New bike project.

New project, a bike with a motor this time, I’ve been working on this for a while so done quite a bit so far. It’s been 20 years since I sat or worked on a bike, last one was a Triumph Bonny, they just cost too much these days so I settled for a 74 TX650 wreck and boy did it turn out to be a wreck. I have psoriatic arthritis so I’ve largely lost the use of my hands but I manage a few hours work on it every day. I’ll never be able to ride it thanks to the PsA so this will be a long term project: Every nut, bolt spoke, piece of steel was rusted through. Inspection also revealed the chain had come off at same stage, as well as removing the top section of the crankcase as in the picture, it also tore the top section of the gearbox drum shifter bearing housing off. After tearing the engine apart I sent off for a second hand set of crankcase.

The bike came with an extra set of carbs, mag wheels and a pair of spoked wheels and a box of assorted bits and pieces. While I was waiting for the cases, I cut the rusted spokes off the wheels, stuck the hubs on the lathe, trued up the castings and then polished them using cloth wheels and progressively finer compounds. The rims, which were badly damaged from tyre irons and badly pitted from oxidisation, were repaired, ground and polished. While on a polishing kick I also polished the top triple tree, lower fork sliders, brake backing plate, brake fluid distributor, brake master cylinr and also bead blasted the switches and polished them up. Polishing on the buffer machine really hurts my hands so I have to loop a roop around my neck, tie it to the item to be polished to support it and then polish. It took quite a while to do the polishing as I could only manage an hour or under each day, any more and I’d be laid up recouperating for a few days. A very painful job for me, polishing. Some pics of the journey:

 

Metric bikes! nice...
Been working on a hardtail chop/complete rebuild....every nut/bolt/gasket/bearing.... I'll have about 4 times in it over what its worth! I guess that's the appealing part of using a Harley...will have value by the finish line.

 

It's a long road, but I'm getting there, ever so slowly. I mocked up an exhaust to get the angles right, tomorrow I'll get the local muffler shop to replicate the top and bottom angles then weld them together. Looking at it now, it doesn't look too back with the squared bends. Bet you can't spot the tiny LED rear indicators! Very unobtrusive. Still a way to go: Mudguards, battery box, air filter, electrics, exhaust, upper engine mounts.

 

Couple of top end mounts made today, just have to polish them and turn up some spacers. Exhaust was a no go today, none of the exhaust shops I went to do mandrel bends. Got an address to try tomorrow. Crossed fingers, otherwise it's an ugly exhaust system!

 

Polished the upper engine brackets and spun up some spacers for them. Also shaped an exhaust clamp which I can't polish yet as I'm modifying the polisher stand. Waiting on the exhausts at the present time, probably another week or so.

 

TH62, Great looking work you've done! I've been thinking about a project bike for occupying my time - and had just about settled on a Yamaha X650 - like you, because of the cost. I've always had HD's, or had 1 Triumph, would like to go that route, but the costs... Guess I need to do some searching.

 

An R65 or a CX500 were also on my list for a project bike. The TX650 came up first so I grabbed it. Another would be a GS750, a good bike.

 

New, revamped polishing and sharpening stations. Polisher is GMF, bought in 1976, now that's good service. Be interesting to see if the Abbot and Ashby grinder lasts as long as the GMF grinder has, no matter, I'll be long gone.

 

After making a few different style exhaust brackets, I've decided on these four bolt ally/steel exhaust brackets. A real job bending the 50/3mm steel to shape, ally was easy by comparison. Should get the pipes late thiS week then I can weld some mounting plates to the rear of the steel brackets, paint them and polish the ally.

 

Picked up the exhausts yesterday, unfortunately, not a good job: Angles were out, left and right sides slightly different. Annoying considering it took him four weeks to bend them up. So, on to the bandsaw, cut the pipes into three pieces and welded them back together. Not much I can do about the angle not following the downtube angle, but I cut and welded the lower tube so it followed the ground, didn't like it so cut and welded again with just a slight upsweep. Lower section on the right is only tacked, should be able to finish them off tomorrow, then finish off the brackets, form the ally clamps and polish them up. Happy with the outcome.

 

Nice job Th62, on all counts! I'm in a lot of the same boat, I road an old Shovelhead Harley for 30 years, a one bike man. I largely improved my machinist skills to make parts for the old bike. Then Rheumatoid Arthritis, I can't even pull the clutch lever anymore, let alone move it down the road. I bought a KZ400 last year to go through, I'll probably never register it, but it's fun to work on. And it keeps my mind going and body moving.