Garage should be all finished this weekend, saturday is the plan. (What have I said about making plans) Bike show at the NEC on sunday, so that day is lost; and gonna cost me money Itching now to start stripping the bike for it's complete and utter renovation.
Forgot about this thread that I started. Still haven't got around to stripping it yet....................nothing unusual there I suppose. Been using it for work as a commuter and quite like it really. Good riding position. Would like a bit more power but it's ok for now. Have had thoughts though about sticking a Fazer 1000 engine into it. 150bhp should do it I think. So the carbs started to leak pretty badly one morning, took me 3 days to get to look at it. Found that one of the cup seals had cracked on the fuel inlet 'T'' piece. Ordered new ones, they turned up last week. While I was waiting, thought it would be a good idea to sling the carb through the sonic cleaner. The dirt that came off them...........nice and clean though now. Put them back together, onto the bike, new pod filters as well, runs great, picks up nice and cleanly and crisp. Turned the bike off, chatting to my mate who popped in, smelt fuel, had a quick look and it's pissing out the choke slides. Son of a bitch. Yeah, they shouldn't be looking like that now should they. Ah well, back on to NRP carbs for new choke slides then......................
Can't believe this thread is nearly 12 months old already! As an update, the bike is now sorned and off the road. I'm still painting my mates 1966 Lambretta parts, and in between doing them, am popping over to his place to sort out the little issues like where to route the new cables, how this and that fits, where did you put the parts for that, and finally, last night, got it running for him. I still have to set the timing properly, I actually had to dig out my old Gunson Timing Light that I wasn't even sure would still work, but it does. Haven't had to use that for YEARS............... THE PLAN...................is to start on the XTZ renovation as soon as I've finished his parts! However, we have been talking about putting his Lambretta and my Suzuki F50 Cutlass into a couple of shows when they are both absolutely finished and looking concourse. Why can I feel a big rod being made for my back............................
WOW, 5 months later and I've only just started it! The strip down that is. Where does the time go??? Anyhooo, I've now got 5 weeks, or before April 22nd to get this thing completely done and renovated and MOT 'd. Why before April 22nd? BIKE4LIFE ride out in aid of the Midland Air Ambulance, and thats where I have decided it will have it's first outing as a newly renovated machine. And while it's parked up, it will have a for sale sign on it. So now it looks like this: And that's one grubby engine
Now it's proper stripped. Funny how these things don't look much when they are in pieces. The frame is now on the ramp getting stripped back to bare metal, then it'll get a zinc coat, then primed and painted. Not sure if I can get the shock apart to do the spring properly.........................but we're not that far ahead yet..................
Got the whole weekend ahead of me, gonna be locked up in my toy shop cleaning and stripping and painting I was thinking of doing the frame and swing arm in black, but I've seen another with the frame and swing arm the same colour as the main bodywork. Looked nice, got me thinking innit.......................
Not quite the original blue, but then again the original colour on this bike appears to have been white at some stage, but it will stay blue. I'll let you keep guessing until the finished paint job. Had a little "knobhead" moment, I used the wrong activator in the primer today and it didn't end well at all. Had to strip it all off again. What happens is it cures too fast and cracks and doesn't bond to the surface of the metal.
Haha I like that! You were anticipating that reply and had that finished picture ready and waiting didn’t ya
Swing arm didn't get done My good neighbour asked me plumb in their new washing machine for them. Then after that I sorted out a load of parts ready for the shot blaster in the morning
I got a taste for big trail bikes when I obtained a 125 Varadero for my son. It was so comfortable I looked for something with a bigger engine. I found a very nice 600 transalp. They are very comfortable to ride and the suspension just soaks up potholes. It's no wonder the Germans love them for touring. I had a similar problem with knobblies as you could feel them move on cornering so I never really had faith in them. I went for a more road orientated tyre.
It wasn't the tyres that were causing my problem, it turned out to be the upper steering bearing that had developed a 'notch' in it. Soon as they were replaced, all nice and smooth again. And I must admit, for the price I paid for these Heidenau tyres I was expecting them to be a bit on the crappy side, I was very wrong to say the least. Can throw this thing around like a scooter and practically lie it flat in the corners.