Well,

The "man" has clearly put a lot of effort and hard work into producing the bike that he wants. The styling details might not be to everyone's taste, but's the whole point of "one-offs" - the owner builds what he or she wants, not what anyone else thinks they should do.

It is very different from my take on the M2 - about as different as you can get:


And I got a few negative comments about building that too.

Until and unless you have actually build a heavily modified bike, it is hard to explain all of the challenges you face. Grafting on new front ends etc is not so hard - its the hours and hours that go into the fine detail that kill you. OK, you need mirrors - exactly which out of the many thousand available will you fit? [I chose the 1996, Japanese only model, RGV 250 VJ23 - after about 100 hours of research!]

Making up even the smallest and most insignificant bracket - and getting it right - takes a lot of time and often a couple of (never-mentioned) failed attempts. You also need to know the limits of your own ability. The belly pan on mine ended up being cut into four separate pieces and "reglassed" back together just to make it fit right - I paid a man to do that because I know what a mess I would have made of it.

Also, you never get it all right first time. With mine (and as shown in the pic above) we tried to save money by using the clip-ons that came with the front end. Big mistake - turning circle of an oil tanker. One set of Gilles vario-bars and a lot of re-working of the original design and I ended up with something that actually works.

I'm sure this won't be anything like the final incarnation of the "man's" bike - it will remain a work in progress for a good few years yet. But fair play to him - he took a Buell, turned it into what he wanted from a bike and he'll probably keep it on the road for a long time after many other Buells have been scrapped.

Just my view,

Dave

Very true

I do like that, Dave. What's the yellow thingy?

_________________
Better to Burn Out Than Fade Away

In the garage -

2001 X1
KTM390 Duke
Ducati 950 Monster +
CCM Spitfire Scrambler

That just looks amazing.

_________________
Bob Krzeszkiewicz
2012 XR1200X - 2011 Kawasaki Z1000SX - 1999 Buell X1

look good
yellow thing looks like a disc lock

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Buell Ulysses XB12X 06/08

DFS - That is stonkin bodywork. The seat looks a bit padded but that will be good for hunners of miles. Would love to see it 360 degrees. Your experiences on customising are well felt. e.g. The new side stand bracket took all evening but satisfying when fabricated, fitted and working. This bike is 65% Buell , the rest Ducati stuff off ebay. I don't do concourse rebuilds.

TopGumm....Yes, exhaust original until mot and next wave of funds/ideas. The twin beams look a bit goofy in pics but actually look a bit better in real life. The original headlamp was rusted and scabby and the replacement was an ebay special with beams, brackets, indicators all wired up for £99. The original internal h/l harness plugged in nice.

Chain...Anyone want to buy a belt ? Always had chain conversions on my evo sportys....and this is not doing thousands of miles so I don't care how smooth a belt is. Essentially...I bought an old dog near to the knackers yard. Have never really fancied the Nike "tick" of the rear seat on a cyclone but this was ( to buy ) as cheap as chips and it is back on the road. Full story here https://www.flickr.com/photos/buellcati/

Really enjoyed the pictures

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Today my pet mouse Elvis died ..................He was caught in a trap
There are two types of people in this world, those that can extrapolate

Nicely saved

You've certainly made that your own , I suppose it's fuck all to do with what anybody else thinks as long as it make you smile when you ride it ....enjoy.

chain is a bit iffy for road use though.

Not fitted mine yet

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Last year I joined a group for anti-social people
We haven't met yet.

All,

Not wishing to hijack the "man's" thread, yes the yellow thing is a disk-lock. It hangs from a bracket attached to the front sprocket cover when not being used as a lock - safer than carrying it in a backpack or similar.

The seat in the pic was just a temporary item, used for shake-down rides etc whilst a more "in keeping with the look" seat was being made by Scott Lloyd - much flatter and with a "bum stop pad" on the rear.

Bodywork is by Airtech (Air-Tech Streamlining) in the US. Its designed to fit an S1 rather than a M2 - hense all the cutting and remodelling to get it to fit. I'll post up some 360 degree pics shortly.

As it happens, I went to Whiteways cafe on Sunday - a local motorcyclist hangout. There was a Police rider there, just "taking in the view" and within 30 seconds of takling my liod off, he made a bee line for me. "Oh no, here we go again" I thought: yet another round of "is that legal" / "are those mods declared to the insurer" etc etc.

His opening comment was "That sounded lovely as you rode in". A very pleasent conversation ensued, mainly around the idea that as youi can't get away with 140++ these days, you may as well have fun at leagl(ish) speeds.

His parting comment was "You do know that your front indicators are too close together, don't you" (but said in such a way that it was clear he really did not care).

I only mention this because the OP might just attract more attention than he really wants - it goes with the territory.

Back to the OP - noone will ever look at your sidestand bracket and say "wow - that's amazing". You will be the only person who knows how much effort went in to making it.

This was the moss (and cow dung encrusted) POS I started with (after it had been given a thorough clean):



Battery and electrics moved, cooling fan in place (I know that face!):



OMG - I paid how much for that, and we've got to make a motorcycle out of it:


Dave