Recent content by paddyshepherd

Absolutely don't mind at all. I see this as a valuable resource to all and the more people who have access to it the better.

Hi All, Throughout many projects I often find myself trawling through suspension catalogues to identify potential upgrades for my bikes from other bikes. As many of you will know it's often a painstaking exercise and one many of us wish was easier. Well now it is. Last night I spent a...

So following the rust repairs to the frame I decided to get the whole lot blasted next before I went any further. I decided to get the tank done at the same time as I was certain there was quite a lot of body filler in there. Thankfully no further major concerns with the frame. A few areas to...

Long time no update! The last few months have been pretty hectic with just about everything BUT the build, unfortunately! I have got a few updates though. I got the engine just about complete, save for fixing side cases on as there's some wiring to do, and back in the bike (I've also realised I...

A little more work done recently. As the UK went into COVID-19 Lockdown, I got my house move through. We just got in in time, meaning I've had a load of time at work stuck at home. However before I could start working on the bike, the garage at the new house needed serious work. It was a bare...

Finally, something worth updating about. So since I dropped the new piston etc at my machinist before christmas, not a lot really happened; I'm halfway through buying a house and spare time is hard to come by. However, time is marching on and with a house move coming up I needed to get the...

MMMMMM Hello....

Yeah, once I realised the way it all goes back together I realised why the bugger was so tough. I had cobalt bits on it and it just wouldn't touch it. I've probably got a masonry bit somewhere but it's already at the shop now - since he's doing the case for me it was easier just to get him to do...

So I got the motor back out and stripped it down on Sunday afternoon. There's really not a lot to taking these things apart. I've got the cases split now to do the kick start conversion. There's some slight differences in the FT motor than the XR and some of them caused some head scratching...

Thanks mate. I think I've actually sussed it now though. So.... It turns out, with my natural riding position, it's comfy for the rearset arm to actually be below the existing spindle. It looks extreme, but that's where my foot was when I sat onto the bike and got myself comfy... So that...

So I got home from work today and there was two parcels waiting for me, so it was straight into the garage. First up, my new carb manifold and boot arrived from Dellorto. The hole centres weren't quite right, so I got the Dremel out and started boring the holes out to get the hole centres...

So on saturday I dropped the engine back in as a final trial fit. I wanted to mock up carb fitment, and it's a good job I did, we're gonna need a bit more work. There's enough room under my tank to run the throttle cable like that, thankfully, but the bracket needs cutting a bit back...

Yeah I saw that - I've had to do similar mods to get the dellorto in. I still have a bit more tidying up to do on it. The Keihin is taller than the dellorto so I don't think it would work well on my 250 as the frame is lower than the 500 (on the 250 I can't use the upper engine steady because...

I'll be following this one too. I'm in the UK building an FT500 engined CB250RS cafe racer. So interested to see what you'll be doing to the motor. So far, I'm using a Dellorto PHM40 round slide carb and will be getting a custom header made - aftermarket availability for the FT over here is...

That'd be fantastic - PM incoming. From what I gather it's a case of just machining the case out to accept the decomp arm then installing the bits. I know the head covers match from bike to bike (part number wise) but that doesn't mean the valves themselves do, or the rocker arms. So I got...