Joined
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16 Posts
Hey, all. I've been a member for a few years now, but never took the time to introduce myself.
First off, I should explain my handle. DrummingAncient just means that one of the loves of my life is percussion, and I'm about to turn 70 in March.
I've been a biker for over 55 years. My first bike was a Honda baby Dream (90 cc). My next two were Honda 305 Superhawks, and my third (and the one that got me interested in touring) was a BMW R-75/6. Then I got married.
Fast forward to 30 years later, and my wife finally decided I could get a beater GL1100 off of eBay (after I had sold off all the 305s, and the the BMW). Poor thing had been left out in the rain, and apparently the two POs (I'm the third owner) sat around drinking beer while holding a portable drill. Don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with drinking beer. Just don't drill holes in plastic body work while under the influence. I wound up having to learn how to patch ABS body work to plug the over-100 holes in the body panels, trunk, etc. But it ran (ish) and only had 26k miles on the clock.
Which is really the point of the last 7-or-so years. I have learned a ton, and look forward to even more opportunities to learn while working on other projects related to the bike. The wife has the riding bug now, so we stand a good chance of bonding even more as time goes on.
Here's a pic of the wee beastie as she is today:
![324884]()
Sooooo much rust amelioration and prevention! I've "touched" all major systems on the bike over the last several years, and learned how to weld, created my own tools, etc.
Here's a front pic of the dual headlights:
![324885]()
I had to build the headlight/turn signal mount. You can also see the custom fairing I built from an old wrecked Vetter Windstar. I made the mounting brackets after making the tool to flatten the ends of aluminum tubing without making weak points. You can also see the intake that directs air up inside the windscreen for laminar flow to reduce helmet buffeting. That took some learning too...
There are also a ton of electrical changes, mostly in preparation for the upcoming fuel injection upgrade. I decided to completely re-do the fuse box, adding circuits and relays to enable better protection for the overall wiring harness:
![324886]()
I can be pretty fearless when it comes to electrical stuff. Happy to help anybody who needs assistance in that arena. I've got over 30 years experience in the electronic maintenance/manufacturing space (13 years with the US Coast Guard as an electronics tech, and another 20+ years as an electronics test engineer/apps engineer). Upgrading the bike to a MOSFET voltage regulator was falling off a log.
But there's so much more to learn. I've now embarking on more machining exploits, and dabbling in aluminum welding and brazing.
I'll be happy to explain more in depth the mods I've done if anybody is interested. Just drop me a note and I can work up a post.
Thanks for the kind welcome, and I'm looking forward to more years learning and building.
Dennis
First off, I should explain my handle. DrummingAncient just means that one of the loves of my life is percussion, and I'm about to turn 70 in March.
I've been a biker for over 55 years. My first bike was a Honda baby Dream (90 cc). My next two were Honda 305 Superhawks, and my third (and the one that got me interested in touring) was a BMW R-75/6. Then I got married.
Fast forward to 30 years later, and my wife finally decided I could get a beater GL1100 off of eBay (after I had sold off all the 305s, and the the BMW). Poor thing had been left out in the rain, and apparently the two POs (I'm the third owner) sat around drinking beer while holding a portable drill. Don't get me wrong: there's nothing wrong with drinking beer. Just don't drill holes in plastic body work while under the influence. I wound up having to learn how to patch ABS body work to plug the over-100 holes in the body panels, trunk, etc. But it ran (ish) and only had 26k miles on the clock.
Which is really the point of the last 7-or-so years. I have learned a ton, and look forward to even more opportunities to learn while working on other projects related to the bike. The wife has the riding bug now, so we stand a good chance of bonding even more as time goes on.
Here's a pic of the wee beastie as she is today:
Sooooo much rust amelioration and prevention! I've "touched" all major systems on the bike over the last several years, and learned how to weld, created my own tools, etc.
Here's a front pic of the dual headlights:
I had to build the headlight/turn signal mount. You can also see the custom fairing I built from an old wrecked Vetter Windstar. I made the mounting brackets after making the tool to flatten the ends of aluminum tubing without making weak points. You can also see the intake that directs air up inside the windscreen for laminar flow to reduce helmet buffeting. That took some learning too...
There are also a ton of electrical changes, mostly in preparation for the upcoming fuel injection upgrade. I decided to completely re-do the fuse box, adding circuits and relays to enable better protection for the overall wiring harness:
I can be pretty fearless when it comes to electrical stuff. Happy to help anybody who needs assistance in that arena. I've got over 30 years experience in the electronic maintenance/manufacturing space (13 years with the US Coast Guard as an electronics tech, and another 20+ years as an electronics test engineer/apps engineer). Upgrading the bike to a MOSFET voltage regulator was falling off a log.
But there's so much more to learn. I've now embarking on more machining exploits, and dabbling in aluminum welding and brazing.
I'll be happy to explain more in depth the mods I've done if anybody is interested. Just drop me a note and I can work up a post.
Thanks for the kind welcome, and I'm looking forward to more years learning and building.
Dennis
