• NOTICE: Starting March 24th, we've shifted to a mandatory user Account upgrade (donation) to post here. Once you've created an account, see the SITE SUPPORT section at the bottom on how to upgrade. This is to help try and cover site costs, and reduce redundant and argumentative posts. Search and read before staring a new thread, most topics are well covered here. We still require ONE post in the Intro section (bottom of the main Forum section list) to introduce yourself: NO QUESTIONS THERE - THEY WILL BE DELETED. Small $ donations via our link above will not be considered. Also to NOTE, the owner of this website lost his home in the LA Wildfire storm in January; See the USA section for more details. Your consideration and understanding on use of this site is expected. It's NOT a free social media platform - decades of time and personal money are invested. We have a zero tolerance policy on attacks. Do NOT write us direct and ask questions unrelated to the Forum, we do not offer Tech support direct, they will be deleted.

Mindis V7-850 Mods

scottmastrocinque said:
Madge says “You need to soak your hands in Palmolive and find a new manicurist!”. 😆😆😆
Click to expand...
LOL These are my working hands, they're the only ones I got. They got cuts, oils, sawdust, getting smacked with hammer, nailed, skinned knuckles, they can build virtually anything from nothing, are rough af, but the nickname "magic hands Mindi" is not because of all that;)
Pic is from 2ish weeks ago, 3in framing nail. Pulled it out, slapped on a bandaid, carry on. I just had to skip the ride that day LOL

 
Lucky that missed the bone.
At one point a few years ago after a run of hand injuries, including severing flexor tendon on my pinky I went to my Dr with another injury. He said there's no point in another tetanus shot as I was full up with the stuff 😂
 
Mindis said:
LOL These are my working hands, they're the only ones I got. They got cuts, oils, sawdust, getting smacked with hammer, nailed, skinned knuckles, they can build virtually anything from nothing, are rough af, but the nickname "magic hands Mindi" is not because of all that;)
Pic is from 2ish weeks ago, 3in framing nail. Pulled it out, slapped on a bandaid, carry on. I just had to skip the ride that day LOL

Click to expand...

nailed-it.webp
 
Episode #457. Cheap Amazon saddlebags. Since they're not symmetrical, one bag's overlapping part stays pressed by the wind, and the other lifts like a parachute until magnet clips give up and it starts flopping in the wind. Zippers still holds my sandwiches and coffee thermos so I just cut them off. I can easily adapt any bags to my rack and I'll get something better eventually but that'll do for this summer.



 
DeadEye said:
You’ve got the sewing machine from when you did the seat could you « adjust » them …
Click to expand...
I sure can, but I'm not willing to put time and effort to this. Those saddlebags are not there to look good, they're there just to serve the purpose, which they do as they are. So, meh, that'll do...
scottmastrocinque said:
How are the wheel covers working?
Click to expand...
So far so good👍 I'm keep on checking them but all looks good. Not warped, not loose, no shifting, they're on solid. The other day it was windy as hell and I sure felt that wind on my rear wheel LOL
 
Well, insurance on my bike is out this Sunday, weather turns crap for the winter, it's time to park Rosetta for more mods till spring. I was planning to get out one more time to my favorite twisties but we're just after a little storm and there's already bunch of wet leaves and pine needles on the road, so I called my riding season closed...

@DeadEye thought I might be done with my mods but fear not my friends, I'll keep yas entertained through the whole winter! LOL
To keep the suspense going, like a trailer for movie, I'll share my plans for this winter's mods:)
1. Rear brakes. No, I'm still not happy with my rear brakes... I plan turn my rear calipers backwards on the axle until bleeding nipple faces upwards, or at least level, and make a torque arm for it. Then I'm thinking of relocating my ABS unit under the gearbox. This way highest point for rear brakes will be caliper's bleeding nipple, and front brakes have no such issue anyway. I'll replace all the lines with stainless steel braded ones. I'm aware that it will increase the length of front brake lines and that the front might become spongy, I'm prepared to do the front with solid lines all the way to the tripples and have short braded line from solid to front's master.
2. Exhaust. I like loud pipes but zippin at 140-160kmh for half a day with nearly straight pipes is a bit much...LOL I'll be making a manual cut-out system to my existing mufflers so I can restrict when I want to.
3. Windscreen. I'll be making a quick attachable windscreen onto existing headlight bucket for longer rides, it'll be more function than form this time:)
4. As a part of me wanting to tour more, I'll be building a one-wheel-pull-behind lightweight trailer. I have all the parts needed already except mild steel tubing. I'll start a separate thread on that build once I have something to show.

And there's few other things on my mind if I have time for them. Mainly cosmetic so not important. Somebody needs to invent 72 hours in a day, I've more projects than that LOL
 
Episode #550. Rotating rear calipers.
Ideally for torque arm to be most effective, caliper's arm should be at 90deg to it, ish:



But this way bleeding nipple still facing down a bit, what defeats the purpose of this mod. It wouldn't be that bad, considering that it's upside down originally LOL

With bleeding nipple facing upwards a tad, caliper's arm becomes at ~130deg in relation to torque arm's mounting point. That would escalate a lot of pull on torque arm when braking:



Last option is my favorite so far but it would cost me a lot of weight....



Caliper hides behind my number plate bracket, bleeding nipple is plenty upwards, but caliper's arm (just clearing the bottom of the axle) is nearly in the line with torque arm's mounting point. What means that torque arm's job of push/pull becomes to bend... And because it would not be in a straight line, there would be a lot of extra pull on it as well. I could weld a really solid I-beam like bracket that would be touching swingarm right under the axle to use it as a leverage point. That's my idea so far but I'll have to brew on it for a while. I'll leave it sitting for a bit and do some more brainstorming:)
 
Since I parked her for the winter she's sitting stripped naked and my mods progressing slowly...
When I changed my mind and got rid of my DIY center stand, I never fixed that whatcamacallit frame brace bar. I just welded a bracket for kickstand to suit my preferred position and just left second bar that was added for center stand. After some beers I realized that if I finally fix it, than my ABS unit can be pushed back a bit and will end up underneath the back of the gearbox. That will give me more space for brake lines and it will be further away from engine/sump. Here's what it looked like before:



Since I knew the space I could work with, I welded a box where ABS unit will sit. The unit will be mounted through 2 rubber grommets to the box, and the box itself will be mounted through 2 more rubber grommets.







After I knew ABS unit's place, I could measure and order stainless steel braded brake lines. And here's my parts powdercoated:



Torque arm is ready and powdercoated as well:





That thing is beefy.... It' a whole kilo!!! Damn!!! To my American friends, 1kg is equivalent to 2 Taylor Swift's morning poops.
I welded it from 3/8 mild steel, U shape, wider section where it rams at the bottom of my axle, both ends reinforced. It looks and feels like it's overkill, but I have no way of telling what I can get away with by making it lighter. There's gonna be a lot of torque trying to bend it so I just have to quit crying about weight and play safe. I was happy winning the battle of unsprang mass with my lighter tire, but now I'm back to where it was, ish, maybe a tiny bit to my loss LOL
Anyway, when it's on the bike it doesn't look heavy, or beefy, or visually evasive:

 
Before I start ABS and brake lines assembly under my gearbox, I gotta sort out wire extension. Lots of pin holes in that connector but there's only 9 wires:





Splicing into original wiring is a bit sketchy but I'm going with that. I don't think I'll find that specific connector to make an extension, male and female. And even if I would, it'd cost a small fortune, and I'm not stoked on having extra bulky connectors anyway...
Once I opened up insulation, I noticed that 2 pairs of wires are twisted together. From my previous FPV drones hobby I know that by twisting ground wire with signal wire, interference get shielded by that ground wire. I don't know whether ABS gets commands via Sbus or Canbus, or whatever, one of them magical signals that I don't understand where it looks like it works on fairy dust or smth. Or maybe them 2 pairs of wires are twisted purely for identification. Either way I replicate the twisting when making extension just to be safe.
 
ABS wiring cut, no turning back LOL I got the same gauge wire as original but it has thicker insulation so my extension loom became a bit thick. From underneath the gearbox it goes up to battery area, air filter, and under the tank:





After rear caliper was in place for good, I started mounting brake lines. That caliper with it's torque arm visually disappears behind my number plate bracket:





Front brake lines ends under the tank on the right:



Since ABS relocation, rear brake lines got shorter about 6ft combined, ish. At the same time front brake lines increased in same 6ft length. The longer the lines, the more the chance of "spongier" brakes, so from where my braided lines ends I'll be running solid 3/16 brake lines. My local Lordco didn't have nickel copper stuff so I ordered some and have to wait till after Xmas. I did not want to use stainless steel because they're a nightmare to bend and route and way too solid. Even for that reason I mounted my ABS through 2+2 rubber grommets, I still want some form of flex not to be affected by vibrations. Pure copper lines doesn't have my trust either...

And while tinkering I had one of my "squirrel!!!" moments. I got annoyed at my valve cover bolts that get surface rust constantly so I quenched them with dirty oil :)

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top