Big Bird gets some TLC

[Ian Porter]

Big bird's seen a few too many winters and is starting to show her age so it's time to give her a rest and a bit of TLC.

So out came the spanners

And we now have this

And a pile of bits that need powder coating

Rob is kindly going to reinforce my pannier frames and then is all off to be coated.

While that's away I'm getting the shock serviced and doing a deep clean before putting it back together and then starting on the front end.

More later when the cleaning rags come out

 

[Lutin]

I hope you remember where all the bits go.

 

[Ian Porter]

I hope you remember where all the bits go.

Not a chance,

That's why I took lots of photographs and put all the bolts and little bits into labeled bags

 

[Chewbadger]

I was starting to weld up a new top box mount this morning. Pete's welder was set to 'burn a hole through the titanic ' mode, quite a bit of hole filling later....

Should have it somewhere near by next weekend. I'll take your stuff in too, makes a change that it's all happening at once.

 

[Lowflyer]

You're not taking her off the road already are you Ian ??

Go on, a little bit of grit and salt won't do it any harm.
Well done, I should really do the same to the old green girl, but I always get tempted by sunshine rays, no matter how cold it is

Oh well, maybe next year :|

 

[Ian Porter]

You're not taking her off the road already are you Ian ??

Go on, a little bit of grit and salt won't do it any harm.
Well done, I should really do the same to the old green girl, but I always get tempted by sunshine rays, no matter how cold it is

Oh well, maybe next year :|

I am, but I do have Daffy (F650GS) to ride while she's off the road.

I'm only doing it now because I can, otherwise it would wait until later in the year.

 

[Ian Porter]

Postman has just been with the first upgrades.

Hyperpro progressive springs

Now to send the shocks off for servicing and spring fitting

 

[Rubberchicken]

Nice!

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Keep the pics coming Ian.
I love seeing other peeps spend money

 

[Ian Porter]

I love seeing other peeps spend money

there's another £150 worth of parts on order too and that's just little bits and bobs.....

this little tidy up ain't coming in cheap that's for sure, but it's worth doing if it keeps her looking good for another 10 years

 

[Alba]

what else are you planning? any other sexy things?

Do you fell your current springs are by their best? i.e. why did you decide new spings?

Why am asking so many questions ???? :ugeek:

 

[Ian Porter]

Nothing else sexy for now, just upgrading the cam chain tensioner and replacing all of the seals in the forks and a few other bits that are tired.

There's nothing wrong with the shocks to my knowledge, just thought I'd service them while they were off and then thought why not upgrade the springs while I'm at it.

I've just been polishing plastics that haven't seen the light if day for 11 years and probably never will again

 

[Chewbadger]

That's OK Ian, I've just been setting fire to your seat carrier with a mig welder. Pannier supports done, off to the blasters and coaters next week.
Knowing the powder coaters, it will be at least 3 weeks.

 

[Ian Porter]

Thanks Rob,

Plenty of time to clean things then

The rear shock goes off tomorrow and that's about a week turn round. (Front shock will he off when the back end is back together)

 

[Ian Porter]

fitted new grips today and thought it wise to check that the heater elements worked before I stuck them on,

not only did they not work, neither did anything else other than the side lights

so I spent the next 3 hours checking connectors, referring to wiring diagrams and generally poking about before the penny dropped,

the load shedding relay wont energise if the starter motor is disconnected and guess what I took off last night to clean ......

starter motor back on and everything works including the heated grips

so that's a whole afternoon wasted checking something that worked anyway

got some nice new grips though

 

[Lutin]

Well, at least now you do know that your electrics are up to scratch.

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

This is all very well Ian but this thread is a bit light on the pictures (cough)

 

[Ian Porter]

I can post pics of dirty parts and clean parts if you like but nothing more exciting yet I'm afraid.

Got some nice shiny bits of plastic though

 

[Philwhiskeydrinker]

Just pics of a bike in a million bits would suffice

 

[Ian Porter]

Some cleaning pics

The air box was looking quite tired and proved difficult to clean

Tried some of Tesco's finest cleaner

And got this result

Seems to work just fine.

I know what I'm using for cleaning plastics from now on