Take a stand ...

I have had this thing dangling from a hoist for so long which is not even professional looking or very easy to work on. I had just made a base for putting BMW's on the lift without having them sitting on the oil pan and then thought that the same base would be great for setting this one on too. So, I made another base and then made a stand for working on this. Looks really good and is very sturdy but, if you think about it, it's kind of a Mike Mulligan. If I assemble the whole motorcycle on this stand how do you get it off of the stand? That is where the hoist comes back into play. Still, better than being on the hoist full time.

front end, axles and wheels

Actually the aforementioned idea is working out pretty good. A series of events lately has proved that out.
On his birthday Luke said something about finding a complete front end so that we didn't have to mess with rebuilding one out of the two that I have for this bike. Just out of curiousity I went on eBay, found and won a complete front end; triple tree, bar clamps, forks and shocks, at a pretty nice price. I was pretty excited about that because that would cerainly make things easier and maybe things would start moving along. Yeah, right.
I received the forks. They were from a 1976 R90/6. I learned something new. In 1974 BMW's first disk brake was released on the new /6 series and as part of that design they went from the standard 17mm axle to 14mm. That didn't prove out to be a good idea so they quickly changed back to 17mm late in 1974. So, the 1974 front wheel that we have has a 14mm axle and I want to use a 17mm front end. See how simple this is?
I asked around and reviewed my options and what I am going to do is to modify the 1974 wheel hub so that I can uses post-1974 parts on it. This should be possible. I already have bought a 17mm axle and I needed to replace the bearings and seals anyway so the extra cost left is for the different 17mm axle spacing and shims. This should end well and it is giving me some momentum to get a little done.
Part of the momentum is that now I have three front ends and I want to just keep what I need and clear out the rest. I had today 9 auctions complete on eBay. Really disappointing. I had about $96 dollars in sales, 3 items didn't get any bids and the rest went for really low prices. Oh, well, cash is better than clutter.

Cleaning the stable II

Now that the R60/6 is gone the man-cave population consists of:
1982 R100RS 'Huckleberry'
1980 R100T 'Gilera'
1978 R100/7 - in storage. Another great buy but I am not sure what to do with it.
and, the star of this blog ...
1974 R75/6 ...

Yesterday I finally built the shelf over the motorcycles in the man-cave for helmets and riding gear. It looks like a firehouse now with the steeds ready to race off in a moments notice. I bought a 1"x 12"x 12' plank and all of the rest of the materials used to be a cedar picnic table.




The RS is getting it's top-end rebuild because that is my main ride. It is time to admit that this R75/6 project will be done over years ...



... I got everything out and laid it all out on the garage floor. I am moving all of this, except the frame and engine, into the basement for storage and safekeeping. Having it scattered all over the man-cave for years is creating a risk of losing or damaging parts. This way when someone has the time to work on this they can pull out carbs to rebuild or the forks or put new wheel bearings in ... we will continue on that way until light can be seen at the end of the tunnel. I was hoping that this would be done by now and it would if it were the only motorcycle but it is not. This will be awesome when it is done as you con invision from the photos above.

Cleaning the stable I

So, that sounded like a good plan and I did get the R100RS back on the road in August. It has proved to be the best bike ever; don't let Gilera hear me say that. Gilera did not get her tear down for maintenance. Instead I am prepping to take the R100RS back down so that I can have the top end rebuilt. 100 psi compression on both sides and about 140 psi when I oil the cylinder. I am looking at rebuilding the heads, oversize rings and new rod bearings. If I can afford it I would like to rebuild the brakes with EBC rotors and pads, re-pad the seat and new shock absorbers.

Meanwhile, or actually, before all of this, I had bought another R60/6 because I couldn't pass up that price. After some minimal work done to it, Luke rode it for part of the summer and fall. I have been trying to sell it since Sept. but I was way too greedy on the price. I just put it back up for sale at a reduced price and it finally has sold.

This is how it came in:
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This is how it went out:

turning points

things change.
Several things in particular, decisions that change the course. One is that I had decided to take the engine and transmission to Thoroughbred Cycle to have Glen check/repair the rear main seal and trans input shaft and check for other leaks and check the clutch while in there. Yeah, the clutch was WAY beyond spec minimum and with everything else is gonna come to over $500 parts and labor. I feel like this has become now a commitment to make more than cosmetically but now absolutely perfect. Not in a perfect restoration mode but perfect functional mode. If it needs to be fixed make it right.
The frame components are all rough stripped and ready for final prepping for paint. The difficult part is the swing arm or, as they say in non-USA, rear fork. I could not get the bell coupling to come off the driveshaft and fear that it might have spun and welded itself to the shaft. I got a swingarm/driveshaft assy from eBay but the u-joint on that is distinctively shot. I need to complain on that to the seller. It is too obvious to have be less than misrepresented.
Any way, at this point, with the engine block and transmission ready, I am planning to at least get the main frame painted and get those components back in frame. After that other developments may stall this project for a bit.
I sold Sharona. Down river. Yeah I know. After all her faithfulness. The 1988 R100RT sold in under 24 hours for the asking price of $3500. I feel really fair and just about that price. The reason for this move is that I was looking at all four of the roadworthies and realized that Sharona was suddenly the odd man out; being that some of the monoshock, K-bike technology doesn't jive with the others. Most other parts are interchangeable with almost anything 1974 - 1984. Sharona did not 'fit' any longer. Also, the RT fiberglass is more hassle than necessary to deal with. So, now with what is left in the stable, priorities have shifted. The plan is now to:

1. Make Gilera (1980 R100T) the main ride while ...
2. 1982 R100RS gets a good going over to make totally roadworthy and ...
3. when it is, then Gilera gets the next going over so ...
4. Konstantine (1974 R75/6) will need to sit until such a time as dedicated time can be given.
5. umm, unless Luke has some spare time?

So, the next installment of this post will most likely be to show bare stripped frame components and then finished main frame and then that frame holding engine and transmission. At that point a respite.

less purple paint.

I was really worried that the paint would not come off of this nameplate without wiping it out.

paint stripping, aluminum parts

This may not look like much but this took some work to get this far. I (wisely) decided to start stripping paint from parts that are supposed to be bare aluminum and not painted at all so that I would not have to deal with priming bare steel. This is as far as I got. I have the front electrics cover that I am finishing up and I think that the top part of the triple tree is supposed to be chrome; every thing else is going to be paint. Don't argue with me. I am keeping the engine/transmission black and I am adding black parts from the eighties air cleaner and starter cover. That is all done. Which leaves miscellaneous frame parts to be stripped and painted. I will not do that now until the weather is warmer so that I can deal with that out side of the basement.

So, the next step will be to begin categorizing repairs to be done and making parts lists. If things go well I will be finishing that up by Friday (I have another Friday off!)