RZ350 re-style... lets make it look modern!

[augustiron]

If building a 1x custom project, sure use the high $$ unobtainium exotic hard to get rare stuff.

Building several? use easily obtainable/replaceable parts.

 

[Frame Maker]

Here's a little pre-Christmas eve, Christmas eve, and Christmas day update...

Two days ago, more was trimmed from the frame and temporary tabs were tacked on. I rarely get photos of myself working, but my good friend Mazher stopped by and took a few shots...

DSC_0182 by andbike, on Flickr

DSC_0291 by andbike, on Flickr

DSC_0210 by andbike, on Flickr



Oh look... another QC inspector to evaluate my work... where did this guy come from?

DSC_0221 by andbike, on Flickr


With the temporary tabs in place, yesterday this happened...

20231224_102735 by andbike, on Flickr

20231224_102817 by andbike, on Flickr



I love the continuous line along the top of the frame - shock - top of swingarm. This was pure luck as the shock mounting point and swingarm position were copied directly from the NC29 chassis. It just happens to be a nice coincidence how everything lines up so nicearty

20231224_103021 by andbike, on Flickr


Then bodywork added for the full effect...

20231224_104541 by andbike, on Flickr



I love how the suspension on the NC29 is very compact. Nothing hanging low to interfere with pipe routing. Again, not planned, but I couldn't be happier with the results...

20231224_105629 by andbike, on Flickr



Next, test fit with cases and pipes. Note: I still haven't figured out how I'm going to re-do the rear engine mounts, but all part of the fun! And these pipes were designed to fit another bike, but close enough for this mock-up...

20231224_135258 by andbike, on Flickr



That brings us to today, Christmas. Its a very quiet day at Frame Maker's house, so I decide to do some CAD work. These are just a few of the final brackets being drawn up and will be sent out tomorrow for laser cutting...

20231225_165700 by andbike, on Flickr

20231225_165735 by andbike, on Flickr

20231225_165843 by andbike, on Flickr


Before being sent out, all brackets are printed and "paper dolls" are checked for proper fit. Its very quiet in Frame Maker's house on Christmas night, so the rolling chassis gets to come inside for a few minutes while doing the check-fits.

20231225_212037 by andbike, on Flickr

20231225_213234 by andbike, on Flickr



I hope everyone is enjoying Christmas!!!

 

[Frame Maker]

I almost forgot to thank everyone for your thoughts on the NC29 rear wheel dilemma.

There are currently two wheels on eBay right now. One is complete and has been completely refreshed with new bearings, powder coated, and cush drive has been vapor blasted. Its very expensive. There is also a bare wheel and bare cush-drive from separate sellers for much less money. The re-conditioned wheel is probably a better deal in the long run. But cash is very tight right now, so hoping to get the cheaper wheel and cush drive, then re-condition at a much later date. I still need to negotiate the shipping cost on the bare wheel, so nothing is committed to at the moment.

Stay tuned for more updates...

 

[Frame Maker]

Here's a quick, day after Christmas update:

On my custom frames I have a forming tool specifically for bending sheet metal into nice large corner gussets. However, the frame tubing on the RZ350 is much smaller so those gussets won't work. I could fabricate a smaller forming tool and create a new flat pattern for the sheet metal blanks, but thats a lot of extra work for one project.

My solution was to take a scrap block of aluminum and make a holding fixture that would hold a short length on 1 inch tube at a 45 degree angle. Here's the process. Hopefully obvious what I'm doing...

20231226_115858 by andbike, on Flickr

20231226_121425 by andbike, on Flickr

20231226_125055 by andbike, on Flickr

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Notice the section of 1 inch tube along the bottom of the vise... that's to set the clocking of the tube against the first notch (pictured a few pics above)...

20231226_131814 by andbike, on Flickr

20231226_131037 by andbike, on Flickr



Notice the saw cut in the fixture block so that the block can be clamped tight against the tube...

20231226_131820 by andbike, on Flickr



This was just a test, but it worked well. I may make the final pieces a bit longer to get them closer to the shock mount. But not bad for a quick test run...

20231226_132318 by andbike, on Flickr

20231226_135917 by andbike, on Flickr



Now I need to go sit on the computer and order all of the brackets that were drawn up last nightarty

 

[Frame Maker]

I hope to post a major update in a few days as the suspension swap is wrapping up. But for now a quick update on the rear wheel dilemma...

I decided on option #3 and ordered a rear wheel from eBay UK. I found a few wheels to choose from. One seller had a very complete rear wheel that had been completely restored to like-new condition, but very expensive! Another seller had a front and rear pair that were not completely restored, but were freshly powder coated... in my favorite wheel color... white. These were expensive options that I couldn't afford, especially getting two wheels shipped to the US.

The final option was a well used bare wheel (no cush-hub, no rotor, no bearings) but much cheaper than the other options. The rotor is interchangeable with a CBR600F3, so not worried about that. But the cush-hub is NC-29 specific. I just happened to find another seller in the UK with just the cush-hub. But then another problem. Many UK sellers have eBay accounts that support international shipping through an eBay shipping program... but these two sellers weren't participating and not willing to ship internationally. I even agreed to process the shipping paperwork using Royal Mail, but both sellers still declined. Crap!

As luck would have it, I am friends with the nice folks at Untitled Motorcycles. They have two shops, one in SF, and the original shop is still located in London. I made arrangements to have the wheel and cush-hub sent to London. Then repackaged into one box and shipped to me. Shipping solved! Oh, and best news is that the nice folks at UMC use an international shipping service with VERY low rates

Yetsurday, wheel and cush-hub arrived. I couldn't be happier!

20240118_151553 by andbike, on Flickr

Stay tuned. As mentioned, another big update coming soon.

 

[budman]

Glad the wheel dilema ended with smiles.

 

[kpke]

in my favorite wheel color... white.

Hmmm, is this directed at anyone in particular?

Great to see you got this worked out. Your "solutions" to these part fabricating and procurement are really quite amazing.

 

[Frame Maker]

Hmmm, is this directed at anyone in particular?

I must be getting old... I meant to use this ... but I do see some resemblance to this... and no, not directed at anyone... because who doesn't love white wheels!