One other little job that I had been putting off was the ignition switch bracket, I couldn’t decide where I wanted it. Originally I was going to mount it in the Ammo box / electrical gubbins box but there isn’t room for it so I had to rethink it. Conventional wisdom says to mount it up on the handlebars but I want that all to look as uncluttered as I can. In the end I decided it should live down near the carbs tucked away so I don’t hit my leg on it, out of sight but reasonable accessible. A simple bracket was knocked up in a jiffy and welded to an existing cross member.
Sorry the picture is a bit blurry I have put my tripod somewhere safe and haven’t been able to find it for a week or more now.
While I was standing around generally looking at things I decided to have a go at removing the paint from the front wheel. My reason for doing it was two fold – first I wanted to see how easily the paint would come off and secondly I wanted to know what sort of condition the ally was like underneath. The news was mixed, the wheel will look great but it will take a fair bit of work to make it so. There is a fair bit of moisture has got under the paint and corroded the ally, it’s fixable but it’s a fair chunk more work than I had hoped for.
I am verging towards painting the lower parts of the forks black and doing the caliper and bracket the same, I think it will give a nice contrast with a silver coloured wheel.
I still have a few parts to find – switch gear, clutch perch bracket, headlight and I still need to sort out handlebars. Ian had a couple of pairs that looked like candidates but neither would have fitted any of the switch gear I have or the risers that are fitted to the dog. I decided I should make some, only problem was the steel supplier I always used didn’t have any steel of the correct size. Bugger. I am going to trawl my scrap pile and see if I can find some bits I can cut off and use, something will turn up.
Another minor job I got to was to make a bracket for the Triumph trinket bag that Ian had given me at my last visit to equatorial Crowland. It’s a real nice looking thing and it’s just the right size to hold a can of Stella, some biscuits and a vast assortment of condoms. I was going to fit it to the sissy bar but decided it looked better at the front so that’s where it will now live.
I had to go down to Crowland at the weekend to pick up a couple or three bikes that I had purchased from Scott and Ian, while I was there I had a good rummage around to see if there was anything that would suit the bike – I struck lucky. The first find of significant importance was the rear mud guard that originally belonged to the frame. Talk about lucky, that has saved me a huge amount of work. It’s rather heavy and it has some holes that need to be filled but I can see it is going to look great on there. The next piece of luck was that they had just cleared out a shop and in a bag was the perfect set of handlebars – all shiney and chromey, brand new, never fitted. Some days it just falls in your lap.
The mudguard will fix to the frame at the bottom and at the top it will fix to the bracketwork I did in the last article, as luck would have it I made it at exactly the right height. I have tied it up with cable ties at the moment just so I could eyeball it properly from the side, I am more than happy with it, when cleaned up and painted high gloss black it will look splendid and do it’s job perfectly.
That old seat will be scrapped, a complete new one will be made, the style will be similar but it will incorporate a back pad for the pillion passenger. I have no idea how to make it yet, I shall give it some thought and will probably have to involve Mrs Dave and her magical sewing machine. There is a shop in town that sells foam, I may be able to bastardise a couple of old seats as well. Other things to consider first though, I want to get to the point where it’s all coming apart and stuff is getting painted. All the stuff that just hangs on it eg seat, switchgear, electrical stuff can be sorted later when it’s final assembly time.
See ya next time, Dave.
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
