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August 1st - 4th 1998
August 5th 1998
August 8th 1998
August 9th 1998
August 15th 1998
August 18th 1998
August 23rd 1998
August 30th 1998
Just arrived back home with the bike, pissing with rain all day so I got soaked loading it on to the trailer. The bike has slightly more damage then the seller let on, note the damaged front end. At the moment it needs 2 forks (got 2 new ones ready to go on), a set of clocks, indicators, panels (obviously), brake levers, blah blah blah........the list goes on..
Bike's off the trailer now and I've pulled off most of the shagged parts to see if I can uncover anything else thats knackered.
You can see the new forks above.
Hmm, the throttle mount is cracked so I'll be replacing that eventually and the clip-ons are also damaged. The guy sold the new tyres off it as well so I'll have to invest in a set of Dragons - bugger!! I'm also going to change it to a single seat (its a BP model).
The usual parts are scuffed as to be expected when a bike goes down like clutch cover and rear-sets for instance. A friend (Dill) is going to make up the bodywork out of Carbon Fibre for me for a reasonable price and this is going to take about 4 weeks, I'm also going to see if Dill can make a carbon clutch cover cheaper than the normal £70 odd quid they cost. I've to pop down to the local HARRIS Performance!! to source some of their Ducati CNC rear-sets in anodized gold and their CNC GP clip-ons to replace my damaged ones as well as a tinted screen, I'll also be replacing the brake\clutch lines (brake lines are damaged) with Goodridge ones and see if I can get a Samco hose kit for the bike.
The guy I brought it off has got a set of clocks for me so I'll pick them up soon, but unfortunatly no lights or the cast mount which I'm told is v.expensive from Ducati so I'm going to search around to see if I can source the parts from somewhere else. The paint shop down the road (Formula 1 Refinishing) have said that they will paint it for me which is handy so I'll have to obtain the stickers, and they'll also sort out the tank as it has a tiny dent from hitting the ground. I'm going for Brembo GP race levers, just got to find a supplier.
I should be recieving my paddock stand soon (I didn't have a single sided model) so I can replace the forks and polish the yokes while they are off (guy near me does bike polishing). I'm pondering on what type of wheels to fit as I don't like the 3 spokes (on cars or bikes) either Marchesini or Marvic Penta 5 spokes in magnesium (still in gold though). Must not forget to get a frame plug kit aswell from Harris if they do one.
I've done the rounds today and picked up my clocks and got my Brembo brake lever so now I'm just waiting on the clutch one from Carrera Sports. I visited Harris Performance as well today and picked up my rear-sets and clip-ons, which I'll be fitting to the bike when I get my fork yokes back from the polisher.
I'll add a picture of the levers as soon as I have both of them. The bike's looking a bit sad now with the forks off as you can see below.
You'll notice that I'm using a normal paddock stand cos mine "next day delivery" didn't turn up. I recieved it a day late, but I'm going to leave the bike on the normal stand for now until I have the forks and wheel back on.
The paddock stand is a nice design and the axle mount runs in bearings so you can run the bike up if need be.
The stands made by
AWF (Probolt).
Unfortunatly I found out after removing the forks that the discs are bent and I've been
told they cannot be straightened, the wheel is also buckled so its an excuse to change the
wheels when funds permit.
I've had to order some of the parts from Ducati as I've been unable to source them, the timing cover which carries the mounts for the V-bellypan cost £50.00 even though its only a small cast cover...Ouch!! I've also ordered a new speedo drive as I noticed mine was broken when I removed it from the wheel, and the spindle which was shagged!! The total bill came to more than £100.00 for a couple of small parts, hopefully thats all I'll need to buy from Ducati themselves. I'll be going to Carrera Sports in a week or so as I need to pick up the clutch lever and the "frame plug kit" which they keep in stock, and I'll also check to see if they have a tinted screen for it as Harris didn't have one in stock when I was there.
Well I managed to goto Carrera Sports on Thursday as they stayed around till 7.00pm for me (cheers guys), I picked up my Tinted screen and the Casoli Moto frame plug kit (nearly 50quid for 5 chunks of alloy). While I was there I also decided on the wheels and left there with the Marvic Penta II's in a really nice gunmetal colour, I also picked up a Titanium Zaccaria Active steering damper as well to replace my knackered one. They had a new Ducati spindle in stock as well, so I decided to take it and try to cancel the one I ordered earlier in the week. They had the Brembo GP clutch lever I was after as well so I have the pair now.
I thought these deserved a larger picture that the above!!
These are the Penta II's in Magnesium, and their finish seems
to be of a higher quality than the Marchesini ones.
They were also in this awesome colour which I preferred to the
normal gold finish.
This is the Active Evolution damper (least that's what the box
says).
It has a nice click adjustment at the end of the barrel rather than the
piston rod as normally found on most other steering dampers.
I've mounted the Harris Rear-Sets to the bike now, but as yet
I haven't got a picture ready to upload showing them mounted. I've rebuilt the front
end of the bike so I can support it without the jack now, because I need to get the
swingarm off to have it polished next week by the guy who did my yokes.
This is the rebuilt front with the clip-ons and switchgear back in place, you can see the polished yokes now with the new steering-damper in place. I need to purchase some new hand grips as mine are torn from the accident (no grip on the right).
The oil-cooler has been unbolted as the bike was jacked from beneath where it would have been, you can see the busted gear that I've removed to the right on the floor. This picture was taken prior to the Harris clip-ons being fitted.
The tank and seat are back on the frame as I had nowhere to store them when I wasn't working on the bike.
Not much happened today, weather was too good to work in the garage. I've changed the gear linkage arm to use Ball-Joints instead of the Rose-Joints that are normally used, this is because one of the Rose-Joints broke in the old linkage and a replacement would be around £30.00 each (and I'd need 2 of em - £60.00). My brother retapped the thread to a right hand from its normal left hand thread, and the Ball-Joints cost about £5.00 for 2 so I saved a chunk of dosh there.
I've recieved the parts I ordered from Ducati via Aye-Gees bike shop, only thing was they gave me the wrong gasket so I had to go back and exchange it for the correct one. I still haven't got round to getting the swing-arm off to have it polished as yet, so I'll try to get it off this weekend. I should be picking up the replacement Brembo Goldline F-Discs and the headlight mount that supports the fairings and clocks, and I should get the rear lights as well next weekend depends on how generous the bank wants to be.
August 18th 1998
Well the swingarm's finally off although we did it the wrong way but the result's the
same. Putting it back on may be a bit of a nightmare though as the engine may need
to come out, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I've added a picture of
the bike without the s'arm on it but the photo's a bit cluttered. My brother is
going to drop the s'arm and a couple of other parts off at the polisher for him to do, so
I should get them back in a couple of days; I'll stick a picture of the polished s'arm up
when I get it back.
The bike's held up via strapes (orange lines going up the center of the picture) to
allow us to remove the swingarm, the chain is hanging off the bike onto the pink rag at
the bottom of the picture. The bike is tilted slightly as the weight is causing it
to lean to one side. Looks a bit of a mess in this picture because it is!
Hopefully it won't stay like this for long though.
August 23rd 1998
Eventually picked the swingarm back up with the other parts I dropped off (kickplates
& stand) but it was a nightmare trying to get the s'arm back in, used a modified
spring clamp in the end to prise the frame apart bending the clamp in the process (tough
bugger!). I had to source another shim for the s'arm before I could fix it back to
the bike, it looks like it fell off in transit. It was probably stuck in the s'arm
with a bit of grease when I removed it and then it decided to fall off where no-one would
hear it. I picked up the Brembo Goldline discs, rear
lights and the cast front mount that supports the fairings this weekend, so I've mounted
the cast mount and clocks back onto the bike.
This is the cast mount and you can see the supports that hold the
top fairing in place, I've mounted the clocks onto it as well.
You can see here that I've mounted the unit back onto the bike,
so now it requires the headlights installed which I still need to buy.
I still haven't got any tyres for the new wheels yet as I'll probably do this near the end
of the project, I haven't mounted the new discs to the front wheel either as it's easier
to store them separate than on the wheel.
Here is a picture of one of the discs, unfortunatly in giving them a clean
with a degreaser its attacked the gold anodizing causing light stripe
marks across the face. (nuff pissed!!)
Oh well live and learn, I may get them reanodized at some point in the
future when I've got some spare cash.
The s'arm has come out very well although it could probably be improved if I were to go
over it by hand with a small polisher, but for what I paid to have it done I'm not
complaining. Unfortunatly due to another user error we fitted the swingarm only to
find we had forgotten to loop the chain over it first (Doh!!), this meant taking the s'arm
out again to pass the chain around it. In the process of this stressful operation of
trying to get the s'arm back in before the spring clamp let-go; the chain scratched the
s'arm across the outside so I'll have so get it buffed over its face to remove the
scratches when the bike's mobile.
I also had the drive plate polished as it was of a rough cast finish as well, I'm going
to source all the anodized bolts at some point so replace the standard ones over the bike.
The chain guard is to be
replaced by a carbon-fibre version as well.
This is a picture of the polished kickplates and exhaust guard
above it, you can see one of the Harris Rear-Sets in this
picture and also part of the Frame Plug kit in
the bolt holes of the frame.
I need to get around to getting some replacement hand grips which I'll probably do in
the next week or two. I'm waiting on the panels now so this will probably be the
next expense unless something else crops up, but we'll have to wait and see because I
still have to make the brake and clutch lines from Goodridge at
some point.
August 30th 1998
Been a good weekend, I managed to get some carbon fibre parts cheap which were a
Casoli Moto Front Hugger and also the Airbox
(trick piece of kit). I haven't fitted
the hugger as yet as I'm waiting for some anodized bolts to mount it with although
I've balanced it on the wheel for the picture. I've fitted the airbox in place
cos it had to be done!
You can see the hugger here looking trick,
although I need to get another sticker for
the side as it got torn while being handled.
The picture still shows the old wheel,
tyre and discs.
Here you can see the complete unit, a lot of this
would be covered by the fuel tank. You can also
see the two trumpets which feed the twin 50mm
inlets. The blue coloured tape is to keep
connectors and pipes clean.
I also managed to pick up the wingmirrors so I can mount them as soon as I recieve the
panels from Dill.