not another bobber...

Matt Barnes deservedly got a feature for his show standard sporty 

in 100% Biker.

A fenland frame and dry build

He's had a few hiccups but he's made it his bike.

Refreshingly funky fat tyred lowrider sporty

Bloody gorgeous ~ from Leicestershire

in which I learn that you can teach an old dog a new trick

Having almost destroyed the caliper piston trying to remove it by heating the caliper in the kitchen workshop oven and then hitting it with a hammer my fucking patience blew.

I even took it to kempton bike jumble with me, stick the caliper in a lathe was one opinion (big chuck!), my mate Paul suggested heating just the piston or freezing just the piston...

 

This morning I 'googled' it and voila, theres the airline option (seemed a bit dangerous and I don't have an airline) and this the 'grease gun option' 

I found my old gun and a flexible connection which made it a lot easier and screwed into the banjo bolt hole.

And fuck me it worked

out... demons... out...

the black hole has been difficult to escape these past few weeks, while all around are having fun

the fitting leaks on the rear banana caliper, not enough shoulder around the threaded banjo bolt

 carb fitted, but throttle cable bracket required some fucking with to fit under the head and that pipe, how did it fit before?

 that fucking tab has got to be re-done, so... more fucking gas! 

internal throttle finally in

never again

 I know, take some metal off around the banjo fitting, to allow the washer a flat surface to seat properly

  but the casting is too steep, no shoulder - how come these things didn't leak originally, is it the type of fitting?

 and finally after all the work/dosh/rebuild done renovating this fucker, some loser didn't check that the piston is well and truly fucking seized and consequently it all adds up to a fucking waste of time and of course that new brake hose is cut to size and will not fit anything else.

back to black -loser 

a contrast of style

 tough swinger

 gorgeous genny

courtesey of backstreet bucket

sissy chop...

my sissy fitted nicely, no scratched mudguard paint - but you know what, I now don't like the angle of the dangle, it needed moving forward so...

yet again its got chopped, but this time its painted! the bracket has to be cut and lowered 4mm...

and two tabs welded on, with the last breath of gas, in what looked like spot on positions, till it was offered up to the mudguard, which needs twisting sideways and discover the rear wheel isn't centred.

fuck it, I've had enough. 

come with me baby, to love land...

 if only I'd taken a photo in its original shitty state...

 it wouldn't have taken three or four attempts at assembly... 

god bless vapour blasting, with the fittings hand painted by 'moi'

decisions, decisions - if only I'd bought the brass clamps instead of the cast chrome back in the day

I may have to paint the original stylie screw clamps black, as the chrome is peeling on the cast set. 

...looking fucking good though, but will it work though - haha

the andrews flowmaster

plumbing

After trawling through suppliers like Speedflow and ebay I used venhill based in dorking to supply my rear brake hose, they make custom cables as well, ended up speaking to Tim in the workshop who used to work for Southern Cycles back in the day - small world.
I wanted to make up a custom length myself and they stock all the groovy colours if you want, (I chose carbon - whoa!) and nice fittings in stainless like the 'socket button head banjo bolt', for not a lot of difference in price, although £69 delivered is still fucking scary. The fitting on brake light bolt was too long for either the caliper or mastercylinder, why? its universal, same item in CCI, so it got cut - fucking customs.

regulated...

From the depths, a bracket surfaced, originally came with the lockheed oil cooler and strangely the holes are exactly right for the regulator unit. 

A little judicious bending in the vice and stripping of bubbling paint and rust, a rattle can later and hard to believe it but the dam thing fits a treat.

In case you are wondering, that my friend is an oil cooler, not many seem to run them, but I remember them shovels run hot and fitted this lockheed back in the day.

Saved by the colonials...

lowbrow saved the day with my last cock-up

Ordered a couple of 1/8th npt brass elbows and a straight to 1/4" fittings

As mentioned previously, forgot the oil line cylinder base fittings when I torqued up the engine.

Having these two part fittings meant not having to undo the cylinders to raise up the rear to fit the old oil fitting. Which is strange as I tend to do every job twice - haha.

Phew - and it looks cool.

Sent same day 8th of June, great service.

you know what you want to do with that, right?...

Andrews Flowmaster Carb, that you now can't get some parts for 

even though its a Keihin

Body vapour blasted by Elliott @ Eltec 08458721825

those that take things apart shall put them together again

-fuck 

badda bing...

Dress up Kit 

Brass oil lines, pushrod covers and rocker nuts

from Old Stf

another shitty day

 Fridays problems 'solver kit' arrived this morning

Oil line thread damaged by some tosser with a big spanner had to be chased with a 1/8th NPT tap and rigged a hose to the vacuum cleaner to pull any debris out and it worked

 The chain link required 'special' grease before using the expensive 'special' chain tool 

After tightening that big nut with that bloody big spanner now that the chains on, the big nut requires a 3/16th UNC x 1/2"socket cap screw, not to be found in any box

And finally who forgot to put the bottom oil line fittings on the cylinder base that will not now go on because there is not enough space? Fuck

for fucks sake pay up!...

Paying for my big mistake - haha

Re- shaped the control profiles to nice curves and added a few dimples 

de-chromed the (double!) triple chroming and powdercoated satin black

Phew... just gotta get rid of those nasty foot pegs and get my mate to turn some brass for the clutch and brake pedals.

Sunday Lunch with Chopper Club

 NCC South Bucks & Berkshire Show at the Queens Head near Windsor

 Sickboyz ten day build

 afterthought?

 too much is not enough for some

 waiting on a band

 Martin and his low budget woodgrain yam got best paint

 Clives 'fenland' framed sporty

 suicide

 nash bars

 steves shovel...

 chopped the frame and added his homemade swingarm

 he got the look...

with Doug who built it

 and off he goes with no prize

Best in Show - Steve's tough shov

 Paul and his sporty... 

 got Best Chop