I needed a rack for the bike to hold the saddlebags, as well as supply a way to mount the rear fender to the bike. The closest thing I've found is a rack from an old military Triumph TRW, and it's about as easy finding one as it is pulling a rabbit out of a hat. So I went down to my local firestick store, got the acetylene and oygen tanks filled, grabbed some tubing and a little firestick rod, and went at it. Got a good rough start happening, first I took some measurements and played with locating funky bends. I cut a few pieces to length, then the firestick was used to bend the tubing to about where I needed it bent. A few tack welds were done, giving me the thing you see here.
A few words of inspiration for those who are going, "Golly, I wish I could do that!" Well, buddy, you can. See, my current welding skills would have resulted in the Exxon Valdez incident looking like a spilled cup of coffee compared to the damage I would have wrought if I were working on an oil pipeline.
Notice the use of the word "current". I still have a lot to get re-acquainted with in the world of using the firestick, but that doesn't bother me. My welds look like shit today, but with a little...er.....lots of practice, they won't. Before another weld gets done on the rack, I'm going to cut several little itty bitty pieces of tubing, and spend some time getting it together and making things look and hold together nicely. Yep, I'm gonna' PRACTICE doing it right until I can, THEN I'll go gonzo on the actual rack.
Not just the rack, but tabs for holding the exhaust and other little goodies to the bike will need to be made. The brackets I'll have to make to attach the Lycett seat to the frame will give me lots of practice using the firestick to make clean bends, and I'll even make one of those groovy bolt on sidestand bases out of some seriously thick metal. Yep, Ogg has practice to do, but Ogg will make lots of things with firestick!!!
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