Like a bullet cutting thru the wind
Johan – I’m Jo and I own a small shop in South Florida named Iron Alley Fabrication specializing in metal work and vintage motorcycles. And like anybody who does this for a living never had the time to build Myself something really cool. Until last year. I have always loved the look of old fairing bikes from the 60s and 70s. I knew it was time I made one for myself.
I took my all original 1972 xs2 and blew her apart, ordered an Air tech fairing and made everything fit around it.
Built removable brackets to clamp the fairings onto the bike which allow me to run the bike in 3 different looks, “naked”, “half fairing” and “full fairing”. And, custom Made a steel tail section to follow the tank lines and be easily removable.
The only pipes that would squeeze under the fairing without anymore modification to the bodywork were a set of Hughes speedster pipes. Also added a HHB oil cooler for good measure. Added some clip ons with a small master cylinder for clearance and a universal throttle. And a modified set of loaded gun rear sets finished off the look.
The fairing needed PLENTY of body work to get it smooth. I did all the paint and bodywork. Picked a nice lexus silver color had a friend at big shot creatives make me some one off matte black stripes and decals. Custom seat was done by my buddy in West Palm, Jeff Phipps custom saddles.
This bike took about 8 months to complete working a few hrs on nights and weekends, and luckily with some help from a few good buddies at the end was finished in the 11th hour the night before we left for the Barber Vintage Festival(2014) where she was debuted. She gets plenty of attention anywhere she goes and I’ll probably never stop hearing “is that the mad max bike?!?”
Shes sporting a stock rebuilt front end with a set of MikesXs shocks on the rear which are pretty stiff, The bikes not the most comfortable to ride for long periods of time due to the stance you have sitting on it, comfort was thrown out the window in order to get a nice tight flow of all the body work. I built this bike around me and it fits me like a glove, my knees fit inside the fairing Which keeps me perfectly dry when I’ve ridden through some heavy south FL rain storms, and on the highway she’s real stable like a bullet cutting thru the wind, you can ride with one finger on the throttle without being blown off the bike (love that fairing).
The bike took about 8months to build in between customer projects and free time on nights and weekends at my small shop. I built most of the bike myself with some help from a few talented friends who gave me a hand finishing it in the final stretch to get it done the night before we left for the barber vintage festival Oct 2014 where it was debuted. Made a custom sheetmetal tail to follow the lines of the tank.
A good friend jeff phipps out of west palm beach finished the tail off with a custom seat he made for it. New clip ons, slimmer master cylinder, and a few goodies from HHB like an oil cooler and the speedster pipes finish the details on the bike. We did plenty of body work on the fiberglass fairings to get them straight and looking smooth. Then Finished it off with a nice modern Lexus silver color.
Future plans will be to rephase the engine and punch it out a lil bigger. Also add a later xs front end for the dual disks and have adjustable forks and some better shocks in the rear. Also some shouldered wheels and better rubber. The most important part to me is to keep the bike classic as if it was built back in the day and not spoil it with modern parts and gadgets.
Hope you guys enjoy it, it’s been a labor of love. For more build pictures look up my shop on IG or FB “Iron Alley Fabrication”
Thanks, Jo
