[Kathy M]

This is fun! Keep the story and the pics coming

 

[chuckspeed]

Thank you, all, for the positive comments. They are appreciated.

As a kid, I'd drag bicycles home from junk piles and garage sales, clean, 'em up and resell them to make money. At one point, I had something like 16 bicycles hanging from the barn rafters.

I learned that stuff cleans up and can be quite serviceable with a little care and feeding.

From the archives:

I'd like to do something like this to The Pig - long straight pipes have decent static pressure and a very deep tone, much like extending the slide on a trombone. In the meantime, I'll stick with the under-frame resonator until more of the bike is freshened. I'd like to paint the box high-temp silver, but it's just not available on-island. Black? Yes. Silver? no.

The bike from the archive (all the photos I post are mine, BTW) is a Dnepr, and the exhaust is chrome-plated brass sourced from a "gentleman's club" supply house.

 

[chuckspeed]

Splitting more than Lanes!

An utterly sucky day to be working on a bike in a covered parking space.

Guam has been the origin point for at least three typhoons this year, and it appears we're spawning a fourth. Clouds are starting their ominous rotation pattern...

While it's always better to be at the beginning of a typhoon as opposed to the end of one - the amount of rain we get can be insane. It's not a once in a hundred year thing - it's a once in ten days thing; a foot or so of rain over two days, and we're there again.

Still managed to work on The Pig - if only for a few minutes.

I'd gone out to re-route the handlebar wires, and it hit me that I could just bend my existing brackets to get the headlight where I wanted it while I figured out the bottom bracket from the triple tree. Headlight's down a good 4-1/2" from its stock locale.

Moving the wires helped clean up the front end, too.

The local Honda store has these little smoked visors they hang on SYM scooter instruments; I'm planning on adapting one to fill the void between the headlight and the instrument pod. It's not bad as is - but it's not great, either.

The view from the rider's perch is so much more open than it was.

I really like this sand cast paint.

So...I'm standing by the bike, figuring out how to relocate the license bracket assembly (Figured it out too - will take a bit of Dremel carving, tho) and a hot place to mount it. Go to swing my leg over the bike to check clearances, and...

About all I wear are Bimini Bay Beer Can Shorts. They're cool and light; buy them for $20 a pop from Stingray Steve on Lazy Way Lane in Key West. I've got an old pair on - one that I've ridden many a mile in, and spent many a day out in the sun.

Sun's pretty strong in Key West - and stronger still in Guam. It attacks the fibers of Beer Can Shorts - softening them, but weakening them, too.

It's 100% humidity today, and the shorts are sticking to my legs.

I swing over and....

rrrRRIIIP!

They split - from the bottom of the leg all the way up nearly to the waist in front on the left side. Startled, I stand up, forgetting I've a bike balanced between my legs.

It falls over, caught by a concrete pole and the sissy bar at mid-topple, thankfully.

So there I am.

I've got a lot more of me exposed to open atmosphere than I normally do, the bikes on its side, and a fresh pair of shorts are nine floors up past security.

To make matters worse, folks are coming home after a day of work, so there's lots of traffic in the parking lot as I'm doing the loincloth thing attempting to lift up what feels like 1000 LBS, on account of I want to get it done quickly B4 flashing anyone.

Get it done, grab my tools and head for the elevator just as a MOB of people hit the front door.

They're visitors.

No pass through security.

They want me to open the door for them. I've both hands filled with tools, each strategically placed to hide my shorts recent conversion to a tribal garment. Reaching for the pass WILL result in an involuntary exposure...

<sigh>

I went for the pass.

We rode the elevator in dead silence.

 

[mallege]

I remember watching out for the coral based roads on Guam. They get slippery even before it starts to rain. Seems like they get slippery when it evens smells wet.
Sounds like the darn brown tree snakes are still shorting out power lines on Guam.

 

[chuckspeed]

I remember watching out for the coral based roads on Guam. They get slippery even before it starts to rain. Seems like they get slippery when it evens smells wet.
Sounds like the darn brown tree snakes are still shorting out power lines on Guam.

Hi!

Nice to see you're familiar with the place!

Started out with a 49cc scooter I hot-rodded the snot out of until it would keep up with Marine Corps Drive traffic - no mean feat when everyone's ignoring the 35 MPH speed limit. The scooter, however, has contact patches the size of a Chicken McNugget making forays above 50 MPH dicey even on dry pavement.

I figure a bike with fresh rubber stands a better chance of remaining upright.

Brown tree snakes are in decline (thankfully), the Tumon Bay area actually has birds returning.

As for power - they have more uptime than some Midwestern power companies these days. It's just that they drop for a few moments - just enough to have to reset all the clocks in the apartment.

 

[Lantesh]

Nice progress pics again. I was cracking up at the ripped shorts story. That is classic.

 

[chuckspeed]

Thanks.

Upon reaching the age where one is comfortable in one's birthday suit - you really shouldn't be sharing it with others.

Manged to get very little done again today, sadly, but on the plus side and filed under a little every day= progress, the side stand and center stand were painted.

Yes - it's a little detail, but the trick on these older cosmetic redoes is to 'fool' the eye into assuming things are as they should be.

The stands were shot with Hammertone. It's interesting stuff; virtually impervious to running and needs little or no surface prep to stick. On something like a stand - it's perfect.

Much time was spent studying both stance and appearance in anticipation of the next steps and a few things really stood out:

1) The alloy on the back fender and integrated sissy bar stand out like a sore thumb. Design? good. Contrast? Not so much. The assembly needs to be painted a dark grey or pewter to lighten the back end of the bike.

2) Along the same lines - the license plate bracket and lamp give the ass end an overbite something fierce. It's a cool ducktail - but someone forgot to tell the designer to integrate the plate, resulting in one of the more ugly setups I've seen. I'm sure I can solve this with a little help from a cutoff wheel and some hardware from HD - stay posted.

3) The butt sits too high. It's gonna hafta get strutted to obtain the proper stance, and I'm got to find someone to cut down the side stand while the center stand gets ditched.

Front end is starting to work. Some detail issues, but it's moving in the right direction. Fork has been dropped over 2" (as far as it will go) and the bike now rolls down the street at 1200 RPM in first with no front end flop.

Whew. Needed that.

All in all - it's come a long way in two weeks.

The motor will get a coat of sand cast silver, and I'm DYING to paint the wheels. Maybe this weekend, I dunno. Depends on how my shorts hold up.

 

[Lantesh]

I'll say you sure do work fast. It already looks like a completely different bike.

 

[chuckspeed]

Thanks. Will post more shortly for your viewing pleasure.

 

[chuckspeed]

Today was planned as a 'get-the-wheels painted' day. No sooner had I started that it was discovered that I didn't have the appropriate tools to remove the rear end. I got as far as the photo above before realizing this and had to go to Home Depot to buy more tools.

Gah.

I needed a 21mm 6 point socket. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING Home Depot had was small stuff which went up to 19mm.

Ugh.

Fortunately, when I was a kid, Pop wouldn't let me use his tools. Something about leaving them in the yard, which turned out to be NOT ME. Anyway, when I first started working on metric stuff I couldn't afford SAE (American) and metric tools. I whipped out a piece of paper and figured out 80% of the tools would swap no prob, with the major exceptions being 10, 12, 15 mm. All the other sizes were close enough.

So - I bought an SAE socket set with big sockets and a breaker bar. $52 to remove a frickin' rear wheel. It'd better look damned good when I'm done...

Less than five minutes after getting the right tool, the wheel was out of the hole. Prep and paint commenced immediately.

Unfortunately, Home Depot was out of the really cool sandcast paint, and I had to revert to plain ol' silver. Exposed alloy HAS to be painted here, otherwise it looks like poo in about a month. Salt's rough stuff.

The big task and the real reason for ripping into the bike this weekend was the rims. Very cool rims - but very grotty after 25 years. I thought them too busy with all their machined surfaces, and sought a simpler design. Aiming for a period correct look, I sought to replicate a BBS modular wheel - black center, anodized rim.

Masking tape is one's friend.

More of the rim was painted than the OEM job - to simplify the look and draw attention to the bike, not the rims. They were too busy IMHO. No need to mask the snot out of the rubber, as it gets replaced in a few days.

The finished product? Very nice, including a painted final drive.

The important part was to tart it up a bit - some lipstick for The Pig. This was performed on the other side.

Compare that to shot #1 in this post! Sorry - a little blurry. Must have been shaking with excitement.

On to the front end...

The process replicated with the front wheel. I'm here to tell you it's a sonofabitch to remember to stop and take pictures once you're on a roll.

The lipstick up front? Brake caliper, baby!

The only aerosol red available on island was used. I have no idea how it's going to hold up - we will see. Disc was shot silver with the idea the wear sufaces will burn off rather quickly. No high speed stops on an island with 35 MPH speed limits, so heat's not an issue.

4 hours of work (not including the HD trip) later, the bike looked pretty sparky.

Don't know why this is, but the difference between scuzzy and crisp vehicles has always been the wheels for me. Get 'em clean and all is well in the world. Get them right and the vehicle pops.

Between the Ducati exhaust note and the BBS-esque wheels, this one's starting to pop. A poor man's Monster, perhaps.

(excerpted from "The Weekend Mistress, Guam and Beyond)

 

[Lantesh]

Wow the wheels look great. I am truly impressed with everything you have done so far.

 

[Windwalker61]

I had been following, got distracted, came back to find you have made a load of progress. I am replacing the rear brakes on mine, next weekend and I really like what you did to the wheels, and the drum as well. Any special prep or tricks for painting those pieces?

If I follow correctly, you loosened the trees and just slid the fork tubes up, and this greatly improved the low speed handling?

I have not decided if you are an inspiration or and instigator. :mrgreen: Great work can't wait for the next installment!

 

[chuckspeed]

I had been following, got distracted, came back to find you have made a load of progress. I am replacing the rear brakes on mine, next weekend and I really like what you did to the wheels, and the drum as well. Any special prep or tricks for painting those pieces?

If I follow correctly, you loosened the trees and just slid the fork tubes up, and this greatly improved the low speed handling?

I have not decided if you are an inspiration or and instigator. :mrgreen: Great work can't wait for the next installment!

Thanks!

re: wheels -

Multi-step process. First, the rims have to be CLEAN; I use a combination of Bleche-Wite and a series of brushes to get the goo out. A rub down on the black bits with a wire brush isn't a bad idea. The surface is pretty rough to start with, so that's a good sticky area.

For the small amount of anodized rim with clearcoat, I roughed it up with fine steel wool. 0000 is best, as you can polish out the scratches later. I really didn't care, as it was pretty snotty to start with and I'm aiming for good - not perfect.

re: forks and handling -

Shortening up the forks will change the rake somewhat, making the steering angle a bit steeper. For me it was the combo of the 3" rise Renthal bars (for a motorcross bike) and the drop that took out the low speed flops. Play with it (but don't go past 2" drop or you'll bash the radiator with your fender) and see how it works for you.

re: instigation vs inspiration -

I was raised to be an independent thinker and generally self-reliant person. Growing up, we spent our summers sans running water, toilets, television, pavement, department stores, fast food...the list goes on. Now that I'm an adult, I've traveled the world over and seen a span of human experience which transcends the worldview piped into the millions of media portals on the mainland.

It amazes me one is almost never out of sight of a talking head these days.

People will transport a family of five on a 50cc scooter in other parts of the world. In India alone, there are more miles ridden in flip flops (or less) than there are roads in the US. Seoul, Korea runs on scooters and small displacement motorcycles - year round. There are couriers which never venture inside - even when a Siberian clipper takes temps into the single digits.

Responses are tempered with this, and having witnessed firsthand the complacency which led to the implosion of the American automobile industry. Mark my words - the people who lived and work in Detroit are no different than those of AnyTown, USA. What happened there may happen anywhere; all it takes is a sense of comfort and entitlement to take hold.

Am I caustic? Yes, and that's not going to change. I want people to think.

I'm not criticizing or belittling anyone - I'm questioning ideas.

If this is objectionable, then there's a super simple solution:

Don't read my responses.

In the meantime, I'll enjoy riding barefoot in endless summer, as I've experienced first hand the other end of the spectrum and found it not to my liking.

Ever the misanthrope,

Chuck.

 

[chuckspeed]

re: drim and final drive:

Wire brush wheel chucked into a drill motor; spray the part liberally with carburator cleaner to degrease before painting. Rust-Oleum Textured Silver Metallic looks just like sandblasted aluminum when dry - I love it.

 

[Misfit]

3) The butt sits too high. It's gonna hafta get strutted to obtain the proper stance, and I'm got to find someone to cut down the side stand while the center stand gets ditched.

Please post pics & tips when you do strut the rear! This is something I really want to do. I as well can't stand the rear set up. Sits up WAY TOO HIGH!!

 

[Kathy M]

I hope you would feel proud to be a positive influence on others, with this project of yours. What you're doing looks AWESOME, and I'm strongly contemplating picking up a second '83 (or thereabouts) just to imitate what you've done because it looks SO good! I've got my eye on one that previously I'd have considered pretty much trashed... but you've inspired me to understand that lipstick on a pig can be a very, very good thing Thank you, and I sure hope you keep on posting your progress on this very fun project Good job in showing that one doesn't have to "restore to factory specs" in order to get an ugly bike back on the road proud and alive

 

[83Shadow500]

Great Job. I too have an early vt500 and your thread is very instigating, errrr....INSPIRING! I am also supremely glad that I am not limited to 35 mph. Saves a lot of wear and tear on the higher gears though I bet. Keep up the good work.

 

[chuckspeed]

Thanks for the postive comments, guys! They are appreciated!

Now that I'm officially a middle-aged old fart, I tend to short-shift. With this bike, it means popping gears at 3500 RPM. Folks on the island ignore speed limits, however, so 45-ish is a normal speed. I get into 6th pretty often, althought it's not really needed.

I like the thumperishness of my BSA and my old Harley, so shorting it into a tall gear allows me to imagine it's a bigger bike than it is. Not that it's bad - it's just that to wring power out, one has to rev the snot out of it - like my little SuperHawk in the sig. The bike didn't make power until 6K.

The challenge in doing an island bike is similar to doing one on a budget; no access to replacement parts and supplies. I'm hoping to do an exhaust mod with bathroom grab rails, as it's the only thing available that's close. here's hoping a grab rail will slide over the stock exhaust pipe - I think it just might.

As for strutting it...

I'll have to walk the aisles of Home Depot to see what 'found objects' will work best. I've considered heating up the rear frame ears with a MAPP torch and bending them downwards - but first, I have to get that idiot license bracke relocated.

That's this afternoon's job - although it's GORGEOUS out right now; 85 and sunny. I should ride, but to be honest, I like working on 'em more.

Wish me luck.

 

[Windwalker61]

Best of luck and I'll keep reading!

There is not much available for the older bikes as far as dress up stuff. Not having or wanting to dump a lot money into it, I have really been at a loss as to how to improve the looks of the bike, so I have been riding the crap out of it. You have brought to light the fact that you don't need to spend big bucks to have a good looking bike. Cleaning and some paint can go a long way.

Any special paint for the wheels? Or any generic gloss black? And I really like the sand cast silver on the hub, drum, and covers.

I await the next installment. :mrgreen:

 

[chuckspeed]

Best of luck and I'll keep reading!

There is not much available for the older bikes as far as dress up stuff. Not having or wanting to dump a lot money into it, I have really been at a loss as to how to improve the looks of the bike, so I have been riding the crap out of it. You have brought to light the fact that you don't need to spend big bucks to have a good looking bike. Cleaning and some paint can go a long way.

Any special paint for the wheels? Or any generic gloss black? And I really like the sand cast silver on the hub, drum, and covers.

I await the next installment. :mrgreen:

wheels were shot with engine black enamel - simply because that's what was available. For some reason, spray cans are hazmat stuff on-island and hard to get.

Back after WWII, returning vets who enjoyed the camaraderie of their buddies while not fitting into the 'norm' formed M/C clubs. These guys had Yankee ingenuity and little else; they modified standard bikes by stripping off everthing that didn't make them go. A 'garbage scow' became a bob-job, or bobber.

Same spirit here - a little nip here - a tuck there. Couldn't afford much as a kid, so I'm using ingenuity to get there from here.

Thanks for dropping in!