Hello fellow owners!

Hey everyone, Great site, i cant believe i didnt stumbl;e upon it sooner. Here's a little story to warm you're heart. When at the tender age of 18 i graduated from high school 4 years ago, i set to work on one of my life's ambitions, to own a motorcycle. After months of slugging away working at Canadian tire by day and pizza hut by night, I finally had enough saved up. The first bike I ever rode was a 650 midnight maxim. I remeber describing to everyone the sensation was akin to riding a bicycle but feeling like the bike was beeing pulled out from under you as you shot foreward. I was sold and that very bike i bought shortly thereafter, i enjoyed it for a year or two with the typical XJ wiring problems every so often getting in the way, then when i twas time to go to university, I garaged it at my mom's house. One winter when it was getting particulalry lengthy between riding seasons, i thought it might be fun to change some things, try my hadn at bike customization. the first attempt was disasterous as i attempted to build a "future bike" with a fiberglass front. The project bombed and i was left with an unsellable piece of junk. Or so i thought. After a year of storage, i took to the bike onece again havign just sold another one i purchased last year. A little welding and glass, and i had a really cool frame for super cheap. thus the bike evolved into a sort of rat, and little by little begins it's ascent to something much better than when I started. if you want to view some more pics, check them out in the gallery under "ion's bike" (ion is what my circle of accuaintances commonly referred to me as, but that's a whole other story) I'll proabaly have included by the time you're done reading this some more pics of the failed previous project and some cool plans in the making. Drop a line and let me know what you think. I know we're all going to get along just fine.

-The ION

 

Dear Sir, how could you possibly say you had an unsellable piece of junk? They both look awsome! Your explorations are priceless! I would have scored your "futuristic" in heartbeat! Your frame mod hanger is neat on it's own merits as well. I hope to see more when it your done. Do you still have the reminents of the first project? Woo... the back of my neck is tingling at the thought. Your skills are enviable ION, I'm CERTAIN you will fit in here very nicely. All the best!

 

Oh my goodness...here I am pulling my turn signals off and thinking I may be able to get my own Discovery Channel show and you call these unsellable pieces of junk?

I'd buy both, but couldn't afford what they're worth.

Nice freakin' job, Ian.

Regards,
Furyus

 

Very nice design aspirations, Ian. Not sure what you were or are studying in school, but I can almost envision an ION bike on the road. Too bad the name is already taken on a car.

There is a lot to be said for stock and custom styles - I like 'em both. My first car was a '67 Cutlass 442. I swear one day I'll replace the one I lost. But if I had ugly amounts of money, I'll have one that's completely stock, and one that's completely customized. <sigh>

Keep up the ambitions. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Z

 

Thanks for the generous support thus far. To answer a few comments, the futuristic bike is NOT for sale, mainly b/c it and the "hangar frame mod" one are the same bike. There's a pic in my gallery detailing how the fibreglass cover was supposed to be, however the shaft drive was causing some problems, not allowing the rear wheel/susp. as much of an angle as i wanted, that's where the hard tail came into play, said shaft drive worked best when perpendicular to the ground, so thats where it went. Also in school, im studying to be an Certified chartered accountant(yea booooring i know, but talk about job security). And i have given some thought to making bikes as a side job, today i'll post some of my other designs in the gallery, they were created in a program called rhino3d. let me know what you think of them. I recall coming across the three wheeled cars you refered to either when looking for help with fibreglassing, they are called "tri-magnums" and are done by having a mototrcycle(generally touring bikes) frame minus the front forks weilded to the front of a vw beetle framerails, then full fibreglass bodies on top. The original purpose was to make very fuel efficient vehicles focusing on aerodynamics. And plans ahve been avaliable for their construction since the late 70's. If someone's looking for an endless project, this is a good place to start. Speaking of endless projects, spent all day today trying to piece together the electrical system and that b*stard bike still won't turn over. The electrical system was gutted b/c all the wiring was real ugly after 20some years. It's a big puzzle to put it all together and get it to work minimalistically. Now there's a discovery channel moment. All that's needed now is the deadline to get 'er done by tomorrow.
Once more thanks for the wonderful support, and be sure to check out my new gallery(although few of the bikes are based around xj's they could be easily modified to do so).

 

Wiring harnesses are not a big issue if you have a little training. I highly recommend Introduction to Basic Electronics by Mr. Forest Mims available through Radio Shack. I hope I got the name of the book right, but the author I am certain of. Radio Shack can order it for you and it runs about $15 USD. You can conquer the wiring gremelins yourself if you've the time and can take pictures and post. If you would like, I build wiring harnesses for aircraft and can really fix it up, but I can't do a custom without the vehicle it is going on as a pattern for laying out the wires. I have all the correct crimpers and dies to create a new harness and love to build them. Your Hanger is a custom of some considerable extent and I'm doubtful I could get the harness to fit nicely without the beast to work with. I'll whip it into shape if you care to throw some plane tickets at me! I do house calls to any exotic locals! Never been north and would love to see it. Don't throw the old harness away, it has potential. I'm collecting retired harnesses to fix up good/new ones. Hope you have better luck tomorrow.

 

question for you Rob(or anyone else), how important is the "Pick Up coil" it is conected to the ignitor unit by green orange and black wires. i think i may have lost it. also if anyone has a pic of it that would also be most helpful. Also the bike is pretty much the same as a standard xj650 from the back of the engine up as far as size goes. i'll be posting my electrical problems in the tech area from this point on as not to piss on the admin and the site's organiziation.

 

Just to answer your question ION (I will look for your further adventures on the XJ Chat forum), the pick up coils are as important as can be! I'm not certain how to answer the question as you mention that you may have lost the wires? What does that mean exactly? Do you believe they are non functional or they are not physically there? ??? Details or a picture would be nice. You coil ohmage should be 700-650 ohms through the coil. I'll be looking for your next post.