Some Examples of Fabrication Work
Custom choke brackets for Triumph T140
The issue here was that the existing mounting position, on top of the right carb, required a very sharp bend in the choke cables, so the action was less than smooth and easy. I relocated the choke controls to the right front down-tube of the frame.
Layout:
Finished product:
Installed:
Brackets for relocating the passenger pegs on a Honda RC51
The owner had aftermarket pipes that prevented use of the passenger pegs. The plate and spacers you see here, with grade 10.9 bolts to handle the extra torque, solved the problem:
Custom shift linkage for Ducati with aftermarket rearsets
The owner brought me a bike with aftermarket rearsets, but no linkage to make them work. The challenge arose from the fact that the rotation of the shift pedal is on an axis that is not only offset from that of the shifter shaft, but not parallel to it. The usual way of solving this problem is to use ball joints, but we wanted a cleaner look and thought we might also get a more positive feel in the pedal if the force could be transmitted by a single, rigid element. I captured the angles using a “try” square, made a prototype out of aluminum (because it is easily bent), then took it across the river to Techtronics, where Christopher Hildebrand forged the piece out of stainless, after first rendering my prototype in a CAD drawing.
CAD drawing:
Installed linkage:
Fixing the mess created by an aftermarket fiberglass fender that doesn’t fit, with plates outside and inside to distribute the load.
Before:
After:
Choke lever
Sometimes getting parts for Dell ‘Orto carbs is difficult. After getting sent the wrong part a few times, I took matters into my own hands and made this little choke lever. The tricky part was shaping the cam area (the shoulder of the lever, not visible here) that rides on the little mounting plate, so the lever would stay open under the tension of the spring that is just visible here. I used a hand file to adjust the shape of the cam.
Custom wiring harness
I use the really nice Japanese connectors that have two crimps: one for the wire and a separate one for the insulation. They’re very small, and have tightly fitting waterproofing jackets that remain supple (the transparent jobbies you see here). Here I have rewired a Ducati and replaced the Medieval-looking fuse box with a modern one using blade-type automotive fuses (with a custom mount). I like to terminate the PVC jacketing I put on my wire bundles with a bit of heat-shrink tubing, to minimize chafing.
