The Beginning

Since I like to design and build things in my garage, I figured a blog would be an ideal way for me to chronicle my projects.

I work predominately in steel and aluminum, and the type fabrication that I do is called metalshaping. Metalshaping is the technique of shrinking and stretching sheetmetal (steel, aluminum, copper etc) to achieve compound curves. An example of a compound curve is a bowl.

Because I have an interest / passion for motorcycles, especially vintage / classic Japanese bikes, you will find that a few of my projects will be centered around them. I have one motorcycle that I will be building up into a Cafe Racer inspired bike.

This won't be my first motorcycle build though, my first build was this 1978 Yamaha XS650 Chopper.



For that build I fabricated all the major motorcycle components. So that includes, the gas tank, fender, electrical box, exhaust system (header and muffler). The frame on the original motorcycle was chopped (swing arm and shocks removed) and in its place a hardtail section was added.

XS650 Cafe Racer
For this motorcycle build I will again be starting with a Yamaha XS650. It isn't a complete motorcycle, it is as an amalgamation of a couple of bikes really. Wheels and frontend from a 1974 XS650, and the frame and engine from a 1980 XS650.


The plan for this bike is to fabricate, the gas tank, seat cowl, front fender and other assorted bits and pieces. Here are some pics of the gas tank and seat cowl that I designed in SolidWorks.