Building a Bobber.

[Gravy]

I've always wondered what's up with cruisers and bobber and the like,

shooooooo, I picked up somebody's project.

It's a 1985 Yamaha Virago XV700. Runs fantastic, looks like a garbage can. Perfect.

Now I'm no TK1, but I figure if I spend enough time on prep- my paint can perhaps not look like complete amateur hour.

 

[Gravy]

Almost all the chrome was pitted and scratched, so I pulled it all off and painted it semi-gloss black.


Strippppppped





Got a new rear tire because this one is starting to dry rot....

 

[Gravy]

Got new grips and an oil and filter change.

The paint on the tank was scratched and chipped and oxidized and flaking. So I stripped it and got it ready in primer.

 

[frieed]

Are you sure it isn't a 750. I had an 85 750 Virago for a while but sold it because it was uncomfortable to ride. Seemed to small for me and my legs would cramp.

 

[glockman]

Looking good. This gives my bad thoughts.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[Gravy]

Taped out my design in primer.



Painted the detail first in Gloss Smoke Grey.

Then applied the design (in tape) and painted the whole deal Semi-gloss black.





I wasn't as pleased with the paint as I'd like

The tape line wasn't perfect.




So I went back and wet sanded to 1500 then re taped



and resprayed the black and taped and resprayed the grey.





[video=youtube_share;IX-SUk02ET0]https://youtu.be/IX-SUk02ET0[/video]

Wet sanded down to 2500 and sprayed 6 coats of Semi-gloss clear.



Wet sanded my clear coat out to 3000.



I think it turned out pretty good, for my first automotive grade paint job all by myself

(I've painted various other low quality jobs and helped paint my old Orange YJ I built for my wife and helped paint an XJ) but nothing of this caliber without someone looking over my shoulder.







This was a little intimidating for me so I really spent a lot of time on prep and sanding. This took about 4 days.

What do you guys think?

 

[spaggyroe]

I think it looks great. Nice work.
I ride a bobber myself. I love old school styled bikes but choppers never did it for me.
Looking forward to watching your build.

 

[mbryson]

Does anyone else read this title as "boober" or do I need to "chat" with my wife?

 

[Hickey]

Does anyone else read this title as "boober" or do I need to "chat" with my wife?

That just means male menopause hasn't set in for you yet.

 

[Gravy]

Are you sure it isn't a 750. I had an 85 750 Virago for a while but sold it because it was uncomfortable to ride. Seemed to small for me and my legs would cramp.

You had me second guessing myself, so I went outside and looked . It says 699cm^2 on the cylinder Is it possible they label it a 750? I don't know.

Edit from Wiki: "The bike was redesigned in 1984, switching from a rear mono-shock to a dual-shock design, and adding a tear-drop shaped gas tank. That year, Harley-Davidson, fearful of the inroads in the US market made by the Virago and other new Japanese cruiser-style motorcycles, pushed for a tariff on imported bikes over 700 cc.[1][2] Yamaha replaced the 750 cc engine with a 699 cc version to avoid the tariff."

With the seat low, angled bar mounts, and bars rolled back out there's still plenty of room. If someone bigger than me wanted to ride it, they could swap to flat bars or straight bar mounts.

 

[frieed]

If my fuzzy memory serves, I bought mine in May '84 but it was cheap because it was one of the last 83's they had around, so that explains it.
Nice build regardless of the displacement!

 

[Gravy]

So the space between the seat and tank looked ugly and empty.

So I took some sheet metal and hammer formed a piece to cover it. I took a metal working class at SLCC a few years ago and our teacher was this fantastic older gentleman who was an amazing metal worker. He taught me how to work metal with a bag and forming hammer. It was rewarding to have the skill come back relatively quickly.\



Currently painting it.

 

[Gravy]

Ok. So I need Sssssommme rear fender. I ride bikes, not just look at them so I'm probably not going to make it a hard tail or completely no fender.
I rode with a backpack and felt nervous.

So I got a rear fender off of eBay.

I need some opinions.
VOTE PLEASE

#1 Stock. This is ugly. Don't vote for this.


#2 Bobbed. I can cut more of this. There's a sharpie line where I would cut. (Note this is sitting on a block of wood on the tire. (3" below the mount) To get it this low, I'd have to fab a mount off the swing arm).


This is how high it sits bolted to the stock mounts.


#3 Rear half of the fender. I can get this pretty low to the tire.


Also, found a sticker, this particular set of pipes is a Raven Exhaust system. It sounds great. It's surprisingly quiet.

 

[idahoyj]

3 looks good from the side

 

[Corban_White]

#3.

 

[Deleted member 12904]

I don't really care for any of them. Just suck it up cut the back half of the frame off and hardtail

 

[Gravy]

I don't really care for any of them. Just suck it up cut the back half of the frame off and hardtail

Well it won't jump as well with no suspension...

But it will look cool!

 

[Gravy]

Cleaned up and painted the rear shocks with a flexible epoxy paint especially for springs.
Had one blown out bushing, so I dug through my pile of 4x4 shocks and found a rubber bushing that fit... sometimes it pays to keep junk around... at least that's what I tell my wife.....

 

[Gravy]

More tin work to cover the battery box. It didn't come with the stock plastic covers- and I dislike them: they're all bubbly looking.



This narrows up the bodywork significantly.








I filled all the holes in the rear fender, body worked it, primed and painted the strip at the bottom Smoke Grey then taped off my pinstripe.



and here they are in final paint before wet sand and clear.



I was on the fence about the pinstripe, but I think it will help visually separate the black tire from the black fender.`

 

[Tonkaman]

Wow that looks great [emoji106]