you amazingly awesome humans must be drowning in words “bobbing” up and down If you care to enjoy the videos showing this bike rather than reading thousands of words feel free to do so. you know that old saying about a picture and a thousand words…
full overview video with parts list etc (aka months of my build put into minutes)
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wheels & tires: the savage comes with an incredibly small rear tire and this makes for an incredibly fun bike to slide around parking lots and do rolling burnouts so I was able to avoid a wheel swap and powder coat the original hubs/spokes/nipples/drum gloss black and wrap them with a set of Dunlops
Engine: the engine had under 10k on it and I was able to get away with a quick valve check.
intake/fuel delivery: after a bit of carb tuning and changing the pilot jet the bike really barked with the stock air system, I opted to ceramic coat the exhaust with a high heat coating and the exhaust shields got the same burnt bronze cerakote as many other parts on the bike.
controls/bars: the hand controls have been ceramic coated also with the same burnt bronze cerakote, the hand controls are all supported by a pair of taper ADV bars and those are mounted to the pro taper overside bar clamps. the throttle body was replaced for an MX style aluminum throttle body and tube, the cables have been replaced with motion pro cables and the rear brake/shift levers have been ceramic coated with burnt bronze also.
drivetrain/gearing/suspension: swapped from belt to x ring rivet chain and a slightly longer gear ratio was applied by altering the rear sprocket size vs stock pulley(hoping this will increase my rear tire life slightly). I added piggyback style nitrogen shocks and tuned to be pretty stiff to support my stupid shenanigans and speaking of shenanigans the shock saver /frame slider things are made with a replaceable outer layer and a steel bung threaded over the shock stud.
Front end:
I ended up deciding the bikes stock ride height was really close to where I felt things looked best The front end was overly soft so stock springs would not do, I made up. set of aluminum spacers for the forks lifting them about an inch these stiffened the front end significantly after sorting all of that out I was able to ceramic coat the fork lowers burnt bronze and add a heavier fluid. at the top of my forks sit the stock triple trees that I removed all of the cast marks from and then ceramic coated burnt bronze, the headlight was powder coated black and the outer ring was ceramic coated burnt bronze and finally, I replaced the bulb with an incredibly durable LED. the front brake line was replaced with a modern steel braided line and the front brake master cylinder was replaced with a modern MX style cylinder.
Middle section: apart from ceramic coating burnt bronze details on the engine and exhaust covers I also lowered the rear seat mounting points to accommodate for the skateboard fender. All of the electrical components are mounted in a custom made box below the seat.
Rear-end: the rear end was chopped to accommodate to the skateboard fender. I figured it had to have the classic side-mount for the license plate and brake light so this is mounted on the rear axle and wire tucked behind the rear shock, the bracket and light housing have been powder coated black.
lights, all lighting was replaced with LED lights the turn indicators are wrapped around the shock reservoirs on the rear and also function as running lights and the front turn indicators are recessed below the upper fork clamp projecting light outward and also double as running lights, the headlight was also replaced with an LED unit
paint/coatings
the high durability coatings are the main emphasis of this bike, it was really a test of how much ceramic coating I could use on a motorcycle and how much graphic work I could achieve with the cerakote and stencils, the fender and tank have a matching black ceramic coating with 3 brunt bronze stripes down the center, at the base of the tank is a crying statue of liberty graphic, this was planned before all the COVID 19 craziness but as I went on with the build and the news about NYC having such a horrible pandemic was on tv this tank graphic felt more and more relevant, the back of the front fender has graphics from the companies who helped make this thing happen.