Sporty TT Getting around

If you are from the Italian speaking world, look up Chop and Roll magazine, there is a article about this machine this month.  

Under construction shots of the Sporty TT.   The nearly unseen air filter assembly. It was a tight squeeze.  

TANK moto article

This is the second issue of Tank moto magazine and I am proud to say that the XRTT Sportster that Brad and I built is laced into its interior.
   If you have not seen the Melbourne Australia based magazine yet, do what you can to get a copy.  The amount of content that is in each copy is ridiculous! In fact to call it a magazine belittles it. To me this is a paper back book that one would keep in their motorcycle  library for many generations and with the art level photography and sheer amount of awesome, I think you will agree.   Get one or many HERE.
I have not yet seen that latest issue myself but looking at their blog, I dont see any choice in content that I would change .   Looks like they have a Z1 900 Kaw dragster story, a XS650 story and Super Cub article, to name a few.  Pretty much everything I blabber about here.

Not much

Met the crew up at Cafe Racer last night.  B had the XRTT sporty out, Greg had his aluminum sporty out and Gabby was on Greg's old BMW .  Marcel was there on his Softail and Magneto Rich was hangin out as well.  I rode the softy, mainly because it hurts my shoulders the least. It was nice to see everyone and its certainly nice to see Brad out on the XRTT .  We have some minor bugs to work out of it yet but all is well for the moment.

B had the the XRTT sporty out last night

Our main man papa bear swapped out the carb and repaired a couple minor issues to get her running a bit better.  I think we are going to add a oil cooler just to make sure that its good for the long haul.  A couple more little tweaks and its all good from there. We may ride to Ypsi later for bike night .  

I found this outside my office yesterday,  getting picked on because of my shoulders.  I do feel a bit like a T-Rex though.

Night before

Brad finally got the xrtt sporty back before the Oily Souls show.  I never actually took any pictures of it when it was done so here it is.    There are still some bugs in it that need to be worked out so I hope he finds time to stop by and fiddle with it soon.  

Meanwhile in Sturgis South Dakota......

Brad sent me a text with these photos.

   Its funny, I feel like I'm not even finished with this bike yet and it has shown most of the west that we mean business.

XRTT is on its way to Born Free

 

 

I have the tins for an Iron head that I have to add the blackness to now and then Im going to start putting the fresh motor into the Honda

Rid'in Bitch

He is heading to Born Free 5 on Saturday and we are both pretty stoked about these bikes nearing completion.

Late nights on the final push

Finally received the brake lines last night for the sporty café or XRTT project.  There is a stubborn air bubble in there some where, I had to walk away from it .   In the mean time we fixed the tank, made a sissy bar, rear pegs and added the old king queen setup.  we will button that up today and I'm pretty sure that I can get the bubble out of the sporty.

The last of the last bits going into place.

A picture of the air filter lid mid polish and installed, a shot of the fork brace under construction and complete..   Brad, I guess the hole pattern was the same as you drew it less one smiley face.  

Brad has decided to take this to Born Free 5 and he is leaving this weekend so we are in the home stretch right now.

This way forward....

That tool path always looks spectacular right out of the mill.  We have to do a lot of hand finishing to it now to make it pretty.  It does however fit the bike and takes a inexpensive S&S washable filter that I was able to bend into this shape quite easily.  

 

On a shitty note, my shop cad computer smoked a hard drive last night and I haven't bothered to back up the job data for about a year.   That being said,  I no longer have the data for the Sportster or Virago rear-sets, all the stuff I made for my Softail, several triple tree top clamps that I developed for Honda 550 and Virago's not to mention countless little brackets and tags.
Later I'm going to try to run a windows disk in it to see it will repair the missing chunk of the OS enough to get it to boot.  I have my fingers crossed.

Heat shield

In the brief time on Monday that Brad came by, we managed to discuss a heat shield for the fresh pipes.  He sketched on a piece of scrap cardboard a general idea, made sure I understood the orientation correctly ( cracks me up every time for some reason ) and we went separate ways.  Last night among other things, I managed to cut, form and perforate the shit out of this sheet of aluminum that I dug out of the scrap pile.     I had a old flat tracker friend over last night that commented on the pipes looking very XR750, I take that as a compliment.

Getting Closer Every Day

Mounted the clip-on bars, switches and grips last night as well as the pipes and various other bolt on stuff.     Brad was thinking the pipes should have gone higher, I don't disagree but due to limited space for the rider etc. this is where they wanted to be.

More XRTT Sporty Stuff

Over the weekend I drilled, fit and painted the number bubble on to the front of the windscreen. The only thing left to paint at this point is the pipes and the arrows on the badges.

Mocked up , welded and hung the pipes as well ( this picture is just the mock up ).  They are hanging in the paint booth now ready for my special blend header coating.

If you dont have instagram......

We christened the bike with the fairing and badges on Thursday evening.

I still have to paint the number plate onto the wind-screen, finish the pipes, air filter, brake lines and make a support to control the shape of the bubble. I also need to make several trips to the hardware store to get everything bolted down right, tight and shiny before the shake down can begin. 

Brakes! or not

Top,  Brad was having trouble making up his mind which scoot he wanted to take to Sins of Steel. There was no wrong choice possible. 

Bottom, the front end on the XRTT sportser café project is just a fork brace and brake line kit short of done.  B cleaned and polished the calipers and I stuck them on late last night.

 

Details

Bit by bit, final assembly is going well.  Still need mufflers before I can finish making the pipes but they are on order and there is plenty to do till they arrive.  Wheels came out sweet, Fairing bracket engine turning went well and lots of detailed little bits going in place.  Brad would like this done for Mods Vs. Rockers Chicago in a few weeks, I'm not so sure we will have time to shake it down by then.   However, its coming together fast now so who knows. 

XRTT going together now

Of coarse you cant just bolt together something like this. you have to polish, modify and stylize it as it goes together. Not to mention you have to scour your nut and bolt collection for that chrome or stainless bolt you could have sworn you had.   On to making the pipes now,  we are planning on 2 into 2 mid pipes witch reminds me that we still need mufflers.  Short tapered ones like the Supertraps would be sweet, something 14-17 inches long.   Still much to do but a lot happens everyday on it.

XRTT Sporty Getting the Shine On

 

Yesterday stuff

Finally had the new front tire mounted on the softy.  It needed it more than I thought it did and I'm pretty happy with it now.  Thanks for mounting that up Darrin!

Brad finished up the last of the tapes last night and we gave it a final fit check.   Greg came by to intimidate us with his Rip Van Winkle style beard and offer support.