanking Abdullah for 2 major things, the first is his kindness of letting me use his garage and the second is him landing a hand when I needed it most. Yesterday started off with a disaster as the Blitz brake was not keen on bleeding properly. Abduallah's ingenuity and perseverance prevailed, where I would have been bitching and cursing in multi languages, he really focused on getting this crappy pre- 2003 brake cylinder to bleed. I have to add that his skills in electrical trouble shooting are exceptional. OK this is not a brown nosing post but credit is given when credit is due, although Abdullah deserve a medal, he will settle for Sushi.

Harley-Davidson is Recalling About 47500 2008 Motorcycles

Talk about being jinxed... Harley-Davidson Motor Company is recalling 2008 FLTR. FLHR, FLHP, FLHX. FLHPE, FLHRC, FLHRSE4, FLHT, FLHTC, FLHTCU, FLHTCUSE3, FLHTP models. The recall is due to a problem with the cracking of the fuel filter shell. It may creates a loss of fuel pressure which could make the motorcycle fail to start or to stall in traffic when riding, with possibility of crash and injury for the rider. Harley-Davidson dealers will replace the fuel filter shell for free. Contact a Harley Dealer if they did not contact you yet and give them your VIN.

Good News

After my woos with the tank and dash I managed to develop a quick fix for the problem. Instead of cutting, grinding and welding. I managed to keep down to grinding and welding. I went down to Salmeen, found a piece of scrap metal and worked my way through manufacturing a rectangular piece of support. As usual Salmeen is very helpful in landing a hand when it comes to welding and practical advice. After 2 hours of work the console fits on the tank simplifying the task of repainting the tank, I hope I still finish the bike this week.

Murphy's Law

So I expected to wrap things this week, well guess again, things always tend to hit a brick wall when customizing. the Theory of interchangeable part went through the window. The cross Bones consol which fits the tank did not match with the mount on the tank, which means I will have to take my painted tank, grind the mount and reposition it 7 cm lower and repaint to match. will this bomber ever be ready!!!

On the other hand, i will never ship with Fedex again I ended up paying  76$ for Customs & Shipping.

Last week for Blitzy

Here we go, all the parts are here, no more excuses and delays to wrap up the project this week and bring it to closure. its been quite an uneventful week for the Blitz Bomber.  My to do list is still extensive and should be done in a couple of days.

 

• Adjust belt and tighten rear Wheel
• Check fender to wiring clearance
• Tighten exhaust
• Engine Oil
• Replace Oil Filter
• Vacuum Sensor change
• Install RSD Engine Mount and Coil
• Tuck Wiring under Seat
• Adjust rear suspension
• Finalize all wiring
• Mount Horn
• Change main jet to 165
• Rear turn signal mount and wiring
• Adjust front turn signals
• Bleed Front Brake
• Install number plate and manufacture backing plate
• Re-torque to specs
• Mount tank
• Mount Dash
• Dash Leather trim
• Charge Battery
• Manufacture Seat Pan
• Fire Up test ride
• Wash

Ironman Bobber

At last I got a copy of  Iron man, I missed it at the movies and was still waiting for a clean DVD copy. This is not a movie review (although superhero cliche, I did like the movie). However what caught my attention was the two gorgeous bobber in his garage. After a thorough investigation it turned out to be a Pan Head from Zerobikes. Enjoy the Pics Link

Blitz Bomber Promo

XBones vs Bomber

So I did decide to purchase the XBones few months back, although the Bones sits on a Softail Standard/Nightrain frame with Springer Front end, painted black with 96ci engine. I somehow  felt that this Bike will not satisfy my needs in term of power and look. So why go with the flow and buy an assembly line so called bobber when i can build my own. Although I am 80% into the project, I believe I am on the right track and happy with the outcome of my work, the Bomber has an imposing meaner look than the Bones with a post war era design powered by  modern day technology and enough power to pulverize any stock TC HD. Dark Customs get ready to be Blitzed.