Bike Reborn (sort of)

[markh]

Okay, I guess folks got a bit sick of photos after every bit of dust was wiped off, but I did finish putting my bike back together and took it out on Sunday. Fantastic after 6 weeks of riding a naily TT600! Brakes are excellent and, more to the point, I know why they're excellent and I have a reasonable confidence that they'll go on being excellent for the forseeable future.

The main thing I didn't do after all was try to repaint the engine cases. I decided to leave that for another day when it was really needed, given the potential for making it look a whole lot worse by trying to bodge it in situ.

Major stuff I did do:

- New pads all round.
- Front brakes stripped and cleaned, pistons polished, seals renewed.
- Rear brake cleaned up (without full strip).
- New chain and sprockets.
- New hugger rear mudguard.
- Rewired the GPS and installed wiring for heated grips, both through a mains-sensed relay. (Grips not yet installed.)
- Swapped out KPH speedo for MPH one.
- Swapped out continental headlight assembly for a UK one.
- Polished the bash plate, more or less. (Took advice hearabouts and then applied a couple of coats of MER polish.)
- Various other small detail jobs, such as re-mounting the Scottoiler, straightening various bits of SW-MOTECH mounting hardware, extending the indicator leads, and so on.

This has definitely not returned my baby to anything like showroom condition, but along the way I saw how unbelievably arduous (and futile) that would have been. Anyway, it turns out the simplest silly touches are the most effective, like polishing the heads of the fairing and screen mounting bolts!

Here she is, Saturday night:



...and Sunday afternoon (post trip):

[Yeti]

very nice!

What exhaust is that? it looks tidy!

Hugger?

[raigo]

very very beautiful
It`s Remus exhaust

Your bike looks like new, you havent taken "her/him" for a little walk in the forest ? Never dropped "her/him" ?

[lootch67]

Ooo, nice one! I've always liked the RWB one, even though they're not s fast as the black ones

[markh]

very very beautiful :)
you havent taken "her/him" for a little walk in the forest ? Never dropped "her/him" ?

Forest? No. Dropped? Er, yes. Luckily it fell on my SW-MOTECH luggage, and so only the bar-end has any idea!

Like new? Well, the camera does lie, it's not quite so new-looking from close up!

[stageonesimmo]

Good job Mark - I realy need to find the time/space to do that lot to mine.......

[z-weiser]

Looks great Mark!

RWB is my favourite (that's what mine was!!) but apparently black is faster!

[african twin]

Superb Mark, looks lovely!!

Hey, the second photo says after the trip what, not even a smidgen of mud on the (very white ) front mudguard?
Hang on - you don't actually give her a little wipe down after every ride mmmm

Well done though, there's nothing quite like riding a bike that looks as good as that - they definitely do go better when polished up Just wait for Yens' reaction to that.............

[Maverick]

Must admit I quite like that TT single seat setup......mmmm

Always nice to see a clean example of how they suppose to look

[markh]

what, not even a smidgen of mud on the (very white :shock: ) front mudguard? :?

It is there, it's just not so visible from that far away! Later I went for some backroad bimbling - which around here means lots of mud and horse poo - and it got a bit dirtier. No, I don't generally wash/wipe it every trip, although I did try a quick hose down today (after the second trip - so not that photo!). I wanted to see if it might be a useful preventative measure for keeping the brakes clean. My conclusion was 'no' - hosing down doesn't seem to have much of an effect without rubbing and/or chemicals.