Thanks, no. Just geting rid of the RLU. I am mounting the Texavina seat pretty low and on my tracker I think my seat pan was banging on the RLU causing damage and a fire.
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It's time to start a winter Project. The Red Bike
- Thread starter Kevin Werner
- Start date
My RLU came in handy one night. It worked and allowed me to drive my bike 30 minutes home in the dark.
Idiots exist amongst us...
There was not an easy way to mask my new drilled disc on the spoke side when I needed to paint the center. Ahhhh... I thought, the brake pad will scuff it off in a nice tight radius. Chain of thought might be foolish and that might contaminate the pads. So I will mount the wheel. I will cut 220 sandpaper to match the pad and glue it to an old pad. Then I will spin the wheel as I apply manual pressure to the caliper to scuff the paint off. Is this a bad idea? I did this so the disc center matched the hub center which matches the rear hub @halfmile sent me.
There was not an easy way to mask my new drilled disc on the spoke side when I needed to paint the center. Ahhhh... I thought, the brake pad will scuff it off in a nice tight radius. Chain of thought might be foolish and that might contaminate the pads. So I will mount the wheel. I will cut 220 sandpaper to match the pad and glue it to an old pad. Then I will spin the wheel as I apply manual pressure to the caliper to scuff the paint off. Is this a bad idea? I did this so the disc center matched the hub center which matches the rear hub @halfmile sent me.
No pics today, sorry. The left side cover got reassembled after a cleaning and polishing, A new gasket went in dry after the surfaces were cleaned up. I will get flamed for that but hey, I got thick skin. I mounted the chain and sprocket and forgot to lay the chain on cardboard. The chain had an oil bath after cleaning and will certainly soil my nice rear rim for a few miles, already soil my floor before I put a scrap of cardboard down.. The after market clutch lever, matches the brake MC, leaves slack in the clutch cable. I will search for and extended clutch adjuster. The correct caliper seals arrived this week so now I will discover the joy (or the agony) of adding fluid to the brake system with a syringe and pushing it up from the bottom. If I get confidence in this method I will be less nervous when I replace the brake line (awkward twists and a spot on the floor) on the Blue Tracker. The
The tank and tins get shipped tomorrow to get a kind of retro treatment and obviously because I refer to this bike as the "Red Bike" we can be pretty sure (but not certain) that "Robin's Egg Blue" will not be the color (It was a toss-up).
With the left side buttoned up I can now open the right side for evaluation, but mostly to poish the case which has serious issues. Once the right side cover is off I can address a quick respray of the frame rails.
The tank and tins get shipped tomorrow to get a kind of retro treatment and obviously because I refer to this bike as the "Red Bike" we can be pretty sure (but not certain) that "Robin's Egg Blue" will not be the color (It was a toss-up).
With the left side buttoned up I can now open the right side for evaluation, but mostly to poish the case which has serious issues. Once the right side cover is off I can address a quick respray of the frame rails.
That gasket on the left cover, around the alternator area, is one of the few I use some sealer on. I only put it on the outer side though, so the gasket sticks to the cover and comes off with it any time it is removed. I smear the other side with anti-seize so it won't stick to the engine and come away from it easily and repeatedly. You can see a bit of the copper anti-seize I use here .....
I started handle bar assembly. I purchased a 12.7 mm M/C with matching clutch lever. Arrhhg... The clutch lever mount has a much shorter housing to mount the cable and I can't adjust the slack out of the cable. I will mount the original for now.
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The purchase was so long ago there is a small chance I could find where I got it. Also, I need the M/C so I will just have to figure it out. A long barrel adjusted could be a good High School Shop project for my teacher friend to assign.
You can shim some of the extra slack out by making a spacer from the elbow on an old clutch cable. You fit it onto the cable down where it goes into the case .....
I had the same issue of too much cable slack after fitting a Kawasaki lever and perch. You can see why in this pic. The original is on top, Kawasaki perch on the bottom .....
The reason I change to a Kawasaki perch and lever is because of it's much wider pivot .....
As you can see above, with the spacer in place, the cable adjuster at the lever hardly needs to be screwed out at all.
I had the same issue of too much cable slack after fitting a Kawasaki lever and perch. You can see why in this pic. The original is on top, Kawasaki perch on the bottom .....
The reason I change to a Kawasaki perch and lever is because of it's much wider pivot .....
As you can see above, with the spacer in place, the cable adjuster at the lever hardly needs to be screwed out at all.
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I have looked at that. I will have to measure when the fender gets back. My ideal would be that lip of the rear fender show beyond the license plate. The fenders will have edge pinstripes and I want to display that , not hide it under a license plate.
This take less real estate.
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Just 'tween us, the Lucas style is about the best lookin' taillight ever made... in my opinion.
You have a clean canvas. Drill the holes high enough up on the fender so the pinstripes show.
We got a teaser about what color blue the "Red Bike" is going to be on the "Painting tins" thread.
The axiom "get organized" seems to have gone right over my head. I laid out my chain guard hardware and all of the sudden (two days later) 1 bolt was missing! Run to the True Value fixed that. Jeeshhh... Then I rembered my adjusters looked like hell. A quick clean up and alcohol wipe down and shot of grey should fix that. This all in the effprt to mount up the @halfmile
rear wheel. Ozarks is 1 month away and the "Red Bike" wont be there. Blue Tracker needs a caliper rebuild as evidenced by the garage stain in the pic, so the push is on.
rear wheel. Ozarks is 1 month away and the "Red Bike" wont be there. Blue Tracker needs a caliper rebuild as evidenced by the garage stain in the pic, so the push is on.
I could ship the h.light bucket and fenders this week if you want to roll the dice?
Showing up in Arkansas with a new bike would be cool but there are too many unknowns on I bike I have never ridden so I will remain uncommitted.
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