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With the back end chopped off it was time to get the wheels back on and get some idea of the proportions, and final trim of the rear subframe. The SR comes with a 16" cruiser type rear wheel which in my opinion does not fit in with the original bike let alone a "scrambler" so I decided to hunt down a larger 18" rim and re-lace the hub into it. Also while I was at it try and source a 19" alloy rim instead of the old chrome steel setup.
I looked around for a disc brake setup for the bike and read that the early Virago front end can be used? I was unable to get hold of one for a decent price so decided to press ahead with using the random front wheel and random set of forks that came with the spare parts on the bike. The original SR forks were pretty shot so the "Marzocchi" ones which I found out from this forum were possibly proper Marzocchi and not some random ones with a decal . The felt much nicer with the load applied to them so they will be going on. The random wheel had a full width drum brake hub and nice twin leading shoe brake setup which looked a bit more interesting........
I decided to add to go faster holes and some details on the fins to make it a bit more interesting again....https://www.instagram.com/p/CItNFp-BEXl/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Im also going to use a magnetic pick-up speedo in the rear hub and made some cuts into the bearing housing for some magnets
The front hub wheel spindle size was not a match for the fork lower so I made some adaptors to compensate for the differences in diameter, and used an old wheel spindle as the axle.
The used wheel rims I picked up for the front and rear was anodized. There were quite a few scratches in the surface which were difficult to polish out as it was a satin finish, and I also wanted to make it a bit more shiney!! so I decided to strip off the anodizing with the help of some caustic soda and some elbow grease. When the anodized coating was removed it was lots of rubbing down with progressively finer abrasives and then polishing.....lots of polishing
As I wanted to get the proportions right and the change of wheel size I wanted to build the wheels only once!! So cracked on with getting them to the end result cleaned, powder coated and built up ready and completed. Some of the local powder coater suppliers have had some serious backlogs of work and seemingly applied a Covid tax on their prices since my last visit !! I have a small oven, bench top sand blaster and cheapo powder coat gun in the workshop so set about going back to doing it myself!!
Its a bit slower and more time consuming but its better than waiting 6 weeks and paying ££££'s for
My custom spokes had arrived, again from a new supplier as the original supplier was applying a Covid delay excuse constantly so I abandoned them
Just a case of polishing up some parts on the hubs and a nice couple of coats and bake in the oven....
Time to get them custom spokes laced and the first wheel built up. Had to make some slight adjustments to the spoke head angles but they were pretty close considering with was all done through whatsapp messenger and sketches!!
Bloody hell you have been busy! wheels are looking great dude! Great idea doing it in-house if you can. My friend just got set up with ceramic coating stuff so will be likely using him in the future.
Bloody hell you have been busy! wheels are looking great dude! Great idea doing it in-house if you can. My friend just got set up with ceramic coating stuff so will be likely using him in the future.
Ha. Thanks matey. It's all smoke and mirrors....just a bit pissed off with the powdercoat place and original spoke supplier taking the piss....sometimes its better to do in house. Your ceramic coater will be a good contact?
Ha. Thanks matey. It's all smoke and mirrors....just a bit pissed off with the powdercoat place and original spoke supplier taking the piss....sometimes its better to do in house. Your ceramic coater will be a good contact?
He will indeed dude, it's mancave makings gus on Instagram, I'm sure he will be "open" for business soon. Where did you manage to source alternate spokes man?
He will indeed dude, it's mancave makings gus on Instagram, I'm sure he will be "open" for business soon. Where did you manage to source alternate spokes man?
geezer on Facebook...Staffordshire wheel works. Fair play was really helpful, took the time to run me through exactly what dimensions he wanted and where to measure stuff from for his reference points. Turned them around in a few days. All good. He sources blank spokes from Central wheel, whom I originally ordered them with.....but they sat on a query on the sizes...........for 3 weeks FFS until i phoned up to chase where they were???
geezer on Facebook...Staffordshire wheel works. Fair play was really helpful, took the time to run me through exactly what dimensions he wanted and where to measure stuff from for his reference points. Turned them around in a few days. All good. He sources blank spokes from Central wheel, whom I originally ordered them with.....but they sat on a query on the sizes...........for 3 weeks FFS until i phoned up to chase where they were???
Managed to get some rubber onto the newly built wheel rims during the Xmas period. Needed to get it off the build stand an on its wheels for a better side view and poise setup. Also got busy mounting the tank, using a pair of rubber door stops!
Needed to have a clean up around the front sprocket for alignment purposes....40 years of accumulated filth by the looks? Lucky the missus toothbrush was handy
Also made a rear mount for the tank and welded that into the frame support
Onto the custom bike essential........the rear hoop, well its not really a custom bike without one. That's why they sell them on ebay
The old record copper tube benders made a decent job of it, with very little reduction. Did'nt quite have the full radius i wanted but I was looking for a small flat between the two radius..............and as Allen Millyard would say.........."it was perfect" :laughing:
The early 80's Jap bike welding on the frames is shocking...........spatter all over the place, and I don't think some of the weld porosity would pass the NDT test
Picked up an alloy mudguard off the bay just before Xmas. Hand made jobbie. Lucky Im not using all of it..................postman made a right mess of it trying to squeeze it through the letter box. Spent several house messing adjusting moving positioning it.......then eventually cutting and reshaping the end of it....Haven't even fixed it in place yet......like wresting with a banana...........had to get the bungees out in the end to keep it where I wanted it
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. The felt much nicer with the load applied to them so they will be going on. The random wheel had a full width drum brake hub and nice twin leading shoe brake setup which looked a bit more interesting........
