Sold and a Surprise

I thought that this blog was going to be all done now, since I had sold the bike last August, but I got an awesome surprise in my email last night, that I thought was worth a share.

I sold my bike to Justin who is from Richmond, VA. He is an awesome guy and though I was sad to see the bike go, I was happy to know she was going to a good spot. Last night I got an email from Justin who shared his side of the project with me and I am very happy with what he had done. He definitely has an eye for color, something I am not so good at. Overall I think his version of my old bike looks great  and I am very impressed with what he did with the front end, though I do miss the headlight visor, but I can't complain at all. Looks great Justin and I am happy to hear that you are enjoying her, as much as I did

Picked up the V Star 650

I picked up the bike in Pasadena MD, it was a pain to get to but after seeing the bike it was defiantly worth the trip. After talking to the owner (middle age female accountant) I had to buy the bike. But first a little history:

-woman owned the entire life of the bike

-taken care of immaculately buy a guy who loves Harley's

-mileage was 7750 so in the 10 years it has been around, it has been barely ridden with less than 1,000 miles a yeah I'll take that!

I did notice one thing though, the exhaust on the bike wasn't stock, it was actually a cobra exhaust and some research after getting home, I found out it was a $450 exhaust system that the she had no idea that she had.

Pics will be in the next post

V Star Craigslist pics

Getting the Bike Home

I had to trailer the bike home from Pasadena, MD. Getting there wasn't too bad, made the whole trip in about an hour, but coming back was the absolute worst. I got stuck in traffic and it wans't normal shitty Northern Va traffic bc some truck CARRYING HAY BALES caught on fire. Anyway it was a pain in the ass but I got the bike home.

Next post will have pics of the bike at its new home, and you can see how much extra fluff the owner put on it.

V Star in its new home

The Tear Down

Got the majority of the parts off today. The rear fender weighed much more than I thought it would, but that was a good thing, bc it will drop the overall weight of the bike.

Windshield is gone, tassels are gone, I found a weird bell hanging on the bike, sissy bars gone, passenger pegs gone. During the tear down I did learn quit a lot about the bike and it helped me shape my final design concept. I am keeping the front turn signals, but I am changing the lenses from amber to clear.

The front fender was the biggest pain in the ass I have had to deal with thus far, it required 3 trips to autozone to get the right tool just to get it off. The 4 bolts that hold it on were all 12mm but my socket set required me to use an adapter and my 12mm socket making the whole tool too wide. So I went to autozone to get a 12mm socket head that would fit on a 3/8th drive. Did that and STILL too wide, at this point i was halfway through the head light dis assembly so I sent Keeley to get me a wrench but the ass hole as autozone upsold her am angle socket so I had to go there for a third trip to return everything and get the god dam 12mm wrench. After that  it came off with little difficulty.

Pics of the teardown coming  in the next post

Tear down pictures

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Pics of the bike front fender-less coming this afternoon!

The Great Build

Today, much was done to the bike. But let me say this first, I hate the DMV they are dumb shit slow at everything, and I am pretty sure literally no one there has even a high school diploma. But continuing on now...

First order of business was to get the new seat mount (btw not the recommend methord, but I was eager to ride so what). Overall the seat install was that hard, really none of the build was honestly that tough. All it really took was some time patience and some elbow grease ( no actual grease was involved). The most tedious parts of the build was wiring the electrical system for the new lights, stripping wires and such, along with crimping. But it was very satisfing to see the bike light up for the first time. I ran out of day light  before I could wrap up the wires with electrical tape and do the handle bar. But that will be saved for sunday.

Anyway, as alway pics will be in the next post.

The Great Build- Pics

Handle Bar Instal Pics

Bike is finished

Finally finished off the bike today, the handle bar was technical but not that difficult to do. I need to get new grips for the bike, but just some last minute details including turning the front turn signals from amber to clear. But after that i am not.

Final pics

Last Pics