Bandit Headlight

So I snatched up a generic headlight off the 'bay for the bandit. I felt like the original light dated the bike quite a lot and so changing this up would keep people guessing more about its actual age.

The stock light:

Unfortunately the bandit uses the headlight as a sort of wiring loom storage position.

So there is a lot to get rid of! Fortunately I can re-position alot of it behind the headstock, in the space above the engine/below the fuel tank.

Also the new light was a similar width to the original one, so I could use the same mounting brackets.

I'm pleased with how it looks, I was worried that the speedo/tacho wouldn't look right but actually they fit quite well. I still need to figure out the headlight/full beam wiring up and also i need to extend some wires from the new loom position to reach the headlight.

Rear tank mount

Right - thanks to Papa's ingenious insight (off the customXS650 forum) I realized that it would be a lot easier to use the rear top engine mount for the tank - rather than a new fixing point under the frame (cheers papa!).

So I used some 10mm steel and made up some little lugs to weld under the tank. One of which I tapped out M8.



This pic shows a 5mm tab that I later replaced with 10mm...



So with a lot of difficulty I managed to get a tack in on the lugs while the tank was mounted. Unfortunately the tank seemed to be very thin at this point so it blew holes in the steel almost instantly...



Bearing in mind ive already sealed this tank twice... ach! I had it flaming and everything haha. Also meant that the welding was poor, and with the metal being such a large contrast (10mm thick to approx 1mm?!) made it very difficult, so please excuse the poor show!



I got them on eventually but you can see where I chased holes in the thin steel. Think I'd probably flapped it down to less than 1mm in places...



Next I turned up some spacers on the lathe and welded them onto the existing top engine mounts that I had made...





And that's the tank re-mounted! Showing it fixed on here with some M8 bar with lots of nuts and washers on it, going to pop down the bolt shop later and get a 120mm long M8 bolt for it.









I like how discreet and secure it is. The tank now sits a little higher overall. Which is a good thing, as I could see where things like wires had rubbed the inside of the tunnel and scratched the paint off in places. But now it stands well clear.

Back in stock!

M8 threaded 'top-hat' bungs back in stock today. I've got a bigger order so shouldn't run out for a while this time!

Ideal for creating fixing points in your frame or otherwise...

Get them here!

Tank mounting

Its been a while! Partly because I was in the shed every night over the summer, GTA 5 has come out, and I have been tinkering with my dad's bike and my bandit, so left the chopper alone for a little while.

Anyways as Im sure you have noticed Winter is here and I have a list of niggles and issues to sort out for next year.

So I went in the shed last night for a few hours, didn't get far but made a start adjusting the tank. Basically even though the rear mount looks nice with the seat/tank sitting on the same mount, it doesn't work all that well. If you have it tightened up so that the tank doesn't vibrate - the seat bracket bends rather than rotates. And if you slacken it off until the seat can move freely, the tank makes a scary amount of noise!

Firstly then I removed the rear brackets and saw just how much bodging my dad had covered up with the filler!



In my head I thought I could get away with a fairly typical threaded mount in the top tube, but there is no where near enough room!



So I decided that an under-tank mount is required. Again though, this is an already busy area - with lots of wires, fuel pipe, crank breather etc all in close proximity.





Also you can see the fuel tap is right in the bloody way! Anyways that is as far as I got last night, just lots of thinking and lining up for now, but I think that I shall use a sort of tube arrangement under the rear of the tank, so i can slot a long bolt through a corresponding tube welded under the top frame tube..

Thoughts and other solutions appreciated!

Sold Out!!

Unfortunately we have temporarily sold out of our best sellers - the M8 bungs!

But don't fear I already have a large quantity on order!!