Workshop Blog 2024 May to August
Much has happened in the last few months, but unfortunately the Dirt Bike and Mini Dirt Bike project weren't the recipients. So they are still very much work in progress.
I did, however, manage to finish the electric conversion of the trials bicycle - but have barely ridden it since.
It now sports a fancy Lipo battery pack and much modified gear ratios. Expect to see a full write up of that in Issue 21 of the magazine (available online December 2024 / January 2025) Until then, here are a few photos of the (virtually) finished article.
Lipo battery pack is half the weight of the original two SLA batteries.
Pedals have been replaced by footpegs.
Wiring still needs tidying up.
Rear pegs were fitted in an attempt to help my wheelie technique.
Spoiler - they didn't help!
More pressing on the list of things to do was getting the Yamaha SRX600 through its annual MOT. In reality, this required nothing more than purchasing a new set of tyres. Unfortunately I turned it into a much bigger project by opting to change the tyres myself. But before I could do that I wanted to modify the tyre changer to include a rotary mount / demount head.
It took a while, but eventually I ended up with something that worked.
You can read all about that in Issue 20 of the magazine.
Download a copy of that
HERE
There are extra pictures of the tyre changer on the website
HERE.
And now there's also a video...
And just to make things more difficult I decided that the exhaust pipes needed painting too.
It was all worthwhile though. She looks all pretty again and she has a fresh MOT.
Far, far too much time has been spent on the seat cowl for the Royal Enfield Hunter. Again this is another project that will be dealt with in full in Issue 21 of the magazine, but I spent ages trying to get rid of pin holes in the finish only to realise that I had a much bigger issue which has put the project back months.
It looks okay in the picture, but if you zoom in, the seat cowl surface resembles lunar landscape.
Plans are afoot to try and remedy this.
The rest of my spare time has been spent in visits to The Bike Shed's Moto Show at Tobacco Dock and the Triumph Visitor Experience and Factory Tour.
You can read about both of those visits in Issue 20 of the magazine, available
HERE.
Rather belatedly, there are also pictures from the Excel London Bike Show HERE.