My goal last month was to have my wheels and forks complete by the end of July and have my rolling chassis together. It looks like I’m on track!

Over the last few weeks I’ve:

• Finished both wheels – spokes are now laced and trued
• Rebuilt and polished front brake
• Removed old wheel bearing and spindles
• Cleaned wheel axle assemblies, front and back
• Installed new wheel bearings and rebuilt axle assemblies
• Powercoated forks black
• Rebuilt forks with new new tubes and progressive fork springs
• Installed center stand on frame
• Ordered Avon Speedmaster tires

Installing the front bearings took me an entire day to do – I think I stared at the Clymer instructions for most of the time out fear of doing it wrong. I put the bearings in the freezer so they’d contract a bit, then hammered them into the hubs by placing an old bearing on top of the new ones and aiming for the outside edge. It seemed to work well enough and didn’t cause any damage to the new bearings. It was time consuming and frustrating, but once the axle was in, realized I didn’t have to make as much of a deal out of it as I had.  The rear bearings took me a 1/10th of the time as the front.

I installed the center stand with the pivot bolts in backwards the first try – like an idiot. Lesson learned – follow logic before you believe anything the parts lists/ diagrams seem to show. Sometimes they’re wrong! After getting flustered over why the bolts wouldn’t go all the way into the stand and frame, Doug took one look at it and… duh ;P

Rebuilding the forks were simple and straightforward, although seemingly too easy. When things are too easy, I get skeptical whether I’m doing it right or not. Luckily, I have Liza and Doug to ask advice along the way. Every step really is quite simple and logical, but it’s easy to second guess myself. Making little mistakes now could cause a world of trouble once this bike is complete.

Over this weekend, I’ll have tires on the wheels, my forks and wheels on the frame, with front brake installed. I’m waiting on the correct rear brake plate, which I may have powder coated as well, so I’ll just need to wait another week to install the rear brake. Now it’s on to the guts!