Do-It-Yourself Leather Battery Covers

I really like old, beat up leather details to contrast all the metal on a motorcycle. Leather battery boxes or covers can be made out of things like old ammo pouches or they can be handmade. The one pictured here is by Old Empire Motorcycles. Here's what you'd need to make your own. 

Old Empire Motorcycles 

There's a Tutorial at Boardtrack Primer for making the basic one shown below. Here's a little how-to:

1. Get some tooling leather or any 8 oz utility leather from Tandy Leather.

2. Using posterboard or heavy paper, cut a pattern

3. Trace the pattern onto your leather. Leave an extra 1/32" to fit your battery. 

4. Measure and mark your stitch holes with a ruler.

5. Use a leather punch (for big holes) or an awl (for small holes) to punch your stitching holes. 

6. Lace your preferred stitch pattern

7. Instead of stitching, you can use rivets and a hand riveter to fasten the sides together. 

Inspiration!
This one is from the Club Chopper Forums:

Other examples:

from Biker Net

WWII ammo pouches show how the leather parts are put together.

Steampunk-inspired pieces replace stitching with rivets.

DIY: Build Your Own Cafe Racer Seat

Here's a fantastic Do-It-Yourself by Herm Narciso of Dime City Cycles showing how to build your own custom fiberglass cafe racer seat. Brought to you by Cafe Racer TV.

Part 1


Part2

HMT Tutorial: Change the Kick Start Spring on a Royal Enfield

After 16,880 miles, my kick start spring snapped on my Royal Enfield. I fixed it and share this beautifully simple experience with you.

DIY Painting Motorcycle Rims on the Cheap

I'll confess, I'm sort of cheap. And impatient to ride. Last weekend I finally painted my motorcycle rims black. I've been photoshopping it for years and finally got around to it. I'm fully aware that powdercoating is the way to go when painting your bike rims, but, here's a quick way to paint your rims yourself using Appliance Epoxy Paint, without even having to remove the tires. This works for car rims as well.

Step 1. Prep.
Thoroughly clean the rims with a degreaser.
Wet sand the chrome and rinse. Allow to dry.
Mask off the rim using playing cards. (Much better than masking tape). They create a very precise mask and it only takes about 5 minutes.

Step 2. Prep some more.
Flip over the wheel and place on a bucket. Use another deck of cards to mask off the other side of the rim to prevent overspray onto the tire.

Step 3. Primer.
Use a self-etching primer. I used Duplicolor - available at auto parts shops. Let dry, lightly sand, add another coat of primer.

Step 4. Paint.
Use Appliance Epoxy paint by Rust-oleum. I recommend painting one side and flipping it over to paint the other side before the first side dries. To keep from marring the wet paint, I propped the rim up on a small bowl, on top of the bucket. The small bowl fits inside the area I'm not painting.

Step 5. Mount Wheels and Ride.