Mercenary Garage - Custom Bike, SciFi & Punk Engineering Blog: September 2020

Wednesday, 30 September 2020

Nihontō: Enter the Swordsmith

Image Black Math

#SuzukiKatana #BlackMath #Cyberpunk #NeonNoir #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Tuesday, 29 September 2020

Alp Racing Vincent 666

Alp Racing & Design Vincent Landspeed Racer at El Mirage, September 2020 - Photo by Derek Althen

Image Derek Althen

#AlpRacing #AlpRacingDesign #LSR #HRD #Vincent #HRDVincent #LandSpeedRacer #Mercenary #MercenaryMotorcycles #MercenaryGarage

Monday, 28 September 2020

Mugen E.Rex

Images Mugen

#Mugen #MugenERex #ERex #ElectricMotorcycle #Honda #Dinosaur #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Sunday, 27 September 2020

So some stuff has been happening in the workshop. The Mk1 Ducati Superlight that I've owned for the last sixteen years, the one that every year since then I've said I'm going to restore, is finally in the process of getting restored.

I blew up the motor a couple of years back but manged to procure a write-off Multistrada 1000DS which donated its fuel injected motor to the cause. This seemed like a good idea at the time, but a little more research would have revealed that the there are two types of swingarm arrangement employed by Ducati, and the Superlight and the Multistrada are different in this respect.

It will take a bit of engineering, but I can modify the 1000DS motor to accept the Superlight Swingarm. But it's a bit like that old joke about a traveler asking a stranger for directions - I wouldn't start from here...

Anyway, the project is underway and the plan is to make the thing as light as possible, hopefully around 160kg, accentuate it's sweet handling and to make it comfortable and easy to ride. To this end I fabricated a set of footrest assemblies that are about 40 mm lower and almost a kilogram lighter than stock.

More to follow.

I made a nice bit! Trick carbon fibre gear shift rod with stainless Heim joints.

New footpegs. These are probably going to get knurled.

The finished carbon shift rod weighs 13 grams.

Right hand footrest assembly in situ. The hangers will be powdercoated gloss black. The other bits will be polished.

In the middle of all this, the power switch on the lathe packed in, which caused some consternation. This is the replacement.

Wiring the thing up also caused some consternation.

The workshop, finally tidy for the first time in four or five years.

Images Mercenary

#Ducati900SL #Mk1Superlight #DucatiSuperlight #FootrestAssemblies #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Saturday, 26 September 2020

Don't Ride Angry

Illustration Tonton Revolver

#TontonRevolver #FantasyMoto #SciFiIllustration #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Friday, 25 September 2020

Craft Beer

Image Madao

#CraftBeer #Madao #TheFutureIsDinosaur #SciFi #SciFiIllustration #HoverBike #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Thursday, 24 September 2020

Attack Mode

Image Bekarys Zhabagin

#BekarysZhabagin #AtomComics #Cyberpunk #SciFi #SciFiIllustration #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Wednesday, 23 September 2020

Tech 21

Image Yamaha

#KennyRoberts #Tech21 #Shiseido #Yamaha #FZR #FZR750 #Suzuka8Hours #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Tuesday, 22 September 2020

Chase

Illustration Thu Berchs

#ThuBerchs #LeHaitre #SnowBike #SciFiIllustration #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Monday, 21 September 2020

Chelyabinsk 1979

Illustration Андрея Ткаченко

#AndreyTkachenko #SovietSciFi #CCCP #USSR #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Sunday, 20 September 2020

Lost Kosmonaut

Photographer Unknown

#LostKosmonaut #CCCP #USSR #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Saturday, 19 September 2020

Tool Chest

Images Nelson Tai

#NelsonTai #MotoReaper #RideDie #Cyberpunk #ToolChest #ToolStack #ToolBox #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Friday, 18 September 2020

Bat Out of Hell

Who got Giant Bats on their Apocalypse 2020 bingo card?

Illustration Richard Corben

#RichardCorben #BatOutOfHell #Meatloaf #JimSteinman #Apocalypse2020 #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Thursday, 17 September 2020

Escape Velocity

Image Andrzej Sykut

#AndrzejSykut #EscapeVelocity #Cyberpunk #SciFiIllustration #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Wednesday, 16 September 2020

Weichai

Illustration Louis-Philippe Desjardins

#WeichaiFerrari #Weichai #Ferrari #LouisPhilippeDesjardins #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Tuesday, 15 September 2020

Bosozoku

Akira Character Study by Marco Vergantini

Images Marco Vergantini

#MarcoVergantini #Akira #GSXR #Bosozoku #Cyberpunk #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Monday, 14 September 2020

Kaneda

(Akira 1988)

#Akira #KanedaBike #AkiraPowerBike #CapsulesVsClowns #GoodForHealth #GoodForHealthBadForEducation #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Sunday, 13 September 2020

Kidmograph

Image Kidmograph

#Kidmograph #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Saturday, 12 September 2020

Kirin

Image Halumoto Showhei

#Kirin #Kirin5 #HalumotoShowhei #YoungKingComics #SuzukiKatana #Katana #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Friday, 11 September 2020

Paranoia

Images Neil Bridge

#ParanoiaRacing #NeilBridge #DeathSpray #DeathSprayCustoms #Ducati900SS #Ducati900SL #DucatiSupersport #DucatiSuperlight #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Thursday, 10 September 2020

Aprilia

Ahhh... The nineties.

Image Unknown

#Aprilia #ApriliaAF1 #ApriliaFutura #Benetton #TheNineties #The90s #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Wednesday, 9 September 2020

Tech 21

Images via Young Machine

#YoungMachine #YamahaFZR #FZR750 #Tech21 #YamahaFZR750 #Shiseido #Suzuka8Hours #EnduranceRacer #TheEighties #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Neon

Illustration Mad Dog Jones

#NeonNoir #MadDogJones #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Monday, 7 September 2020

Akira

Image PixelJunkie

#Akira #AkiraPowerBike #AkiraBike #KanedaBike #CapsulesVsClowns #GoodForHealth #GoodForHealthBadForEducation #Lego #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Sunday, 6 September 2020

Time Machine

You may be cool but you'll never be Jumpin' Joe Gerlach in a Flared Leather Safari suit driving a Monowheel Time Machine cool.

Image Unknown

#JumpinJoeGerlach #Monowheel #TimeMachine #Discosphere #TimeTravelIsReal #TimeTravel #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Saturday, 5 September 2020

Dragon Racer

Rudy Siswanto - Big Race Preps Flying Dragon

Illustration Rudy Siswanto

#TheFutureIsDinosaurs #DragonRace #RudySiswanto #FlyingDragon #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Friday, 4 September 2020

Stay Away

Photographer Sébastien Nunes

#StayAway #Ducati #DucatiSupersport #Ducati900SS #Ducati750SS #Ducati900SL #DucatiSuperlight #900SL #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Thursday, 3 September 2020

Slabby

Photographer Unknown

#Suzuki #GSXR #SlabSide #SuzukiSlabSide #Yoshimura #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage

Wednesday, 2 September 2020

Mercenary Social Media

MERCENARY is on Instagram.

That's not really news, MERCENARY has been on Instagram for quite a while but like most other social media, never really took it all that seriously.

But given the way the world has gone in the last couple of years, and the way social media has exacerbated the world's problems, MERCENARY is opting out of some social media platforms.

In short, fuck Facebook. And fuck Twitter. Every time I go on Facebook there is some bullshit waiting to irritate me so I make changes and it finds new ways to aggravate me. That's not a bug, that's a feature. So fuck you Facebook, I'm out.

MERCENARY has permanently deactivated its Twitter account and will be making a strategic withdrawal from Facebook over the next week or so.

If you are one of those people who follows us on Facebook and visits this blog by clicking through posts, you won't be able to that soon. We hope you will stay with us here, maybe by bookmarking https://www.mercenary.ie/

Or like I say, MERCENARY is on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mercenary_garage/

Marking out a regulator/rectifier mount for the Superlight 1000DS project. The regulators on the SL and the DS are the same external dimensions but the SL uses a steel adapter to fix to the frame. The adapter weighs about 100 grams so I thought about remaking the it in aluminium but decided instead to delete it altogether and make a tab to bolt it directly to the frame.

I was gifted this gearknob in the early noughties for a Baja Bug that I was building. The Baja got sold on before it was completed and at some point the gearknob found a new purpose in life. Or death, so to speak.

The collective noun for titanium bolts is a 'Fortune'. This is a fortune of titanium bolts, originally destined for the Fantic project and now redirected to the Superlight 1000 DS. The Fantic project hasn't been abandoned, just postponed.

I found this enormous fuse in the 1000 DS wiring loom and burst out laughing. It reminded me of those giant Smarties and Kit-Kats that appeared a while back.

The throttle bodies off the DS motor. I dismantled and cleaned them and replaced the fasteners with stainless ones. Then subsequently replaced the stainless with titanium and the two threaded bars the hold them together with aluminium ones. I think I saved about 50 grams. Maybe 40.

This was the world's skankiest Superlight 900SL when I bought it in 2004. It almost certainly still is. I've spent the last 16 years making it lighter but never really addressed the skank. It's undergoing a rebuild with a 1000DS motor and another weight loss program. Watch this space...

Ducati Superlight 900SL Mk.I #474 top yoke - The Multistrada igniton barrel bolt's up but is very heavy so it probably won't be there at the other end of this project.

This is where MERCENARY stores its essential fluids. One for petrol, one for diesel and a matte black one for Drakar Noir.

Vintage African Ivory Lucky Frog has found a new purpose as a tool chest knob.

The workshop empty and (fairly) clean for the first time in about four or five years.

#FuckFacebook #FuckTwitter #SocialMediaPolicy #Apocalypse2020 #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage