Gussets!

Been thinking for a while on what to do with the neck gussets on the frame, they are a bit ugly and I already had to weld in repair patches after cutting out the cups that hold the stock tank.
Had a quick chat to Shaun this afternoon, as I was a little bit concearned that welding the new gussets ones in place, with the frame unbraced, might lead to some frame distortion, but he confirmed that all should be ok, as long as it was welded with a bit of care and in the right order. I did one side at a time, so the gusset on the other side would keep the frame in shape, first got them tacked in place and then welded about an inch at a time, at various points, so the heat wouldn't build up too much at any one point.
No pics of the before and during but a couple of pics of everything in place:




Not going to win any Welding awards, but I'm getting there:


Went on holiday a couple of weeks ago, but I temporarily lost a bit of momentum, this was also partly due to a lack of funds and parts, so last week I thought I'd make use of my time and strip the frame to do some of the fiddly bits of welding on the various brackets etc. I ended up doing the welding in 3 stints, as I kept getting pissed off with the awkwardness of it and the first 2 sessions it felt like i was using more tungsten than filler rod. Anyway, finally finished it tonight, still got a couple more brackets to add, when the parts arrive. Also made a threaded bung and welded it into the bottom of the frame to take the exhaust clamp.

Went to Newark yesterday and picked up an electric box from Shaun - 2 spun ends and a middle piece, I've just welded one of the ends to the middle and still need to fab up some mounting brackets for the other end so it can be made detatchable.

Also managed to score a replacement wheel from e-bay, I was considering ditching the front drum wheel I have, because it was shagged and replacing it with a later motorcross disk wheel, but this would mean new spacers, buying a caliper and fabbing a mount plus the master cylinder spoiling the clean handlebars. It was a tough decision, especially as I have all of the mounts sorted for the wheel and brake I have, but I just couldn't find the same wheel in good condition to replace it. Almost at the point of buying new parts when the god of the bay smiled upon me and listed a suitable replacement, which should be with me in a few days.

Hopefully tomorrow I can build the bike back up so I can get cracking with mounting the electric tank, I'll try to remember to take the camera to the garage.