Norton / Harley Ironhead Cafe Project.. Build thread

[Jimbonaut]

Pigs can fly! Bacon prices soar!

Glad the little fella landed safely - with questionable aerodynamics it's always a little unpredictable ;D

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

I don't think I voted in that bike of the month but I can't imagine another bike I would have voted for. Nicely done! I've been threatening to build one for decades but likely never will, your project is very inspirational though.

Thanks for the thumbs up, if you can restore an old Ducati Desmo, I'm sure you can manage to build something like mine.

Currently having problems trying to find another Lithium Ion battery as small as the Ballistic I was using that will start the bike, as the Ballistic is dead as a dodo. It seems Ballistic have gone out of business. There's not a lot of room under the seat and the tray was made to take the impressively small and powerful Ballistic Evo 8 cell battery. I've rigged up a bigger Shido Lithium battery but that struggles to turn the engine over..

Oh and the clutch slave from a Honda Blackbird I bought used, has decided to leak.. sigh ..

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Unlucky 13 ? Trying to start the bike..

https://youtu.be/6MZ5md2ByLs

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

I was surprised to find a new starter motor for sale in the UK, so promptly bought it (probably the only one out there) which arrived today, total cost £136 with free postage.. not too bad.

Soon had it fitted and with fingers crossed I hit the starter button.. thankfully the engine turned over ok and the electrics behaved themselves. Phew! But I cant try and start it yet, as the clutch slave cylinder is off the bike as it's leaking and needs a rebuild kit.

I also need to buy a new Lithium battery which needs to be small enough to fit where the old Ballistic battery went and powerful enough to start the engine. Found what's needed.. made by Anti Gravity, but at £200 it'll have to wait a few weeks.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

After countless problems and delays, the engine finally runs. I found a HT lead tracking, so with new leads fitted and a jump start from the car, it finally burst into life.. you can hear it fire up here..
https://youtu.be/_eKwRJiZ534?t=643

 

[grandpaul]

Anti-Gravity are excellent, at a price!

Good to hear it go...

 

[pidjones]

Aaaaand another happy camper report!

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

When I first built my Norley, there were a few parts I wanted to fit, but I didn't have the money to buy them at the time.

Now a few years later, I can finally upgrade to the parts I always wanted. The first being a pair of custom built shocks, complete with adjustable damping and preload. In the pic I'm holding a Hagon Nitro shock from another of my bikes, just to see how it'd look on the bike. The body and spring of the Hagons are a little wider than is usual, so there could've been clearance issues, or they could've just looked wrong on the slim Norley.

Turns out they fit ok and I felt they didn't look out of place, so I ordered a pair from Hagon, who will build them to suite the weight of the bike and me too, along with the length and finish I want.

The alloy parts can be anodised in a range of colours, while the springs can be polished or black powdered coated. BTW the springs and the shock body itself is made from stainless steel. Useful here in rainy England.

 

[Maritime]

I bought a set of Hagons sprung and valved for the GL1000 and they are soooo much better than the OEM and anything else I've had on it and I've put over 100K miles, 160K+ KM on it with shit shocks so I am thinking the Hagons will be nice upgrade. I can't wait for my first big trip with the Hagons as the shot runs I've done since installing have been excellent. Handling improved and ride comfort too.

 

[pidjones]

I bought a set of Hagons sprung and valved for the GL1000 and they are soooo much better than the OEM and anything else I've had on it and I've put over 100K miles, 160K+ KM on it with shit shocks so I am thinking the Hagons will be nice upgrade. I can't wait for my first big trip with the Hagons as the shot runs I've done since installing have been excellent. Handling improved and ride comfort too.

Do you have to go and talk about them that glowingly? After me getting my back and butt convinced that the 1000 is just going to be a much stiffer ride than the 1800?

 

[Maritime]

No, Randaks sells them pre done for GL1000.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

The shocks arrived from Hagon yesterday, and went on the bike with no problems. They are 35mm longer than the YSS shocks that they replaced, and a quick bounce test shows they are much firmer than the too soft YSS shocks. The suspension front and back now feels better balanced.

Later today I'll be back in the garage to work on the forks.. BTW I'm using a small bike lift I've bought recently that you can see in the pic below, should've got one years ago, as it works well and is a lot less cumbersome than my other larger hydraulic lift.

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

I dismantled the front end, so I could paint the fork lowers from silver to satin black. I would've preferred to polish them, but they have a weird 'crazy paving' cast into the surface which made polishing them impossible. So I went for black instead, as it should match the paintwork, and contrast with all the polished alloy nearby.

That done, next upgrade is to the hydraulics..

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

The next small upgrade is to the homemade hydraulic clutch, which uses a slave cylinder from a Honda Blackbird, via a one off mount which screws into the primary case. Via the threaded inspection hole, which is used to adjust the original cable clutch mechanism. Nothing wrong with it, but decided to replace the used Blackbird slave, with a new aftermarket version, made by Oberon.

First problem was that the Oberon slave cylinder wouldn't fit into the homemade adaptor.. it was very slightly too wide. So I had to wider the adaptor recess on the lathe by 0.25mm. That done it fit ok... just like the OE slave it sits slightly askew. Not a problem for the plain OE slave, but it looks wrong with the Oberon.. its logo isn't level. Its difficult to get it to fit perfectly level as its screwed into the case. Oh well, at some point, it'll have to come off the bike again, and have a few thou machined from its seat, to allow it to be turned a few more degrees when tight. That'll have to wait until I know the new setup works ok.

 

[MiniatureNinja]

This bike is amazing

do you call it a horton or a narley

 

[Bevelheadmhr]

Neither, I call it a Norley… that's the name of the small company that made the frame for me.. so I used a Dremel to engrave its points cover.

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