Sometimes a change of direction will get you to your destination

Part of me can't believe that an entire year has gone by and I have accomplished so little on this bike. I realize in that time I have been busy with a new business so it isn't like I have been sitting around doing nothing. I also don't want to rush this build. I want to take my time and be happy with the end results. Ironically, this bike was meant to be a "winter project" and so far the only time that I haven't been able to work on it has been the winter. 

I have been thinking a lot more about this build since getting it set up on the bench. I originally designed this entire bike around a super narrow sporty tank from Lowbrow Customs. It isn't a tank I see very often and I love the look of it. If I'm being honest, I knew how I wanted this build to look even before I ever got this bike. The first time I brought one of these tanks into the store and took it out of the box I could see the entire project in my mind. I knew that I wanted to build this motorcycle at some point, it was just a matter of finding the right donor bike at the right time. When my friend ended up having this 79' xs650 for sale I thought this was the perfect opportunity.

...when it works its amazing, but when it doesn't work it is very awkward.

Once I got the hardtail welded on and the bike roughly mocked up, with the tank held in place by welding magnets, I realized that I didn't like the fit. I feel that the frame is too short for this tank and I am not in love with the angle it sits at. I spent a few weeks staring at the tank sitting on the frame and debating what I can do to make it work. I had planned on frisco mounting the tank but there isn't enough room to do that so rubber mounting is my only option and I don't love how it looks. I also played with the idea of cutting out the tunnel so that I could lower the tank onto the frame. I don't like how high it sits now, but I also don't really like the look of this tank with a mid tunnel either. It is such a specific shape tank. I think when it works its amazing, but when it doesn't work it is very awkward. 

I had been racking my brain on how I want to mount this tank to the point that I am so focused on it, I am losing sight of the rest of the build. I have come up with some really out of the box ideas just to try and make this tank work. So far every time I think I am onto something, I step back and realize it's just not what my original vision was. It's taking me in a direction I don't want to go. 

I had a customer come into the store the other day. He is a regular and is currently in the middle of a backyard build himself. As usual, we got talking about his project and where he's at. Then he asked about mine. I told him that I haven't made any progress on it largely because I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a way to make the narrow sporty work on this frame. He pointed out a peanut tank in the store which was painted by Jamie over at Savage Customs. We talked about it for a while. I told him how much I love that tank and what Jamie did with it and that if it hasn't sold by the time I finish this build, I may just have to buy it myself for my next project. I laughed about it and told him I can't get distracted thinking about future projects until I finish this one.

My customer then made a good point. He said, "sometimes you're better to swim with the current instead of against it." Simple words, but very true. He wondered if forcing the narrow sporty to work on this build was taking me in the wrong direction. Perhaps switching gears might be a better result. He then suggested that I take the painted Wassell style tank home and set it on the frame and see how I felt about it. I'll admit, I had very briefly considered that but was so focused on making the narrow sporty work that I hadn't given it much thought.

I took the peanut tank home that night, removed the narrow sporty, covered a section of the frame with a cloth, and set the painted tank in place. Immediately I loved how it looked. It sat in the right place right away. It is a shorter tank so I can frisco mount it as I originally intended to do. This was my first time seeing it on the frame and instantly the entire build made sense to me again. It wasn't the same vision I had started with, but now I could see a different direction that all seemed to fall into place. Not a narrow lane-splitter chopper, but more of a 1950's American bobber inspiration.

I guess sometimes I can get so focused on my goals that I get distracted from seeing the bigger picture. I was so determined to make one aspect of the bike work that I didn't even realize it was changing how I felt about the entire build. I think I'm going to stop trying to fit the square peg into the round hole for a while and just let everything fall into place. I put the narrow tank aside for now. I would still love to build that bike, but this Yamaha is meant to be something else.