Navigation Tower for XR rally bike

Skidmarks and I have been talking about building a nav tower for the XR. Another guy from the UK also asked me to build him one while I was at it. So, I'm making his first (practice) before making one for Mark and myself. Thsi is what they look like when completed...


Mark will be using a different type of light, so his will be quite a bit different. More on that later. The UK guy will have this same set.

First step was to go out and buy some big assed hunks of alloy, Type 6061 in this case...



I'm using the terms alloy / aluminum rather than ally / aluminium as I'm an American, dammit.

I already make the curved parts that go inside of the steering head and about 1/2 done on the outside part...then I broke a bit as I was rushing things. So, ordered new bits that should be here soon.  They'll look like this when completed..


The bigger part is either welded to the bike's frame like this...


or else bolted on. We're going with bolts in this case.

Bolted to the frame mount will be this part...




I cut a outline on it so it will press fit into the rectangular aluminum tube. Very snug fit. I'll then mill out a valley along the joint line and then weld these two pieces together....

On the other end of the solid block will be the rectangular aluminum, I milled a 1" wide slot so it will slip over the part that is bolted to the frame...

So when stacked together, it should be in this order...



I've yet to cut the longest piece of stock down - it'll be cut on the black line.

Next, I'll drill and tap the attachment bolt holes and then work on taking some weight out of the parts by milling excess material away.

More as it happens....

quality job

Mad Frosty wrote:quality job

Thanks!

I kinda stole the idea from a post on ADVRider where the guy had a part machined out of a single chunk of AL...




I liked the idea of a single piece rather than a bunch of pieces bolted together to achieve the same shape. But the machine time on that and the price of the AL proved to be cost prohibitive for mark and the UK guy. SO I did the next best thing.. mating the two pieces and welding them into one.

Some of the towers for professional competitors get rather elaborate....


But we're going to keep things small & tidy for now. Something like this one...


It'll be a vast improvement over what the UK guy is using currently on his XR...


and we'll stack the lights rather than have them side by side.

In for win sauce.
Please provide price estimate at your convenience.

Crown Imperial wrote:In for win sauce.
Please provide price estimate at your convenience.

Hadn't really intended on selling them. Should have kept track of my time spent on making them, but I didn't.
If I were to sell them, it'd probably be around $200 - or about 1/2 that if the customer supplied the materials. I think I've spent right at $100 for the aluminum and plastic so far. Will probably have to spend a few more $$$$$ on stainless steel bolts to hold it all together.

I'd guess I'll figure out ways to make them faster and less expensively as time goes on. BY the time I make the 3rd one, I should be able to do it faster with slightly less materials. Less (smaller) material to start with means less machine time as well. Just need a bit of experience as I go.

Not much of an answer, but there ya go.

Let me know what kind of equipment you want to put on your dash / tower and I'll see if I can work out a cheap way to do it.
Or, if you have a specific design idea, send me a detailed drawing (as detailed as you can make it) and I'll see if I can whip it for cheap.
I work in aluminum, steels, plastics and carbon fiber -so pick a material as well.

Earache, farking nice work bro!
Pls keep on it and pls keep posting here, love yer work!

That is some mighty fine craftsmanship!

what is the white plastic you have used for the frame and is that a mock up or will the frame also be made of plastic?

appleseed wrote:That is some mighty fine craftsmanship!

what is the white plastic you have used for the frame and is that a mock up or will the frame also be made of plastic?

I'm using HDPE (high density polyethylene) for the plastic. The pic is one I stole off of the 'net. Have yet to make that part, but it should be the easiest part to make by far.

The theory of using plastic is that is doesn't deform quite so badly in the event of a spill.It also transmits less energy to your electronics, etc. And, it's cheaper than aluminum sheet stock.

I plan on using black HDPE rather than the white shown in the first pic.

Pieces are made, just need to weld together and drill the mounting holes....


Applied layout dye* so i could see where to drill the holes, but got sidetracked on another project and haven't got back to drill them yet. Need to get that done this week....





* only use red dye for Honda parts. Blue dye belongs on Yamaha parts

Earache wrote:Let me know what kind of equipment you want to put on your dash / tower and I'll see if I can work out a cheap way to do it.
Or, if you have a specific design idea, send me a detailed drawing (as detailed as you can make it) and I'll see if I can whip it for cheap.
I work in aluminum, steels, plastics and carbon fiber  -so pick a material as well.

I don't really have drawings or anything I could give. All I got are dreams. A full front end of this kind would obviously cost major dorrah but may there's a way to somehow incorporate a fairing and tower similar to the one in the pic into the 7 gal Acerbis tank.

Crown Imperial wrote:

Earache wrote:Let me know what kind of equipment you want to put on your dash / tower and I'll see if I can work out a cheap way to do it.
Or, if you have a specific design idea, send me a detailed drawing (as detailed as you can make it) and I'll see if I can whip it for cheap.
I work in aluminum, steels, plastics and carbon fiber  -so pick a material as well.

I don't really have drawings or anything I could give. All I got are dreams. A full front end of this kind would obviously cost major dorrah but may there's a way to somehow incorporate a fairing and tower similar to the one in the pic into the 7 gal Acerbis tank.

Making the tower portion is easy as shit. Can't really help ya much with the other stuff.Although I could mnake any mounts you might need if you're able to tell me exactly what you want.

I have an extra tower mount now - the guy from the UK that wanted one has bailed one me, so his parts are available. $50 in it so far, so anyone that wants it can have it for $50 + postage and I'll add any other parts to it at cost of the materials.

Here's what you'd get for $50 + postage:


The parts that go into the steering head and the curved piece on the outside typically sell for $100-ish. So $50 for it all is a steal. Of course I'd drill it and tap it per your requirements so you can bolt it on.

The sides of the tower can be had in plastic or aluminum for about $65 more - slightly more if you need something really large. So the whole tower would run ya $115. I'll even powdercoat it in your choice of color as well.... even clear.