You try the old pilots yet?
Not yet, taking some time off. I’ve been pushing pretty hard and my surgery repair has been squawking. I need to slow my roll a little!
You try the old pilots yet?
Torsion bars. Now there's a thought. Hmmmm.......A few years ago I was daydreaming about torsion bars, tucked in close to the frame, somewhat hidden.
Short term, option 2 is to put highway pegs on her. To be honest, I've never liked 'em... but unless someone has an idea I ain't thought of......?
So, out comes the cardboard, TIGer, plasma cutter etc. I have an idea in my head as to what I want to build but if any of you guys have any ideas or pics of some well made ones, I'd really appreciate any input you think would be helpful. The idea is a bolt on installation I can take off once my knee is fixed.
I guess using 2 rods in tension would allow them to be very slender, maybe 5 mm with M6 thread at the ends. That would require custom levers at both ends thoughThe thing that I don't care for with forwards is all the exposed dangly linkages, especially having rods in compression, requiring fat rods. A few years ago I was daydreaming about torsion bars, tucked in close to the frame, somewhat hidden.
Anyway, watching with interest...
Maybe you can extend the right foot rest location to just ahead of the brake pedal.If I rest my heel on the brake, it's pretty comfy.
I tried one from someplace else, maybe same thing, that wouldn't seal. I fixed it by using the original o-ring. Problem I think is it's made for several different models and prob isn't perfect for any. gggGary has written a good tutorial on rebuilding these, involving polishing the two halves where they meet the diaphragms. After my rebuild finally failed (in the middle of nowhere) I removed all the guts and stuck the two halves together with gasket paper between them. When I got a chance I put in a lawnmower valve downstream so I could turn it off. Reserve is still reserve as is prime, and run is run.So.... turns out the petcock kit from Mikes was a waste of 25 bucks. Never could get a good seal on the diaphragms o-ring.
When I started, I was shooting for a full restoration back to original... including the electrics. That's sorta out the window now... but the RLU is in... and it works. If it ever goes bad I'll revisit removing it.Slightly surprised you've kept the RLU, though.
I can't get my '81 on the center stand unless I push the front wheel up on to something to lift it. I weigh 160, so that's not the problem. If you have just slightly longer than stock shock though then you don't have that problem. Once your center stand tang breaks off, if you look hard enough you can replace it with a later one with the reinforcement from the factory. Reinforcement there is really indispensable. The tang is just a hollow tube with thin walls. You'd think it was for a much lighter bike.You really should consider bracing your centerstand tang. Mine broke off after a few years, so did my buddy's .....
The Special is much harder to get up on the centerstand compared to a Standard due to it's 16" rear wheel and more angled shocks.