I am now totally happy with the frame apart from one tab needs to be cut off near the seat but I can’t get to it with the ammo box in the way, the ammo box needs to be slightly higher to give me better chain clearance and I still need to sort a front engine mount. I am not totally convinced I need it but as this engine pumps out best part of 100 horse power it had better be held in good and proper. Once these jobs are attended to I can take it all apart, fully weld everything , clean it, paint it and then start final assembly.
The challenge with the front mount is that it has to be removable. When the engine is fully fitted it is held at the front, bottom, and rear. If none of those mounts were removable it would be impossible to get the engine in and out. With the front mount removable it is a simple matter to take it out, move the engine forwards and then extract it from one side or the other. In the bike it came out of the whole of one side of the frame could be removed to facilitate the same thing.
I made one and realised I had made it too narrow so it wouldn’t fit properly, I now have a kit of parts for mark 2. Stupid schoolboy error really, I should have checked the fit before finally welding everything. Guess I just got cocky.
I did a really silly thing the other day – I went to an auto jumble. I have really missed these, I usually go to about 20 or 30 year but Covid has put a stop to all that this year. I was going to be standing at this one but my van had issues so I had to make do with walking round it.
I got some great Dog related items – A set of really nice carbs off a Honda CB750, a superb quality Hella headlight and the backrest off a Harley that has donated it’s back rest pad, I’ll sell the other bit.
The mechanical hacksaw was also a great find – a rather rare Kennedy 90 that was in a dangerous state of disrepair, I am in the process of doing it up in one of my despair shop articles.
Enough of that – back to the dog. I am having a second look at the footpeg mountings, the pegs are just a wee bit too far forward for comfort and I’m a bit of a short arse. I am thinking of making adjustable mounts so that it can accommodate people of different heights more easily. There is nothing worse in my opinion than having a bike that is uncomfortable to ride. Except maybe having your eyes ripped out and then having a pair of red hot toffee apples rammed in to the vacant sockets.
The carbs will be kept for phase two as it’s a hell of a lot of work to make them fit and work properly but boy, do they look great. The headlight is already on the bike and looking great. I made a very simple bracket that bolts on the the upper yoke – a hole was already there but it needed to be retapped.
The only problem with it really is that there is no room in the bowl to house all the electrical connectors so they will now have to live in a black plastic box that will be mainly hidden under the tank – at least that is the current plan. It was always going to be a bit one step forward and two steps back on a project that is determined by what turns up at the time. For those of you that are interested in budgetary issues – the headlight was a tenner, the backrest another tenner, I also bought a few consumables that put another tenner on the total. Add in the paint I had to buy and this week I have spent nearly 50 quid or a whopping 10% of the budget. It’s out of control is, what it is.
While I was fannying about I had a trawl through my boxes of valuable artefacts and found some switch sets and throttle twist grip. It’s surprising how many slight variations there are. I wanted light switch, start and start inhibit on the right with a twin cable throttle set up and on the right I just wanted hi/lo beam and horn, it also had to have a choke lever. I also wanted them to look similar, I had to go through quite a few before I was happy. As far as the brake master cylinder is concerned I wanted a small bore as I only have one disc and a neat looking reservoir – nothing too conspicuous. I am now happy with what I have the master cylinder is off a Suzuki AN400. I think the clutch perch bracket and lever are Bandit 600 – not sure but it matches the other side well.
That’s it for this one, see you next time, I have no idea what comes next 🙂
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
