Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
I got all my new parts home last night, and started to install them. Unfortunately, my success rate wasn't very high.
The brake cable is 5" or so longer than the one that came off the bike. Not a big problem, but kind of annoying, since I think the Ebay listing description was inaccurate. I had already avoided several cables that were extra-long specifically because I wanted the stock length.
The clutch cable was simply the wrong thing. It's so close to the right thing that it fits, and can be installed, but the cable is just a bit too short for the housing. The cable is actually marked for a CL160, and I can't recall now if the Ebay listing was wrong, or if I overenthusiastically assumed a 160 part would fit a 175 bike. Either way, it won't work the way it is, since I think a full slack the clutch is still very slightly disengaged.
The throttle cable may or may not fit. The one that's on the bike was in such good shape that I didn't bother removing it. Just sprayed some lube in and called it good. No need to fix what's not broken -- I guess I have a spare cable now.
The new clutch lever didn't fit -- the pivot bolt hole is too small. That would be easily remedied if I had a drill press, but my drill press is still up at Jesse's house, buried in his garage. I was looking into getting myself a new drill press anyway, but I couldn't find the one I wanted locally, so that's a nonstarter. At least the lever looks otherwise like the right thing.
The new shocks look good. They'll require a little bit of work, but I was expecting that, at least. I found some bushings I thought might work for the upper mount (which is too large for the mounting pin on the bike), but although they're a good fit to the shock, they're too small internally for the bike. Again, nothing a drill press couldn't fix, but see problem A.
The other problem with the new shocks is that the lower mounting bolt is an M10 bolt instead of the M7 from the stocker. So the mounting hole on the swingarm is 3mm too small. This one's a job for a hand drill and a steady hand most likely, but by the time I got to that point last night, it was too late to embark upon high-precision tasks. I've learned the hard way that my ability to start up demanding jobs after about 9 pm is not very good.
So, that all put last night thoroughly in the "frustrating" category.
Fortunately, this morning went well, and I now have a shiny new front brake setup, with a round drum, and fresh pads, and everything. It was on the pricey side, at $125, but it looks like Metal Frictions did a good job, so I can't complain. At some point in the next few weeks, I hope to have the bike rolling well enough to check out the brakes, but I'm hoping they'll be a lot better than what I experienced that wet night in Indianola, checking out the bike.
Posted at 11:53 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater