Never expected to be doing anything like this (well, not to something thats not mine!). Ive said in a few other posts but a lad i work with got totally shafted by a local bike shop. At the time i never really looked that close at it but the more and more stuff started to stop working on it the more and more i stepped in to try to help. He has no garage, literally no tools and its his first bike, and being the sort of person i am i cant stand idly by when i have a lot of resource at my fingertips. So, after various odd saturday mornings in my garage weve gotten to this point. He's not mechanically minded as such but is happy to try. The rocker cover was pissing so much oil it starved the mains so, we took the decision (well, the point where i put my neck on the block) and offered to help strip the thing to the frame and get everything sorted out. Its also a cat C (i think thats the one - panel/light damage) Today, this morning we started. 10.30 the first spanner loosened its first nut. By 4.30 we had stripped the bike to the frame, took the wheels down to the tyre fitter to get the tyres taken off. Dropped the motor round to my mates house to have the engine split. Finally sorting the bike out in to piles for... Coating - frame, swing arm, wheels, loads of small odd parts like headlamp mounts, brackets etc etc Cleaning - pretty well everything else as its all covered in shit from the road, grease, oil etc etc from the last 7 hard years of its life. Storage - Bodywork, tyres, electrical etc etc I should have got a starting pic but didnt really think about it...kinda just concentrated on getting stuck in as it were... While financially this isnt economical but, i think this will server as something a bit more valuable to him to teach how to strip a bike, look after it, build it back up and keep on top of the upkeep. Along the way improving performance, having fun, and doing something constructive. Tomorrows jobs will be to pull the bearings out of the wheels and make a start on cleaning everything up, mudguards footpegs. Other stuff to do. Hes got heated grips, heated gloves and a tracker so, we'll look at integrating this all into the stock loom to tidy it up a bit... Ill take a load of photos tomorrow of the carnage... Weve ground out the header pipe as there was a massive restriction in there. And, when the barrel comes back we'll be polishing out the exhaust and the intake. Ive no experience of this motor as such. Anyone got any good tips on getting more out of it??
Good to hear of the encouragement you are giving a younger rider. Will be interesting to see and hear about the results. When I first started on bikes the local motorbike shop (millers in Colchester) were brilliant, helped me with advice etc. Also when I got my first British bike ( a box of bits) about 4 or 5 of the local triumph owners club helped to get it on the road within a few weeks. Perhaps bikes are more reliable now and this sort of help isn’t needed so much but I think you’re helping to create another biker that cares about what he rides.
Thanks lads...the idea is to get the core part of it, reliable, and coated. Its not gonna look perfect (as the panels are quite scrappy). He doesnt have a garage but has a cover for it. As he's had a hand in stripping it to pieces then panels, fairing etc etc he should be able to handle himself, and anything he does undertake he should be able to complete and small jobs in a calender day and use it the next.
Looking round on the web - its appears ( as i suspected ) theres not a great deal i/we can do to tune it, so, ill do the port polishing (pipe opened up) already, so i guess the only way to get more out of it is to just make sure everything is clean oiled/greased and set up. Id say the only way would be to weight save on there (eg the centre stand is quite a weight and not really used)....surprisingly a recommended "upgrade" is to go one down on the front sprocket...
Had a couple of hours in the garage this morning.... Bearings pulled from the wheels Put some waste bolts in all the stuff that's going to coating Stripped the footpeg hangers Various pics...
Swing arm is a bit of a conundrum... The bushes are in there solid.... Ive not got a very large vice so I can't grip the bushes... The fiche on the fowlers spares site list the bush but nothing else.... Think I need a bigger vice..!
Super kind of you to help him out like this. Maybe your couch isn't quite so congenial as I imagined? LOL
Meh... Therapy to me that 's what it is.... I can't sit around idle... Need to be doing constructive stuff... This is the worst bit..push through that and it all gets better...
Well, im positively optimistic but, theres a lot of busted, rusty and generally worn stuff on there....he's got a very limited budget also (another reason im doing this)...!
Boot currently full of bike bits (Frame, swing arm, wheels and a washing up bowl full of assorted bits) ready to drop down to the powder coater at lunch time.
These things are always in demand as learner bikes and have a reputation for being bulletproof. However, that reputation could be a double-edged sword with people failing to maintain them properly and generally neglecting them.
yep - theyre made out of pig iron...this particular one i dont think has seen a bucket of water, or a bike cover - ever....it literally looks like a pile of scrap in the back of my car...
