My brother Martin Schuurmans and new big plans :)

This started two weeks ago. My brother Martin Schuurmans called. Martin is a industrial designer specialized in making chairs and over the years he's collected tools and machines that I can only dream of. He just finished his new workshop and now he wanted a new project to work on in his spare time. He always liked old cars, and when we where younger he was the one that was always wrenching on his mopeds in the shed.
He doesn't have enough space in his workshop to work on vintage cars right now but he also liked the idea of working on motorcycles. He knew I would like to do the same. I don't really have a good place to work on my bike, nor the tools or the the know how and skills to do it on my own so he figured why don't we join forces and let's see what we can make together.

As you can imagine I was super stoked about the idea and did not have to think twice about it. :)))

We decided to start working on my GR650 first as a test and if it would go well we would start looking for a new project bike. He picked up the GR650 from Amsterdam last week and send me this picture of the bike hanging in his workshop. :)

Happy New Year - Make plans not war #3

Mounted the Rear fender on the Ascot . Aaaaahhh, floating seat syndrome. Need new seat, this sucks.
Than I photsouped a new seat. That was in the end of 2014

So this is my plan for 2015.

Our plan for Rusty Gold 2015 on May the 3rd is bigger and better. Write it down!
More flat track racing :)
Do more, dream less
 

My plans for for the Ascot:

Make a new seat.
repaint the hagon shocks
make new side panels
paint the gas tank
powder coating the wheels
rewire some wires
new front forks
fix the cooling problems
and than use it as my daily rider

Plans for the GR650
I wanne ride it on the street and in the dirt and I want to ride it on Dirt Quake so I'm planning to give it a Street Tracker make over.

Flatslide carbs
Two sets of wheels
18" in the back 19" in the front.
19" Flat Track wheels with Maxxis or Golden tyres
new super light battery 
rewire the whole bike
new subframe
new seat

To make sure this will happen in 2015 I will have to sell some stuff and I'm in the middle of a career change. This will probably mean that I have less time for Bubble Visor but I will have a much bigger budget for my motorcycle addiction so hopefully that will result in doing more and less dreaming.

The Super 100 and the SV650 have to go.

What are your plans for 2015?

VT500 Ascot - plans plus photosoup

Here's a little fotosoup of my future plans

I made this before I changed my stock ascot.
In the photosoup I shortened the rear seat but now I'm planning to just change the height of the seat a little.
The bike in the picture I found online, that's not mine.

The plan was to make a Jeff Wright x Hidemo x Red Hot Motorcycles custom! Or a superbikers/speedway inspired bike.
or a dessert sled...
Probably a mix of everything. My plans change all the time but whatever it will be it will be very much inspired by low budget amateur racers from the past. That's where the magic happens

Dropped the front fork 4 cm, so I'll have more pressure on the front wheel. It felt a little light..
Painted some of the red stuff.
Tried some different handle bars.
Did not like the stock(?) tomaselli bar. To high and I did not like the angle.
Changed it for a classic dirt bike Handlebar.

And found out the front fork has some dents in the chrome...
When I bought the bike it was raining so I looked at the bike under a roof. Not the best light over there... I also missed the the fact that the engine and exhaust pipes where painted probably with a rattle can in a different black than the rest of the bike. Done without removing it from the bike so it has a gradient in black going from the original shiny black to the rattle can matte black.. Yikes!

I made a to do list yesterday:

Mounting the vintage Hella rear light on a new fender
Reshaping the front fender and side panels with a grinder
Painting the gas tank, fenders and side panels
Find a new round mirror
Removing the fuse box from the handlebar
New handle bar, this one is crooked
New speedo en tacho meters
Shortening the exhaust or a new slip-on
powder coating the wheels white
new tires
reshaping the seat
and some more

project SV650 - TZ250 seat

Since I was working with the angle grinder I thought let's start with the TZ250 seat
Made a nice poop hole because I didn't need the bump in the sitting area. Shaped the side of the seat roughly in the shape that I want it to be. Will fine tune it when I've got the new sub frame. Will have to extend the front of the seat with 5 cm to have some more space.
Not so sure about the defender rear light. It looks good from the back but from the side it's sticking out to much. Plan B is on the Japanese ebay right now. Let's hope I'll win that rear light :)
Here's a mock up from two weeks ago in photosoup.