These are in excellent, unsued condition and if I'm lucky they might even fit! I'll try them out tomorrow... fingers crossed.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Score!
This time, it's new-old-stock fork axle caps!
These are in excellent, unsued condition and if I'm lucky they might even fit! I'll try them out tomorrow... fingers crossed.
These are in excellent, unsued condition and if I'm lucky they might even fit! I'll try them out tomorrow... fingers crossed.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Almost to be expected.
The other day I was examining the fork axle caps a little closer when I noticed a hairline fracture on one of them. You can just about see it in the photos below.
Now, this really is a tiny, contained fracture that you might not even notice if it were on your bike, riding regularly. And it probably isn't a problem... but now I've seen it and I can't just ignore it. I know the proper thing to do would be to replace it and if I find new-old-stock parts I will. You see, the caps you can buy new from all the usual suppliers are newly machined from solid billet and just look...too shiny. They're excellent quality and I would recommend them to anyone, but having seen them on other OIF machines I personally find them a bit of an eye sore. So, I'll start looking for NOS replacements and see what's what.
Now, this really is a tiny, contained fracture that you might not even notice if it were on your bike, riding regularly. And it probably isn't a problem... but now I've seen it and I can't just ignore it. I know the proper thing to do would be to replace it and if I find new-old-stock parts I will. You see, the caps you can buy new from all the usual suppliers are newly machined from solid billet and just look...too shiny. They're excellent quality and I would recommend them to anyone, but having seen them on other OIF machines I personally find them a bit of an eye sore. So, I'll start looking for NOS replacements and see what's what.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Supreme bits of OIF.
The latest delivery from the UK is a small box of bits straight from Supreme Motorcycles. From top to bottom and left to right:
a pair of fork gaiters, two big nuts (teehee!) for the rear axle (actually one is a spare), a dust shield for the left hand side of the front conical hub, the circlip behind said dust shield, four stainless steel handlebar cable clips (these always make for a tasty detail on any classic bike), a glass of orange juice, strictly speaking not from Supreme, the 12 nuts are for the fork axle caps (four are spare) and these will need good split washers, the four screws and alloy washers are the fork drain plugs (two are spare), replacement fork slider studs, front wheel bearings.
I've "decided" to go for the gaiters because they are more in keeping with my idea of a vaguely 1950s universal motorcycle: the K70 tires to allow you to go on all surfaces, the cast iron side stand to park safely anywhere, a single carburetter for no-nonsense reliability, the gaiters to keep dust from reaching the seals and preserve the stanchions. Fitting these isn't always straightforward and installation requires some care as the gaiters can split along the seam.
a pair of fork gaiters, two big nuts (teehee!) for the rear axle (actually one is a spare), a dust shield for the left hand side of the front conical hub, the circlip behind said dust shield, four stainless steel handlebar cable clips (these always make for a tasty detail on any classic bike), a glass of orange juice, strictly speaking not from Supreme, the 12 nuts are for the fork axle caps (four are spare) and these will need good split washers, the four screws and alloy washers are the fork drain plugs (two are spare), replacement fork slider studs, front wheel bearings.
I've "decided" to go for the gaiters because they are more in keeping with my idea of a vaguely 1950s universal motorcycle: the K70 tires to allow you to go on all surfaces, the cast iron side stand to park safely anywhere, a single carburetter for no-nonsense reliability, the gaiters to keep dust from reaching the seals and preserve the stanchions. Fitting these isn't always straightforward and installation requires some care as the gaiters can split along the seam.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
