I know it’s been a while, but shit it’s the season and I’m busy as hell and would rather work on getting this beast done than write about it. Last time around we got the axle blocks cut, drag brace in, and everything welded. I’m not sure if I’ve said this before, but Ryan is a badass TIG welder. It’s fun to watch someone with that level of talent focus, and make shit happen. His typical response to whatever insane idea I come up with is, “Sure we can do that.” He's good at pretending I have something significant to do with this build, other than being an extra set of hands or a pain in the ass.

Ryan got to work on the hidden axle block covers, axle and hidden axle adjusters. They look so trick that every time I see them I think, "Shit, this bike is gonna be bad!" The frame was done, so it was time to move on to the tank. Tanks are a funny thing. They become all consuming and boring to some, and others can’t get enough of them.

We had the bottom and the hidden tank mounts tack welded. I really wanted an accent piece on the top that matched the rear flattop fender, I ordered from Pat at Led Sled. It was going to be a ridge, and Ryan and I discussed trying to fab it out of sheet metal. Then common sense got a hold of Ryan, and he decided to cut it out of a solid bar stock on his CNC mill. The finished product was precision and better than I envisioned.

The ridge needed a gentle arc to match the contour of the tank, so how hard could that be? Turns out--very hard. We heated and hammered, bent and unbent. It sucked, but in the end the finished product was dead nuts center and will look killer and unique. Ryan did a great job welding the ridge to the tank. We celebrated the finished product with a CAO cigar, and man they are good. There’s nothing better than bullshitting in a shop and smoking a quality cigar.

One of the design elements that comes to mind, when I think of a racy bike is the tank side panels – a rider should be able to tuck his knees in to grab a racer's position. Triumph had that nailed for decades, so we dished the sides of the tank.

I never realized how many options there are for dishing a tank. I thought you cut ‘em, turned ‘em inside out, welded in the panels and called it good. Not so. We needed to decide how to make it look. Should there be a lip at the bottom or should it run straight off? After lots of discussion we taped it, cut through the first side with a plasma cutter and ground off the slag, so it wouldn't hinder quality welding.

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