I decided it was time to put the front end on – it’s much easier to move it around the workshop then and it may make it a bit easier doing my money making work. Before I could do that I needed to remove the rest of the paint from the Diversion front wheel and polish it up a bit. It is not my intention to go too mad with it as I think it would be cool to get it professionally polished in phase two of the operation – we would be way over budget if we did it now.
What an absolute ball ache it turned out to be – there was quite a lot of deep pitting and fairly stubborn surface marks but after much rubbing and more olympic standard swearing the finished article looks pretty good. I took the disc off to clean and paint the middle bit and gave the blanking plate on the other side the same treatment. They were gold in colour and as nothing else on the bike is gold coloured it seemed better to go with black – satin on this occasion just so it contrasts a bit with the fork legs.
The engine mounts are now all in place, everything looks better now it is all lined up properly so the next job will be to fit the forks and the front wheel – to do that I need to lift the bike up in such a way that the front is unobstructed.
I shall lift up the front and get Mrs Dave to slide the jack under, that will be the safest way I reckon, with it at full height the forks should slot in easily. Christ my workshop is a bloody mess again, as soon as I can move the dog the first job will be a proper clear out. Now the bike season is at an end I should get more time for such trivial pursuits.
While the front is still in bits I will paint the spacers I made earlier so they don’t look out of place – small job but they all make a difference at the end of the day.
With all my little bits painted (pervert) I set about reassembly – it all went reasonably well until I got to the mudguard. I had convinced myself during the dry fit that it would all be easy but then I found the bolts that hold on the mudguard support bracket were right where the tyre is widest and were fouling on it as a result. I had to drill two holes further up the bracket to give me some clearance. I am still not overly happy with the fit – it sits about 1 inch too high for my liking but to make it fit any better would require a new bracket to be made so that can be a phase 2 improvement.
I will find a some blind grommets to blank the holes for now, apart from that minor issue I am pretty happy with the front end now although I still have to sort out a hydraulic pipe for the brake – I will have a decent one somewhere in my stash I reckon.
While I was at it I was never happy with the bracket that I made for the headlight – it only has one fixing hole so was prone to rotating about the bolt and loosening it off. I could have probably sorted it with some threadlock but decided to make a new bracket that stopped it from twisting altogether. That got the paint treatment at the same time as the bracket for the Triumph trinket bag. Another thing I need to sort is a front side light – one is required for the MoT and there isn’t one built in to the headamp. When I have a rummage for brake pipes I will have a look and see what I can find.
You may notice in the background of the photo of the assembled front end is another wheel. I happened across it on one of my regular purchasing forays to Crowland. I don’t know what it is off but it has appeal – maybe more so than the Diversion wheel currently fitted. I snaffled it while Ian wasn’t watching and will hold on to it for phase two. I am not certain if it will end up on the bike, if it doesn’t I will distract him with photos of classic Yamahas and sneak it back while he is transfixed.
Anyway back to the build and it’s time to put the newly painted brackets on, I then really need to start looking at the wiring although as I write this I have just remembered I didn’t fit a horn when I did the mock up so maybe I had better attend to that first. Bugger another plan consigned to the waste bin. Ho Hum.
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
