My Bobber Project

[guilleand]

My 650 Nighthawk, more pics to come.

[JB1290]

I like it. What else do you have planned for it?

[guilleand]

A little problem with my piston bearing

[guilleand]

Battery box, under swing arm

[guilleand]

Regulator and Spark unit.

[guilleand]

more pics.

[JB1290]

Very cool. Looking forward to.seeing more progress. Are you rebuilding the entire engine or just replacing one rod and piston/ring set?

[guilleand]

I just replacing the rod bearing in my #3 piston.

[JB1290]

I like how you did the "drop seat" rear section of the frame. Did you do all your own fabrication?

Also, I like the idea of the shock under the seat but if I could make one suggestion, the seat you are using looks to be pretty small. You may want to use a bit larger solo seat as you will have a larger area to disperse your weight.   

 Just my .02 cents worth.

[guilleand]

Thanks for the suggestion, the seat is temporary and yes I'm doing it my self the fabrication and any suggestion is more than welcome Thanks.

[Option13]

Apparently the #3 bearing on the 650's is much more prone to failure than the others. Anyone have a running tally on how many of these failures have been posted on the forum of late? 3? 4?

What kind of front forks are you running, and am I correct in saying that those look to be the stock triple trees?

[geemann]

Looks great, very clean!  I am actually surprised how well the stock crome exhaust looks.  Sometimes bobber it overly synonymous with rat styling, so I dig the shiney/chrome accents that you integrated/kept.

opt13 beat me to the question; Are those the stock 650 forks? The front rotors look huge! (I prefer the drilled/perforated look to rotors.)

cheers,
-g

[ariwhiteboy]

I like it so far, the headlight looks really cool. Where did you source it?

I guess with a hard tail it won't be as much of an issue, but with the battery box under the frame you should probably avoid speed bumps.

[fortyhourdays]

Apparently the #3 bearing on the 650's is much more prone to failure than the others. Anyone have a running tally on how many of these failures have been posted on the forum of late? 3? 4?

What kind of front forks are you running, and am I correct in saying that those look to be the stock triple trees?

Looks good  That's pretty interesting about your no.3 connecting rod.  I had the same bearing go bad, and picked up a parts bike that had the same bearing go bad.  Also another forum member, meatface is currently rebuilding his 650 because the same bearing went bad.  Looks like yours makes 4 so far now that we've seen in the last few months.  I documented my rebuild here.
http://nighthawk-forums.com/index.php/topic,9091.0.html
Were you able to find the replacement bearing you needed?  I ended up having to buy a new crankshaft too since my connecting rod had worn the journal out of round.

[jerjohn]

I like the square tubing. Overall a great looking bobber

[guilleand]

Project in progress

[JB1290]

That is one of the coolest custom NH's I've seen as of late. You did a great job with your hardtail fabrication. I really like the way you have the front end set up with the larger diameter brake rotors and the headlight really gives the front end a real hot rod look to it. Nice work. I'd like to see something like that with a late model CBR front end with the inverted forks on it.

By the way, I really like the slate driveway you have going on there too. I know...kind of a random observation. 

[AmericanClassic]

Any plans for a rear fender? I think it looks great without, but it wouldnt be fun to ride near sprinklers, let alone in the rain.

[coffee_brake]

Open intake, will you be opening up the exhaust as well?

Seems that motor won't last long without some kind of air filter...it looks like you have room to fab up a workable, good-looking intake of some kind.

[ariwhiteboy]

Oh that's  !

[guilleand]

Thank you every bobby, trying to do my best especially with my English; no fenders for now, I think it looks good without it, already tested in the rain is crazy and fun.
cv carburetors, these is a little challenge with the intake, I'm doing some modifications to make them work, definitely need some restriction of air to operate properly and yes a filter.

[flynavyj]

considering how narrow the nighthawk engine is, it looks massive under that peanut tank!!! Even still, the more bobbers i see the more difficulty i have in not bobbing my NH...Thanks for making my decisions even more difficult...again! Awesome looking bike.

[Option13]

considering how narrow the nighthawk engine is, it looks massive under that peanut tank!!! Even still, the more bobbers i see the more difficulty i have in not bobbing my NH...Thanks for making my decisions even more difficult...again! Awesome looking bike.

I can definitely appreciate the work someone puts in, but I'll never understand the fascination with eliminating the suspension and otherwise making the bike less capable.

[flynavyj]

I can understand your point Option. I guess from one standpoint, i like the nighthawk a sport cruiser, but the factory styling doesn't really do a WHOLE lot for me...they're not bad looking bikes, but aren't great looking (to me) at least. Bobbers are a different look all together, and they do give up much of their factory sport abilities...personally, i already have a motorcycle that has more sport in it than i can safely delve into. If bobbing the nighthawk would make me run slower around the twisties or over uneven pavement then that's not all to big of a deal to me...If i was planning to use the NH as a daily rider, and comfort + motorcycle ability was going to be a key element then i'd probably stick to what she's got also.

[muttstang]

I think what would be cool for a filter would be a pair of manifolds that open out to the side.  then you put a cone filter sticking out on each side getting nice clean air.