Solo seat double rail trim

[pancho]

Not sure if I was dreaming this, but I thought I remembered a post about someone making a solo seat trim rail maybe in England or Poland that would fit our Valkyries. I searched but turned up nothing...  Was I dreaming that, or is that piece available from somewhere again?

[larue]

Go to to Vrcc main page and click on Vrcc vendors from the drop down menu click on big bike things, the website has pictures and prices for the rails, guy that makes them is in New Zealand his name is Barry an outstanding guy. Hope that helps

[pancho]

Thanks larue,, that is what I'm looking for. They say they are sold out, I left a message  and will see if they are going to be in stock anytime soon.

[Mtn Valk]

I emailed him about 2 month ago, then followed up a couple more times. Still haven't heard back. He sold one on ebay about 2 months ago, perhaps his last one, (I hope not).

Someone else had posted a similar comment as mine a while back, and Barry did finally respond, so I too will hang on to that hope. He has made one for both the Corbin and the Ultimate seat (rail fits the OEM seat too, I believe).

[pancho]

I haven't got a reply to my message either. I have some 3/8 stainless rod and some pieces of flat stainless for brackets. If I can come up with the right jig to bend the proper arc , I might just build one.

[EddyH]

I bought one for the Corbin seat last month. After I added it to the cart and paid for it I noticed his web site showed out of stock. Guess he makes them a few at a time. It took a while to ship so I emailed him to check on the status but don't think I got a reply.
Sure dressed the seat area up. Plus its solid enough to use as a hand rail to pull my bike up on the center stand. 

Ed

[Mtn Valk]

That's helpful to know that EddyH. After he sold the one on eBay a couple months back, his website showed "sold out", so maybe he's still turning them out.

[pancho]

Good to know it's sturdy enough to use as a grip to push the bike around,,,  that's about half the reason I want one.  Now I have some material, I may just make one and see what I end up with.

[JPFarmy]

Jerry Sheffer has one for sale over on the Florida board. http://www.valkyrieforum.com/bbs/index.php/topic,85543.0.html
I think it's what your looking for, it was mine and I bought it from the guy in New Zealand. I think he is asking $40.00

[Roidfingers]

That's the solo bar that goes from Rail to Rail when your not using the passenger seat backrest. I have one. Very nice.

[pancho]

So I came up with an old 14" wheel and welded a catch in it,



mounted it on my HF tore changer and bent out two arcs,



set up a jig on the mill to wrestle the 3/8 bar into shape,



and ordered some E316L SS welding electrodes that came complete with a mill certificate, supposedly from the heat these rods were made from,, I guess for westerners that  doubt the state of Chinese metallurgy,,



and now have these pieces made up.



I can see from experimenting with the electrodes that there is too much  difference in thickness of the stock the brackets were made from compared to the solid rod to get a good deep weld at an amperage that will not destroy the bracket material, but they sure do work nice on the 3/8 rod itself.
We will see, I'm going to end up with SOMETHING.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

So far so good. Keep us posted 

[The emperor has no clothes]

I didn't even know you could arc weld stainless. Thought it was Mig or Tig . As far as your brackets, can you just use thicker stuff ?

[pancho]

Yep,, stainless stick welds up very nicely,, it flows good and the welds look better than mild steel. I may end up making the brackets out of heavier material meathead, or possibly after welding up all the rod pieces (some I haven't made yet), I may do a mechanical connection to the brackets,, screws, bolts or pins,, sort of making it up as I go along.

[pancho]

Had some time to work on this yesterday, so I cut some pieces of the 3/8 stainless rod and milled the ends to fit correctly.







I'm starting to think that if I can figure a way to jig this stuff up for welding, I'm going to have something..  We sure do love our bikes boys.

[larue]

It's coming along pretty nice, if you perfect it I'm putting an order for one 

[Tfrank59]

That is a thing of beauty. I kind of thought the original post was for a grab rail that would take the place of the sissy bar – I CNC'd one out of aluminum last year and it turned out really nice. I could probably provide the G code for somebody to crank one out if they have a piece of billet and a CNC mill. . If you look at my Photo bucket pic you can see it in a couple of the photos.

[pancho]

That is a thing of beauty.

    I think your looking at it the same way I am Tfrank..  I made this jig to latch it up, now if I can learn how to weld tonight or tomorrow...

[pancho]

This is what I came up with,,  the welding was my weak link, but stainless seems to be very forgiving and you can grind and clean and reweld until you get a perfect piece.... unfortunately, there is not enough time in the world to make that worth while. I learned enough about welding stainless that it will come out better and faster next time.
I'm happy with it, it is a solid piece of the bike, and I now have a hand hold to push the bike around with, but I don't think I will be making any more to pass around larue,, spent too many hours with a flap disc, emery cloth, grinding discs and polishing wheels to want to do it again, so I guess this is a one off custom. I may make a luggage rack/ fender protector deal out of the same 3/8 stainless bar at some time, but not tomorrow.

[_Sheffjs_]

      

[Tfrank59]

Very nice work.  Can you still have a backrest on there if you want one?

[BonS]

  Looks great. I wish I had your skills and patience. That one won't be rusting on you.

[larue]

Very impressive work pancho, I got lucky the other day I bought a rear fender rack for my Valk and on one of the pictures on eBay the guy has one on his bike ( the rest of his bike pics didn't have the seat rail) thought I asked what happened to the seat rail in the pic he replied he had it collecting dust, bought it for 150 shipped couldn't complain. Nice work there on your part.

[pancho]

Thanks guys,, I got a seat rail even if it cost a few more hours than I thought I would, but I picked up some skills, got some welding practice,  and certainly won't ever have a rust problem...    good deal larue,, looks like it worked out all around.... I did build it with the clearance so I can put the backrest in if I want Tfrank.

[Tfrank59]

good deal Pancho. I guess looking at it one might say that solo seat looks better with your rail and no backrest. I'm just very attached to my back rest   I need it cuz of back pain.

[Mtn Valk]

I kept checking Big Bike Things (New Zealand) website occasionally and about two weeks ago, he showed 1 in stock (for Corbin seat). Bought it and was delivered 2 days ago.

I just wanted to post this so everyone would know he is still "cranking them out" once in a while. He's not a great communicator, but turns out a great product! It's mounted and looks great on my solo '97 R&W Tourer.