Project DR is underway

[far queue]

On a different note, I am not posting again until tomorrow, because then my post count will match the day, and we all know what day that is.......

Ummm 11/9/06, I don't buy into that american bullshit - their spelling, and their date system and so on - I guess you'll have to wait a bit before you reply

[kro]

Yeah true, screw that, I wanna get one of those flashy X things to prove I'm a post-whore.

[kro]

I received an email from a man at VMX New Zealand, and he is keen to put the story of the mighty DR on the VMX website. This will be quite a good shot in the arm for the whole project. Now I have to get my thinking cap on, and write a bit more about what I have actually done.

[kro]

No update sorry folks, been spending time with the family, to make up for my motorcycle induced hermit behaviour.
Tomorrow perhaps we may see a bit of a mock up of tank/seat/sidecovers on the old girl, but i wont look to good, coz the old plastics don't look good on the bike now that i have added that anodising blue colour to the front fork clamps.

I am sizing up some white aftermarket plastics, they will look awesome.

[kro]

MIGHT have just found the top end I need to make this damn bike run at the end of this project. I have to wait for it to come out of Wellington, but should get it by the end of the week. Getting some white plastics for it, hopefully I can modify them to fit, they are off a YZ.

Updates coming again soon.

[Coyote]

I've been doing a bit of restoration myself. Plastic welded the front fairing back together with a soldering iron and an ice cream container lid. It's not visually pleasing but it's solid enough for racing

[kro]

That's often all that is needed mate, if you nneded to take it a step further, you could have used a bit of filler in the crack area, and sanded it, and painted it, noone would be any the wiser.

I am finding myself in more and more situations where I need to fix stuff up myself, as opposed to when we were a 2 income family, I'd take my bike into the shop, and say "fix this", but now I have to be a bit wiser with every penny, so I do things like the ice cream lid weld, which I did the same thing to on my airbox, which had lots of extra holes drilled in it for extra air intake capacity, I've sealed all but one of them off, using the soldering iron/piece of scrap plastic method, and I'll paint the whole thing, and she'll be beauty.

[Ghost Lemur]

Loving the work Kro, keep it coming.

[kro]

Thanks Lemur, I just painted the footpegs, and rear brake levers/arms, and have them baking in the oven right now. Hopefully some pics tomorrow, there's been a bit of a drought of updates sorry guys, I will deliver the goods tomorrow.

[Ghost Lemur]

Baking??

Details please.

[kro]

Duplicolour Hi-Heat paint. Resists temps up to 1200 degrees, and leaves a very very hard durable finish, but you have to "bake" the paint on in order for it to dry properly. I am doing the exhaust in it, and the footpegs, and brake/gear levers, seeing as they get a truckload of wear on them, the paint is extremely wear resistant. Just chuck the bits in the oven for 20 mins at a certain temp (it's stated on the can), and you have a sweet looking finish, that's extremely durable.
You can hang the parts over a gas heater too, to get the baking done.
Its only like 15 bux a tin from Repco.

[timmy]

This is a really interesting thread Kro. I bet it very satifying doing all the work yourself. Have you been a bike mechanic in the past or just know what you know from riding the bikes?

(sorry you could have already stated this in the thread but i cant remember)

[Ghost Lemur]

How does that paint compare with anodizing and powder coating?

By compare I mean across all the categories, finish, durability, cost, look and maintenance?

[kro]

Timmy, I am not a mechanic, but am reasnably mechanically minded, and have been fixing cars and bikes since I was 15 or so.

Lemur, I haven't tested the durability of the paint, but anodising is still the best option, as it is not a "coating" in the traditional sense, like paint is, the paint, given enough aggravation, will still scrape and chip I think, hence whey I used it in places less likely to get bashed.

[kro]

Ok, I just chucked all the old plastics on, and wheeled it out for a quick photo or two. Note the sexy new 3 finger brake lever assembly. The bike is most likely going to have white plastics in the end, because as you can see, the blue shit I used on the forkclamps looks a bit flowery next to the yellow plastics.