Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

I have to say Im getting a little excited. But dont tell Phil....

It IS getting exciting, and is about to get more so. Thanks to the generosity and offers from several KSRC members it looks like our fairing issues will be solved. Another brick in the wall. Today I reassembled the front forks and fork brace to see if everything lined up. I'm sure you appreciate that I chose to photograph against a green background.



Starting to look very "bike-like"

While cleaning up the main steering stem and associated bit to prepare for fitting the new steering head bearings, I removed the grease from the bottom collar only to see that it was painted green. This seemed odd since this assembly did not go to the powder-coaters. It then dawned on me that this was original paint, the green from when the bike was originally painted for Bathurst, 1981.



Another tangible link in the bike's history.

And, how well did I do matching that colour for the repaint when I only had 30 year old photos to go by? Not bad, actually. The new green is probably a little darker, but I can live with it.



Progress has been slow but with reason. Last month my wonderful wife of 38 years was diagnosed with breast cancer. Thankfully she gets her screening done regularly and it was only small. She has now had an operation and it has been successfully removed. Understandably, this has been our major priority.

Sorry to hear of your wife's battle with jack the dancer Phil..
Hope everything works out good for you both in the new year....

Understandably major priority,glad to hear everything went ok with your wife and hope that it stays that way for you both.Now that is taken care off there is no excuse not to get back to work on the bike keep the pics coming

Give her our love Phil. I hope she is all good now & you can get on with life, as it seems to come to a stop when this monster[cancer] raises its head..

PS:: put some tapered bairing in place of the old ball race jobbies. The bike will handle much better with them

Thanks for the good wishes, guys, mucho appreciato. I'll get on with the bike now..Yes, Steve, have tapered rollers already purchased and ready to put in. Actually, it had a set already, so Kent was on top of the game there as well. On another subject..When I was down at Chris Dowde's workshop yesterday he asked me why the bike frame still had a set of pillion footpeg carriers. I replied that they were always there and so they stayed, in the name of originality. It did seem odd to me, too, why the guys left them on when the bike was going to be a race bike, but I never questioned it. What Chris said nagged at me so, when I got home, I checked the photos and, what do you know? They WEREN'T on the original race bike but they appear when the bike was converted back to road use in 1982. So, needless to say, in the name of originality, Chris will be sawing them off when he does the rest of the work on the swingarm. Need to get some green paint to that I can cover over the spot where they were removed!

Sweet less weight!!

Yes, Steve, it's called "adding lightness"



I also went to the local automotive paint people today, with said hanger in hand and they made me up a custom can of pain that exactly matches the frame colour so that I can touch up any nicks on the frame and paint over the place where the footpeg hangers were removed. $32, bargain.

AND, huge news. Today I picked up the swingarm from Chris Dowde's. He is just making up the spacers for it and will have that done by the time the swingarm returns from the sand blasters/powder coaters, early next week.



You can see the new arm that Chris made in this shot.



This shot shows ho the arm has been offset to avoid having it being chewed up by the chain which is what brought the other one unstuck.

Brakes are now with Gary Rooke at Oak Flats Motorcycles for a refurbish and replacement of all old and tired parts. When they come back I will respray the calipers shiny black and that will be another step forward.

We're getting so much closer.

Teezing Phil, now just stop it! LOL

Looks good Phil - will you be getting this powdercoated like the frame ?

Spoke to Mick last week, he should have the head finished this week, so I will be able to get started on putting the motor back together all we need is a couple of hot days so I can get the cases painted up nice & fresh....

I'll contact Greg and see if those wheels have been done.....keep your fingers crossed

Yes, mate, the swingarm is at the powder coating place already and will be back early this week. Fingers and all other appendages crossed.

Swingarm is done and looks wonderful.

Here ya go, how does that look?

Slow, but progress IS being made.