POST2: THE NEW "RAT STEAMPUNK" LOOK

  I am thinking covering the tank with natural rough Buffalo Leather I have, and making wood fenders and a wood battery box. I don't worry about it getting wet, I just don't ride in the rain. Right now, the bobbed V-STAR has no fenders at all, so if the road gets wet, my butt gets soaked and the spray from the front wheel hits me right between the eyes...:

  Here is a sample of these beautiful Italian Canadian Buffalo leather hides I found years ago at the flea market in Atlanta:

   I already used it on my kitchen chairs and on the seats and cockpit padding of my "Spirit of Tomas Biplane":

  It's rough, unfinished, and supple enough to stretch over a gas tank. I got a good size piece left.
   For the wood fenders, I can think of several basic construction options: laminate thin veneers in a curve(possibly on top of a metal fender), carve solid wood, glue curved precut slices together(cross the grain like plywood) and sand them smooth(possibly alternating colors of wood). I am leaning towards this last option. Actually, the slices could be made of high grade plywood. I also have tons of cedar and a couple of big blocks of caoba(Guatemalan mahogany)left over from my days as a Sculptor making Dummies.
   The black wrapped exhaust pipes will have to be re wrapped in "antiqued" beige or light brown fiberglass tape. The chrome tips could be painted with high heat metallic copper paint, or sandblasted and rusted, or replaced with brass pipes.
   I also need to get rid of most of the shiny chrome. The metal parts could be "antiqued" by sanding them unevenly and using dark and brassy paint spots. The shiny chromed plastic Air Intake needs to be replaced, but the bike is finicky about changing its intake pressure too much.
   All the wiring needs to be redone using the "Antique Reproduction Wire" I already have:

  I definitely want to use the reverse levers I had carved out of solid bronze for Bobber 1:

  I am not sure the buffalo leather is going to age well, so I am testing artificial aging with a heavy coat of flat varnish and clear shoe polish. I darkens considerably, but gets a nice antique look with a sheen, and when I pull on it, the wrinkles show up nicely:

   I think I want to use decorative copper or brass straps with brass acorn nuts on the tank for accent, which would allow me to cover it in sections with smaller pieces of heavily textured leather(using contact cement), and  make the job easier.I might also use old leather straps with bronze buckles.
   I don't want to keep the speedometer on top of the tank with that cheap chromed plastic box, unless I cover it with leather:

   I could mount it to the handlebars in a brass, copper, or turned wood box. The hole on top of the tank could be either filled and smoothed over, or used to mount a steampunk compass, clock or gauges in a carved block of wood.
   I want to do a curled copper gas line with a gas filter as for the defunct Bobber 1:

   Even though it is shaped nicely and comfortable, I don't like the cheap black vinyl seat much. Since the bike is not going to be ridden on long trips, I could go crazy and build a "looker seat" without worrying about comfort too much. I still like the idea of a spring mounted seat though, but it could be a leather pad on a formed steel pan I have, or even just the rusted steel pan with some decorative brass screws or edging:

I found this picture on the Internet that I like a lot, and don't know that I can come up with anything much better:

Or I could carve a conformed seat out of wood like the one on the fabulous Victory Concept Bike:

   The battery and electrical equipment box could be wood and brass with leather straps and brass roller buckles:

POST 1: "ART BOBBERS" CONTINUES "ART CHOPPERS"

  I kept a blog called ART CHOPPERS for quite a while, but one day, I deleted  one of my Google Accounts by mistake, and now I can't get to the blog to post. It's still out there on the web though, and I suggest you check it out. The last picture is one of my beloved Gold Leafed V-Star 1100 Bobber after the big crash of May 24, 2012...
  I have not been on a bike since. My wife made me promise when I was in the hospital that I wouldn't ride any more, and I have kept that promise so far, even though I am itching to get back in the saddle, at least a little. My friend Adam has been riding my "little" V-Star 650 Bobber, that I was in the process of customizing at the time, and my friend Landers  has been trying to sell my big Victory 1500 at his bike shop. It is too heavy for me now, and wasn't half the fun to ride as the V-Star 1100 anyway.
   BOBBER 1 was a fantastic bike, not too heavy, low slung, comfortable, steady, responsive, fast and nimble. I loved it. I took it to Daytona Beach in March 2012 with my friend Jacky riding the Victory. This is what it looked like in better days:

   Those days are gone forever, and I don't even know if I will ever ride again... For that matter, I don't even know if I CAN ride, I may be too scared to. I would like to find out though, and hope to get permission to practice in my favorite parking lot and see how I am doing on BOBBER 2 soon:

 Also, I would like to get back in the shop and finish it up. This is what the concept was a year and a half ago before the crash:

    The last thing I did before the accident was a black cardboard mock up of the tank and fenders:

  The tank looks too high and the seat too big. Welding the aluminum tank would be a hassle, and it probably won't be too pleasant on the knees. The fork would require a lot of experimental work, and I am pretty busy already. And this is not a "second bike" anymore, this is the ONLY bike I got left, with the 1974 Honda Chopper.

  So frankly, at this point, a year and a half later, having lost Bobber 1, I am thinking of dropping the black non skid plate idea altogether and go for a more "Steampunk Rat" look instead, may be using wood, rust, copper and leather...