Rebel 450 Light Bar

[Snorebaby]

Hey Everyone,

Sorry its been a while since I have posted, but the holidays kept me busy and now my internet is down :cry: until hopefully tomorrow :) I am writing this from work so I don't have any pics to post yet. But as soon as I get back up at the house I will post them.

I have made a light bar for my 450 that will move the front sig's from the handle bars to the badge under the headlight. It actually will replace the badge. I made it out of 1/4"x 2" stainless. I know that is a little over the top on material but that is all I could get my hands on. My brother-in-law said that if I wrecked the bike, the light bar will be the only thing salvagable :lol: When I can get some aluminum I will make another.

It uses the stock stems, and I will be ordering some K&S lights for it. They are the round 88-97 VT600-1100 lights that fit my stock stems. They have a shorter neck and will bring the lights closer to the forks.

I have not done anything to it. Just sandblasted it. I would love to be able to have REBEL milled in the face. Just don't have the $$$ to have it done right now. So I will probably paint it black and have automotive vinyl lettering to put on it for the time being. Once I can have the face milled I will probably paint the inside of the letters Silver to match the paint on the bike. I have played around with some lettering as you will see in the pics when I post them.

I don't think I will chrome it. I am going to limit the amount of chrome that I add. I am kinda keeping it dark as that will be different than what everyone else seems to do. I like chrome but want something different. There is minimal chrome on it originally and other than the Silver paint, everything else is black. So I decided to go that way. I will also be adding black mirrors and a tinted windshield later.

[Chopper Rick]

I'm looking forward to seeing some pix of it.

[cTc]

Sounds like a cool mod, looking forward to those pics.

[Snorebaby]

WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! My internet is back up at the house!!!!! :D

Ok, I have the pics to share. There are quite a few. The Detail on the top was done by drilling holes with a large drill bit at the curves for the forks and a smaller one for the center curves. Then I used an Upright Bandsaw to take off the excess and a rotary tool to finish it off and clean it up. Also used a 6mm stainless hex head bolt instead of the stock 6mm allen bolt to secure the stem to the side for clearance.

It is a little overkill with the 1/4" stainless, but that is all I could get my hands on. As you can see I was playing around with some lettering.

Front View Installed
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Front1.jpg


Left Side
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Left.jpg


Top
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Top1.jpg


Top To Show Detail
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Top2.jpg

Back Side
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Back1.jpg

Right Side No Signal
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Holes.jpg

Stem To Show Raised Center
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Stem1.jpg

Stem With O-Ring To Take Up The Raised Section
I used an o-ring to eliminate the need to mill out the center for the recessed area. Added bonus is that it seals the stem to the light bar. 8)
http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Stem2.jpg

Also got my carbs back from my friend who cleaned them for me and will try to install them this weekend. Maybe by next weekend I will have it fired up after finishing cleaning the tank. :)

[Chopper Rick]

Now them's are some good pics. I like the way you show all the little details in your pics. It really makes it more understandable. Good job Snorey.

[Snorebaby]

Thanks Chopper Rick!

I guess it comes from using manuals that have poor pics to follow. A little extra detail never hurts. :) I was hoping that it was not tooo many pics.

[cTc]

Never too many pics, especially when showing off a new mod. I think it looks really good, might be a market for it if production was efficient enough to lend a reasonable price. Nice work.

[Snorebaby]

Thanks CTC!

If I had access to a CNC machine the efficiency would not be a question :lol: Then the face could be milled with REBEL or make it totally custom with your own saying for a nominal fee :wink:

It only took me about 3 hours to do the top section from start to finish, and that was with a couple of breaks LOL.

I guess the hardest part was to make sure I had the holes drilled correctly to angle the lights to point straight (approx. 34*) The rest of it was pretty simple, just tig welding and shaping.

I can't wait till I get my round lights in and put them on. It will look really sharp. I will post those pics when it happens.

[GearJammer]

SWEET! You made it happen, Snorey!

Really like the added O-ring & that can offer some rubber-mounting effect to reduce vibration. Excellent!

Looks greats on the bike & as stout as the 450 looks anyways, it no doubt only adds to the overall appearance. Great job!

[Are (yes it is my name!)]

It looks good. I'm maybe going to trie this to :) I'm going to mount cat-eye turnsignals (similar to the ones CTC has) And i want them mounted low on the forks, just like you've done.

I'll probably use 3mm thick (dunno how many inch'es that is :lol: ) aluminum (and if i bother :roll: , maybe i can do some CNC work on it) Most likely i'm just going to paint it plain black......

[Snorebaby]

Thanks GearJammer and Are!! As I said before, I squeek when I walk :lol:

Are, would love to see pics if you do make the mod. If you have access to a CNC machine I would love to send it to you to do some lettering for me :) (just kidding)

I just got so frustrated looking for something to move my lights to my forks that I had to do something. I am possibly going to make one out of aluminum later.

I was talking to a buddy, who also rides, about the lettering and he may have a tool bit that will fit a rotary tool and will do the "engraving" (for lack of a better word). My rotary tool has a router handle attachment and if I go slow I should be able to do it. I have a test piece of stainless to practice on.

I am going to paint it black and if I can "engrave" the letters I will paint the inside of the letters to match the bike's silver paint job. If not then I will use silver automotive vinyl lettering and put a clearcoat on it.

I have so many ideas about mods for this "project" that it would become tiresome to read (plus I am getting hungry-- dinner time!) :lol: And if you ever see me, you will know I RARELY miss a meal!!

[Snorebaby]

I finally painted the light bar.....have the stems installed but waiting on the lights (When the financial advisor gives the OK :lol: )

Went online to some vinyl lettering sites and am undecided on the color...silver or gold. It is relatively cheap, about $15.00 for all the lettering. Once I decide on the color (might order both) I will post more pics. (As you are staring at the picture, imagine the word REBEL on the front and 450 on the sides in either silver or gold :wink: )

Here are the pics so far:

http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Black_Light_Bar1.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Black_Light_Bar2.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Black_Light_Bar3.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Black_Light_Bar4.jpg

[GearJammer]

Looks great, Snorey! The color black has a certain "strength" to it & when looking at the pics, it gives the visual illusion of the light bar being both front & back of the forks, somewhat like a fork brace or "tweak bar" as they were called back in the day. Cool! :wink:

[cTc]

that does look nice

heck dont pay for lettering, I'll cut you the vinyl, all I have is silver or white at the moment though, dont get much call for gold.

Later

[Are (yes it is my name!)]

Looks great :D Silver letters would definetly fit to the rest of the colors..after all the front end is almost just chrome and silver.....'

[GearJammer]

Agreed. Have always thought that keeping a bike within a 2 color scheme looks the best...

[Snorebaby]

Thanks CTC!! That would be fantastic! The Silver would be great!!

The font for the front is bold Georgia and 1.5" high and single spaced R E B E L

The sides font is bold Cleopatra (or similar) 450 (no spacing) and .5" high.

Here is what I am looking at:

http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/SilverRebel.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/GoldRebel.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Silver450.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/Gold450.jpg

Both look good as the Silver Grey will almost match my paint and the Gold is the color of the lettering on the battery box.

Again, Thank You Very Much!

If there is something I can do in return, don't hesitate to ask!

[cTc]

OK... how does this look

http://www.hondarebelforum.com/Rebel/450.jpg

Do you need 1-rebel and 2-450's right?

Later

[Snorebaby]

Looks Great!!!!

Yes I need 1 Rebel and 2 450's.

Thank you very much!

[cTc]

PM me your ship to details and I will cut them with the next batch of silver decals I have, probably next week sometime.

Later

[Snorebaby]

Here is a pic of the lights I bought on Ebay to put on the lightbar and rear fender.

http://home.comcast.net/~snorebaby2/49_1_sbl.jpg

They look like the ones for the Shadows. They had it posted for the Rebel 250 and 450. I know they will work with my stems as I have already tested the K&S lights that are for the Shadows.

[GearJammer]

Looking good, Snorey! Those babies look brand new & normally aren't cheap, right ? They should dress up the overall look of your sled just fine. :wink:

[Snorebaby]

They are brand new. The cheapest I could find them was about $30 apiece without the stems. I scored these on ebay for $46 including shipping and the stems, even though I don't need the stems. Just gives me something to resell to recoup some of the money spent :).

It seems that I am accumulating stuff to resell. That will make the wife happy!!

[GearJammer]

Excellent score! You got what you needed at a more than reasonable price & have parts left over to regain a "rebate" of sorts :wink:

Still slowly moving towards down-sizing & putting the $$$ into the bike fund, but if my OL ever had a yard sale with all of the misc. stuff she's acquired (mostly as an eBay junkie, LMAO!) she'd probably make enough $$$ to buy a Vincent Black Shadow! ROTFLMAO!!!!!