Seat and fender options ending with a question

[mainlinecoffee]

So I am in the process of making new fender struts to accomidate a rear fender that was old stock collecting rust and dust in the back of a Harley shop I like to loaf around at. The fender is the same width as stock but is too long so I am going to cut and roll the metal to shorten it. I was wondering though because the original fender struts were cut aprox four inches behind the shock mounts can I just stick a couple steel rods in the frame tubes and bracket them down? Also by the end of it I intend to throw on a 70s era jap king and queen seat,one of those big cushy duel level ones with a sissy bar to attach a gas can and a gun rack/flag pole,has anyone ever tried the k&q seat on a gz before? I did some poking around but couldn't find any info...thanks for reading and any brain jarring questions or helpful tips are greatly appreciated.

[jonathan180iq]

I'm not sure I follow your plan for attaching the rod as a shock support. Anything less than direct mounting to the frame will not be sufficient. If you make some sort of extension and attach them to that, the wear and tear and angular force places on that extension will most likely break it right off.

[Water Warrior 2]

Extending the frame tubes to mount and secure the new fender should work. I would want it to be very secure and strong to support the added weight of a passenger.
As for a king/queen seat.............no idea.

[mainlinecoffee]

The rod is a support for the rear fender not the shock,I don't think that would end well at all...Im headed to the local hardware store as soon as I find pants,wish me luck! Needs 3/4 od bar

[mainlinecoffee]

I think it should be plenty strong if the rods are welded in,I'm pretty sure if I file the ends down a mm or so I should be able to sink them 3 inches in to the frame. Than use L bar steel to tack to the tube and drill the fender mounts in it.

[Water Warrior 2]

What??? No Duct tape and zip ties??? :D

[mainlinecoffee]

Well there's this cool stuff called ridiculously strong repair wrap, you dunk it in water and it sets up like a cast. I attacked the demo with a pen knife and I couldn't break it...if I can't borrow a welder than I will wrap it within a inch of its life and hit it with a rattle can

[jonathan180iq]

For just a fender support you'll be fine. I thought you were talking about making your own shock mounts off of an extension. Yikes.

[mainlinecoffee]

Yeah that could be bad all around

[mainlinecoffee]

Here's what it's looking like

[mainlinecoffee]

Rear mount

[mainlinecoffee]

Front mount

[mainlinecoffee]

Final product pre weld and paint

[mainlinecoffee]

Why the hell do all my pictures end up floating?

[Water Warrior 2]

Looks like you got her done. What's the story with the coffee cup?

[mainlinecoffee]

It was a souvenir from holoween a year ago,went barhopping with friends and a couple went one as Captain Hook and the other as Peter Pan. People got drunk and feelings got hurt and I ended up running off with it at wafflehouse dodging a pissed off drag queen wielding a dinnerplate. Now it sits only pipe keeping snow and rain out. Do you like the fender? Does it look safe?

[Water Warrior 2]

Just a thought here. The front end of the fender appears to end where the seat starts. Is it possible to rotate the fender so the front end goes down further to offer more protection to other bike parts due to weather and stuff kicked up by the tire? If possible you might just rotate the fender so the rear holes in the fender will line up with the front bolts. I think it would give the bike a more finished look and save cutting off the rear of the fender.
I'm working from memory here so my idea may be all wet and there is lots of protection/shielding in the frame work at the front of the tire.

[jonathan180iq]

Tell me you aren't sitting on a piece of vibrating metal while you ride.

[Water Warrior 2]

Tell me you aren't sitting on a piece of vibrating metal while you ride.

The metal does say "sewage" so there is a relationship there. :lmao:
I would be leary of sharp edges though in a fast stop or mishap. Any temporary cover would be safer and undoubtedly more comfy.

[mainlinecoffee]

I tried to rotate but it cought the chain but I have a plan,Jonathan not any more!

[mainlinecoffee]

Almost done!

[Water Warrior 2]

Freaky, just plain freaky. Right out of the 60's. How many quarts of water will the exhaust pipe hold? :hehe:

[mainlinecoffee]

I'd say four quarts...still a lot to do with the sissy bar though. Also sometime last week one of my neighbors gifted me with a cut throttle cable so still trying to fix that.

[Goose51683]

Wow, where do you live? I never understood why people mess with other peoples stuff. I would be on the warpath if it was me though.

[mainlinecoffee]

We live in a "townhouse" community...really just a big apartment complex with a crummy pool and dusty weight room,mostly up and coming family's and mediocre drug dealers. I am fairly certain it is because I am openly gay and live with my boyfriend of two years. In the past year my truck has been broke in and 300 bucks worth of tools walked off than the day after thanksgiving someone kicked in the window on my boyfriends car stealing two bags of clothes and one single diet coke. Than my truck was vandalized and now my bike... The shitty part is the bedroom is on the far side of the parking lot and I am a very heavy sleeper. After my truck I put 40 bucks on the dashboard and sat in my kitchen window with a 12 gauge loaded with tungsten drill bits and wood screws for ten days...never caught anyone. I do have two neighbors that really hate me for no apparent reson though. Only a matter of time before I catch the sorry sack of shit.

[Water Warrior 2]

Good grief, put the gun away and move elsewhere. You shouldn't have to put up with that crap. You surely don't want to be sent to prison for the likes of an idiot if you loose your temper. Shoot with a camera. That is still fairly legal in most cases.

[mainlinecoffee]

Lease is up in a month thank god. I didn't even like the damn place that much and rent was too damn high even before my junkie ex roommate stuck me with all the bills... Truth be told I would love to ask them why. Why cause trouble? Got enough damn problems. On the up side I have wrenches to spin and angles to grind, Pot of coffee and a pack of smokes and look forward to another day.

[Goose51683]

Good god, my life looks damn right perky now. Worst I want to do is beat the hell out of the next snow man I see. Haha. Glad to hear you are getting the heck out of there though. WW's right, its not worth it. The short term satisfaction wouldnt be worth the long term consequences.

Not to mention it makes it hard to have anything nice in a place like that when you know the better it looks the bigger a target it is.

Best of luck finding a better place, not that finding an improvement should be hard at this point.

[mainlinecoffee]

I am shooting for just renting a house on a cut of land,still cheaper than where I am now... In other news I got the fender seat pipe and bar all welded up,I think it looks absolutely wonderful but I will let a jury of my peers decide. Il get some pics up ASAP

[Water Warrior 2]

Your lease is up............great. Moving is the best way to get away from trouble that you don't need.
Being openly Gay is likely the problem. Lots of folks can't handle the thought in their narrow minds. It is their loss, not yours. I know quite a few Gay folks and like them just the same as Straight folk.
One of the most memorable experiences in my life was as a guest at a Gay wedding. It was truly wonderful and a mix of Gays and Straights who were there for their 2 Male friends tying the knot.

[mainlinecoffee]

That's awesome; I hope to go to my first gay wedding this year. It's a bit of a mind fuck to think. Of the dynamics of it. My boyfriend Kyle is extremely effeminate and passive,he makes a good target and I can't help but to be very over protective in public. He catches a lot more funny looks or rude comments than me but where I am between avrage and very masculine I think people get offended to think that someone that seemed to be "one of them" creeped past the stereotype security,leaves People intimidated and confused. For the most part I figure what you think of me is none of my damn buisness but please watch your mouth in my company...I can't wait to move,we are going to try to set the next place up Eco neutral or close to it. Collecting and storing water/electricity great for toilets and dishwashers

[alantf]

I can commiserate about your sexual problems. I was married for twenty years. We had problems, but I always thought that I could work them out. Unfortunately not. After twenty years, I found out that I was the only one in the village that didn't know that she preferred women. Of course, it ended in divorce, but it would have been better for both of us if she'd come clean years before. Unfortunately she died eight years ago, but for me, twenty five years down the line, I still feel like I missed out on a happier life in my younger days. But in those days, nobody talked about it, or admitted to it.

[Water Warrior 2]

I can commiserate about your sexual problems. I was married for twenty years. We had problems, but I always thought that I could work them out. Unfortunately not. After twenty years, I found out that I was the only one in the village that didn't know that she preferred women. Of course, it ended in divorce, but it would have been better for both of us if she'd come clean years before. Unfortunately she died eight years ago, but for me, twenty five years down the line, I still feel like I missed out on a happier life in my younger days. But in those days, nobody talked about it, or admitted to it.
That situation kind of sucks for both people in a marriage. Your wife had to live a lie while you had a wife who didn't truly enjoy the company of a man. Real happiness would be hard to find in that situation.

[mainlinecoffee]

That's one thing that breaks my heart and I see too much of it in the community. The guys I'm hoping to see get merried had that trouble. One of them was with his wife for I think seven years,his ex wife finally caught on after realizing his shoe collection took up half there walk in closet...it's just not worth it. We only have one shot at this life and I see no reason to drag others in to a lie based on someone's standards of living.

[mainlinecoffee]

In other news here's a few shots of the set up pre paint

[mainlinecoffee]

And from the side. I have no idea how to flip these pics

[Goose51683]

That bike looks a lot like mine. The biggest similarity is the mass of white around the wheels.

[mainlinecoffee]

That sucks! Central ky got slammed yesterday,I can't wait for better days.

[jonathan180iq]

someone kicked in the window on my boyfriends car stealing two bags of clothes and one single diet coke.

Is it in bad taste to suggest that the person who stole two bags of men's clothing and a single diet coke probably didn't do so because they dislike like gay people...? ;)

People will do all kinds of shit to each other and find any excuse to belittle someone else because, internally, it's the only form of self worth that they can muster. If I can convince myself that you are beneath me, then my self confidence is boosted and I can walk around with a false sense of inflated worth. It's probably because their mommies (or daddies) didn't hug them enough as a child [ or whatever other bogus reason people want to use to excuse idiotic behavior as adults ] either way, nothing makes me more angry than blind ignorance and injustice.

Right now people in certain communities get up in arms about homosexuality. A couple of years ago it was all about the Arab terrorists, then the Hispanics, then the women and blacks, then the potato-loving Irish, then the French, then the loyalists, then the redskins...

YA know, if it wasn't for all these queers, wet backs, chinks, nigs, towel heads, broads, injuns, japs, and all the other heathens the world would be a better place!!!

http://www.slacktory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Almost-Politically-Correct-Redneck-or-normal.jpeg
'MERRICA!

[Water Warrior 2]

I can agree with your point Jonathan but it just may be that Ky is not the friendliest place to be openly Gay. Some areas just hang on to very strict ideas about the human race and any deviation is a bad thing.

The last line of your post reminds me of my Dad. He definitely had his opinions and prejudices. A lot of that rubbed off onto me. Spent half a lifetime getting over his influence. It was tough in many ways. Still asking myself what all the fuss was about.

[Water Warrior 2]

Mainline, How do your parents deal with your being Gay? Yeah, that is very personal but it may help others here to understand from your experience.

[mainlinecoffee]

The break in I totally agree with but the vandalism is another story. After my truck was broke in to I had it parked on the street and someone tried to key it up and tied a flag across the windshield. Not a American flag just a advertisement for open houses at the property. Fairly certain it's the creepy black guy across the street. For two months any time he herd my truck coming down the road he walked out on his porch to stare me down and I have caught him cat calling or whistling at my boyfriend a few times...I can't justify putting hands on the guy if that's all I have seen him do but I have seen this kind of thing before. I think this is the first time I have ever tried to do the right thing about a neighbor...got another one they lives a few buildings down that felt like calling Kyle a faggot but never had shit to say to me.

[mainlinecoffee]

Well I guess for a little background my parents are both hardworking middle class liberals with a taste for fine wine stank cheese and bicycling. I was sort of thrown out of the closet at 15 and they had more love for me than I did. Granted I had a lot of other problems at the time. To this day I can't really grasp the concept of being proud...proud to be gay or proud to be white Irish catholic black short tall or any of it...why would I feel proud to get the shit end of the stick in a game of genetic roulette? I am not ashamed of who I am but I don't see the point.

[mainlinecoffee]

Kentucky has improved but In the last year I have I countered probably 20 people that felt the need to express there outrage that two faggots felt the need to be eating at the same wafflehouse or shopping at the same mall. It makes my blood boil knowing that for every one I meet Kyle gets ten of them. For the most point I don't worry much but I have seen it turn violent a dozen times.

[jonathan180iq]

I can agree with your point Jonathan but it just may be that Ky is not the friendliest place to be openly Gay. Some areas just hang on to very strict ideas about the human race and any deviation is a bad thing.

The last line of your post reminds me of my Dad. He definitely had his opinions and prejudices. A lot of that rubbed off onto me. Spent half a lifetime getting over his influence. It was tough in many ways. Still asking myself what all the fuss was about.

Believe me I know... I'm from the South too and all of this Southern bigotry is just a byproduct of the closed communities and incestual social development that evolved from the onset due to the rural gap between fresh ideas and the darker aspects of religious institutions serving as the social hub of an area.

(I wrote my thesis on this and other parts of the societal influence that religion has played in the South East - It's available online if you're so inclined ;)

I'm slighter in stature and have been known to walk around downtown Daltonia without shoes on. I used to bicycle commute everywhere and I did a lot of drama and art growing up. I like to imitate people and I can portray a pretty mean gay man if I need to.

My buddy Mitchell and I were once walking and talking about politics and we passed this rather attractive female on the sidewalk. At the same time, an Uber-masculine redneck came to a stop to pull out from a parking lot, rolled his window down, made some comment objectifying the lady who had passed, didn't get a satisfactory objectifying response from us and then proceeded to throw an empty carton of cigarettes at us and suggest that we were "just a couple of faggots anyway." This isn't the same as being openly gay and persecuted for it, but I think it highlights the problem with people... This guy was grossly offended that were more respectful and he felt threatened in some way by this and blew up into rage mode for nothing at all.

I can't even fathom having to put up with type of shit on a regular basis. I don't know that I would be able to restrain myself from lighting some people of fire, you know, as a deterrent or whatever. ;)

I think like with anything, you just have to fall back on the best advice when it comes to adversity. Walk softly and carry a big stick. I think you probably do that in many respects. But there also comes a time when putting an end to something is as simple as walking over to the whistling asshole and letting him know that it won't happen again.

Difference circumstances, but I've been harassed before. Make it clear that it won't happen again to whoever the assailant is. Video record your external personal property and let the police and restraining orders deal with the idiots. Those a articles of society that I don't particularly care for. But when individuals cannot operate like adult human beings, then the use of such measures is why the exist in the first place.

[mainlinecoffee]

Lighting people on fire seems like a lot of trouble,I used to keep a zippo fuel tin full of unleaded for the occasion though. I prefer a chain through a garden hose with a padlock at the end for a big stick...I think you nailed it on the head though and I would love to read that thesis. I have always had a hard time dealing with people just on a human level. I feel like life would be much easier if there was a book titled "rational responses to every situation in life" problem is there are many that are human in name alone.

[Water Warrior 2]

Well I guess for a little background my parents are both hardworking middle class liberals with a taste for fine wine stank cheese and bicycling. I was sort of thrown out of the closet at 15 and they had more love for me than I did. Granted I had a lot of other problems at the time. To this day I can't really grasp the concept of being proud...proud to be gay or proud to be white Irish catholic black short tall or any of it...why would I feel proud to get the shit end of the stick in a game of genetic roulette? I am not ashamed of who I am but I don't see the point.

Genetic Roulette is just Natures way of showing another form of diversity in all life on this planet. Humans are not the only species to have gay members. Even Dolphins have gays in their species.
I am very lucky to live in a very accepting local. The fellow at Starbucks is gay and serves me tea. No big deal. A waitress down the road serves me dinner now and again. I don't care that she is gay, she is a real beauty to look at.
Lynda's second son is gay. It was his wedding that I attended. He and his mate have parted company lately but nothing due to being gay. Just being human like the rest of us. They have moved on and a divorce may be in their future. Sh*t happens. Do I care for them? You bet. They are both fine individuals and I get a heartfelt hug whenever I see them. It feels right to hug a person who is part of your life. Now if I could just hug the waitress down the road. :tup:

[Goose51683]

I've traveled a bit and have lived on both coasts, the midwest and the south, I've in blue states and red states and its true everywhere. There are assholes everywhere. I'm not gay, but I've been accused of it, which is usually when I turn around, stick my ass out and blow them a kiss, but anyways. The worlds full of assholes whose only goal is to beat someone else down to make them feel better.

I just try to remember for every prick in the world there are a dozen great people. Everyone concentrates on the jerks because they are loud, have big egos and little brains (and dicks too I'm sure), but I try to concentrate on those other ones, the ones that aren't boastful, and loud and full of themselves, and that goes for straight gay, black, white and purple.

[mainlinecoffee]

It's almost comical how in a civilized world we still mimic baboons throwing shit and showing our ass to try to impress the women.

[jonathan180iq]

It's almost comical how in a civilized world we still mimic baboons throwing shit and showing our ass to try to impress the women.

And men too... Our entire civilization can be broken down to the pursuit of companionship, domination, and sex; not necessarily in that order. Whether or not we prefer those things with men, women, chimps, dogs, or fish - we will spend a lot of time acting like baboons to achieve what we want.

[mainlinecoffee]

It has always made me wonder,are we predisposed to self destruct? From what I have seen it is in our nature to segregate and isolate. Are we really superior to animals because we were cursed with pride and ego? It looks like a handicap to me.

[mainlinecoffee]

Goose nailed it on the 12-1 norm to prick ratio,hard to get a accurate count because the one out of 13 won't shut the hell up and act right.

[Water Warrior 2]

Socrates, Plato and Aristotle likely mulled over the same questions. Future thinkers of great stature will still be stymied.

[jonathan180iq]

I think we are taught to segregate and isolate and because of that it has become the norm...

If 20 generations before yours found it easier to segregate, isolate, and then categorize people within that isolation, then the you generation doesn't really have any other social model to work from.

We come from the womb dependent on community and our prolonged survival is only possible because of the communities that we forged and developed, even with their shortcomings. Without all of the people around us, we would wither away and die...and yes that's true even of the most independent of us on here. At some point the individual reaches his limit and cannot surpass it without the assistance of those around him.

I don't remember the study off hand, but societies can have close knit kinship and bonding up to a point of about 15,000. After that, our ability to mentally process names and faces and differences among people drops off. It's a mechanical limit in our brains that keeps up from keeping things non-segregated and isolated after a certain point. But that limit doesn't mean that we are hard-wired for the divide that we have created over the eons.

(Maybe to a certain extent, yes. Me and my family come first in my desire feed, clothe, and protect them. And a different smelling group of humans walked into my backyard I would pick up sticks and rocks and keep them at bay for what I hold dear. That is a natural response that originates deep in the more primitive parts of the brain...like the medulla I think... I don't remember. Anyway, while that primitive instinct to isolate and segregate is there, we also have all of this prefrontal cortex that allows us to problem solve and slow down and limit our baser reactions by realizing that another group of humans means double the arms to do work and provide even more for our fledgling group of earth wanderers.)

TMI, I know. But this is sort of what I do, if you people haven't caught on after all these years ;)

[mainlinecoffee]

For some reason it makes me feel a lot better knowing there is a reason for our actions, the 15000 and community. But you struck a nerve on the prefrontal cortex, why have the ability but be persuaded. History teaches the dangers of the "others" the commies the Catholics the blacks the Jews etc...is it some bastardized fallout from our monkey ancestors to demonize anything that is not Intimately familiar? Or is there a predisposition with cultural influence?

[Water Warrior 2]

Might be that we get aggressive towards who/whatever we don't understand or know enough about. The general situation certainly keeps life interesting. Some times good, some times bad.

[jonathan180iq]

I think you can explain it, and even see it in action simply by looking at how people in certain communities vote in elections.

Not to ruffle people's feathers, as there are usually way to many emotional attachments associated with political parties and such, but people who grew up around more cultural and social diversity (ie; people in larger communities and in bigger cities) almost always predominantly vote democrat while people who live in more rural and closed off communities almost always predominantly vote republican.

(And yes, there are millions of people across the country who live in big cities that vote republican. But on the whole, you cannot find a major social center whose total vote tally doesn't swing democrat and is therefor considered to be more liberal.)

[C'mon Jon. This seems off topic]

Why have the ability to be persuaded? Because our base reactions aren't thought out at all. They are primitive instinctual responses that keep even higher life forms from developing into something more...I mean aside from certain mechanical limitations and a few more million years of evolutionary development maybe... anyway, if we weren't able to see that maybe instantly killing off anything that wasn't exactly like us out of fear was a bad thing then we never would have left the plains of Africa. (However, I suppose you could argue that some of the migrations out of Africa and the subsequent communities and changes in skin color (which we fight over now) were somewhat driven by the very separations and isolations that we are discussing. Like, the splitting and migration from one clan to another area isn't always determined by a lack of resources in the area. Sometimes communal differences spring up and people want to be with people who agree with them instead of always bickering. Shit, how many churches in your local community used to be part of another church? Isn't that same concept true of, like, everything? Where did the Baptists originate? Where did the Protestants come from? From where did the Catholics come? Which faith did Jesus prescribe to? Which religions influenced the Hebrews? Were the Babylonians or Egyptians ever monotheists? How many cultural influences went into making those empires? Where did all those people come from?

You know as late as Middle Ages Europe the old Greek and Roman practice of having lieges was still practiced? Anyone from the knightly class and up could take on boys and young men from the lower classes as their helpers/servants/chamber guests in order to give them a higher standing as they grew up. It's not like the pop-culture concept of utopian gallantry either. It was common practice for these boys to please their masters sexually, usually via fellatio though there are records of anal sex.

I'm kind of all over the place right now and I think I've lost my original point...

In a nutshell, yes. It is some "bastardized fall out of our 'ape' ancestors to demonize anything that is not intimately familiar." It's a leftover of a more primitive way of dealing with things. We remove rational thought and rely more on gut instinct. If the people who were demonizing you would individually break down their actions and try and understand why they are demonizing another living being, then it would quickly breakdown. But doing so requires some effort, which people generally don't like to deal with, and it also requires admitting that there is some flaw in ourselves which, again, isn't something that people generally are used to doing. It's much easier to hate something if you don't internalize it's humanity and empathize with it's existence...

This is why there is war. If you can mentally separate the THEM from the US, then it's easier on our consciousness when their bodies lay bleeding before us...

Thus is the story of people... hahaha

[Goose51683]

Long story short, we all suck. At least on the site here everyone seems to be pretty decent, and it they are not we ban them pretty quickly haha.

[jonathan180iq]

Long story short, we all suck.

Just disregard what I said. This covers it.

[mainlinecoffee]

Ever need to re read a statement to fully take it In? By brain is buzzing off this tangent.

[jonathan180iq]

Yeah, it's difficult to keep a single stream going with ADHD

[Water Warrior 2]

:lmao::lmao: