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Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
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Author:  flak monkey [Sun Dec 27, 2015 8:38 pm ]
Post subject:  Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
What's in a name?
Black Rose - this is inspired by Sophie Lancaster (http://www.sophielancasterfoundation.com/) something close to my heart in many ways. Unlike the last bike, I'll be doing my own paint on this one. I've got a head full of designs and ideas for this one. Subtle all the way... :thumbup:





I always said I'd build another, simpler, bike at some point. Something more down to earth and usable than the last one. I didn't plan on it being quite so soon, as I've got quite a few other projects on the go as it is. But, life's for living and all that.

So when having a chat with Briz one day turned to talking about projects it was almost inevitable something would happen.

The Buell engine is from a 2003 XB9 and it was originally intended (back in 2012/13) to use it as the basis of the next Bonneville race bike with a supercharger fitted. But that never happened and Salt Flash was born as a result.

But that Buell engine sat there, just waiting for something to be done with it. Briz made a softail frame for it to complement the Sportster engined one he already offers, seemed like the sensible thing to do. The Buell engine shares a lot with the sportster, but it's actually also quite different in the way it mounts in the frame.

I like it, subtly different. To the untrained eye it's another sportster, but look a bit closer and there's a few Buell logos, giving away the fact this is a bit more potent than it's HD cousin...

So, here it is:
30 deg rake CCD Buell Softail frame, 2003 XB9 lump, 49mm Dyna forks and CCD billet yokes. Buell rear wheel, Honda Blackbird front wheel. Suzuki Hyabusa 6 pot up front should provide enough stopping power. Large sportster tank.

First thing is to get that gas tank sitting nicely, needs dropping about 1" at the back.

The plan:
A simple, functional bike on a sensible budget. Something you can jump on and ride. Something that gets a move on, goes round corners and stops properly.


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Decided to attack that fuel tank first. Really I ought to have concentrated on bars and a side stand, but that would have been too practical. :D

I cut the original tunnel out and made a new one to fit in allowing the back of the tank to drop down just over 1". To be honest most people probably wouldn't even notice, but it looks much better to me. It doesn't look like it's perched on top of the frame now and the top of the tank is at the same angle as the top tube of the frame, which helps too.

Took me most of an afternoon to do this. Spoiled the paint on the tank :lol:

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Picked up a Triumph Daytona side stand for £5 and cut it down to suit. Like these as they are aluminium and pretty cool. I just need to weld a new 'foot' to it.

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Decided to go with a swing arm mounted rear fender on this one. Bought a trailer one for a few quid and set about modifying it. Still a load more to do but I need to get it roughly the right shape and fitted before I strengthen it up.

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I decided that I should really get a belt before finalising the rear fender fitment so decided to get the oil cooler and reg/rec fitted.

The oil cooler is from the 2012 Weslake Bonneville bike and fits nicely between the front cylinder and the frame. The Buell reg/rec is considerably different to the usual HD one - mounts differently and it's a bit bigger.

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I borrowed a 136t belt to finish the set up of the rear fender. The fender is growing on me, but is going to need some reinforcement

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Got the left hand peg mount done in an hour or so...

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Made up mounting bosses and spacers for the rear fender then strengthened it up. After that started making the housing for the rear light. It's going to be a combined brake, tail and indicator unit, that I'll fashion from acrylic and LED's. It's not going to pass SVA as the minimum indicator spacing is 180mm, and I don't have the width to do that here. I'll fit temporary ones for the SVA.

I still need to strengthen it slightly and tidy the fabrication up, but it's more or less there.

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Back to the footpeg and pulley cover. Cut one from a piece of plate, machined up a pivot/peg mount. The master cylinder will mount on the lower section behind the peg. I'll also be adding some more protection for the belt as well. Then I'll trim the shape up some more and make it look a bit nicer....

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Finished the structure of the rear fender as well - welded some round bar along the edges to both stiffen it up and make it look nicer. Next thing is finish beating the rear light aperture into the final shape and then make the rear light.

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Thought I'd have a look and see what of the original Buell loom I could use. The fuel injection section came out fairly easily.

This is the fuel injection stuff
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And the rats nest of what's left
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Made a back plate for the fuse box, and welded some studs to the battery cradle to support it. Found a 6 way fuse box in a box of electrical stuff, will need some mini relay holders to fit the necessary relays. I toyed with the idea of using a Brainbox, but they are quite expensive and I'm trying to keep this a reasonably budget oriented build.

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With that sorted I thought I'd get the coil mounted. This is the standard Buell coil, played around with where to mount it. Was thinking about hiding it up, but then thought I'd go with the simple option...

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Spent a day messing around making a poxy headlight bracket.... Not sure why it took so long.. I ended up making a jig to build it on, and then transferred it to the bike. It's part of the reason being fussy means everything takes 5x longer than it should.

And after all that, I'm not even sure I like the lights or not. But they are growing on me, looking better in the flesh than the pics to be honest.

The plan is to mount the digi dash above the lights, and then make a small infill/fairing to cover all the cables and hoses.

Anyway, pics.

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This is a perfect example of why my builds take so long, little machined bosses for the clutch cable mounting.

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Dropped the frame off for powdercoating and then picked it up a couple of days later. Then put all the bits back on it.

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Then I started off with the intention of stripping and painting the engine. It was a bit of an unknown, so I thought it would be a good idea to give it an internal inspection... :lol:

I got it stripped down and masked up only to find the paint I was planning to use wouldn't spray properly... So the plan to have the engine black has changed... it's staying silver and black.

Anyway, mechanically it all checks out, no measurable wear on anything. I took the opportunity to drill and tap the holes in the head for the breathers as well. The Buell normally uses breathers in the rocker box covers, which I'll block off.

So I put it all back together.

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Got the engine off the bench and back into the frame. Got it all bolted in, then thought I'd better sort the clutch mechanism out. Should have put it together before I put the primary cover on. Doh! Ended up having to undo most of the bolts again and jacking the engine up so I could get the cover off as the chain adjuster bolt wouldn't clear the frame. Solved that by cutting 1/2" off the length of the adjuster! Can now just about be removed and refitted with the engine bolted in the frame.

I also found out I need to get a primary cover gasket, the one in the gasket kit was the wrong shape.

I also sorted the rear brake hose out, just need to connect it up the other end once the master cylinder has been mounted.

Spent most of the rest of the day formulating a plan on what order to attack the rest of the build.

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Author:  chevy-stu [Mon Dec 28, 2015 12:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
Blimey, you do like to keep yourself busy don't you... :D :clap:

Looks fab, and looking forward to more project pics..
I'm not to clued up on bikes, so not sure the difference between HD and Buell, but do know they're related...
Author:  flak monkey [Mon Dec 28, 2015 5:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
I can't be without something to do. I still have the Camaro to sort out as well. Hopefully the bike will be done soon then I can concentrate on the car again before the summer gets here...

A bit more progress made today. I have run out of Argon though which put a stop to progress completely. With any luck the local place will be open in the morning so I can go an get some...

Anyway, first job this morning was to machine up a few little bits. Blanking plugs for the old breathers in the heads and then some collars for the ends of the exhaust. I used an offcut of 1 1/2" SCH40 stainless pipe (which is actually 1 7/8" OD and 1 1/2" bore) and just bored it out to take the 1 3/4" OD tube for the exhaust. Then I welded that to 2 short stubs so I could put it back up in the lathe and machine the end up so I will seal on the gasket.

The result is something that looked like this

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After that I spent the rest of the day cutting and tacking bends together to make something resembling an exhaust. The lowest section runs parallel to the frame and the intention is to make a 2-1 collector just under the footpeg and then a short 2 1/2" section with a turn out on the end. Probably work a bit of a baffle in there as well just to keep it somewhat sociable...

I was also mindful of loosing too much ground clearance, hence why the pipes sit offset to each other.

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I just need some more argon so I can get these fully welded before progressing any further, gives me chance to work out any distortion in the final section.
Author:  firebird68 [Mon Dec 28, 2015 6:21 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
Another really nice project, that is going to be great for the summer .
Liked the previous bike, I tend towards the Big Twin motors ( personal taste ) but have owned 2 sportster bikes, a '66 xlch Ironhead rigid chop ( looked cool but was temperamental as hell ! ) and an early EVo 1200 Sportster which was mostly stock apart from some extensive engine upgrades by the former owner who was in the US Navy and brought it to England when he was posted here .
I like the attention to detail like with the gas tank, it would not look right with the rear section above the frame like that . A lot of work to get it looking right but that is what sets the good stuff above the average :thumbup:
If the time ever comes for selling my Softail to get a cheaper bike I would go for an EVo Sportser as the can be picked up relatively cheaply and with a frame and a few custom parts look and ride great .
Look forward to seeing your Buell finished 8-)
Author:  flak monkey [Tue Dec 29, 2015 5:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
Thanks :) Will be good to get this finished off and out of the way. Not much more to do, just time consuming little jobs.

My old big twin was good, but a handful and not that useable. The idea with this one is to have something that can just be jumped on and ridden at any time.

Finished the exhaust today, to be honest by the time I'd been to get some gas and then got stuck in it took me all day. So, it's taken 2 full days but I am really pleased with how it's turned out. I really ought to consider polishing it up now, but I really hate that job.

First job was fully weld the pipes from yesterday, thankfully minimal distortion and filler wire needed. So worth getting all of the joints really tight. Refitted it all then set about making the collector from two 45deg bends. Chopped through and welded together. Then worked out where the end bend needed to be, flattened the end, marked round it and cut the end off the collector so it matched up. Once the end was cut off I could get inside to just fuse the 2 pieces together where it's impossible to weld them from the outside.

I made a sleeve from another offcut of 1 1/2" SCH40 pipe so that I didn't have to try and manhandle the whole exhaust on and off in one piece. That means I can have a clamped joint on the front pipe, which is pretty much hidden anyway.

So here's the end result. Just a support bracket to make for the rear of it and it can be polished.

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Last quick job of the day was mounting the digital dash to the headlight bracket. This little thing has all of the functions and warning lights you need in it. Nice and tidy. I just need to make the deflector/shroud thing to cover the back of it - I have a vision in my head, but can't explain it.

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Author:  firebird68 [Tue Dec 29, 2015 6:02 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
That exhaust is a true work of art :clap:
The thing I love about your work is you always go the extra mile to get the details right, instead of doing a half-assed job and throwing it together like so many seem to do ... :thumbdown:
Was looking over the pics again and the frame really stands out as top quality , also like the way you hid the fork tops inside the top yoke 8-)
I think Harley have a gap in the range- a softail custom style Sportster just like you are building ...
but if they built a model like that it could hurt the sales of the expensive Big Twin range, so maybe they know what they are doing after all .
Author:  flak monkey [Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Black Rose - Buell Softail - Sophie Lancaster Tribute
Thanks :) I try my best :lol:

Been wiring up today - not much to show for it, but I have put it all back together. Really need to get the primer and filler out this week

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