Doing a thing, part 2

Two layers of resin and chop, each vacuum bagged. Bulk sanded with 60 grit to take off the high spots and then another coat of resin. Already very close. Tomorrow I should be able to finish it flat with 60 and then clean it up with 220. Have to figure out what to do with the back, it is just silly looking with it wide open. Probably close up the opening with plastic and then fiberglass/body fill it smooth. Once the carbon is fully done I'm going to mask off the arch and paint it to match the tank before clearcoating the whole thing.

PXL_20250723_011134946.jpg
 
I generally take on new projects because I want the opportunity to learn. What I've learned from this is that I'm not going to do it again. Every time I think I'm getting close to done I wind up sanding through the chop and have to add more and then resand. Very close now, but quite sick of this whole adventure.

PXL_20250727_225040887.jpg
PXL_20250727_225044960.jpg

On a different topic, I did a quick & dirty print of the dash. Pretty sure I will move it to this new location, gives me the option of making a low profile cowling like the vitpilen show bike. Next step is to take the mount apart and make sure the wiring will reach the next location. If it does I'll hack off the top part of the dash mount and use it as the anchor point of the cowling.

PXL_20250728_022333154.jpg
PXL_20250728_022344869.jpg
 
Looks very good!!
But do you even need the printed base?
Maybe some aluminum clamps/brackets to clamp the dash to the handlebars without an additional printed base will also work?

S9f803a68295342f695bf46d48f6d090ex.webp

Sd90cdbc3f86749039055ef5c2f3a794fs.webp
 
Sorry, that post wasn't clear. The print was just a copy of the dash to show what it would look like and how much room I would have. I haven't looked at attaching it at all because I don't know where the plug is in the back. Handlebar mounts would be the easiest for sure or I could machine up something that replaces the top of the stock handlebar mounts with a flat area for mounting.
 
I'm planning the exact same thing for when i have some spare time. I'm most interested in what you come up with / come across!

Great work so far by the way!
 
Last edited:
Finally done, sanded flat to 400 grit. Saturday is supposed to be stellar here with low humidity so I'm planning on painting that morning. Front fender pieces are good now as well. Arch on this piece gets the burgundy paint and the the whole thing gets gloss clear. I have until then to figure out the back; I think I'm just going to plastic weld in some blanks to fill the opening in the back of the arch and then clean it up with bondo.


PXL_20250730_161748941.jpg
 
Love your tinkering, you look at something and say, ‘no I do not want it looking like that’ then you make it how you want it to be. Very inspiring, keep up the good work👍
 
Back of the unit filled in. Underside of the arch and vertical inset section will be black, outside vertical section will be body color along with the top of the arch.
PXL_20250802_175328321.jpg

Masked off the arch and laid down a 2k clear over the rest of it. Some of it will get sanded off, but I wanted a line where the clear stopped so that when I do the body color on the back there won't be a step in the paint when I do the final clear. I got pretty excited when I saw the gloss so I threw on some pinstripe that is close to body color and stuck it on the bike. It is going to look good...

PXL_20250802_190751387.jpg
PXL_20250802_190821581.jpg
PXL_20250802_190811889.jpg
 
Ok, fine. So when you get carbon parts made by professionals they look better than the homemade stuff :)

But to be perfectly honest I'm not really a fan of the size of chop they used, I like my smaller stuff better.

PXL_20250811_214652129.jpg
 
Agree, the smaller flakes look better.
It seems some manufacturers use them / it's a webfind; no idea what manufacturer it is.

250812_06.jpg
 
Someone skinned that photo that Tom found, that isn't 'real' forged carbon, you can see the plastic in the mounting holes. I may wind up doing this as well. I also reached out to motocomposites to see if I can get the same parts with a smaller chop size.

@Dhd12 I got the parts from motocomposites out of Canada. Just go to their site and look up carbon parts for a Duke 790. Then you have to select forged carbon at the bottom. Adds 25% to the price and about six weeks because it is custom made. Based on what they say to me about getting them in a smaller chop size I may be selling what I have at a very large discount compared to ordering new...
 
Here a pic of the back of the hugger; it's layered forged carbon and twill carbon.

250812_08.jpg
 
You do have strong google fu. Where is that pic from? I cannot find any custom maker that doesn't use the large ~13mm chop size for forged carbon.
 
toast449 said:
Someone skinned that photo that Tom found, that isn't 'real' forged carbon, you can see the plastic in the mounting holes. I may wind up doing this as well. I also reached out to motocomposites to see if I can get the same parts with a smaller chop size.

@Dhd12 I got the parts from motocomposites out of Canada. Just go to their site and look up carbon parts for a Duke 790. Then you have to select forged carbon at the bottom. Adds 25% to the price and about six weeks because it is custom made. Based on what they say to me about getting them in a smaller chop size I may be selling what I have at a very large discount compared to ordering new...
Click to expand...
@toast449, thanks for the heads up. Sadly I think the Import duties and tax in Spain will make buying for Canada very expensive. Will have a look tho
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom