Thundercat overnight food shop repairs!

[slyrob]

After adding myself to this years spill count I have a bit of work to do to get my bike back on the road, damage includes a new tucked in fork design, weight saving missing foot peg, ultra light weight invisible indicators and a new "antiqued" fairing design. My new forks turned up today and appear to be in fairly good nick, no rust, straight and with only a couple of the tiniest pits which look as though they may come out with wet and dry.
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/09990401.jpg
only annoying thing is they have a seal missing which I guess I can salvage from my old forks
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/a487b5ef.jpg
and there is a big difference in the adjustment of the two forks is this normal???
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/8368ce01.jpg
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/cc6daf71.jpg
anyhow it will be interesting swapping these over at the side of the road in a busy London street in the freezing cold but on the plus side while I have it apart I can finally replace my broken speedo drive as well as replacing the left foot peg, gear lever, indicators front and rear, clutch lever, bar end, and then sort the fairings, either ebay jobs or possibly repair and home respray with my lidl air compressor!
I'll update as I go and try to take photo's when I can feel my hands whilst reassuring the owner of the thundercat parked next to mine that I am not salvaging parts from his bike
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[slyrob]

Although I have a decent range of tools it has just occurred to me that I don't have a torque wrench this could be an issue as I'm guessing that estimated judgements aren't a great idea when dealing with wheels and suspension! Any ideas on where I can get a cheap one if such a thing exists?
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[Vincent]

[slyrob]

West Hampstead, was looking at renting a garage recently and found they are around £40 a week
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[Vincent]

[slyrob]

two issues, the bike cannot currently be wheeled anywhere due to the front wheel being stuck against the bike and I live up three flights of stairs!!
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[Vincent]

[P.]

I did it the ghetto way on the GS, car jack, few bricks and some wood.

Jack bike up, while its in the air, high enough for the forks to be tugged out, stack bricks either side of the engine, lay thick planks on top, lower bike.

It worked..for the most part anyway.

In terms of adjustment, set them to default... or say if its 12 notches to go from soft to hard, do all at lowest and work from there...that way YOU know its perfect and even.

[slyrob]

That's pretty much what I've got in mind, I think I also have the answer to my lack of garage problem, I haven't told the wife but I'm going to drag it into my shop after we close and do it over night heating, light, electricity supply and an endless supply of food tea coffee and beer how this never crossed my mind before I'll never know!
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[ajbsmirnoff]

Indoor repairs FTW !

I'd worry about waking up surrounded by empty lager cans and bike parts.

But thats just me and my inability to judge when to stop.

[slyrob]

yep! wouldn't be the greatest example to the staff, coming in to open up and finding the boss asleep on the floor pastry crumbs round his mouth, surrounded by empties and lying in a pool of fork oil!

still...... would make a great customer Christmas card
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[slyrob]

Right then it's on like a mother fucker, I started at 10 and I've got till 7am to get it out of the shop! I'll post photos etc tomorrow as time is a priority, also clutch cover is a gonna and so is the wheel and a disc, happy days. So no riding for the weekend but hopefully I'll get the forks on and be able to push it out this morning...........wish me luck!
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[slyrob]

Got home, in bed, job done. Need to get wheel and disc tomorrow, scrap that i mean today. Will make effort to post photos soon
Over and out
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[slyrob]

well folks that was an interesting night/morning. first of all welcome to my new garage!
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1693.jpg
First job was dragging the damn bike to my shop with a locked front wheel and clearing a bit of floor space to work in. Then I set about removing the front fairings to find some where to hoist the bike from. Luckily this was a fairly quick process as the previous owner had failed to replace more than half the fasteners in any location that wasn't visible! I took photos while I worked and used different plastic pots for different areas of the bike when I removed fasteners and other bits so that they would go back quicker
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1676.jpg
heres a quick look down the fork from above
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1677.jpg
once I had the fairings off i noticed this
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1681.jpg
this
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1684.jpg
and this
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1688.jpg

....................................balls


by the way what's the little bottle below the clutch cover?
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[garth]

Little bottle looks like a catch tank - an overflow.
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You ain't a has been if you never was

[slyrob]

next job was to remove the front mudguard and loosen the front wheel before finding a way of getting the front end off the ground, armed with a car jack, ratchet straps a ladder and a few cans of beer I set to work
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1686.jpg
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1687.jpg
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1692.jpg
First i removed the brake callipers from the wheel and removed the wheel so that the yokes were free to move again. then I removed the clipons and cable tied the brake reservoir to the mirror to avoid spilling brake fluid on the bike and floor. Never has a bike had such a variety of different sized allen key bolts as this one!
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1689.jpg
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[slyrob]

because i'm lazy I didn't take off the nose cone which made getting to the bottom yoke bolts a bit of a bastard but eventually i got a ratchet on them. The top yoke is easy to loosen but as I found out last night this doesn't matter too much when the forks are bent. The right fork came out with a bit of WD40, violent twisting and a lot of swearing, the left fork however decided that things had been far to easy for me and that now was the time to get involved. After an hour or so of trying to loosen it I resorted to a big hammer, even with the hammer it was another half hour before it dropped out. I'm sure at some point today I will have to deal with the consequences of hammering stuff at 3am but it was worth it.
Nowt wrong with them forks, it'll polish out!
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1695.jpg
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1694.jpg
once the forks were out I set about cleaning the replacements and swapped a dust seal from the old ones to replace the missing one on the new forks.
It was immediately apparent when offering up the left fork that the bottom yoke was no longer straight so I used a socket the same radius as the yoke hole with a tyre iron bar attached placed it inside the yoke and lovingly forced it back in line 1mm at a time. I'm not suggesting this is a sensible way to straighten yokes but it was all I had available!
After an hours work the new forks finally slid into place and I had a beer and a smoke to celebrate
I replaced the back of the front mudguard first then the wheel then the callipers then the mudguard. Then using the photos I took before the strip down as a guide a adjusted the height of the forks before tightening the yokes and replacing the clip ons.
NOTE: photos taken before are very helpful when re routing cables and brake lines around the forks to avoid pinching or pulling when steering.
Then came the exciting part of trying to release the ratchets bit by bit to avoid dropping the bike on the floor, I suggest having help when doing all this but amazingly I couldn't find anyone to spend their Friday night in a shop with me!
Once the bike was safely down I replaced the broken foot peg and replaced the fairings.
Some time around 5.30 or 6 this morning I finished and cleared up ready for business.

So, looks like I need a clutch cover, front wheel, discs and pads before I can ride again but at least it is rolling
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/IMG_1697.jpg

now i'm going off to reward myself with a fry up
____________________
Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[slyrob]

just like it never happened
https://i878.photobucket.com/albums/ab349/slyrob/9f73de95.jpg
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[Tim..]

Love the improvisation . Wouldn't have trusted the chairs myself but fair play for getting it all done.
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Project builds: My VFR400 nc30 build thread + Honda Britain Rep VFR + What? Another VFR +Project 'cos I want one' + V8 coffee table
www.marshallracing.co.uk
OCD - Helping to bring the standard of my bikes up and make me slowly go mad since 1999

[slyrob]

wasn't sure about them myself but I figured the bike weighs 220/230 kg, split between two chairs with weight distributed on the back wheel, I weigh 100 kg so if I can jump on them and they don't break then it should be all right. I also tried to make sure the weight was pulling straight downwards and found the set up surprisingly stable..........even when hammering the crap out of it there was no slippage of chair at all, in fact i found that I could move them a millimetre once under load
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Pitslayer wrote "it could be Ndubz.....ruining this once great place with donkey gobbling loafer knobbing "music".
silky666 wrote "In my eyes, when you shake cocks with the devil, you may as well go for the full reach around"
Villers wrote "as reliable as a ginger stepchild on smack"

[alun111]

nicely done. In my opinion you don't need a new front wheel, that's just cosmetic, I don't think it's structural. Best get other people's opinions first though.
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Summer: '00 Honda CB600F Hornet
Winter: '93 Suzuki GSF 400 Bandit VP Variable Valve
Past Bikes: Lifan LF100-5 Lifan LF125-A Honda C70

[CHR15]

+ man points for fixing a bike in a food shop.


- man points for having a shop that sells organic looking things.
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Turbocharged drag thing / project death weapon / GK73A
Ste: I'm not entirely sure how you'd go about verbally abusing someone with a potato but I'm sure it's possible.

[Fisty]

Sir, you are an utter, utter genius. The ladder/chair/table/ratchet strap combo is awesome.

For this I am awarding you +5000 man points an 7 internets.
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Quietly and consistently taking the piss.
TL1000R | Hayabusa | ZXR400 | TL1000S | Bandit 400 V
Fatter and faster than Fret

[Bike Bunker]

The wing mirrors on that one photo make your bike look like its lost or just giving up the will to live aha nice work though hillarious your doing it in a food shop though...dont tell the hygene inspecters


Least you wont get hungry when working on it.

[slyrob]