With a feeling of accomplishment this week and really believing in myself that I’m capable to finishing this build, I’ve set my eyes on a goal date for completing the Bonneville. My general vision has been to have the bike on the road by next summer, but I think I can finish even sooner than that. So here I am,  announcing a goal date for the big reveal – March 26, 2011 at the Clubman’s All-British Motorcycle Show in San Jose.

Who knows… maybe it’ll be my Christmas present to myself and have it done by December. But March seems a safe and reachable goal, yet challenging enough  to meet. Maybe I’ll even get lucky and win an award if I keep diligent and not cut any corners. Even if I don’t, it will be a blast to show her off to the British motorcycle community. So be there or be square!

I’m still waiting on one tire and the tubes, so alas, I’m still not done with my chassis. Next weekend.

Instead, I moved onto other parts of the bike and made a good amount of progress. I attempted to degrease the engine block (still a lot to go – it’s filthy) but am mostly proud of the handlebar switches I cleaned, polished and rebuilt. They look awesome!

Step one - beadblast before and after

After polishing

When I first set out on this project, my vision was a completely restored bike. I wanted every last part new, shiny and flawless. Now, I’m starting to become more and more endeared with the  imperfections and age of some of the parts. I swear it’s not because I’m getting lazy, though a complete restoration would be much more work and money. It’s just that there seems to be memory in the imperfections on some of the pieces. This is a forty year old bike – it’s got a soul. Completely replacing everything would erase all of that in a way. So, I’ve decided to restore more, where possible, instead of replace. Certain things I want to have new, re-chromed, etc, but some details I’m falling in love with more because of their aged and imperfect states.

I’ve mentioned before that both of my parents ride and are both pretty big Triumph motorcycle enthusiasts. And here’s the proof…

Not only is my folks’ ranch the home of multiple Triumph motorcycles and cars, but about 30 or so horses, too. When I moved away for college, my Mom bred my thoroughbred mare, a grand daughter to Seattle Slew, and got into the racehorse business. Today, she’s working for an organization called TROTT, a rescue program that retrains and places ex-race horses into loving, permanent homes.

Check out this recent article and video that was filmed last week at my parents’ place – they were featured on San Diego’s 10 News.

More pics from down on the farm…

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!

I’m exhausted, sunburned, wind burned, and my ears are still ringing. And I scored some killer gear from Bates. MotoGP was awesome!

I rode the 1979 Honda rat bike down with Liza, Doug, Karen from Re-Cycle, and a big groups of other guys. Almost went off without a hitch until the rat decided to break down on me RIGHT at the gate. As I turn a tight corner, going downhill, the bike went full throttle – out of nowhere. The throttle wasn’t stuck, and just revved at full bore. It scared the shit out of me, but luckily I was able to gain control and pull over to shut her off. We had to stash her for the day in a random lot, and drive back up with a trailer to bring her home. Bummer – but we’re curious to figure out what the problem was. Every possibility Liza or any other mechanic at the track could think of was ruled out.

Unphased, we stuffed ourselves with junk food and has pretty good seats at turn 4….’

Ducatis galore!

I also entered a couple contests to win a free track school session…. I already LOOK like I know what I’m doing, right?

My forks are at the powdercoater’s and the wheels are being fine tuned at the shop,  so there wasn’t a whole lot to do on the Bonneville today. Great day to give my Honda CL 360 some love. She got an oil change, a clean up, and a new paint job!

Before

After

It’s like having a whole new bike.

In between the coats drying, I also got the axle, bearings, etc out of the front Bonneville wheel – ready to get the wheels and forks on the frame next weekend. Then Sunday…. MotoGP at Lagune Seca!!!

We work!

Ok, we do have fun… but we do both. We’ve got a great crew at Re-Cycle. Some shots from today’s garage session…

Since I shared the triple assault photo on my last post, I thought I’d share another cool pic of my grandfather’s from WWII… one of my faves.

Can you name this bike?

The latest Motorcycle Classics mag blog post is up! I’ll never think of the term “tried and true” in the same way again…

I am not a mechanic, nor am I a naturally technical person. Rebuilding a motorcycle from a pile of parts isn’t something I ever thought I’d do, but despite my lack of experience and mechanical know-how I have committed myself to the job. My hope is that my journey will inspire other newbies to take it on. For you experienced gear-heads out there who have done this many times, maybe this column will spark memories of your first build or even encourage you to take on something else you wouldn’t have otherwise thought you could do.  Or, in this case, perhaps try lacing your own spokes if you haven’t before.

Apparently, lacing and truing spokes is a right of passage in the wrenching world.  Despite the furrowed brows I get when I tell people I’m doing this myself, I’m finding it more a matter of patience than know-how.  I have two old wheels to copy the pattern from, but a little logic goes a long way in figuring out what the pattern should be. My Bonneville has cone-shaped hubs, so the short spokes attach the wider side of the hub to the rim, with the longer ones on the side with the smaller circumferance. For each length there are two types with either a more obtuse end or shorter, flatter end opposite the thread. The greater angle is for those spokes that need to wrap over the hub and bottom spoke layer to reach the rim effectively. You’re most likely to have an old wheel to rebuild, so if anything, take pictures of the pattern before dissambly and simply recreate it. This step is surprisingly easy to do, but for more technical details on the process, check out this great how-to on lacing and truing wheels.

Spokes laced and tightened as evenly possible, I’m in the middle of truing the wheels. It’s essential that the wheel is secure on a truing stand so you know the wobble is coming from the wheel, and not affected by its rotation on the stand. At first, I had a severe wobble and obvious difference in the vertical spin, but I’ve managed to get the wheel spinning pretty close to true.  I still have a ways to go, but every time I sit down to work on this, I get closer and closer. Asking around for an easy way to do this, it seems there is none. It comes back down to patience, concentration and regular breaks in times of frustration. My preference is to do this while no one is around with some good music to zen out to, and I’m actually finding the process somewhat enjoyable and meditative.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take a tour of Blastolene, Michael Leeds’ garage,  who makes some of the most creative and over the top hot rods and motorcycle art pieces you’ll ever see. In a way, he views his creations as super human prosthetics.  I told him about my project and that I was in process of spoking my wheels, and after our discussion, I’m really glad I chose to do this myself. His advice was to not rush to the finish line. Someday I will get to ride this bike, but enjoy the process while I have the opportunity to experience it. Every spoke I turn and part I have my hands on will give me a greater connection to the motorcycle once it’s complete, and ultimately, truly make it an extension of my own body. It’s really great advice, and I’m sure many of you can attest to this. I’m very much looking forward to experience it for myself, but in the meantime, I’m taking my time, not skipping corners and enjoying every last minute of it.