A Kedo moment

The package has arrived. Finaly it is time to put things together again. The people at Kedo has a good tradition of keeping all of their products in stock = quick delivery. They also have the habit of putting candy in the packages to bring the unpacking to a true Kedo-moment.


While the top and cylinder is taken care of by the professionals at Eliasson´s racing, I´m getting low behind the front light. The tt handlebar (of my own design) has been replaced by clip on bars from kedo. To fit in with the worn surfaces of the rest of the bike I used the heat resistant paint again. It creates an iron like structure to the otherwise shining crome of the new handle bars.

The speedometer is moved to a center position, and lowered to the level of the top triple tree. The down side to the compact design is that I now have to drill two holes in my bates headlight to lead the speedometer cable to the wheel...


The tiny electrical system and the small throttle handle is good to have when the angle of the clip on is adjusted. Even with this small components I needed to restrict the steering angle with a few degrees.

Cylinder head cleaning

The cylinder head was full of burnt oil. The perfect tool to remove this is a sharpened nylon stick. Soft enough to not leave a scratch, and hard enough to chip the cole from the metal. The result is a good surface to polish. I left the old valves in to protect the valve seats. The company www.Kedo.de is shipping new valves, seals, guides and a new Wiseco high comp piston for the engine. There is no obvious reason for the lost of compression. Just the result of leaking oil into the cylinder. I will take no risk - both top, sleeve and piston will be reworked. The lokal Yamaha supplier Eliasson Racing will do the bore of the cylinder sleeve.

The original surface of the top.

The winter workshop

Setting up the winter workshop now. Moving all the tools and equipment from the 170 square meter powerstation into a 20 square meter office. It is in here the fairings will be built, starting in a few months. The renovation of the engine is in progress on the table. More pictures comming soon.

BBQ in the color of grey

This weekends bbq had a special guest - the rain. Mats was one of the visitors that gave the weather a good fight - by bringing his bike. A sr500 from 1978, rebuilt during the winter 2010. The dunlop tt100 kicks up some serious amount of moisture from the road (no mud guards on this bike). Aluminum tank form Japan and custom made rear frame work. 2" drop in the front and clip on´s creates a very small and powerfull machine.

Karl decorated the parking lot with his low ride german master peace. He is planning to build a bike in the same style in the near future...

Lost torque

To get a good garage feeling for next weekend we will display one complete bike and one in bits and parts... Well, the truth is: During the summer I thought that I got better and better at driving my bike - but in fact it was the bike that gradually lost it´s power:( The plan is to bring back the original torque and a bit more. High comp components are thought of. Depending on the diagnoses either the valves or the piston and sleeve will be replaced. This is the nature used bikes. Getting to know their history and temperment.

It will be a fight against the clock. Hoping to get the bike running before the first frost in the end of october.

September BBQ

Welcome to recyclemotorcycles autum patry. Bring your food - we have the fire and the entertainment.
Take a picture of your motorcycle in the photo studio, or mingle with an espresso in the bar. There is a vegtable garden in the garage - but we will talk mostly about motorcycles, design and trends. Late night = movie show.

For more info contact : design@larsg.se

Getting colder

In a world full of naked motorcycles I find it intresting to sketch fairings... or is it the cold wind? As always I get stuck in the seventies. Found a fairing on a japanese websight and modified the shape and size  in my mac. I don´t want anything else than the front screen. The tail should be light as a feather - same backlight and rear fender to keep a low budget. To my suprise the original gas tank fits in perfect with the concept. This will be the winter project. Wooden prototype and fiber molds. Hopefully, it will be possible to produce more than one fairing..:)

Good old days

It is easy to like an SR - and the only man that can say "I´ve got one of these bikes..." without getting my correction is my father. He drove BSA and Jawa´s in the Swedish army 45 years ago. Have not driven a motorcycle since then. It took him one circle of the village to sort out the gears - then he took of. Didn´t see him for a long time - almost missed the afternoon coffe. He is still smiling...

Bell

Back to my first helmet. I wonder if it is my head that have changed size or if the bell helmet just grew a bit bigger. Any way - it looks a better on both the head and the handlebar. Got a dirt track visor on the way from US.

wheel bearing

The good thing with an SR is that it looks good even when it is broken. When I got the rims of for painting, last winter, I recognised that all the seals were missing. Got some seals from Japan but didn´t change the bearings (bad idea). The bearings had taken to much beating from the water braking in. Yesterday I felt a small gap when I shook the back wheel. Fortunately the local Yamaha supplier told me to get some standard, sealed, ball bearings instead of the origoinal ones. - Swedish SKF is cheaper, and in stock next door to us. Thakyou mrs lokal supplier!

If you ever had trouble dismounting the metal sealer - here´s a tip. M5 bolts fits perfect into the holes, and they make it easy to lift the metal plate - even with a new rubber seal fighting back. Standard part is good. No problems to fit the brand new ball bearings into the 27 year old wheel...


...not so easy with the motorcycle lift. Bought the lift and rebuild it in order to fit the low design of my bike. It has been cut and welded in so many new and strange ways that I dont realy trust it. As I lift the bike, it starts to tilt a bit to the right - very nervous owner. Must find a better way before I get a dent in the gastank and a hole in my wallet.

Party with bikes and friends

The recyclemotorcycle BBQ was a success. Both the photo studio and the film was apritiated. So now I'm aiming higher. In September it will be a rerun - only bigger with more people and bikes. Yes - this time, we used small grills, but we will start the large 1.5 square meter barbecue in September.

Some say it is difficult to distinguish a sr400 from an sr500. I say - just to look at the driver.The typicall 500 owner is mostly one bit happier than the other. Fredrik´s black tracker is fitted with a 18" front tyre and a muffler that, in a generous way, amplifies the exhaust sound:)

Two years of surfing has created some large picture maps on the mac. The common theme has been small and few cylinders and an "I dare to use my bike even if it´s raining" style. The style and the bikes is still rare in Sweden - hoping to catch up.

BBQ test run

Tonight there will be a test run of the BBQ in the workshop. The idea is to run a bigger event in september. The evening contains the possibillity to take photos of the guest bikes and riders. There will also be a movie show during the evening.

Gold

It's been a while since the youngsters painted the logos on the rear tires. It feels today as if it is completely out = it´s "time to show them were the cabinet should stand" (swedish proverb). The whole bike is getting more and more 70's like, to my horror and delight. 
Instead of white paint, I use poor man´s pinstriping, marker pen, a technique I already used on the tank. Searched for a yellow-brown marker all over the city before I saw a motorcycle on the exeptional blog Pipeburn. Found the answer in the text. Gold is the color. Always nice to have builders who will share their materials and ideas.

Covers

After spending a whole winter in the workshop cutting away fittings and battery from the center frame, I discovered that the big wheels brings to much fokus to the start and the end of the bike. The trend of having see through frames with no fairings  caught to much of my design attention. In a small test I just rested the plastic fairings in the frame - and it made a big differense. More optical fokus to the center and less "hole in the frame".

No work is in vain. Because I stripped the frame from unnecessary fittings I can place the fairings were I want them. Now fitted inside the frame rather than hanging on the outside. They don´t add any width to the bike, just a shape that amplify the impression of a bike, long and thin as a paper.

Chrome away

To many old men saying: I got one of thouse, Northon bikes, when I was young. Just like this one. I need to add some more modern materials to my Yamaha...

 

The chrome must go. A heat resistant paint has been applied to the exhaust. A realy nice texture to the paint - almost like black iron. Painted the headlight as well.