Tales from the Emporium

**NordieBoy** · 19th April 2012, 21:08

Some shots of my shock res conversion...

From a useless 1986 Yamaha version that needs a nitrogen needle and is non-adjustable...

To an orsum 1983 Honda version that is easily filled and adjustable (not that you can tell the difference on the bike, but it's got a dial

)...
and with the longer line, it means I can remove the shock without also removing the airbox, airbox boots and carbs...

WR250 "gay" muffler - stealth mode engaged...

Damper mount...

Crank it above 6 and watch the stainless post flex

The damper isn't centered where I'd like but it's going to work fine.
The post leans slightly to the right which offends my OCD and sense of tidyness (stop laughing) but will be ok.

Looks like 3-5 will be normal settings.
Once I've been running it for a while, I'll dump the 10w and re-fill with 5w which should get the adjuster in the middle of the settings.

**Padmei** · 19th April 2012, 21:15

Looking great. Your old mauffler was the opposite of sounding ghey - whatever that is. I think it was prob louderer than snotsos.
I wan to have a go with your damper & see how it changes things.

As for your shock- you're just knitting with different needles really.

**NordieBoy** · 19th April 2012, 21:38

Originally Posted by Padmei

As for your shock- you're just knitting with different needles really.

Did you know there's about 5,000 2nd hand shops between Nelson and Dunedin.
We went in to most of them.

Twice.

Knitting needles were one of the drawcards.

I got a pair of jandals.

They made me throw my old pair in a bin

**NordieBoy** · 22nd April 2012, 16:16

Got my first proper NADS puncture yesterday.
Middle of the sidewall, a small cut about 2mm long.
I went to check the pressure before airing up for the seal at the Iron Bridge on the way back and it read "0".
It read "0" several more times too dammit.

It was originally reading "12"...

The tyre was quite warm too.

Got some air into it and leaning over the front we headed off.

Just before Big Deep Creek, it went quite arse-puckeringly sideways around a corner...

We pulled the wheel off and out with the tube.
Man, I didn't know tubes could get that hot!

Shoehorned a 120/100/18 heavy duty Pirelli tube into a 120/80/18 tyre and left the rimlocks undone.

The Shinko 705 is toast. Several thousand more km's of tread, but tears/cracks in the sidewall from running it flat.

Oh, and whilst putting the MT43/21 combo on today, I found I was running 15/53 yesterday. No wonder it was a bit buzzy at 100kph

That's about 280km of 100kph seal on gearing suited for hills only. It was meant to be a 16t front for that shit.

**NordieBoy** · 22nd April 2012, 16:37

Well, I tested it out on setting "5" and "1" to see the differences.

On "5" it felt more stable in corners in that it seemed to hold it's line without extra input from the rider. More relaxed hands.
Only problem is that a couple of times I'd be thinking I could feel the damping in slower corners when turning the bars and felt it to be more stable in the rocky stuff , only to look down and it was on "1"

The problem there being that the TT is quite neutral and balanced through the bars as it is.

I can see from 4-5 being my settings of choice.
"4" and you don't feel any interference at low speed when turning the bars and "5", you do, but only in low speed tight corners.

In my mind, you'd have it cranked up so that you only notice the "heaviness" occasionally and it'd be about right.
Ride it on "5" for a couple of weeks and then crank it back to "1" and see if I can feel a difference.

May have to do some googling into that though.

It looks cool though

**NordieBoy** · 22nd April 2012, 21:28

The Shinko 705 rear I knackered the bead and sidewall of yesterday, had about 1,000km left in it, tread-wise and was 11,000km old.
That's 11,000km of everything from seal, to snow, to Erzberg.

**Eddieb** · 29th April 2012, 15:31

Nordie, you've stacked up several risers from memory, how high can you gowith the standard cables?

**NordieBoy** · 29th April 2012, 20:10

Originally Posted by Eddieb

Nordie, you've stacked up several risers from memory, how high can you gowith the standard cables?

This worked fine...

As was this...

The silver bars are a bit taller than the stockers.

Then these...

You can go higher but then you need to re-route the clutch cable down the left side of the frame etc...

**NordieBoy** · 13th May 2012, 22:07

Mmmm...
New 2nd hand scissor lift...

10w oil instead of the stock 5w and...
Bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, bleeding, bleeding...

Finally...

DR650 spring...

$57 bump stop...

180psi of nitrogen and it's (almost) all done...
Next time it's apart, I'll get another groove machined 10mm lower on the body as the DR spring is 5mm shorter than the TT one.

13-15 clicks out (5 is stock) and it works quite nicely. No leakage down the shaft, and the bladder seems to be holding pressure.
Tracks well over bumps/rocks but that could also be down to the trials rear at 10psi

Works well for a $57 rebuild...

**unstuck** · 14th May 2012, 06:44

How stable does your bike feel on that lift Nordie? From the photo it looks fairly narrow at the base. Nice work on the shockie.

**NordieBoy** · 14th May 2012, 08:13

Originally Posted by unstuck

How stable does your bike feel on that lift Nordie? From the photo it looks fairly narrow at the base. Nice work on the shockie.

Rock and solid come to mind.

The only issue with it is the 30 odd cm height on its lowest setting.
Both bikes are noticeably lower than that. It took several minutes to get the TT on to it and the DR would need some serious muscling and bad words.

**unstuck** · 14th May 2012, 08:40

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

Rock and solid come to mind.

The only issue with it is the 30 odd cm height on its lowest setting.
Both bikes are noticeably lower than that. It took several minutes to get the TT on to it and the DR would need some serious muscling and bad words.

Ok thanks, you may have to make a hole in your floor for it to sit in.

**NordieBoy** · 25th May 2012, 21:38

Got some new(ish) shoes on the TT for Sunday's race...

It's going to be quite muddy so I thought the MT43 trials rear and MT21 trails front may not be enough...

Pirelli Scorpion Mid Soft 51M front that's almost new...

Innova something rear that's not really new at all...

**NordieBoy** · 14th June 2012, 21:53

Originally Posted by NordieBoy

Pirelli Scorpion Mid Soft 51M front that's almost new...
Innova something rear that's not really new at all...

They weren't enough...

Got the trials tyres (MT43) mounted up front and rear now. Finally used a generous amount of WD40 (mmmm, new can of WD40 goodness) on the front to get the bead to sit reasonably correctly.
Damn the front has got a good sidewall.

Got a new Shinko 705 rear mounted, to go with the 12,000km old front one (more WD40 needed here too) for general use. I think I'll pull the new(ish) 705 off the front of the DR and swap it with this one soon.

I'm getting some real cam chain vibes now. They smooth out about 6,100rpm but I don't know if it's the guides or the cam chain itself. The chain is only 350hrs old but I'm not sure if the guides were replaced at the same time.