A few small things..........

I'm still picking away at the edges of these bikes. The braided line is on the Gixxer but needs to have one of it's mounts re-done as I was missing a grommet. The heat shrink on the ends was a bit of a pain for routing and it would look nicer without it. At least there are no more leaks.


The benches are in with the aluminium tops in place - all ready to be scratched. I've even put one of the RGV engines up on top (you can see it in the background).


I've finished polishing the Supermono's replacement fork legs but I couldn't get all of the scale marks out of the metal so they'll just do as they are. The clipons are on the bike with the mount for the key barrel cut off.

Before



After

I have a feeling the forks are too far through the clamps and will need to be pulled back otherwise it will just be too nervous to ride. Which reminds me I need a steering damper.......Grips and new levers are ordered and on the way.

Seeing as I was in a chop chop mood the hangers for the pillion pegs and exhausts have been cut off as well.

Before


After



And trial fitting some RGV bodywork on the supermono



And the front bodywork off the donor bike will do for track days before I race it (hopefully). I'll need a dash as well.....


Trial fit of the bling on the petrol tank. I'm organising for the bottom of the tank to be cut out and then a fresh plate fitted up that won't foul the KLX650 engine/carb.

Workshop essentials

It's not strictly bikes but I finally got the bench and a bargain at $40 for the lot below. I should be right to start work on the RGV motors soon although it would look better with a steel top.........

And to enhance the ambience in the shed - a stereo!!!!

Picking the lot up tomorrow night.

Rear Master cylinder

Nothing very exciting lately - I cleaned up the spare master cylinder that is going onto the supermono. Everything seems fine, the little dust boot has seen better days but will be okay for now. Unfortunately the rear caliper was worse for wear and may need a rebuild kit.

Braking woes

After a little spin the Gixxer's rear brake is still weeping at the master cylinder. I've organised for a HEL braided line to replace the one that's on there and it should be here this week. I gave the race bike a good wash but it still couldn't shift the marks off the wheels. Steel wool did the job and took a few layers off the paint as well - did I need an excuse to repaint them? I started polishing the front end that I'm looking to put in there and the scale is easy to get off but the marks are still remaining. The racer's master cylinder is also rusted out but luckily I have the spare off the donor bike which hopefully will do the job.

Clipons on their way

I had a look around and $89 for a set of billet clipons was hard to pass up. They'll be going on the racer along with the front-end swap.

Gixxer rear brake is finished....I think

It took ages to bleed the brakes as there was a lot of air in the line with all the mucking around with the pressure switch. Finished the bleeding and tried the pedal a few times and the brake line is now weeping. Swapped the compression washers and it's still weeping although it's a little less. Tightened the banjo bolt till I was close to stripping the threads and it seems to have stopped......so far. I'll just have to see how it goes over time but it's a good excuse to put a braided line on the rear to match the front.

I did a little more work on the race bike and connected up most of the wiring with a little bit of custom work still to be done. The ignition coil needs a place to live and the carby is now properly in place. I've ripped off all of the coolant hoses so I can work out a simpler way of hooking it up because it was all over the place before with 2 thermostats instead of one. I'm looking to get a set of clipons for it and I've also decided to swap in the front end from the donor bike (including the brakes) to replace the one on the racer. The RGV is waiting for me to buy a work bench so I can work on the engine which means my time will be spent cleaning power valves and degreasing parts till then.

Donor bike disappearing

The donor bike continues to disappear and is now just a shadow of it's former self.


The wheels will now be used for wet tyres on the race bike. The pegs and subframe are now on there as well and I may swap the front end in there too.

I took the Gixxer out for a ride and the rearsets are great. I've ordered in a new pressure switch from the guys at Hel (and a big recommendation as they were great to work with) as the other one had the wrong thread pitch. The GP shift is awesome to ride with and apart from a few old habits (it's okay I kept the clutch in) it was easy to pick up.

RGV Rearsets are here

The RGV rearsets arrived today and I quickly fitted them up this evening. They're not as good as the Gixxer ones but they are reasonable for the price. A little bit of messing around to get the rear master cylinder fitted and the HRC reservoir on plus I'll need another pressure switch for the brake lights. Not too happy with the layout and may change this a bit later.

Same as the Gixxer rearsets I'll be needing a longer rod for the gear side.

Gixxer rearsets and RGV wiring

Thanks to my brother-in-law Dan and his co-workers I now have a custom machined shift rod long enough for the rearsets. I've changed to a GP shift (up=down gears, down=up gears) as the rod will foul the lever if left in the normal position. This should be interesting to ride around on till I get used to it.

The brake lever is also set up with the machined spacers, the HRC style reservoir has been cut and needs to be fastened to the bike. The pressure switch (on the floor) still needs to go on but that will have to wait for another day as I'll need to bleed the brakes as well.

I got a little more of the RGV wiring completed, slow going and will be just held in place till I get the engine in. Having the colours for the battery cables the opposite way makes for interesting times - I'll have to label them so there's no confusion in the future.

Rearsets are on

I've put the rearsets on the Gixxer but they did need a little bit of fettling to get right with holes needing to be enlarged for mounting the master cylinder and just as I thought earlier, the shift rod is too short so I'm trying to arrange having the pedal end of the new one machined to fit on the stock one. Should work and keep the original knuckle in place. The brake pressure switch is on it's way as well so I can have working brake lights for the rear brake. Unfortunately until I get the shift rod sorted I can't ride the bike. DOH!

Gixxer Rearsets and mini-cam arrived yesterday

The Gixxer rearsets arrived yesterday and I'm very happy with them for the money I spent. Had a quick look at the shift rod and it looks to be too short for my bike so it'll probably have to be cut and shut. I'll get them on soon and have ordered the brake pressure switch to replace the original one.

The mini-cam arrived as well and I had a quick go at work and it seems to work fine. Charger is dead though for some reason which means I need to charge it through the USB cable to the computer.