GRABENRATTE the story so far.... Part 3

Now for the headlight fairing, I want to be able to use it as a luggage rack so will be making it out of strip steel.
First off a quick cardboard template to get the shape, I learned the value of making a cardboard template years ago when me and Adam made a bass-wall for my van, now I use them for all sorts of stuff:

Lovely, now I have the exact shape I want I can trace the outline onto card:

I now have a template to shape the steel. Copy each bend onto the steel:

Score each one with the grinder (the neighbours have f#cked off out):

With each one scored I add each bend with professional shape forming equipment:

JUSTLIKETHAT

With one side made I clamp it to the bike to have a quick look, just to make sure it does'nt look shitty.

After using the template to make another identical one, I attached them to the bike and welded on a few strips to form the luggage rack along with bits of aluminium cut from an old fridge to make the sides.

Right so in went the headlamp........or rather it didn't.
Turned out that the b#stard brackets I welded at the sides for the headlamp to bolt to were to close too the front of the cage. So whilst the complete lamp would indeed fit nicely and the holes would line up, because the front needed to be on the lamp BEFORE it went in you couldn't get inside it to tighten the side bolts onto the brackets. F#CK.
So what did I do? what do you think I did? the obvious thing of course........................

snapped off the brackets and fitted the headlamp with a bungee instead. Job done.

Ok with the headlight properly fitted it was on to the exhaust:
As you can see the original stuck out f#cking miles from the back of the bike, not only did it look f#cking horrible (the wrong kind of horrible) it was really loud, really really loud, really really f#ck off mental piss-take retard loud, really really really.......ah f#ck it......I think you get the point.

Time to shorten it down, right down, and quieten it the f#ck down too. Sadly there are no pictures of me making the exhaust as it was dark and none of them came out. B#llocks.

But basically I took the bit outlined in red (in the pic below) that used to be on the Scud a while back (it's a Z-Flow endcan that U.S. Ben helped me make from 4 bits of an old f#cked motad).

Text and pictures by Nate.