winding down

The riding season seems to have just started and it's nearly over already. It's been a poor summer, weather wise and the two weekends I did get away were pretty wet, for riding at least. The North East Rider's Club rally in Northallerton brought the sunshine out on the Saturday so that made up for the wet trip both down and back up.

The bike's been going really well and hasn't missed a beat since I fired it up for the MOT, though I've probably done less than a thousand miles.
So, I guess it's time to start thinking about tinkering again!

I've got the rear rack and the tank mount/backbone cover away getting powder-coated at the moment and am looking for a paint shop to get the dished tank sprayed. I had bought some rattle cans to try doing it myself but have decided to get it done properly. I will need to re-spray the rear mudguard though, as there's a bit of marking where the pannier supports were fitted.

Customising the pannier supports is a job for the winter and one which I want to try myself if I can persuade one of my riding buddies to let me use a welder. I'm going to grind off the arms on the supports and re-weld them back on the opposite way round. Then I'll weld on a bolt so the support will fit on from the inside of the mudguard bracket. That will stop the support rubbing away the paintwork as there will only be the brass nut in contact and I'm sure I'd be able to use some sort of rubber washer to protect it. Once that's done I'll get them powder-coated black.

As for the coating I'm getting done now, the rack and the mount are getting done matte black which will contrast with the gloss tank and mudguards. I'm swapping out a few of the nuts with brass ones on the rack and the tank to provide some contrast. Should look good with the brass petrol and oil filler caps.

I've already fabricated new brackets for the seat. The alloy one which held the seat on wasn't long enough to let me move the seat back the couple of inches I needed for comfort's sake. Doing that meant I also needed to fabricate a bracket for the two door stops at the back of the seat to rest on. I had some 3mm brass sheet that I had bought by mistake when I was making the electrics box so that did nicely and it's probably stronger than the alloy.

My big job for this winter is to re-wire the bike. After removing the fuel injection, fitting a carb and doing away with the services of the computer, the wiring looks like a bag of knitting. Although I binned twenty odd sensors, I've left much of the original wiring in place. As well as that, many of the new components I've fitted such as the speedo, headlight and tail lights have been wired in by splicing in to the existing wires so very seldom does a wire finish its journey down the bike the same colour as it started.

I had considered just replacing the wires I need with new ones but after chatting to others decided to get a custom loom and electronics box. 

There were two alternatives. The Motogadget which is German is an all singing and dancing bit of electronic wizardry which would allow me to program all sorts of fancy combinations for lighting and indicating. It also incorporates an alarm system. 

The other on the market is the Ultima from the USA. It has less bells and whistles (well ok, not so many programmable  functions) but it does all the basic things the Motogadget does. They both do away with the need for a fuse box, can support electric starter, self cancelling indicators (without the need for additional resistors for LEDs) and come with clear, understandable instructions.
Two things made me choose the Ultima. The first was that it has all the cables hard-wired into the electronics box which makes for a simpler fitting and neater placement. The second was the price. The Ultima is probably about half the cost of the German one, as the wiring for that needs to be bought separately. The only drawback is I'll need to buy the Ultima off e-bay and get it shipped over from the States. As I've found a shop which provides custom clearance and tracking that shouldn't be too much hassle.

Then it will be the usual, back to wishing for dry, bright weekends in order to get the work done.

I've got a couple of other jobs to do. The front axle holder needs its bolts re-threaded and I've got a helicoil kit to do that. Typical Harley as they are two of only a few metric fasteners on the bike. I'm also going to replace the rear brake lines with stainless braided ones to match the front.
 I'd like to fit a Brembo disc but may wait until I can afford the laced rear wheel to match the front before I do that.

I'm also going to buy a 5 1/2"  Bates headlight as the 4 1/2" one just doesn't give out enough light to ride safely after sundown! 

Nowhere near the expense of past years but that's probably because the bike is getting towards where I want it to be. It will never be completely finished but always "getting there".

good for the soul

Personal problems meant I'd been neglecting the bike and hadn't even been into the the garage for weeks on end.
I finally forced myself to get out there as there was a camping weekend coming up that I'd promised myself I was going to. I spent a good day spannering, fitted the old tank and connecting up the fuel lines. I also had to re-fit the chrome headlight as I wasn't quite ready to re-wire the black one.
I had a couple of days off work before going away on the Friday so got the bike booked in for a MOT then spent a nervous hour or two while it went through the test.
I needn't have worried really as it passed "nae bother" as we say here in Glasgow.
I've done a couple of things since getting the MOT. I fitted the small mirrors and the black headlight as well as fitting a couple of brass nuts to provide highlights here and there. Can't wait to get the dished tank fitted as I think it will look good with the brass filler cap.
It felt really good getting back out on the road and although the summer has been a washout so far here's hoping for a good few decent week-ends and some good riding.
I need it to keep me sane.

nothing is simple

I've sealed the tank. Hopefully, it was completely dry and the coating will be even, but as I can't see inside, I've no real way of telling. The wiring that runs along the side of the frame from the battery box will need tidying up for the tank support to fit over it. I really should re-do the loom completely but don't know if I have the time (or more honestly, the inclination) to do such a large task.

I've almost finished making the brass box for the electrics. I reduced the height and it's coming on nicely. I found a brass wing-nut on e-bay which I think will complement it as a fastener. All I have to do now is work out how I'm going to fix it to the mudguard. I can either drill a hole through the guard and fasten it with a screw or I can go the slightly more complicated route and make an alloy bracket to fasten to the screws which are already there. That may give me a metheod of fixing the components the box holds.

As the nut is coming from a Royal Enfield supplier in India I'll have time to polish the box before it gets here.
One simple thing I got done was to replace the timing cover with a plain black one I bought recently. I do believe that was the last thing which obviously stated that the bike is a Harley. It's still a H D, just not badged!

I still need to find somewhere to get the welding done and will look into that soon. 

While I was browsing e-bay I came across an oil tank filler plug which will match my fuel tank bung. It's expensive though and coming from the USA may cost me even more with import dues. I'll consider that purchase carefully as I've just realised I still need to service the bike before it's back on the road and that will cost me for oil. (I've already got a filter somewhere in the garage.)

catching up

I've just been on-line and re-taxed the bike for another year. The insurance is paid and as the MOT isn't due until the end of April my bike is road legal.

All I need to do now is to get it running and on the road!

I've got a few days off so, given a reasonably dry week, I hope to get out in the garage and finish off a few of the jobs I started but which have been "delayed" over the winter.

The main one I want to get out of the way is the tank. I've bought a POR 15 sealing kit. Having learned a lesson or two from the last tank I did I will take my time and ensure that the inside of the tank is completely dry before doing the final stage. Before sealing the tank, I'll fit it and mark out where the holes will need to go in the frame cover. I've got to drill those then find somewhere to get the threaded spacers welded on. I'm gathering a collection of bits and pieces which are going to get powder-coated. As they are all going to be mat black I'll wait until I'm sure I've got them all before taking them to get done. The tank, which I've got a neat brass filler cap for, will be sprayed gloss black, I'm considering some kind of effect in the dished areas but will discuss that with the spray-shop, whenever I get round to taking it. So, that will end up a last minute decision.
I have the soldering on the electrics box to do, the seat bracket to finish, the black headlight to wire in and finally (and this is the one that's getting put off the most) the front fork seals to fix. As that's going to involve stripping both forks down as well as powder-coating the new right hand one, it is the job I'm least looking forward to.
But if I don't start soon it will never get done.

plans

I've spent the last few days going over in my head what I'm going to do to the bike this spring and how I'm going about it.

Firstly I need to sort out the leaky seal in the left hand fork. I've bought a new (cheap) right hand fork lower as the threads are stripped in the axle clamp on the one that's fitted. Pity it's the left hand one that's leaking as I'll need to strip down both. The new one needs powdercoating so I'll get the rack and the pannier supports done at the same time.
I've made my mind up that I'm going to fit a dished tank and have decided on the Lucky F*cker one. It's one which has a deeper tunnel so rather than buy the mounting bracket they supply, I'll make up a brass cover to hold the tank and protect the wiring which runs under the frame tube. In order to give myself a bit of practice at bending the brass sheet,  I've started to make up a box to cover the electrics on the rear mudguard. All I need to do is solder the joints on that.

Then it will just be a case of fitting the small black headlight I've had in the garage for months, change the oils and tidy up some of the wring and that will be all for this winter's rebuild.
All of these plans will be subject to changes. I've still not ruled out buying a spoked rear wheel but that's going to be big bucks so will need careful thinking before that gets put into motion. I may be better using that cash to pay for a pro paint job.

Will post as I go along as I'm needing some dry sunny weather.