Is it a ex-military repurposed for sporty civilian use or a sport bike with military pretensions?
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It's like the front half of one and the rear of another.
If the dominant theme is to be military, you've made it less utilitarian with the rear sets and bum stop seat, sharp looking though they may be. Also by eliminating the traditional Bullet fender carriers, you've all but limited carrying capacity to what you can carry on your back.
Obviously the changes you've already made are most in sync with your preferred riding style. If it were my bike, I'd continue along those lines and make it into a vintage British racer that just happens to be green.
Chuck.
If I had more bandwidth right now, I'd search out a photoshop pic of an Abrams tank with chrome spinner rims on it...
But in all honesty, there was no "theme" for the bike. It is the former of the two options you presented...a military bike repurposed in its retirement.
And what you consider non-utilitarian, I considered functionally essential. Changes were made with specific functional intent, not really for aesthetics. I wanted to make the bike ergonomically suitable for me and the riding I do, lighter for better performance and handling (while taxing the stock 350 engine less), and improve the suspension. My own use of the word "utilitarian" referred to the paint alone.
I added rearsets (mid-sets, really, although these ended up a tad further back than I wanted) because for rough-road riding, it's very hard to post up on the stock footpeg position. You have to pull yourself up out of a chair, not just push up from underneath yourself. With the pegs further back, you just pop up from a squat. Indians just keep their asses in the saddle no matter what, so it's a fairly alien concept here. I also had the idea that I'd like to try clip-ons at some point, and with the stock peg position, I find that to be an ergonomic nightmare.
I added the rear tail section as a way to subtract a bunch of weight--it's fiberglass and extemely light, and takes away a lot of heavy steel stays, the fender, and a seat which must have been padded out with lead. (The dumb ornamental silver "studs" were just what the seat happened to have; the plain version was out of stock.) Alas this tail doesn't provide the basic mud/dirt/grit/water protection for the rider that I'd hoped...the new alloy tail will take care of that. Am considering going back to a bench-style seat, though, as well.
I took off the casquette to change the handlebar position, because the aft-of-the-fork location of the stock clamp is something I find uncomfortable and slightly awkward. (Have a long torso...any sweep on the bars with the stock clamp puts me further back that I want to be.) As a side benefit, I thought of it as another way to try and lighten things up. Turns out the casquette isn't that heavy once I got it off the bike, but still, it was mostly an ergonomic decision.
I also added cartridge emulators to the fork and Hagon adjustables on the rear to bring suspension up to at least a minimum standard of performance.
I admit I eventually cleaned up the wiring and relocated some components partly for aesthetics, but partly just to have everything neater and more comprehensible than the black-taped nightmare spiderweb I originally got after the "restoration."
Silencer and air filter were obvious changes for basic performance improvement...I did choose a megaphone just because I like them.
So it looks like what it is in all honesty: a military bike modded for me and my environment without a wholesale stylistic theme. I did try to keep the spirit of the original paint scheme as I added and deleted parts, just so nothing stuck out too much. Was pretty easy given the local cost of low-quality paintwork.
In the end, I've convinced myself for the direction to take with the new bike. Hopefully it'll come out well. If not, there's always the sandblaster and more paint.
Topic: How should it look? (Read 2752 times)