Trixie 750 Special Posts
BCR Original "The Trixie Special" Underconstruction - 02/01/11
BCR crew are in the process of putting together a custom cafe racer from a Honda CB750 F1 SS. A lot of time, effort and new techniques has been put in to this project to give a totally different cafe look to CB750s. BCR crew just finished doing the metal fab work on the 4 into 4 SS exhaust, changes to the front end, and wheels and tires set up. BCR are getting close to finishing the trixie project bike so stay tuned. Feel free to drop a line for comments and dont forget to check-out the slide for this bike.
Week 22: September 2010 - 09/30/10
It's been a very slow process with the trixie project bike. We've been so busy with customer orders that every time i would think of working on our project bike, i would feel guilty cuz a lot of our customers have been waiting for months for their orders. So for the past 5 months, the only thing we worked on are the end fittings, engine side for the oil lines. Since our oil tank is integrated inside the gas tank, we had to re route the lines and make the lines as short as possible. So what we did was we made new fittings and added a pressure type connectors that would connect the high temp high pressure hoses on to the aluminum tube type elbows. We were going to use copper tubes for the oil lines, but after some thought, we decided to just go with high temp rubber hoses. The copper lines will just make the project look like a chopper-est look. We want to make trixie project more of a custom cafe racer, and stay away from the chopper genre.
Other than the making the fittings for the oil lines, we also installed the clutch, engine side covers and carburetors. Hopefully next entry we would have a video for the first start-up of the trixie project bike. Stay tuned!
Week 21: April 08, 2010 - 04/09/10
It's been almost a year since we last worked on the Trixie project bike. Lately with customer orders, we just haven't had any time to work on it. But last Sunday had some free time and did some work to it.
Finally found a pair of nice rear shocks, but we had to change the buttom shock mount on the swing arm. We couldn't find a nice rear shocks that are set up for old CBs, so had to change buttom shock mounts. It was pretty simple. Just has to cut off what we had in our swing arm, fabricated a C type bracket and drilled through the bracket where the bolt will go through for the shocks. Then just had to welded the bracket on the swing arm and made sure that its on the stock location. We decided to drill an extra hole just in case we decided to lower the rear by 1.5-2". Now just need to have the swing arm painted.
We mounted the headlight shroud on to the trees eliminating the use of a headlight bracket. Since we have clip-ons on this project bike, we decided to clean up the upper tree. We cutted-out what tabs we dont need, and build up the holes with using a TIG welder and aluminum filler rods. I never like having the manufacturer's name on any of our bikes we work on, even on the motor except for the BCR logo. I want the novice guessing what bike it originally was, so ... we got rid off the HONDA stamp on the generator cover. We could have just used a bolt-on generator cover, but what's the fun it that? Plus it's been done before. So with the same process with the upper trees, we just build up the stampings with a TIG welder and aluminum filler rods. Now just need to grind out the excess welds and polish
things up. Stay Tuned! (hopefully this summer this bike done. Fingers crossed)
Week 20: June 09, 2009 - 06/10/09
After mounting the engine, forks and swingarm on the frame, we decided to take everything out and paint the frame dark bronze. The black frame was kinda lost in the mix with all the black parts on the bike. We decided to get the frame painted matte dark bronze with a rough over spray finish, to give that industrial urban modern look to match the platinum composite that we have on the tank and seat. The bronze will add detail to the bike and will blend nicely with the other parts of the bike. This week we also put the engine together. We had the pistons punched out close to 850cc and slap some mild street cams. We also machined bronze bushings for the swing arm and will mount performance shocks. Ohh and we couldn't help it, we mount our own stainless 4 into 4 short shooters exhaust. Stay tuned!
Week 19: March 18 - March 26 2009 - 03/26/09
Had some free time last weekend, so we decided to work on the Trixie Special. We made an aluminum oil tank that will tuck inside the platinum silver composite tank. The oil tank has the threaded male fitting and will use an aluminum filler cap that matches the gas cap. The oil tank will approximately hold 2.5 quarts of oil, which i think is more than enough to help cool the engine. Like the original plan, to add detail to the engine, the oil will travel in copper lines. We just need to polish the oil tank and it's one less work in our long to do check list.
Finally was able to finish the fabrication work on the tank. Added the mounting brackets, apply the sealer inside the tank for the petrol side, mock-up the aluminum gas caps, and made the stainless tank strap. The only thing left to do is make the grill for the cooling vent for the oil tank and its off to the painter to get the Manx stripes and some BCR badges.
Stay tune! Next on the agenda is the new color for the frame.
Week 18: August -December 2008 - 12/31/08
It's been awhile since we worked on the trixie project bike. Just been busy here at the shop with customer orders. Anyway, update for this month would be the headlight, clip on bars, polished up the exhaust and the sexy tank.
When you look at the front of the bike, the first thing you notice would be the headlight. We were planning on just using the stock headlight and bucket, but that would be too easy. Like always we wanted to make something different. This bike is very special to us so we didn't want to just buy somebody else's headlight bucket, make the bracket for it, and call it custom made. Since there is really no deadline for this project, we decided to make our own headlight bucket. We wanted something simple, functional and will attract attention. For the headlight lense we opted to use Hella H4 with HID bulb. The headlight bucket and ring, we made it out of stainless steel. In designing the headlight bucket, we wanted it as if its built in into the fork covers plus we eliminated what ever is not needed like the headlight bracket and the housing for the lense. In mounting the bucket, we wanted it close to the tress as much as possible and not higher than the upper trees. Then after the bucket has been mounted we decided to have a cover at the back of the headlight to give a clean look. The cover in the pic is still in the works but it will be flush against the fork covers and headlight and it will cover the everything between the upper and lower trees. A look similar to HD's Fatboy.
Not really a big fan of clubman bars so we made our own clip ons and have the bars welded perpendicular to the forks. Having the bars perpendicular to the forks will give a clean uncluttered look. In our last entry, we just have the exhaust unpolished. So after some fine sanding, and high speed buffing, the stainless exhaust is buffed to a mirror chrome look to match the fork covers.
At first we were planning on using carbon fiber composite for the tank and seat. But using carbon fiber on tanks has already been used by other builders. We even made a couple of Carbon fiber tanks and seats for own customer. There is nothing wrong with using CF composites but we wanted something different so we decided to use platinum silver composite instead. We were planning on having a Norton Manx paint scheme anyway, so the platinum silver composite will fit perfectly with our plan. The fabrication of the tank and seat are all done. Right now it' s out to the painter to get the Norton Manx paint scheme.
Next on the agenda is the aluminum oil tank, grill for the air vent on the gas tank. seat upholstery and the old school stainless rear sets. Stay tuned.
Week 14-17: June - July 2008 - 07/31/08
After much deliberation with the BCR crew, we decided to change the set up of the wheels and tires, the finishing touches of the front end, clip-on set up and the exhaust set up as well.
We came up with a new look in the front end. We wanted the front end to have a clean, somewhat stream line look. So we decided to make a fork covers that would go all the way up to the upper trees. We got rid off the rubber gators and came out with a stainless fork covers where even the upper portion of the forks will be covered, and even a section of the lower trees. We are still using clip-ons but we are going to use stainless to match the front end. We stripped the powder coat on the lower tubes and upper trees, then polished it. Having the fork covers in this set up will make the front end give that bulky aggressive look that we want.
The front shouldered wheels we had on didn't look good. It didn't have the look that we wanted, so we changed the front to a 4.5 x 19" and slap some 110/90 we had originally. Then we got a 6.5 x 18 Excel aluminum rim for the rear, and slap a 160/60 tire. We could have just slapped some 16 Harley in the rear, but we want that big uniform look on the wheels.
The exhaust, we wanted it to stand out but not to take over the look of the whole bike. We wanted the exhaust to be short for a change, like Moto GP bikes. We decided to make it a 4 into 4 system so people we'll know we mean business. In making the 4 pea shooters, we used 18 gauge SS to save weight and we made the tips removable so we could repack the fiberglass in the future. The inside perforated pipe is 1 3/8" and opens up to 2" at the tip. It'll give a deep open sound at open throttle but will be quiet at idle.
We also we decided to take apart the engine again and get the cylinders bored out to 835cc. We are also changing the cams to a stage 1 street cams.
Week 12-13: December 2007 - March 2008 - 03/03/08
For the past 3 months, we've been busy lately with custom ordered parts, other BCR project bikes (el Poquito, lightning racer, etc), and coming up with new products, that the "trixie special" project was put on hold. We are still behind schedule from the customer orders and other projects, but spring is coming and we want this project up and running. That's why we are back on this project and hopefully things will be rolling (fingers crossed).
The Overall shape of the tank and seat.., well it's more organic, round, curvier, long and stretched but not long that it extends out to tires . Its more of a Nortonish, Egli-vincent look, than a boxy dunstall, CR look.
The tank and seat in the pics are just master mold. We finished the master mold for the tank and seat way before we got the frame powder coated. The master model mold is made of metal and smoothed with plastic body filler. Making the model is like making an actual tank and seat, except the functionality and internals are different. You are only after the external shape of the tank and seat when you make a master mold. Some builders starts off in making the master mold out of foam, but we opted to use metal. Foam tends to warp as the fiberglass mold dries. It's all because the resin use in making the fiberglass mold gets hot as the resin dries. If you have a warped model, you'll have a warped mold, and in effect the final product will have high or low spots.
We test fitted the master mold to see how it will look on to the bike and to see if there will be any clearance issues before we make the production mold and the product itself. We also checked how will the tank and seat be mounted. Plus fitting the model tank and seat on to the bike will somewhat give us the push that we need to finish this project. After seeing the profile, and looking at it at different angles, we are happy with the lines so now, off to make the tank and seat.
Now some backgrounds of the tank and seat and explanations how did we come up with the shape. The length of the tank, well its all because when we look at the bike from the side we want to see the engine to be in the center of the tank. Having the engine in the center of tank gives the engine a gem, center of attraction look. The height of the tank, its all because we wanted the top surface of the tank higher than the upper trees, giving the bike a dominating road racer look. Good example of the same tank height profile would be most Ducatis and Norton's Manx. Width of the tank, well we wanted to make it narrow than the engine so when you look at it from the front, the engine is bulging giving the bike a powerful muscle bike look. And the shape of the tank, its round and organic in front and tapered towards the back thanks to the aggressive knee cut outs. If you look at it from the top, it looks like a speeding comet with a long tail. If you look at the tank from the side looks like a bullet train w/ fading tail from the tremendous speed its doing.
The seat, we wanted to have a reverse effect of the tank, but we didnt want the seat to dominate tank. We just want the seat to follow the lines of the tank and somewhat support the look and have the lines flow. The edge of the seat where the seat pad will go, is rounded off similar to the "pinas 550" seat. The only differnce would be "trixie special" seat has a somewhat pulled back look where the front is straight but the back widens as the lines hits the tail hump. We based the shape of the tail hump from the arch of the knee cut outs of the tank. We wanted the seat the same arch as the knee cuts so when you look at the bike from the side, its balance and proportional.
The tank and seat will be in carbon fiber but we will add some stainless and aluminum details to give the bike an old school cafe look with somewhat modern minimalist look. The bottom contour of the seat will be wrapped around the lines of the frame, and will have space under the tail section for a tail light and electrical components. The tank will be secured with stainless strap, and will be divided into two tanks, one side for gas and one side for oil. To prevent the heat of the oil from travelling to the whole gas tank, we decided to make the oil tank a separate unit and have it tuck inside the gas tank with insulation. To cool down the oil, we decided to add an intake air scoop in the front right side of the gas tank, and finish it off with stainless grill. Not only will the air scoop be functional, it will also add detail to the tank and to the whole bike itself. We are happy with the sexy lines that the tank and seat will give the bike. So now, next on the agenda for this project build would be to make the actual carbon fiber tank and seat. To be continued.
Week 11: December 3-10 2007 - 12/11/07
Week 11 is all about making the aluminum panels to cover the underneath of the sub frame, mounting the controls, switches and grips. In making the panels to cover the sub frame, we used 16 gauge flat sheet aluminum with thin high density foam so the panels won't rub against the frame from the vibrations and secured them with stainless fasteners. We are using old style grand tourismo grips with soft center and secured them with stainless steel wires. I learned this technique from my MX years. Plus they add some detail to the grips.
Week 10: November 10 - 18 2007 - 11/19/07
Week 10 is all about front tires, controls, BCR's dual brake scoops and dilling the rotors. After getting the front wheel laced, we slapped on the 110 tire and got the bike standing on its front wheel. We decided to set up the front brakes with dual disc, and drilled both rotors to save some weight. We didnt want to go crazy with the holes and make it look cheesy, so we decided to just go with the simple 2 and 1 hole pattern. Less is best. Less holes means less work for us. We used AUTOCAD program to get the pattern, then transfered it to the rotors. We used a 3/8" drill bit, then tappered the holes to look cleaner and to add more detail. After drilling the holes, we got the center of the rotors powdercoated in black. We want a somewhat an all black look yet have detail. We even got our BCR brake scoop powder coated in black, but will use a stainless screen mesh so it'll highlight the shape of the brake scoop. We took apart the controls, engine chain tensioner and brake master cylinders and polished it until it gives a somewhat chrome look. Since the clip-on handle bar that we made were powder coated in black, we had to stripped a section to bare metal so the throttle tube would more freely.
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