Life can be a funny old thing. I was stood looking at the dog the other day and was going through the MoT regs in my head. The sort of seat that it is going to have is like a King and Queen affair so technically it will take a pillion. Now my understanding of the regs is that if it can take a pillion it must have rear foot pegs. I put that piece of info in my memory bank and then got on with other things.
One of those “other things” was to go through some of the 40 or 50 odd boxes of parts that I have, they won’t sell sat in boxes so they all have to be photographed and listed. While going through one particularly useless pile of detritus I came across a pair of tubular footpeg hangers complete with footpegs, I immediately knew they had to be snaffled for the dog. They would be a wee bit short for anything but a midget or somebody with their legs sawn off so I set about fabricating a couple of brackets that will be welded to the frame each side.
They are very simple affairs in keeping with the rest of the bike, they will have returns welded to them to make sure that they have the required strength. They will be welded to the point on the frame where there is a cross member to make sure they are one of the strongest parts of the bike and will add rigidity as a bit of a bonus.
I have worked out a solution for the chain hitting the ammo box – a simple spring loaded chain guide. As luck would have it there is a bracket already welded to the frame that I was going to cut off but left it as I thought it may come in useful for a chain guard. The ammo box will make an ideal mounting point for that so it is now available for another purpose. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose but today has been a good day. Better than yesterday anyway.
Let me tell you what happened, I need to cleanse my soul. Yesterday was one of those days when every 5 minutes there was another interruption, people phoning to ask if I had a wobulator for a 1936 Harley and then when I find one after an hour of searching they say they will have a think about whether they really want to spend £2 or not. You know the sort of thing. Anyway by the time I got to spraying the clear coat on the tank I was in an advanced state of irritation – it’s fair to say I had an immense sad on. I’m making excuses here for being a pratt because what I ended up doing was forgetting the hardener that has to be mixed in with the epoxy and thinners. Oh you stupid cockwomble, I remember shouting. Fortunately I realised my stupidity pretty quickly and was able to mix up dome more 2 pack, this time with the hardener that gives the bloody stuff it’s name! I was lucky, it activated the paint that was already on there and I managed to do it without getting any runs, which was amazing given how thick a coat it was by now.
Imagine my horror when I thought I had got away with it and the tank turned pink where the paint was reacting with the moisture in the air – another amateurish mistake, I should have done it on a much drier day. Fortune smiled upon me again though and a heat gun soon sorted that out.
I will leave it to dry for several weeks now before I attempt to rub down any imperfections – of which there are a few.
I got my new bearings for the bandsaw today, which was nice. I was able to use it to cut the brackets for the footpegs and also the spacers for the ammo box to sit on. Small jobs but quite satisfying.
I had another two eureka moments in quick succession – the first one was regarding the chain tensioner. I was looking for a torsion spring and had gone through my box of spring related treasure
and hadn’t found anything suitable. Never mind, I thought, I will have a look on tinterweb later and see what I can find. Before I had a chance to do that I came across a left hand footpeg assembly of unknown origin that had a spring on it that would be perfect for the job at hand. As a bonus it also has the two ends on it that I will eventually need for my gear shifter.
As if my cup was not overflowing enough I then stumbled on another piece of happystance while I was in the middle of stripping a Bandit 600. The rear wheel stay looked almost right for the dog, not quite but near enough to make it easily modifiable for the purpose. The fork on the rear of it is exactly the right width for the VZ800 brake hub, it’s pretty much the right length, it just doesn’t kick out far enough to miss the tyre. Two nicks with my trusty angle grinder and a quick bit of welding will soon put that right. I will have to make a new bracket to go on the frame but that’s a very straightforward job. Happy days!!!
Article provided by David Powell of Boston Bike Bits.
