Ha. thanks...I've been waiting for a couple of hours to catch up on the postsI've been waiting for this!
....I think the Japanese manufacturers weren't too concerned with handling on a commuter bike at the time. if its anything like my XS650 from 1976, its like having a pair of wet noodles up front especially when you come off a modern sports bike!Nice work, I would have been tempted to make a one piece mudguard bracket to act also as a fork brace, am guessing this is light enough that you will get away without a brace. On old bikes the steel mudguards act as a rudimentary fork brace, pet hate of mine folk making the fork assembly less rigid.
I was having this discussion with someone yesterday funny thing. That's why I don't get into these online arguments when people are asking what I think is a decent price for their builds, you cannot compare a custom bike which has had all sorts of ebay stuff bolted on, to one where some of the parts started out as sheet metal or a length of tube! The lost hours that go into a small widget which no one sees soon adds up.....Nice work.
I think it's only when you done custom build stuff like this with a bike or other machinery that you can fully appreciate the work that goes into it. When you see builds at shows or meets and take the time to look you can see the difference between those built with parts off the shelf and those where they've been made/fettled specifically for that project.