evolution of a postie

[ty]

These came in the mail today...

barendmirrors-begoniasale.jpg (14.45 KiB) Viewed 4779 times

$24 on ebay, free postage from 'begoniasale' (HongKong)
And the upholsterer finished the seat too!

So I'll be doing some more on her tomorrow in preparation for Sunday's premiere
Then I just have to finally pick the bars up from gumby190, may have to make a special run down to see him sometime soon...

[Napper85]

Haha! That's awesome!!

[ty]

All the recent new bits are on

Firstly the seat...


Pretty happy with it - definitely much better than the old one Cost $70 to re-upholster ($50 for 2nd hand seat with no rust)
A little bit of the stitching on the right seems to be pulling/stretching, so I may need to take it back. But I'll see how it goes.

Then the mirrors...


Dunno if it's the norm for bar-ends but they were a bit of a bitch to get tight in the bar AND in the right position - but I got there. Was a little complicated by the fact that the left bar was a bit squished - it had obviously had a little drop (before I got it) - so I had to spend a bit of time making it round again so the bar-end would go in.
I haven't ridden with them yet - will see how they go tomorrow

Lastly I did a bit more on the indicators. Mike-s posted about Supercheap now selling LED relays and indicators for bikes - so I went and had a look. Bought a relay cos the clear shorty indicators I put on a few weeks ago flashed pretty quick, and none too bright. Also bought one set of their indicators as they're long stem and the ones I had were too short to work well at the back.
Wasn't until I got them home last weekend that I realised I was an idiot - should've checked what relay I needed. Supercheap only sell the 3-pin, but the postie needed a 2-pin
Found a 2-pin online from https://www.slipstreamperformance.com.au and ordered it, only to find out when I got it that it's a 6V! Seems to work ok though - all indicators (including new LEDS at the back) now flash at a reasonable rate, at least with the engine off (bub's asleep so I couldn't start her up).
Back end now looks like this...


Now some full-on shots as she comes together. Cosmetically all that's really left is new bars...




I'll see the PITS mob tomorrow

[robracer]

Sorry I wont be there tomorrow Tony, I am sure you will turn quite a few heads

[ty]

That's cool - I'll be out again sometime

Anyone know if the 6V relay is going to be a problem? Have I wasted another $40?

[mike-s]

Aww man, i was at work! She's looking good. I haven't been paying attention to this thread enough, i was thinking "man, when did he paint the thing green?"

Oh and supacheap do have 2 pin electronic relays, it's just that they label them "non load sensitive" and only charge $12 or so for them (yellow & green packaging) instead of the $30 odd they charge for the red ones (purple/black packaging)

[ty]

I've had to do a minor dodgy repair today
Nothing really serious, but looks like the left headlight bracket weakened and broke where it attaches to the top of the fork - sometime during the week.

I noticed a rattle over bumps early in the week, and later in the week noticed the left headlight bracket was the culprit.
Thinking I'd just have to tighten up some bolts I got some time to have a look today and found it's actually broken

20090906-headlightbracket.jpg (50.68 KiB) Viewed 4603 times

I haven't pulled it all apart so can't get a good pic of the break, but you might be able to work it out from my description and the above pic.
The brackets are basically just a cylinder with a bent-over/narrowed end at the top that sits on top of the fork and is tightened in between the top of the fork and the top triple-clamp.
The metal has broken all the way around at the top, leaving the cylinder to rattle up and down.
My bodgy repair is the cable-tie you can see around the bottom - the gap between the bracket and the bottom triple clamp was just about the same size as the width of the cable-tie, so it's a 'perfect' fit, holds the bracket up, and has stopped it rattling (for now).

Not sure what caused it - perhaps repeat removal of the headlight (eg for the indicators) without loosening the fork bolts stressed/weakened the bend (so maybe the other side's ready to go too )
Not happy. Gonna keep an eye on it to see if the bodge holds well enough, or if I'm going to have to source a new bracket

[ty]

Well it's been a while, been busy, did a track day, and went on hols, but I finally got around to starting to pull apart the 2nd postie I got for parts.
Twas a statutory write-off for $150 (see viewtopic.php?f=8&t=26809) - I was expecting to at least use the wheels and the switch-blocks, and maybe the rear rack.

As bought...



After some time today - had to stop cos it was too hot and Zane woke up ...



It had suffered some fire damage in a warehouse fire (apparently) so a number of bits are burnt/melted. But most of it looked pretty usable in the pics, and also after a cursory look over when I picked it up from Rob's.

After closer inspection though I'm less happy - the wheels will require a fair bit of work to be usable (more than my current ones - rust and purple paint), and the switch blocks aren't actually in much better condition than mine. Add to that the wiring was burnt/melted, so to reuse the blocks I might have to rewire them (haven't had time to look close enough yet). We'll see.

I also thought the rack might be usable, but with a bit of fire-damage and purple paint from the dodgy paint job on the bike I think I'll keep the one I have.

Other bits I thought might be usable were the headlight bucket (melted), airbox (cracked and melted), solenoid (single unit with lead, which was melted), and the bars (badly bent)

But there are some good/decent bits so far:
- various bolts that could prove difficult to find replacements for if needed.
- tank - should scrub up decent for a spare, or to ebay
- replacement globes
- rear lights bracket - useful to toy around with different lighting setups
- headlight - good spare
- mirror brackets - ebay
- airbox pipes - good spares

There are bits left on it (to be dismantled further later) that might still be good too (touch wood):
- front rack - might be good for a camera mount point (?)
- wheel hubs/drums - might just need a spray of paint and could be good if I buy new rims and spokes (unless anyone knows of some alloys, with drums, that would fit?)
- swingarm - good spare/ebay
- right side-stand - spare/ebay
- centre stand - spare/ebay
- headlight brackets - after a respray, my left one is currently broken and repaired with a cable-tie
- rear shocks - similar condition to my old ones, so spares or ebay

So probably still not bad for $150, but just not quite what I hoped for.

Still, it's fun pulling it apart

The reason I was hoping the switch-blocks would be ok is that I was hoping to completely setup the new bars off the bike, and be able to swap them on/off easily without stuffing around with the grips, etc. But no big deal.

These are the new bars and grips just itching to go on (when I have more time)...


So who knows when I'll get another go at it, but stay tuned for the next installment...

[ty]

Wow - I knew it had been a while, but I didn't realise it's been almost a year since I last did anything to the postie

I had been dismantling the spare when I had the odd half hour (it's now in pieces), but that was about it. Not as much off it that was as good as I was hoping, but some bits might scrub up ok. For now their in a box until I have time

Anyway, had a couple of hours to myself this morning, so finally got around to replacing the handlebars and grips (pictured previously) that I'd been meaning to do for ages. Apart from some annoyances with the throttle due to less distance to the bars, it was all pretty straight forward. Some soapy water made the grips go on pretty easy, and everything else was just bolts and screws.

Anyways, here's the new look... See previous pics for the old forward bars look.



Took it for a very short ride around the culdesac... slow corning is troublesome, but not impossible, and I'll have to see how the position goes on a longer ride (ie likely Marulan), but it was ok for the quick circling I did.

Hopefully it's not another year before I do anything more. Still want to do a new speedo and bigger engine. And I need to do something about some rust on the 'new' shocks. So plenty still on the cards

[Vukie]

coming along nicely, was hoping i could pinch that speedo from you as mine seems to have stopped working, only registers up to about 20 km/h and then it always seems to be way below what im actually doing... but i guess that would be melted too..

[ty]

My speedo only cost $30 or so from the local wreckers (I think).
Previous one had an internal failure too - I've go no idea at all how many k's this bike has done
The speedo I want is ~$300 (as per first post) - so might take some time to justify to myself.
ty

[Vukie]

ill have to have a dig around the local wreckers then, not a big issue for me at the moment but would be nice to have a working one

are you on any postie bike forums?

[kaneg]

Hey Tony,

The beast is looking good, ours is being used (by me) every day, without doubt the best xmas pressie Joy ever got

[ty]

@Kaneg LOL - I keep forgetting - I still have mudflaps for you! Hard to get time to head out. I'll being em to Marulan if you're going - if not PM me.
@Vukie - I'm on a couple - but not regular enough to actually count really I'm on the ct90 email group, and on the Honda Trail CTs forum, but rarely look these days.

[bricktop]

Mate hows it been going with the postie.

Did you have to change the cables around for the bar set up? i have one too, have you attempted to put the air pod on?

-ben