The new (20 year old) ride and the progress thread

**leathel** · 30th December 2013, 16:51

Originally Posted by ruaphu

Nice work on the bike this far, looks good and a nice model too. The heated grips are very cool, way better than the oxford units. Those led switches and brake top mount set up is very slick. Can i ask where these are sourced from?? Wouldn't mind a set for my bike.

Good thread, cheers Ando

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

http://www.cruisercustomizing.com/le...rt/BBP-52-605A

**leathel** · 23rd January 2014, 07:43

Time to add the Fog lights and some LED lights under the tank and behind the radiator, makes the bike more visible from the side

as you can see in the last pic it wasn't even dark when the last pic was taken..... was overcast and raining.

I have also put more under the seat but not taken a pic with the going

**leathel** · 4th March 2014, 16:21

I found time to fit the new shocks (After the last new ones spat there oil) and Brake backing plate, the plate had a fair amount of surface rust that if kept polished didn’t stand out to much but the rust stains looked a bit rugged if left. Rather than send it away and wait to be re chromed I found a new one that ended up being cheaper than a chrome job anyway

The rust bubbles on the old plate

Super easy to swap brake parts

I ended up removing the top shock mounts and chucking them in the lathe to take a smidgen off as it was going to be a tight fit for the rubber, So I used the thinnest insert supplied and took the shock mount down until the insert “Just” fitted then fitted the inserts in the shock, makes for easy fit and removal for when I get round to painting the frame

Insert fitted

Back to the old ride height, I did like the look of the 11.5” shocks I put in of my other bike while I waited for the new ones, having the lowered look was good but the change in steering angle I didn’t like on the winding roads, and the exhaust mount bottoming on bumps in the corner I also didn’t like at the lower height.

… Now to wait the arrival of the new coils and leads, and a few more Carb bits :P

**Laava** · 8th March 2014, 18:24

Looking good dude!

**leathel** · 8th March 2014, 19:34

a couple more bits fitted from the last order that arrived, Steering head nut, washer and engine side plate. cheap as chips for new original parts (nut $10.38, washer $1.94, Plate $19) but they were on special.... Oh and new side cover mounting slot rubbers ($2.13)

The old cover had spider corrosion all around the edge and a dent that hardly showed in the pic above

looks much better without a rusty steering head nut

Now I need to be patient while I wait for the coils leads and last of the carb bits to arrive...... Then make a plan for the next mods :P

**leathel** · 7th April 2014, 17:46

So I fitted the spots a while back and was going to take some evening pics to show how they light up the road, I have fitted filters to give a relatively flat beam and tilted the spots down so they can be run full time on high or low (to light 15-20 meters ahead for big dip & pot hole spotting) and they have been working very well

The pics, the workshop door is 15 meters away.

Spots only, I should bend the brackets to get a wider flood as the overlap a fair bit.

High Beam (throws further than the spots but doesn't flood well)

Spots and high

Low

Low and spots

the spots only draw 10 watts each so I haven't had any battery issues at all to date

**leathel** · 26th May 2014, 21:03

I thought I better do a bit of an update on this bike, I have done a few updates, I still had an unexplained miss, the coil leads were looking pretty sad and the spark average so new performance coils and leads are fitted to eliminate them from the fault.

all sorted and running.... still with the intermittent miss :roll:

more to come

**leathel** · 27th May 2014, 10:16

Now I still had the electrical miss, and the bike was eating plugs, Pinging as well and no adjustment for timing so Ignition Control module next....

When it finally arrived it did sort the miss

Now with some over-night trips coming up (and one of those the mid winter tenting Cold Kiwi) I needed to upgrade my saddle bags, the current ones are not that big and are starting to fall apart, The bags from my 750 are still in mint condition and not needed for the trike build so on they go... Wish it was that easy :P

Indicator shift time, replace the chrome guard mounts, move the sissy bar to give more pillion room and cover the indicator hole and while I am on pilion comfort fit rear floor boards as far forward as I can.

The old bags

As it was

as it is with the new indicators and sissy bar moved back 40mm (1 3/4" approx)

the indicator mount making

Weld some nuts in a pipe tube

Machine it down to look tidy

Weld some bolts on to fix it to the bike and open somewhere for the wires to go

ready to attach

Much larger bags now able to fit with the indicator moved

Bring on the Cold Kiwi. http://www.coldkiwi.co.nz/

Now I am waiting for one more part to sort out a fuel issue..... apparently its takes over a month to arrive.

**willytheekid** · 27th May 2014, 14:22

Awesome work leathel

Love seeing older bikes being restored and fixed up

Looking great!, keep up the posts and the fine work

**leathel** · 19th June 2014, 16:11

Time for a new tyre, The commander II is a great tyre but with all the water on the road its getting a bit low on tread, I thought I would drop the profile a little to lower the gearing a little as its a pain in the arse at 50-55 mph 2 up (traffic speed this time of year) as its almost to slow for top and not slow enough for third. Summer not such a problem as the traffic on back roads is going quicker, or I just pass them. Not so much fun passing on back roads in the wet out this way, so much dirt on the roads its not funny

Michelin dont do a lower profile but Metzler do, I have gone to a 180/70-15 880 from the 170/80 Commander II

As soon as I get a moment it will be on the bike to see lust how much difference it makes, Definitely lower profiled and that is with a near bald v new tread (880 will be 13mm lower when at the same near worn out stage)

I have kept the Commander II for Summer to get the last out of it...... I think, time will tell.

**ruaphu** · 21st June 2014, 22:34

Originally Posted by leathel

Time for a new tyre, The commander II is a great tyre but with all the water on the road its getting a bit low on tread, I thought I would drop the profile a little to lower the gearing a little as its a pain in the arse at 50-55 mph 2 up (traffic speed this time of year) as its almost to slow for top and not slow enough for third. Summer not such a problem as the traffic on back roads is going quicker, or I just pass them. Not so much fun passing on back roads in the wet out this way, so much dirt on the roads its not funny

Michelin dont do a lower profile but Metzler do, I have gone to a 180/70-15 880 from the 170/80 Commander II

As soon as I get a moment it will be on the bike to see lust how much difference it makes, Definitely lower profiled and that is with a near bald v new tread (880 will be 13mm lower when at the same near worn out stage)

I have kept the Commander II for Summer to get the last out of it...... I think, time will tell.

Hey Leathel that bike is coming along fine, looks good, saddle bag mod was a goodin. Be interesting to see what sort of mileage ya get out of the Metz tyres, I'm currently getting 5-7Kms outta them, just changed mine over to Dunlop's to see if I can get a bit more mileage.

BTW, what are the blue strips on ya helmets, LED's?????

**leathel** · 21st June 2014, 22:49

Originally Posted by ruaphu

Hey Leathel that bike is coming along fine, looks good, saddle bag mod was a goodin. Be interesting to see what sort of mileage ya get out of the Metz tyres, I'm currently getting 5-7Kms outta them, just changed mine over to Dunlop's to see if I can get a bit more mileage.

BTW, what are the blue strips on ya helmets, LED's?????

it is reflective tape on the helmet, I put it on for the Blue September ride and it lights up so well at night I left it there...

I got 11000 K's out of the Commander II's + what ever the old owner did on them (he said 2-3000 miles but they were over 1/3 worn) and could probably have done a chunk more if it was summer... they were to worn for the winter

**leathel** · 25th August 2014, 12:22

I have done a bit of work lately but nothing too major but I took it for a good run to KeriKeri this weekend been and here are a few pictures from that