Initial sketch ideas. It needed good lines I wanted it to be aggressive and compact. Also The SV has a beuatiful cast frame but I never felt the Tank and tail section matched it's styling, being rather bulbous.
Some initial color thoughts.
The donar bike, crashed. Many many faux pas were made here.
The initial step was to strip it down to the frame, and remove parts of the exhaust.
I machined the upper triple clamp to accept wide handlebars making it more comfortable and classic looking rather than clip-ons.
Upgraded suspension from a Kawasaki and Suzuki Superbike give it a much nicer finish and improve handling substantially.
The new muffler is mounted so as not to protrude over the tires. New enduro tires instantly transform the appearance and give it an aggressive feel.
The Ducati 749 Fuel tank was one of the most beautiful production tanks ever made. Also its angular lines matched the design of the SV650 frame. Many modifications would need to be completed for this to work. Note the initial cut lines.
Cuts in progress. Always a bit scary to modify a perfectly beautiful part and then hope it all comes out even. Definitely measure twice, cut once.
These templates were created for the metal pieces that would seal the tank again. Also I had to design a new rear tank support.
Initial experiments with the tail sections, using tape and scraps.
Verifying the vertical appearance after the side profile. I wanted the rear tail section to be very short, ahead of even the rear axle to give it a bobber feel, also this would keep the visual weight centralized.
I designed and welded a rear subframe and tray to hold various electronics and battery.
Special attention was paid here to match the existing profile of the SV frame. Instead of creating another lateral line of support I used the existing cross frame support as the vertical anchor.
Tail section and rear sub-frame mounted.
Temporary headlight mounted until custom LED one can be fabricated.
Rough mounting of a new gauge cluster using the existing indentation of the Ducati Tank.
Templating the seatpan and rear-subframe cover.
Templating the tail section lower cover.
Cutting the lower cover out of perforated steel.
Test fitting of all the necessary electronics in the new tail section.
Current state of the bike, more electronics need to be wired, radiator mounted.
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SV650 Redux: Work In Progress
This SV project is an effort to remodel a current budget model bike in an affordable more attractive manner using largely off the shelf parts where possible. The inspiration for it was what would Batman's Nemesis ride? I wanted something aggressive, urban, militaristic, brutal and still usable in a city environment. Currently its still in progress. I've done most of the welding and fabrication for this.
