Custom Eye Candy: ‘Project Black’ – Rewiring a Firebolt for Funzies
It's a Thing.
'Project Black' - a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt's interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt's website.
If you’ve got the grits of our guy Nick Eckel, you’ll take the 7-month hiatus to start work on a bike of your own, testing the asphalt once everything’s melted off.
The donor for this particular project? A Firebolt – none other than the sturdy, quirky 2005 Buell XB12R, and one “that someone had spray painted all the plastic flat black.”
Eesh.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
“I wanted a fully functional, updated tracker / urban assault-style motorcycle with all modern electronics to be a dependable daily,” explains the Western New Yorker to Handbuilt.
Seven months is a long time – but not that long if you’ve got Eckel’s long list of tweaks.
The construction started with a powder coating of the frame and 3-inch longer Buell Ulysses swing arm, fabbing out the rear, which was “tig welded with 7/8s tubing and motogadget signals integrated in the side mesh.”
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
Eckel also made sure to add a bobber rear light, an under-tail pan that was brushed aluminum, and a (very necessary) front tracker number board.
Projector LEDs and Renthal double wall dirt bike bars were matched with “motogadget switches, motogadget motoscope pro, domino throttle assembly, and Buell lightning upper triple trees,” rounding out the whole aesthetic with a clean relocation of the battery/ECM and adding an (again, necessary) Ricks Motorsports Lithion stator + regulator (with an Antigravity Lithium-ion battery).
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
Brembo stoppage and dirt bike gripper seat material complete the assembly, with the center stage saved for the beast of a job that was completely rewiring the thing for an Mo. unit.
How much of this did the guy do himself, you ask?
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
Apparently, everything except the powder coating – fantastic, again, considering the docket of to-do’s…and hey; we’re even told the bike’s higher seating renders better handling than factory!
What do you think of this build? If you could deck out any bike of choice, what would you choose?
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
‘Project Black’ – a custom motorcycle that sarted out as a 2005 Buell Firebolt. All media courtesy of Handbuilt’s interview with builder Nick Eckel, on Handbuilt’s website.
