At long last, FabOneUp and I have gotten to work on our Terras. We wanted to start posting on Monday but computer issues have delayed. Better late than never. It was a two day drive for me to meet up with FabOneUp (hereinafter known as Fab) and while in the area I had Woodys in Denver lace up some new Excell rims with superlacing, and had Big D Motorsports reflash all the computer gear on my bike. But that's now why we are here..... I had a little KOA time while getting schedules coordinated with Fab. Nice spot in Fountain, CO, just south of Colorado Springs. Fab gave me his address and I wound my way up into the mountains just below Pikes Peak. Beautiful up here! Arriving at the appropriate address, I find my way to his shop. Hmm, what's behind this door?
Here's my first clue. I think these belong inside not outside, but Fab was just making room for our elbows. 'Got my bike unloade and into the shop along with Fab's black Terra. How cool is that! First project is the side stands! They are just too short as I have lamented many times. Time to fix that! Pulled them off and preparing for some surgery! These need to be about 3/4" longer the way I see it, so we go for it. Need a bigger foot too for the soft stuff. Fab has ideas though; no plain old round foot pad for him, oh no! I, on the other hand, am happy with the simple version. Here they are. I initally just sectioned my stand tube and welded a pad onto the bottom of the existing pad. It was a boat anchor!! You'll see why in a moment. Here is Fab's plate on the bike. You wanna know why the Terra weighs a ton? Take a look at the side stand tube wall thickness. It's not just in the stand, but elsewhere too. I'll show you. I build my 630 stands from much thinner Chromoly tube, which is plenty stong in a thinner gage. Here is a pic showing the two tubes. I cut off my stand just below the wire foot loop and had Fab TIG weld the new tube on, as he did on his stand too. Now there is much less weight out there at the end of the stand. My lengthened stand on the bike. Next up, luggage racks for Wolfman saddle bags. I already have two sets for my other dual sports, and Fab pony'd up for a brand new set of waterproof models. I love this gear and it has proven up for me. Normally the racks for the Wolfman bags connect to the exhaust hanger, but on this bike that is a very tight space, and from what I can feel, that bracket isn't really all that thick. I have a feeling that Husky hard bags will hang off the luggage rack mounts, so that's the way we went. How to do it? Break out your hand lathe and turn some mounting lugs. First bore a hole in the round stock, then turn the end down to fit into the luggage rack socket. That is number one. Three more to go. I set the bottom length at 15/16" to clear the plastic, and the top just a little more the the diameter of our rack tube to allow for welding. When mounted up, all is well below the seat height. That was about it for our first day and evening work. The day was done, all the lights were out, but I forgot my shaving kit in the truck. So, I stumbled outside and felt my way to the truck in the pitch black. Hmm, something is walking down the road, and the dogs are all going nuts. Must be a neighbor out for a walk. About half way back to the house Fab comes out and sez "is that you Ken?". Affirmative. Fab: expletive deleted - we've got bears that don't know when to hibernate! Hmmmm, what was that out in the road just a few feet away? Next morning I looked in the snow alonside the road and it looked like elk tracks to me, not a bear, but maybe it was a blackie walking down the center and not in the snow. Oh well, I didn't become dinner anyway. More to come. I have to get back to finishing up my racks!
Great post ken, really diggin' this window of shop time you two conjured up. I think the side stand incision provides surgical proof the Chinese have too much steel on hand! Can't seem to erase fantasies of Terra motor sitting in a KTM trellis rolling chassis. Yet still something to be said for the really planted feel of this frame on terra firma. Anyhow, exciting stuff here.....keep it up!
This is what the lugs look like on the bike, dry fit. The diameter where they fit into the luggage rack is 16mm if anyone is interested, and they bolt up solid! Fab and I took slightly different directions on the loops. He made his own with an integral front strut, where I purchased the finished bare loops from Berg at Backroad Moto. We both decided to mount the front strut to a bracket bolted to the passenger foot peg mounts, again, in a slightly different way. Fabs test fit of his loops. Fab decided to cut the end of the passenger peg mount off beyond what he wanted to use, and will install another threaded boss like the stock one, so each mount would have two threaded bosses. Take a look at these steel sections! Man that's some heavy steel! We have a tubing bender and here it is in action. A tubing notcher is handy too! The finished notch. I spaced and adjusted my loops on one side and held everything in place with tape. Ugly! But it will get better. In retrospect, I could have moved the loops in a little closer, I was thinking a 1 1/2" space to the muffler was good seeing as how hot they get. I would probably make it just one inch in a do-over. I also elected to let the loops follow the line of the muffler instead of letting them be parallel with the centerline of the bike. Fab did the latter, and both look good to me. My loop bolted on just from the top.
This is how Fab's loop looks on the left side of the bike. These things should be strong! Test fit of the bags. Today we are working on completing rear rack loops. Fab's will be permanent, welded on, while I will use a spare from my TE630. When I went to a single exhaust I had Berg make up a custom loop and right side rack so I could move that side closer to the bike, but I digress. Time is running short; just today and tomorrow for me. I also want to make a mount for my chain guide and completer wings for the Motorsportz skid plate. Fab is going to concentrate on building a skid plate/radiator guard system using tube. Wish I had another week to work with him! Updates tonight as available. Racks should be painted by then.
I hope our suppliers come thru soon, especially for radiator guard bars. There is just not enough time for me to make them on this trip. I'm sure that Wolfman will have racks for this bike, but don't know when. Neither Fab nor I could wait as trips are planned and we had to have them. The side stand extension is a bit of an experiment as I would not normally want two different wall thicknesses just but welded. I've used a sleeve in the past, but can't do it here. It's all TIG welded though, so the weld is probably stronger than the tube itself. I hoisted the bike on the stand and rear wheel briefly yesterday to lift the front wheel, and it didn't come crashing down on me. So far so good.
the mind boggles at how many US trucks and refrigerators went into making that frame! You got some real handsome looking carrier frames there gentlemen. Curious wether you've had a discussion regards auxiliary fuel? Thanks for all the great pix!!
For aux fuel I think we both intend to make a tail rack mount to carry a Rotopax. I just need to cut some plate and drill the appropriate holes. The Rotopax plate i have has cut-outs in just the wrong place to be useable. One extra gallon will carry me anywhere I want to go, and get me home when I go to Death Valley next month. Long miles out there!
Looking super good! I'm cooking some more popcorn.... And starting a List here and now....who wants a Fab-Rack? Sound out: I'm #1 HF
There will only be one in existence and its mine!...Back off man!. Ken has one pretty close though. Pics tonight of both installed. Roto Pax next. I can't wait to get it on the bike....c'mon paint, dry already!
Sounds good, i will look forward to that installment, as i will the final installment of both your finished racks. Great productive time, you must be stoked! Especially once the bags are on and loaded!
The journey continues! These are my racks mounted with the cross-bar fitted. The back of our cross bars come up right into the rear fender "notch", and may accidentally help support the fender! And Fab's rack, a one-piece very strong affair. I'm kinda jealous.... Here are some details on our forward rack mounts This is Fab's two-boss setup. I just bolted thru the existing tubes with a fender washer on the back. Paint is on and drying in front of the stove (it's COLD outside). We think they look great!
Coming up are wings on the skid plate. This is just a rough tape up to look at angles and plate shape. 'Haven't decided on final details yet, but this would at least protect from stones, etc., tossed by the front wheel.
