Delays and Changes - How a Suicidal Bambi Can Alter Your Plans (Pic Heavy)

[Freelancer]

Hi Guys,

  As some of you might remember, I took a trip to the petting zoo a little over 1&1/2 years ago (I hit a deer late at night).  Kept the girl upright and only suffered a few minor injuries. 'Twas only a flesh wound" (minor scratches, broken big toe, broken pinky finger and bruised up a bit).

Hit the deer while doing about 40 mph. Bambi bolted out of tall brush and onto the road like it was being chased. It bounded across the oncoming lanes in two bounds.
I tried to avoid by slowing down and attempting to swing around its backside.  Also managed to hit the bikes horn, but once the deer saw my headlight it changed direction and headed towards me.

  At that last second, I realized that an impact was inevitable. I lowered my upper body and head down behind the fairing, braced against the bars and let off the brake just before I hit.

Ended up hitting Bambi where the stomach meets the hind leg.

Looking back, it is amazing how many decisions and inputs occured in less than 2 seconds.....though I have to admit that the ducking, bracing and letting off of the brake wete more of a reflexive action.

  After the impact I immediately pulled my now coasting girl over to the breakdown lane. A Sheriff Deputy was about a quarter mile behind. When he pulled up, his first words were, "How the F*** Did You Stay Upright?."

  Not sure as to the exact words of my reply. Was a little rattled but as soon as I figured out that I was still in one piece, my concern centered on my girl. Upon inspection it seemed like there wasn't really any serious damage...
 
The mirrors were hanging by their tethers. So I put them back on.

Tried to start the girl but nothing. A quick look around revealed that the impact had knocked the kill switch to the off position.

Pressed the starter button, she starts right up and promptly revs to 4k rpm. Check the throttle, its working fine. Check the choke, its fully engaged. Problem solved.

Next morning, inspected the girl and she had paint knocked off of the fender. Also the fairing had deer hair imbedded in what looked to be a new "minor" crack.
 The fairing already had a few age/stress cracks so I didn't think much of it. Just hopped on the bike and rode to the local diner for breakfast. She ran fine so, "no worries", right?

Wrong, as I mended the girl started getting quirky so on the first day that squatting on the broken toe didn't bother me, I opened her up.
 What I found was that my windshield extender and dash panels were hiding some serious damage to the fairing and some breaks in the wiring.


  As of this week, I've finished all of the repairs and upgrades to my girl. I will start with pic's of what she used to look like. Then go through the damage and the "temporary" mismatched fairing. Finally, will be pics of the new custom paint scheme I designed.

Will also show/talk about the lighting upgrades that I've installed. This is due to the accident being a combination of my fault, weak factory headlight set-up and the dear changing direction to run at my headlight despite my attempts to evade and honking of horn

Here is how the girl looked the day I got her:

[Freelancer]

She was pretty but if I am to be honest....I loved the colors but the scheme was imo so-so. Loved my Krausers but didn't like the windscreen extender.

So, this damage was an excuse to personalize my girl.

At first, doesn't look "too" bad :dunno2: :

[Freelancer]

Now for the gnarly. All of this was hidden by the aftermarket windscreen mount and the dash pieces.

What da ya think, salvageable?:

[Freelancer]

Now, for thread title.

 I had been collecting parts for a ground up k120rs build. A 91 k frame and transmission set up with a k1200rs motor.

  I had all these old body pieces laying around and having a running bike is better than an un-ridable multi-year projekt build.
   So, to me, it seemed like a good idea to patch the girl up good enough to get by. Then send my full set of spare body pieces off to a painter. Just had to come up with a paint scheme that I was happy with.

While the spares were getting prepped and painted, I put on another off color spare fairing to get by. Also started improving the lighting by modifying the headlight to accept a COB led strip in place of the little 3w front parking/driving light. Then added a Rigid 6" single row light bar under the headlight.

In these pics you'll see the lighting additions but will show more details and how bright they are later:

[Freelancer]

You can see the Rigid light bar under the headlight. Fits there as if it was designed for the bike.

What you can't really see is the led parking light and the led headlight that are now installed.

Here are my extra pieces. If you have any questions about installation and performance, feel free to ask:

[Freelancer]

Ok, here are pics of the lights head on.

First, is little cob led parking/driving by itself.
Second, is cob and led headlight.
Third is the cob park/driving light and the Rigid light bar.
Fourth and lastly, all lights with headlight on high-beam:

[Freelancer]

Gotta step out. Pics of new paint will be up later today.

Later,
Freelancer

[JcJ TN K75s]

Looking good so far. I'm staying tuned. :clap:

[Freelancer]

Hi JcJ and fellow Brick Flyers,

  Here are the pics of the new paint, rehabbed Krausers and rear led side markers.

The paint has some flaws and the color of the blue is lighter than I wanted but overall I'm very happy with the end result.

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

Later,
Freelancer

[billday]

I liked your old color scheme and I like the new one too.

Did you paint it yourself or hire someone?

[Freelancer]

Hi billday,

Thanks for the compliment on my ride.

  I drew out the pattern, then did a lengthy search for a paintshop/painter. We don't have the facilities or space to set up a dust free paint booth. Currently, we are renting while shopping for some non-restricted acreage.

  While I am satified with how the paint scheme looks, the quality of the work, ... mheh. I have a few nit- picks and one real complaint.           
  On the upside, the guy cut me a deal, my ride is repaired and she looks decent....sooo, its all good.

Freelancer

[billday]

Do you have a part number for the LED strip that fits in your headlight?

[Freelancer]

  Sorry, no part number on the COB's, they were an ebay purchase.
However, I've been using these for a lot of other projects(RV lighting, portable camp lighting and battery/solar powered sales display. Due to this experience, I can give you the particulars and important not so obvious things to know.


1) You can find them on Ebay and on Amazon. Ordering from a US vendor/importer will usually cost more but have faster shipping.
Price will range from $4 from Hong Kong or China supplier to $20 for pieces from US supplier. The average price you will see is $7-$10.

2) Go for the mid range priced pieces($7-$14). While the $4 sets will look exactly the same, I've noticed that the chipsets are inferior(will have a weak chip or two).
Oddly, a big selling point and sign of quality is whether or not the item comes with 3m adhesive backing. Sets that come with real 3m tend to have better quality chips. :dunno2: Go figure.

3) For inside the k100 headlight you want either the 17cm or 20cm strip. The width and thickness shold be .8cm.
  The 17cm is what is in mine but the 20cm  would have fit without issue.

3) Look for color range no higher than 6k to 6.5k, unless you like light blue. If you can find one that says 5k to 6k you will have a better shot at getting a "true white" color.

4) Make sure that you get the right voltage range. COB drl's with a wide voltage range like 9v-36v are usually better than the 6v-12v or 9v-18v sets.
The lights run much hotter when the operating voltage is closer to the upper limit. And heat negatively affects the light output and lifespan of leds.

If you are concerned about the  heat that these might produce, test the led while holding it. It should get pretty warm but not so hot that you can't hold it.
If you are still worried, use an aluminum backing plate as your mount/heatsink.

 If you want, I have another headlight and can do a step by step  with pictures of how I mounted my led's.... Yeah, I'll do that. It will take me a couple of days to fit it into the schedule, though.

5) The light should be advertised as both water/weather proof and as a universal fit. Do not order unless the vendor promises such.

6) Do "NOT" get one with a glass lens or that says "inflexible, do not bend". Most of these have a polycarb coating on a mildly flexible circuit board. This is important because you will need to "arch" the strip due to the headlights housing design.

7) This is more of an fyi.
The led drl's that I used are advertised as 6w and between 380 and 480 lumens. Normally, I would doubt the numbers on such inexpensive lights but they tested out at .5A draw and the light output can not be denied.
All totaled..... the led DRL, led headlight and rigid light bar use only 57watts.
My halogen low beam was 55watts by itself. Add in the old 3w parking light and it ends up being 1w more than this new set up.

And finally,

8) If the light doesn't come on when you first test it, reverse the wires. All of these are made in China, some get better chipsets but all can have reversed wires.

Hope this helps. Let me know if there is anything else, I can try to answer or need post pics of.

,Freelancer


Edited to add line 7)