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MY FTP!

This is my most favourite bike of mine. It has served me well for a few years now with minimal maintenance as this page will show. I have only taken the engine apart twice since 2012. But time and my negligence (rather than ignorance) has taken it’s time on this motorcycle. It currently has 70,500 miles on the clock, but I must say is fine mechanically. It has served me well for a commuter and even whilst I was doing my courier stint. It burns approximately 2 pints per 300 miles at motorway speeds. It is a 1981 model, specs are 32hp at the wheel, could probably do 100mph if I forced it. It has immense torque and can beat most cars very easily in the traffic light race

In this page I will detail with pictures what I have done on it over the years. Click on the pictures to see the high resolution images.

06/08/2015. Latest dis-mantle. I thought it time I took the bike apart again to the frame after the hard last two year’s use. It had reached 70k, and I also wished to repaint the body work.

Bike partly way there. I got the engine out within an hour and a half. This is not however breaking my previous record.

I was very disappointed finding the results above. These sneaky treasures were hidden behind peeling paint. I used a sander to get down to these unfortunate results. The lower two pictures show rust which is still solid. The upper pictures were the result of a little prodding with a screwdriver. Water has entered the frame but not had anywhere to drain, unfortunately. I will have to weld some patches on these. I last put a patch on the frame two years ago -  these particular places were not apparent then.

15/08/2015. After a week’s break I started again on the bodywork whilst I was home for the weekend.

As you can see. The tank has had considerable development to it but still only 1/3 of the way through. I stripped the old paint off by using a solution of paint stripper and a flat blade to scrape it off when it got soft. A specified time of contact must be observed, the paint stripper stops acting after a little while and the paint returns to a solid state. I then got the final few layers off with an electric sand bit on the end of a drill. I did the underside and the edges and intricate areas by hand. I then slapped around 2-3 coats (depending on thickness) on the underside with smooth black Hammerite with a brush. This is an area that will never get seen so I don’t subscribe to wasting coloured spray paint on this area. As you can see I filled in dents and got sanding the plastics and filling imperfections. I used ‘flash spray’ on the front fairing to bring up the imperfections better to the eye, as shadows cast by them are more easily seen on white primer. I also worked on the swingarm and found a nice hole to add to the collection.

13/10/2015. A short break turned into a long one.

A lot more welding was required than I expected. In total a number of 10 patches were welded to various areas of the frame. Mostly to the rear. This took a lot of time. September came and went and little was done with the body work. The frame was completely painted (hand painted with Hammerite) and various places in the frame were drilled into in order to inject Waxoyl and try to prevent anymore rust from the inside out.

The engine was dismantled, and it was found to require a new oil pump chain and crank half shell bearings. Only one pair of new shell bearings was actually used, the other pair seems to pinch the crank, which made it difficult to turn over. The good pair of the old set was put in their place. The engine is now free to turn.

After a lot of messing around which resulted in concluding that the bike’s battery has coincidentally died, a temporary system was put in place with a car battery put in the top box. Within two days I had found an old UPS battery, which was much lighter and smaller and therefore could fit in the original battery placement.

Whilst the car battery was in place the bike was very difficult to ride. It is unexplainable. The balance was off and the whole rear seemed to flex whilst going around corners. The weight shifted sometimes to an uncontrollable outcome. 

The bike as it currently stands. Spare plastics have been used in the meantime and the tank has been merely base coated with primer. until I can find time.

Website online since: 18/04/2015