Forks!

In order to accomodate Mr. Sheppard's dentist appointment, the Cafe group met a day early to finish off the front forks.

 The first step was properly cleaning out the fork tubes... some varsol and compressed air took care of the old oil and gunk still remaining in the forks.  It was a bit stubborn.

Next was the internal components themselves.  Springs, spacers, bolts, shims, pistons, etc.... all were cleaned and inspected.  The good news is, all were in decent shape, and could be reused.

Ready to be re-installed.

Next the boys attacked the fork bottoms again, using wet sanding, and scotchbrite pads.

Once complete, the fork oil was measured out and added to each fork leg (after some time sussing out the reassembly steps).

Once together (with new seals, of course) the forks were test-fit back into the triple clamps.  The retro boots were left over from the XS650 project, and fit these forks a bit better.

As always, the pics don't do it justice, but the forks look far better than they did.  Another few hours may have resulted in  a better sheen, but the bike is meant to be ridden, so we'll leave it as is.

3rd Time's a Charm

We are now on our 3rd set of handlebars.  And I think this set might be workable.  As always, the first step is the "out with the old", in that the handlebar controls needed to be removed from the flat drag bars, prior to the superbike bars being mounted.

We got a nice set in black.  A shallow rise that should make for a more comfortable ride as well, with the rider not stretched out a mile over the front axle.  However we STILL have the handlebar controls fouling on the edge of the tank, but by a minimal amount.  The plan might be to extend the bar lock stops on the frame, to stop things hitting the tank.  That will be a more involved process with the welder further down the line.

Next step was to remove and service the front forks.  Both were leaking from the seals, and while the sliders were in good shape, the lowers had seen better days.  When we removed the internals, the oil inside was just rank... perhaps original to the bike, it was long overdue for a change.








For now, we were waiting on new seals, and we needed to attack the fork bottoms.  They had seen better days, and while our last project saw them polished, we were going to employ some elbow grease and "scotch-brite" them.

 Step one was wet sanding with 320 grit paper.  There is quite the process to achieve the desired results, and more work needs to be done.  But after about 30 minutes...

This was the result.  A uniform, "dulled" finish.  Next step is the coarser of the two scotch-brite pads.  We may need another session with the 320 grit, however.  That will wait until next week, with a pair (as in 4) new "fresh" arms!

The "after" pic of step one.  Better, but we noticed that it was easier to "stain"... perhaps some polish is in order, and in fact that is the last stage of this process.  We also need to really clean out the interior cavities of the forks, both the sliders and the bottoms.  Varsol will be needed to cut through the soupy old oil that is still clinging to the inside of the fork surfaces, damping rods, springs, etc...

And We're Off!

Cafe Bike v 2.0 got underway yesterday, with two students working on the bike.  To start, we needed to come up with a different handlebar solution.  The clubman bars put the rider's arms too far forward and down to make for a comfortable ride.  The handlebar controls needed to be removed, the clubman bars swapped out for the "drag bars" donated by Transcanada, and the control all reinstalled to test fit...
And we still have a problem!  Now the drag bars foul on the edge of the fuel tank when they are turned.  Need to try something else...

With these old bikes, the forks are known to be pretty spindly and weak.  The fender is actually a key component to stiffen up the front end.  Removing the stock fender necessitates a fork brace.  However the stock fender did not suit the lines of the bike we envision.  So what we decided to do is "bob" the fender, shortening it up at the front and the rear.  After Mr. S did a rough hacksaw cut, we went about grinding the correct profile.  The  profile is still rough, so we'll clean it up/finish it off with a belt sander, grinder, file, or a combination of all 3.



With the different handlebars, the front brake line was now too short.  We needed to drain the brake fluid out of the front resevoir, reposition the master cylinder, and then measure for the correct length of front brake hose.  As we have not determined the final handlebar choice, this is still on hold.

Some electrical investigation was next.  Some wiring had already been done, and the battery moved to behind the seat.  We needed to check what lights and systems worked and what needed rewiring or reconnecting.

At first glance, things look pretty good.  We are missing some indicators, and the turn signals need some work, but the correct wiring is in place and there appears to be little that needs to be rewired.  For example the brake light works, but the running light does not.  Is it the bulb or the wiring?  We'll have to do some digging...

Stripped down

Once all the excess parts were stripped by Mr. S (still in his garage, while the first Cafe bike was being finished), the seat was test fitted.  The previous owner had started to fabricate a cafe seat to fit on the oddly-shaped frame.  It fit well, and the attachment points made sense, so it was sent off to be coved.  At this point, the work in Mr. Sheppard's garage stopped as the draw for the XS650 was underway.

Here we go again!

We are about to start our second Cafe project.  Awhile back, Mr. Sheppard stumbled across this monstrosity sitting in a barn... it's a 1979 CX500.  An unlikely candidate for a cafe conversion (at first blush, anyway), but it has been done before by others.  While the kids finished up the XS650, Mr. S spent some time digging through the acres of plastic, ditching the seat, saddlebags, highway bars, forward pegs.,.. essentially everything that made this into a cruiser.  Thankfully, some Cafe parts were also included with the bike itself, and it appears we will be able to use some of those in our build.  Already TransCanada motorsport donated a set of drag bars... it appears that Cafe/Clubman bars won't work with the long tank.  The rider would have a real uncomfortable stretch to the bars.