Topic: XS650 project thread - April 2011 - Getting set for 2nd season :)

[Sam Green Racing]

Thread hijack...thread hijack....thread hijack    oh by the way Terry,....nice avatar ......thread...

Sam.

[Terry in Australia]

 oh by the way Terry,....nice avatar
Sam.

Thanks to one Mr S. Green, of the UK, ha ha!

[CrisPDuk]

I'd best not let my Grandfather see the end of your post by the way   Any Irishman worth his salt will tell you that Whisky is that stuff the Scot's make for cleaning the drains, Whiskey is the nectar that emanates from the Emerald Isle

Your just jealous Crispy....everyone knows there is only one TRUE whisky and thats made in good old Scotland  ......

Doesn't bother me personally Terry   But my grandfather (Irish to the core) once gave me a stiff rebuke for spelling it wrong
In amongst the cultured English stuff (warm beer and black pudding), there's a smattering of both Scottish and Irish blood flowing through these veins, and I can't abide either whisky or whiskey
Much to the disappointment of vast tracts of my family, on both sides

[Terry in Australia]

In amongst the cultured English stuff (warm beer and black pudding)

You know Crispy, as cultured as your Brits have become with many centuries of evolution, I'm sure that "warm beer and black pudding" is a throw-back to a much less "cultured" period in British history, ha ha!

[Tim.]

It would seem to me warm beer and blood sausage would be perfect mediums for growing cultures.

[CrisPDuk]

Unlike vegemite and cold lager, which would explain a lot

[Terry in Australia]

It would seem to me warm beer and blood sausage would be perfect mediums for growing cultures.

Yeah, but the kind of "culture" that you'd end up with would be pretty useless, something like an English cricket player, ha ha!

Now stop trying to start fights between me and Crispy Tinny, and do some more work on that 650, we're only marking time here trying to keep this thread alive!

[CrisPDuk]

Now stop trying to start fights between me and Crispy Tinny, and do some more work on that 650, we're only marking time here trying to keep this thread alive!

Amen to that   We can usually start our own fights anyway, it's the Celtic blood I think (it's definitely the root of the livestock worrying tendencies).  I can pick (and lose) a fight in an empty room when the mood takes me

I've still got a bet going with Bill that I can get this thing through the BOTM nominations stage   If it ever get's finished in my lifetime


PS; We do have the odd useful cricketer these days Terry, KP is a genuine bona fide Englishman these days you know, even if he does talk a bit funny

[Terry in Australia]

Which reminds me Crispy, I must bump the "Ashes" thread, one of the oldest, (and most entertaining) threads in the forum! 

[CrisPDuk]

 


 

[dustyc]

(yes, he was Irish, but you can never trust a Campbell, ha ha!)

Watch it now. -What do you think the c in dustyc stands for?  Did someone mention single malt?

[CrisPDuk]

Did someone mention single malt?

They did now

[Tim.]

In an attempt to get this back on track...

Well the swingarm bushing is sorted.  The machinist-brother of my friendly welder/polisher (man talk about being hooked up in that family) got it all good.  I'm getting it on Monday.

Just waiting on another box from Mikesxs (shipping from the US is taking a month these days) with new chain adjusters etc.  This coming week will hopefully be the week to get the bike put together.  Wife is on jury duty so I'm off work getting my daughter to/from school, living in the garage in between school runs

[Terry in Australia]

Geez, a month to ship from the US? I got a box from CycleX last week, it only took four days to Oz! You sure that your boxes aren't going via Homeland Security Tinny?

[Tim.]

Man, this thing is taking WAAAAY too long.

First off, I got some Hagon shocks and refurbished them.  Fresh paint, re-chromed retaining rings, new springs, polished pre-load adjusters and one of our members is cutting new blue HAGON letters in the correct font for me to put on the adjusters in place of the original chrome stickers.

[Tim.]

And.... I picked up some new parts for the project, which I didn't need, but man are they nice!  Scored a nice deal on an Evan Wilcox custom Manx style tank, actually made for an XS650 frame.  So, I'm swapping over to the Manx tank and am selling my other alloy one.  Got some Omars rearsets and another Boyer ignition in the deal.

Here are pics of the new tank

[Terry in Australia]

Woohoo Tinny! That tank looks magnificent, well done!

[bryanj]

TinTin--DO NOT hold the preadjust C spanner onto the adjuster ring with the free hand when adjusting preload as the ring will jump straight from maximum, over the cam to minimum trapping a lump on hand in the process!!!!!

The original Girlings would not do this but Hagon have not machined a "stop" in the rotating adjuster.

Answer (1) YES it hurt like Hell

Answer (2) By unbolting the shocker from the bike, with hand attached, and getting a STRONG mate (whose garage I was working in) to pull the spring down with the bottom fitting in the vice, removing the top retainer and stripping the spring and adjuster off to get my flesh out.

[KB02]

... ouch...

[CrisPDuk]

 

Sounds pianful Bryan, must remember to keep the hands clear when I adjust mine


How did you get the springs off yours Tintin?  Mine are in need of a clean and a coat of paint but my spring compressors wont even get close to these suckers

[Tim.]

Your spring compressors won't compress them you mean or they're too big for the springs?  If they won't compress them, there's something screwy somewhere.

Against all advice, I put the bottom end of the shock in a vice, made sure the pre-load was turned all the way 'off', and with gloves on pulled down on the springs.  My hands were nowhere near the retaining ring doing this.  My wife, putting her effort into my bike for the first time ever (unless you count ignoring my spending and greasy clothes as effort) grabbed the retaining rings with needlenose pliers and got them out.

Wasn't nearly as hard as I expected, and no dramatic releases of tension (except my own).

I then masked off the shaft, cleaned them as best I could and hung them using a sophisticated system of coat hangers in the garage.  Sprayed them with many coats of Tremclad black rust paint.  Dried them under my radiant heater in the garage, and then brought them back indoors for reassembly.

Rechroming the existing springs was going to cost as much as new Hagon springs ($80 a pair) so I ordered new 20 pound springs.  Gorgeous chrome on them.

[Uncle Ernie]

That's how I get springs off, too- only I just put the bottoms on the floor so as to put more weight into it (and less muscle).

[Tim.]

You mean my wife pulled off your retaining rings? 

[CrisPDuk]

This is my first bike, all my tools have been bought with cars in mind, hence my spring compressors are designed for 2.25" OD springs

I'll try your method tomorrow Tintin, I think I'll modify it slighty and use my daughter however, I can't see your wife wanting to travel all the way to the UK just to help me

[Tim.]

Finally!  Today I got it into rolling chassis.  I have polished engine covers etc. ready to go on.  Still a long way to go, but at least it looks like a bike.