Steampunk?

[Emma]

I've been thinking about eventually doing some custom work to my bike and I got to wondering.

I've seen a lot of naked/street fighter work and I do kind of like the look.

I'm considering going with a particular style along these lines and I thought Steampunk would work really well.

I was wondering if anyone has ever done this and what does your ride look like?

Where did you get your ideas from?

If no one has, or you're wondering how some of these bikes might look like, I've included some pics I found online for ideas for myself.

If anyone could help me with some ideas for the overall look and maybe ideas for parts. I would be very grateful.

Here's a few images so you can get an idea of the asthetic I'm going for. I'm not looking to do a lot of custom work for the parts, I'm aiming for mostly bolt on, if I can. Think inexpensive.

I'm only in the planning stages at the moment and I'm planning on doing as much of the work on it myself as I can too.

 

[Superzoom]

Looks like you're going to have fun!

I've gone naked with my bike, putting on a round headlight.

One thing to keep in mind with our bikes is that once you strip off the fairings, the areas around the engine are pretty ugly. There are numerous weird plates and brackets, bolts and holes that in my opinion don't make it look great without fairings. Take a close look at some street fighter versions of our bike. It's a shame, really, as the engine on a naked should look good.

If you were to go steampunk custom, you should probably put some kind of cool shroud over the sides of the bike to cover the engine. I thought about doing that myself with some sheet aluminum and painting it black to match my bike.

 

[Superzoom]

Here is how my bike is looking. Notice the ugly engine area. So our bike is not the best in terms of being a blank slate for customizing.

 

[Emma]

I already know what you mean, Super.

I had to take off one of the side fairings when I installed my 12v outlet on my bike.

I was considering three options for some custom shrouds.

Option one was something I can do in my own kitchen and that would be hardened leather.

Option two would be to have some brass panels made and made to look like they were riveted on.

Option three would be to do a combination of the first two options.

Now, option one would make it way easier to add Steampunk bling. Cogs, straps, etc. It would also be a little lighter in weight than option two.
The downside to option one would be that it is leather. I would have to make sure I had plenty of ventilation to keep the leather from getting too hot and treat it for weather.

Option two alone would allow for the same as option one, but it would require a bit more work to get the look right and I would have to polish it now and again to keep it and the rest of the bike from turning green.

Now, option three would be middle of the road for adding the bling, but would require a combination of care for both materials.


Now, I know that the really fun part would be that I could look at using a lot of vintage parts and I could potentially get them really cheap. But, some of them would need a lot of extra work just to mount them, let alone having them actually work and be street legal.

 

[Superzoom]

Wow, those are some wild sounding plans. It's a little tough to envision what you have in mind, even with the reference pics above.

Using brass would be pretty rad. Maybe you could make a gas tank cover out of brass to give a faux brass tank with rivets.

I'm impressed that you work with hardened leather! I have no idea how you would use it as a material.

 

[Emma]

LOL, It's something I have only done once before, but I am familiar enough to work with hardened leather again.

I would cut the leather according to the size and shape I wanted it to be, taking into account shrinkage.

Then I would soak the leather in water. After that, I would put it into boiling water for a short time and then take it out.

Then I would stretch it and shape it a little more and then let it dry.

After I did that I could do some tooling on it and maybe even stain it in colors I wanted.

I could even make some hardened leather pieces to go with my riding armor and augment that, in theory. Imagine how it would look with leather on the elbows and shoulders as well as over the spine armor going down the road.

The process is almost just like they used for hardened leather armor.

I'm considering buckles more and more in the design because I could design the cowling for toolless removal. That way it would be a little easier to do all of my maintenance that requires the removal of the cowling.

I like the idea of doing a brass covering for the tank. I was thinking about the brass and I could put it on the bike until I had the patina I wanted and then take it to a shop and get it clear coated to keep the exact patina I wanted. I might do a couple of other panels in brass too.

I'm leaning more and more to option three from above.

 

[Forean]

Following, sounds like a good idea, cant wait to see what you do.

 

[Emma]

Ok.

I've been considering this a lot and I have come to a final decision on what I intend to do.

I'm not going to use a lot of brass. The only brass I might use will be in the buckles for attaching the panels and or cowling. I'm going to go strictly with the hardened leather and vintage looking parts for the headlight and instrumentation.

I'm also not going to do a brass covering over the tank. I've decided to go with the leather over that too. It won't be one big piece over the entire tank. I'm planning on doing a series of strip plates, kind of like an armadillo, over the tank instead.

I have a lot of parts hunting and planning to go now. It will be quite a while before I have any pics to show what I'm doing.

I was also thinking that with how I'm planning on doing this, I could also go with a Western theme with it too.

So, I will just have to let the bike "talk" to me and tell how to do this as I progress with this project.

 

[TDL2024]

I like the idea, and with some quality work it could be super sweet. I've only ever seen a chopper with steampunk styling, but lots of other random items from fellow art students/artists. One thing that always comes to mind when hearing steampunk is 2 things you've already touched on, and thats leather and brass. Even though it doesn't sound like you're planning on doing a lot of brass, i think even used as tiny accents (maybe screws? would those be safe in place of steel?) could make a big difference.

I'm definitely curious to see the finished product though; do post some updates with pics when you can, and good luck!