Check out the new background! Nice to keep things fresh :D

I have been umming and ahhing about what colour I want to do the wheels on the bike. I thought that leaving them as they were was a bit boring, and stripping them down to the alloy was a bit too BMW (eughhhh!). So I think I might go with a nice retro-cream finish with the tank decals the same colour. Also, I saw a bike with the same original seat/tail combination and thought that looked a bit crap, so I have re-done the image with a nicer seat and a new lamp. What do you think?

Back to the frontline :)

Was a fairly productive weekend, managed to find all the engine covers from under the piles of junk, and set about giving them a clean. When the wife asked where I was heading I replied, 'I'm off to the garage to give my bits a good rubbing, hehe'. Joking aside though, there really is nothing more satisfying than taking a dirty piece of metal and making it shine till you can see your reflection in it!

Before...




introducing: the beast...




and after...




stripping the clamps



'I'm so shiny, look at me shine!'




The only way to replace all the elbow grease needed for polishing - a nice cold beer :)

It has been a very long, cold and hard winter, but the snow is melting and the flowers are a-bloomin'. Nearly time to get back into the garage now that the temperature is above -5°!! Plus, the motorcyclists are already out and about which is making me want to get on with the project. I ordered some new forks and a swingarm which I received a while ago, so now I can think about getting some stuff powder coated. Then there is the engine strip down to be getting on with (which I shall be approaching with much trepidation). I'll try and get some more photos up soon.

I don't think I mentioned that I ran into a major obstacle with the swingarm bolt. The bolt itself rotates within a metal sleeve within the swingarm pivot and with bearings at both ends. I knew from reading about similar projects that the SR500 swingarm bolt was prone to seizure and that there were a number of methods for removing the bolt. Well, I tried all of them and it just didn't work - so I had to resort to cutting the whole swingarm into pieces to remove it! As dramatic as this sounds, it was bloody good fun, sparks everywhere wheeeheee :D

(oh, and in case you are wondering, that is a bread mixing machine in the background, not mine)

I have finally managed to start making some headway on the bike again after quite a long pause. Mainly because I have been busy every weekend, but it was also bloody cold for a couple of weeks! I proudly present...a spanking clean fuel tap :)



a cleaned and repainted front disc...(still with the masking tape on)



and wheels without the tyres (which were rock hard and useless) waiting to be cleaned and powder coated

An Honorable mention...

I paid a visit to the Street Fighters shop in Interlaken last week, and I have to say that you would be hard pressed trying to find nicer and more helpful people! I must have spent an hour in the shop just chatting with Andreas about the project and asking silly questions, and being patiently and competently answered. These guys are excellent, if you are ever in Interlaken then go and visit the shop, or check them out online Street Fighters (make sure you have a look at their 'TEN' custom build, sick!)