With the icy hand of winter strangling my ability to ride, I needed some way to exercise my lust for all things motorcycle.
Luckily for me, Christmas arrived and helped to satiate my lust. Well, maybe it did.
First up among my gifts was a gel seat for my Bonneville. This gel seat comes courtesy of the Triumph accessory catalog and is actually for the Thruxton, a factory cafe racer version of the Bonneville.
Initial tests (i.e., putting it on the fireplace and sitting on it) show it to be more comfortable than the stock plank of wood, I mean, seat. Truth be told, just about anything would be comfortable than the stock Bonneville seat. The stock seat has a comfort range of about, oh, five miles or so before numbness sets in. I'm hoping the gel seat will extend the comfort range deep into the double digits.
Additionally, this seat will allow me to install the accessory rear cowl cover on the seat. Yes, I'm excited about that.
Next up was a much-needed balaclava to help make cold weather rides bearable. It resembles a ski mask but is much lighter and works better as a helmet liner. Plus, if this whole going to work thing doesn't pan out, I can use it as a mask to rob banks. It's a very versatile item.
History alert: the name 'balaclava' comes from the Ukrainian town of Balaklava. During the Crimean War of 1853-1856, knitted balaclavas were passed out to British soldiers to help combat the intense cold weather during the winter months.
Finally, I received a motorcycle from the Lego Technic line. It's a total nerd's delight and I absolutely love it. I've had a thing for Lego's since I was a little kid and I usually receive a new kit every year.
With this motorcycle, it has a working engine, transmission and suspension. You can also build it one of two ways - either as a three-cylinder sport bike (Triumph Daytona, anyone?) or as a V-twin chopper. The chopper even has the traditional exposed primary drive. I built mine as the sport bike, of course.
The first thing you notice is its size. It's freakin' huge! The amount of detail that goes into it and the time it takes to build it are impressive, as well. It's also pretty heavy. I plan to buy another one and build it as the chopper.
You really have to give it up for the Lego engineers. The amount of time that went into the design of this kit had to be staggering. It's also much more complex than the Lego's I had as a kid.
The bad news about all of this stuff is that it did nothing to satiate my lust. In fact, I think it made my lust worse.
I want to go for a ride so bad!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
More Ducati Updates
The summer and fall months have been highlighted by continued work on my old and rusty Ducati.
I can proudly say now that it's not rusty anymore.
I striped and painted just about every piece that was salvageable. The foot pegs, brake switch bracket, engine mounts and lower steering yoke were all given a nice new coat of shiny black paint. The frame was also taken down to the bare metal and painted the same shade of black. I also purchased new fork tubes and now my forks are together and ready to install.
To look at the bike now, you'd never know it sat outside for a decade or more. Progress is being made, however at a moderate pace.
The real work, though, lies within the engine.
When I first went to look at the bike, I couldn't check to make sure the engine would turn over because the kick-start lever was missing. No worries, I thought, I'll just take the timing cover off and turn the engine with a wrench.
Wrong.
With the timing cover removed, I put a wrench on the nut and it never moved. My worst fear had been realized: the piston was seized to the bore.
With this knowledge, I tore into my Ducati's engine expecting to find the worst and that's exactly what I found. I now know why the bike was parked oh-so-many years ago and I began to regret my purchase.
The piston was not only seized to the bore but it had a nickel-sized hole in it, as well. Moisture had entered the engine through the open carb and seized the piston to the bore. A motorcycle won't run if the piston has a hole in it and so the bike was parked. Ten years later, this schmuck (me) comes along and buys it.
So now I have to remove the center jug section of the head to get the piston out. That involved rotating the crank back and forth to get the jug to separate from the bottom end. Slowly the jug raised off the bottom and I worked it off with a few screwdrivers and wooden shims.
In keeping with my luck, the wrist pin that holds the piston on the connecting rod was blocked by the bore. I couldn't get to it to press it out. The piston was not moving for anybody so I had to break the bottom of the piston to free the wrist pin from the piston. After some hammering and squishing of my fingers, the bottom of the piston came apart and I could separate the jug from the bottom end.
The steel bore liner was cracked and ruined along the bottom and the piston was not going anywhere. I managed to press out the bore liner and I picked up a new one from Classic Ducati in Derbyshire, England. The new liner has to be machined for the head bolts. It's also a little too long and hits the crank. In all, though, having the liner gets me closer to putting the bike back on the road, even if it's only a few millimeters closer.
The rest of the engine looks pretty solid. There is some rust on the crank from the moisture that got in through the carb but other than that, it's clean. The transmission shifts into and out of every gear and I can turn the crank by hand. The clutch plates were rusted together but I was going to replace them, anyway.
Right now, I'm waiting for my alternator puller to arrive so I can split the engine cases. I'd like to disassemble everything and sandblast the cases to get all the calcium off.
My old rusty bike is coming along quite nicely. I hope to breath new life into its once-tired bones and get this bike out on the road. The list of things that still need addressed is long and a bit daunting but nothing I can't handle.
I've got my eyes on the day I can put on my puddling bowl helmet and goggles, hop on the kick-start and ride off to the sweet sound off a Ducati single.
I can proudly say now that it's not rusty anymore.
I striped and painted just about every piece that was salvageable. The foot pegs, brake switch bracket, engine mounts and lower steering yoke were all given a nice new coat of shiny black paint. The frame was also taken down to the bare metal and painted the same shade of black. I also purchased new fork tubes and now my forks are together and ready to install.
To look at the bike now, you'd never know it sat outside for a decade or more. Progress is being made, however at a moderate pace.
The real work, though, lies within the engine.
When I first went to look at the bike, I couldn't check to make sure the engine would turn over because the kick-start lever was missing. No worries, I thought, I'll just take the timing cover off and turn the engine with a wrench.
Wrong.
With the timing cover removed, I put a wrench on the nut and it never moved. My worst fear had been realized: the piston was seized to the bore.
With this knowledge, I tore into my Ducati's engine expecting to find the worst and that's exactly what I found. I now know why the bike was parked oh-so-many years ago and I began to regret my purchase.
The piston was not only seized to the bore but it had a nickel-sized hole in it, as well. Moisture had entered the engine through the open carb and seized the piston to the bore. A motorcycle won't run if the piston has a hole in it and so the bike was parked. Ten years later, this schmuck (me) comes along and buys it.
So now I have to remove the center jug section of the head to get the piston out. That involved rotating the crank back and forth to get the jug to separate from the bottom end. Slowly the jug raised off the bottom and I worked it off with a few screwdrivers and wooden shims.
In keeping with my luck, the wrist pin that holds the piston on the connecting rod was blocked by the bore. I couldn't get to it to press it out. The piston was not moving for anybody so I had to break the bottom of the piston to free the wrist pin from the piston. After some hammering and squishing of my fingers, the bottom of the piston came apart and I could separate the jug from the bottom end.
The steel bore liner was cracked and ruined along the bottom and the piston was not going anywhere. I managed to press out the bore liner and I picked up a new one from Classic Ducati in Derbyshire, England. The new liner has to be machined for the head bolts. It's also a little too long and hits the crank. In all, though, having the liner gets me closer to putting the bike back on the road, even if it's only a few millimeters closer.
The rest of the engine looks pretty solid. There is some rust on the crank from the moisture that got in through the carb but other than that, it's clean. The transmission shifts into and out of every gear and I can turn the crank by hand. The clutch plates were rusted together but I was going to replace them, anyway.
Right now, I'm waiting for my alternator puller to arrive so I can split the engine cases. I'd like to disassemble everything and sandblast the cases to get all the calcium off.
My old rusty bike is coming along quite nicely. I hope to breath new life into its once-tired bones and get this bike out on the road. The list of things that still need addressed is long and a bit daunting but nothing I can't handle.
I've got my eyes on the day I can put on my puddling bowl helmet and goggles, hop on the kick-start and ride off to the sweet sound off a Ducati single.
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