SakiBobber

Well I spent a lot of time working on this thing and not a lot of time taking pictures or posting. Mostly because I will be closing on my house tomorrow, so I was in screech mode. Got the bike all back together and running last night, and now I will spend the rest of the summer trying to tune these damn carbs for pod filters and an exhaust (or lack thereof). It is probably running way too lean, and will only idle on it's own for a few minutes then dies out. If anyone has any helpful hints on the constant vacuum carbs on a kz440, I would love the advice. I know I will plan welding on some sort of baffle in the exhaust, and then re-jetting them but I am not certain how big to go on each the primaries and secondaries. Anyways, here are some pictures I snapped this morning!

Wiring is on the very last leg - gotta stuff all the extra shit into a coffee can that I just painted flat black and find a good spot for it right under the seat. Dad helped me out big tonight, fixed the battery that had a missing terminal, mounted the regulator to the battery box, helped find quality grounds...all in all a pretty damn productive night.

Need 2 fuel lines from the tank to the carbs, and 2 pod filters Im hoping to get at Central Maine Powersports tomorrow.

Going to Maine Cycle Warehouse tomorrow as well in hopes of finding a brake cable. Then I'll have to re-fab the rear brake system. But I think if the front brakes work I'm gonna try driving it.

Ok so here's the deal; Jake let me borrow his S-dime (thanks again man!) to get the sakibobber to my house so that this next stage of annoyingly-frequent-hardware-store-trips would be a little easier considering the closest one at his place was 10 minutes away and never open. Ashley's bro Tom helped me out yet again with this. He's proven to be very helpful in this stage of the project and sometimes seems to have more ambition for me to get it done than I do, haha.

Got it home, and got all amped on hearing the thing run. I worked most of the day alone with some tall Rolling Rocks and this wiring diagram and somehow got the wiring back together. With a little help from my sis' boyfriend Chuck, I was able to change the oil and fire it right up. What really confused me is everything I read online saying the bike would barely run with a modified intake and exhaust without a re-jet and serious tuning....I've got straight pipes and straight carbs (for now, don't worry I'm getting some pod filters), and it seems to run just fine...am I wrong? Take a look at the video and let me know. Below are some more pics of when I got done and started to visualize what this heap is going to look like when done. Nothing is actually bolted in place yet, but it definitely gives a good idea as to what it will look like.

Still a ways to go - brakes, chain (edit: done 7/7), wiring (where the F do all these wires hide?!), and other miscellaneous fun stuff. Looking forward to riding it at least once before the summer is done.


Here's a question - one cylinder's exhaust seems to be hot and the other just barely warm...is this normal?

Life can certainly get in the way of frivolous projects such as this one. We're buying a house and I've got a few projects going on the side not related to the saki bobber that I'm working on. Everyone's really been helping lately, and we've gotten quite a few things done so this really is a bigger update than most. In fact, today we actually got to hear it turn over! Then some wires started smoking pretty badly....so that will need to be addressed.

Let's see - frame and swing arm are all painted, tins are all painted, carbs are back together (Thanks Justin!), throttle is in place and working, Tom helped me with the rear axle and clutch, all that's left to get it moving is tightening everything down, filling it with oil and gas, getting some air filters, greasing all the moving parts, wiring and attaching the chain. The seized front brake and non-existent (because of the 6 inch extension) rear brake need to be addressed as well but I'd like to see it run first, as I never have. After that it's details - handle bar grips, heat wrap exhaust, figure out blinker solution, pop-a-wheelie, get it registered, buy clean the rims, do a burnout, etc. etc. Also a fender mounting solution still has not come up, but I am not getting to caught up in that just yet. I'm not the biggest fan of the gloss black for the frame, but I really don't care. The flat tan is killer, however. Leave a comment!

A good progress day - Jake made a battery box while I made a license plate and brake light bracket. When that guy gets goin, it's like theres a fire lit under his ass - tons of determination and concentration. Something I very much lack, haha. Anyways his skill and excellent work are pretty much crucial to this build - I am thankful to have someone with his talent and ability helping me out on this. I picked up some flat tan paint for the tins - scuffed up the fender in hopes to try it out soon after we mock up how its going to fit on there. After that's done it's prepping the frame for paint, blasting it with some rust stop primer and gloss black paint, and then re-assembly which Im sure is where I will start to get nickel and dimed.

On a side note, my blog was mentioned on the bikernetmetric blog, pretty effin sick - check it out

I really didn't do anything - I came in at 6 and Jake had already welded up solid everything I tacked up, and then some. I neglected to get photos of his awesome welds because we ended up having a few visitors, including the previous owner of the bike. I test fit that 130 link chain which the guy that sold to me said would never fit....it fit. We're actually going to need to remove some links; a relief after thinking I was going to have to use some links from the very tired 30 year old chain.

The only photo I got was Chad testing out the rider position on the bike. Some have suggested ape hangers and forward controls, others like it the way it is - I'm a fan of the way it sits. After sitting on the bike myself I realized now that having a "springer soft tail" will be a little weird, but I'm also fine with it. A quick glance to the right of this page will make anyone go "oh ok, yeah thats fine"

Last week all I really did was get the mounts for the tank in place, which was basically an hour of measuring, cutting, drilling, BSing and tack welding. Also I ordered the $30 ebay seat and $20 clutch cable. They came in and I went to Maine Cycle for a 130 link chain for $30. Went over to Jake's tonight to tack everything in place. Put the motor in place (no mounts or anything) just to make sure of some clearances. It doesn't look very pretty (and probably never will).

I saw this post on XS650chopper.com and drooled all over myself. I immediately wished I had done this differently (yamaha+tc bros hardtail kit), but then I realized this bike was basically free and we are building it on a budget. The next bike will be heavily inspired by this killer 20 year-old's bike. Clean and simple, which is always my approach to all my graphic design work.

Anyways, here's some proof of progress. Jake should be throwing a bead on these bits in place tomorrow.