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Project Popup

I've acquired a 1985 GSX750SE3 Katana Popup for the princely sum of $1.

I'm going to try and do it up the old fashioned way - without opening up the wallet as much as I can.

Restoring this bike is going to be done through hard work in the gargre with as much work as possible done by me.

  1. Special Preview just for Kiwibikers -- my speech to Parliament today

    Quote Originally Posted by riffer View Post
    Kia Ora Katoa, Hello, my name is Simon Gotlieb, and I’m a motorcyclist.

    I’d like to let you know how we got involved in all this and why we’re here today…

    In October last year, the government announced that motorcyclists were to pay up to 400% increases in their ACC levies on registrations. Obviously this was unwelcome news, and we immediately began protesting, and investigating the reasoning behind such a huge increase. Very quickly it was found to be based on grossly
    ...
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  2. Shock is no good

    It's got the wrong bottom end. I need one with eyes both ends.

    Oh well. Plenty of other fish in the sea I guess.
  3. Picked up a replacement shock

    from Pete at work. A GSXR750 shock - we'll see how this one goes. Got it for a good price - $50 - as it's got a scratch down the centre piece right at the end - but it's never going to hit that even with my fat arse on board.

    So fingers crossed that it's going to fit because the one in the bike at present is rusted to shit.
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  4. Cleaned up the exhaust

    I've attacked the exhaust with a steel brush, and it's come up pretty good.

    Next step will be to use a wire wheel and give it a really good clean, then sand it back to a paint finish, then it'll get a nice UHT matt black paint on it.

    It looks to me like a 1990s vintage Cycleworks 4 into 1 in damn good nick.

    I've got some new packing stuff for the 'zorst and as soon as I can work out how to get the slip cover off I'll repack it.
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  5. A new front end for the Katana

    Okay, so its Saturday and I've got some spare time this weekend. Not raining yet so let's get out to the gargre early and drag out the bike.

    Those front fork stanchions are looking very sorry, and I've picked up some replacement forks at Buckets and Bits which will do the job nicely.

    Looks to be a piece of cake to get this front wheel off. It's a little bit different to the RF, but easy enough to work out. Previous owner has done up the axle WAY too tight though so I decided ...
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  6. Possible brake upgrade

    So, I've been talking to Pete at work and he's got some spare calipers from an RG500 that will fit to my forks.

    With the twin pots it should provide much better braking.

    I'm also looking at getting an RGV250 master cylinder off him as well to complete the setup.

    Now combine that with braided lines and I should have some pretty sweet brakes on this thing...

    Of course it's not going to be cheap. I'm starting to realise there's no such thing as a ...
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  7. I have actually been doing some stuff on the bike...

    Yeah, I know. Haven't posted in a while.

    So, what's happened with the bike? Well, so far I've done this:


    1. Completely dismantled the rear caliper and rebuilt it.
    2. De-rusted, sanded, primered and painted the rear caliper torsion bar and front fairing bracket
    3. Used a steel wire brush to remove all of the rust from the exhaust headers.
    4. Removed the rivets from the exhaust muffler shroud, and removed the shroud in preparation for the repacking of the muffler.
    5. Completely
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  8. Title Search performed - conversation had - looks like previous owner is okay now.

    Well, after the debacle with the trademe feedback I was a bit worried. I needed to have the letter from the previous owner in order to re-register the bike - or else get the police to declare that they had no interest in the bike.

    So of course I'm spewing. It looks like this bloke's not happy about his bike being sold by his missus and he may yet decide to not write the letter - or worse - declare the bike stolen, in which case I'd be rather fucked.

    So, after a week ...
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