Shaving the leg

First cut is the deepest.
No turning back now.
If the swap from discbrake to drumbrake ain't what I've expected I'm pretty much toast.
A quick butchering with a metal blade in the jigsaw and they were gone.
Then some hard labour with the hand file before sanding and Scotch Brite.

Final question, should I keep them Scotch Brited or do them shiny, time will tell.

 Before

 No turning back now

 Gone !

Challenges in the shop

Technical challenges are most often child's play in Bombus Speedshop.
But sometimes true problems​ occurs.
One crucial area in a shop is the coffe as you all know.
One day I was runnin'low.
Not totally out thank God, but low.
Had some left down in the bottom but it was out of reach.

 Hmmm, some left down there

 What to do

 Spoon and knife

Some cutting and adding of hi tech construction tape made 

Bombus Speedshop again a harmonic place with nice coffee smell. 

Rear light

Had an idea for the taillight in my head for many years.
To use one of my old pistons that classifies as a sacrifice to the gods of speed.
Don't remember which mishap this is from.
Can be from my breakdown in Germany when visiting the friends in Zündapp Zweitakt-Team Probstei or in the deep woods of Dalsland here in Sweden.

On the German breakdown I was rescued by the whole gang. I was their guest, so I could just watched them replaced my cylinder and piston for great used set that I bought for a real bargain price from them.

On the Dalsland endeavor I was rescued by my dear friend Jacob R.I.P. who picked me up in his Chevy Impala and gave me a case of beer to calm down before we got a van to save the broken hero from the ditch in the forrest and to a safe garage.
That time I waited until I came home to fix the remains.
Instead that weekend I rode the crash van with my friend Bert helping other Zündapp brothers in need.

Which occasion this piston is from will probably never have an answered.
But anyway, both breakdowns showed real friendship on on a high and real heartwarming level.

But a nasty breakdown it was for sure

First up, make a hole with my lathe.

Next up mount and test the rear LED light assembly.

My Zündapp is a 1967 so here in Sweden the requirement is just rear light, no stoplight needed.

The final touch is the license plate lights in the boost ports. 

I put two white LED's in the boost ports and suddenly I had not just a legal rear light, I also had a super cool one of a kind one with some personal history.

Next up is to build a bracket for the licenceplate and rear light.
Its gonna be a sidemounted unit.
First reason for this: There is no space for it up on the cuts.
Second reason: It looks so much cooler with sidemounted licenceplate.

But more about that later...

Throttle

Another thing that gave me a a hard time was what throttle assembly to use.
Same Swedish "Eksjö" throttle I have on the Speedster build, maybe an internal throttle or the one with unknown origin that I've used for many years.

Finally the choice fell on the old throttle.
I got that one from my dear friend Jacob R.I.P. and now when he's gone for good it have a big sentimental value for me.
This way a part of his memory can always be with me when I ride.

Went berserk with file and moto tool to give it a more appealing look.

Don't know if i managed but at least Jacob rides with me all the time.

The stuff under are the sticklock assembly, but more about that later.

Me and Jacob back in the day doing what we did best.

DAMN I miss that little fucker !!

Flywheels

To change ignition/charging system is a big thing when you go performance on a Zündapp.
The use of analog system with points ain't so appealing when cool performance parts are added.
Maybe not so necessary but it feels good to upgrade. Psychology is a huge part of tuning.

One thing when doing this is the possibility to have a advanced programmable ignition and just a rotor instead of a flywheel.
Those extreme systems have pros and cons depending on the needs.
Programmable ignition, low rotating mass but often no charging like the PVL system, these system are mainly for race use.
For street application there are many alternative as well.

Lower rotating mass with a really peppy throttle a nice sounding feature but with the downside of really poor driveability outside a track.
Hard to start and very low torque.
So here some consideration must be made.

Back in the day when I built my 5 speed engine I went for a Chinese copy of the Bosch CDI system.
Haven't missed a beat over the years but its a 6V system and now I wanted a 12V system instead.
So I bought the now very popular Kokusan system with 12V output.

With so many systems I put some flywheels on my scale to get some facts.

353g - PVL (No charging)
744g - Kokusan (6V or 12V)
832g - OEM Bosch (3 speed)
943g - China copy on Bosch CDI
360g - HPI  with charging
(350g and 280g extra flywheel weights are available  -> 710g/640g)

So for me it have two upsides with the change to Kokusan, 12V and a bit more peppy throttle with just under 200g less rotating mass.

Rearset

A must have on a cafe racer is of course rearsets.
My choice is the Swedish classic from Raask.






Raask parts was mandatory on Swedish cafe builds in the seventies.
They made Rear sets, Clip-ons and headlight brackets back then and still do.
I bought all three but the headlight brackets was a bit worse quality then expected.
The rear sets and Clip-ons are not top quality either but the cult value compensate for that.

I mounted them in the swingarm OEM passenger peg holes.
Just drilled out the M10 threads and put a M10 from the inside and in to the peg.

Next up was the rods.
Used a bit of rebar I had laying in the shop since the bagger build.
Cut the piece in half, drilled and made M6 threads in all four ends in my lathe.
On the gear side I used both OEM ball joints from the Raask kit.
Brake side needed both more thinking and more work.
Ball joint in one end and a piece M6 threaded rod in the other.
The threaded rod is to make the rear bit a direct bolt on to the OEM Zündapp brake arm.

Both rods ready for test fit. 

Gear side

Brake side

Detail of the rear brake rod with the old unrestored hardware

Recreation activities abroad

Life ain't just speedshop time for Bombus.
Some inspiration and other types of fun than fabrication is a must now and then.

Fairs are the single most fun and inspirational to do for a laugh seeking gearhead like me.
This time the trip went to Germany for the Custombike Show in Bad Salzuflen.
"The worlds largest exhibition for modified motorcycles" and big it was.

Not only that, we also got to catch up with two great friends, NPJ Design and iammrpartridge.So awesome to see these great guys again.
NPJ Design we didn't just met we also hang out in his awesome booth and the super cool Kriedler bikes. The want is strong these bikes!

Some random pics from the weekend.

There was a live "biker build off" at the fair, Germany vs France.

No shocker that the German bike won.

But this is the awesome French bike by EMD

Billet parts for the EMD bike waiting for assembly

And I put my mark on the EMD build

Our hotel the Kurpark-Hotel

A BIG guy 

Amazing café bikes from Mellow motorcycles

Environmental friendly build

Cool Ironhead café build

The official Custombike party

Harley custom

UCC´s amazing BMW build

More or less dressed chicks all over the fair

There was no shortage of extreme Harley builds 

A cool build in the LOUIS booth

We had the best weather

 A supercustom and probably superexpensive open belt trans for Sportster from NHPower

 NPJ Design´s AWESOME booth with the supercool Kriedler bikes.

NPJ Design´s new build. Cant wait to see how cool this gonna turn out.