My bike as you've never seen her before.

       First thing first was figuring out how tall I wanted my bar. I wanted about a 2.5' bar and so we measured out the 3' mark on a 6' bar of 1/2" stainless. Using a medium diameter round in the bar bender I got a nice tight bend in the top. And the thing wasn't too bad to push.

Then Randy custom fabricated the bolt holes with a drill press. Cutting some small 1/2" bits of the bar he bored out two different hole sizes in either end to custom make the bolt holes.

 Here is a nice cutting shot.

At some point in the evening Adria brought some grub to the garage, and we feasted on burritos, took a little time out, and made some bathroom breaks.

Here is the freshly bent bar leaning on the bike. Also notice the newly upturned handlebars.

After the bar was bent, we mounted the custom bolt holes to the rear struts, and then put the bar up to them, and welded the bar to the bolt rounds. This ensured that the bar would fit perfectly on the mounts side to side.

 Here's the bar welded to the bolt mounts.

Once the bar was in place, and I had got the angle just right where I wanted it, we then went to town on the supports. This is the part where the little support bends get formed via an old Ford tail pipe and some pressure on the fender and you get a real nice little custom bend. The angle was duplicated for the second support arm, via the same bending treatment.

measured and cutting the supports

 And here are the gorgeous fin pieces freshly cut and fit and ready for welding.

fully welded

 

Here I am totally stoked about my new custom addition.

I could barely sleep that night, knowing I had a new custom sissy bar. I couldn't wait to strap my things to the bar, since I was tired of just slopping them over the rear fender or finagling my rolls with some bungee madness to my handlebars. I was soooo anxious to take her out for her first daylight spin around town. I dreamt of the open highway. 

     The next morning I ran outside and leaned back. Way back. It's like the holiday inn on that thing.

Never felt better!

Along came a cat.

That morning we all rode out to the radest cheapest diner in the world. Lucky's diner in San Diego. It's truly an experience. Like a time warp or something. The prices and customer service are seriously out of this world. An older Asian fella is the only service in the place, and he jokes around with the customers. You can get a 2 egg breakfast with toast and hashbrowns for 3$. I could live there.

Poaching outside the Lucky diner.

Tea bath, anyone?