Vespa ride

The weather has been great the past few days, warm and sunny. I had to go on the beach to catch the last rays of the year. The Vespa has 2300 Kms on the odo already. I have to check my car's battery soon, or I'll have to ride in the rain.

Honda CB750

I've been searching for a CB750 K0-K4 (1969-1974) to restore, but no luck yet. There are lots of them in the US, in great condition, some don't even need more than a carb repair and tune, and they're very cheap to boot. Unfortunately, the shipping costs from US to Greece are prohibitive, so I'm looking around Europe, where the bikes are very few and usually in much worse condition.

But I can dream:

Vespa GTV pics

What can I say? I'm in love!

Ornaments

The original piston, clutch, cam and cam chain from the Dax. They're now on my fireplace.




Wow, the new Blogger allows 1600x1200 pictures! Me likey!

Head problems...

My poor Dax suddenly started burning oil and smoking last week, so on Friday we disassembled the cylinder head, and had it checked. It turned out that the intake valve's guide had cracked, letting the seal move with the valve, letting oil in the cylinder.
The shop told us it was non-repairable, that new guides would not fit and be loose, so I asked George, the mechanic, to get another used head and fit new guides. He, however, tried another shop, where they told him to get genuine Honda replacement guides and get back. He did so, and in 3 hours we had my original cylinder head good as new! I also changed the sprocket to get lower ratios, it was screaming going 80Km/h.
I am now using the Dax instead of the Vespa for everyday commute, to run it in again...

Photos

Some photos of both my babies.














More photos here

New bike!

I felt very guilty about using the Dax daily, it already has 1400 Kms on the odometer, so today I got me one of these. It's a Vespa GTV 250i.e., a commemorative edition for the 60 years of Vespa. It's a great ride, stylish, fast and comfortable. And has a leather seat!

Seat sign

Some years ago, I found a very old Honda badge on the street. It probably came from a bike tank, or a car. I glued it back there yesterday, and it looks great. There's no original Honda seat anywhere with this shape, the silkprint failed, I needed a "Honda" in the back!

Final order arrived today

Almost a thousand...
























Lots of small parts, reflectors, grips, rubber parts, front suspension rings, throttle assembly, fuel cap. I hope I predicted any wear or damage for the next thirty years!








The new SHINY fenders!















A new headlight, now I can go for a ride at night! The old one was so dim, it was barely visible, and I kept on falling in road traps...

The Sign of the Beast!

350 KM, some mods

Yesterday, Chris and I violently removed the silencer from the exhaust. A lot of hammering and cutting was involved... but the bike is breathing much better. It sounds slightly louder and much deeper now.










































I also cut the key I had made, to fit to the original key cover I got with the second order. The original keys were lost looong ago...

Carburetor

Yesterday we installed a new carb to test, a 24mm Mikuni from a two stroke Yamaha 125! The bike runs really fast with this, I was afraid of breaking the speedo after going past 95Km/h!

I have the motor from the Chally, I'm thinking of modding that on September to make the Dax seriously fast.














Basically, I want to freeze Chris' ironic smile when he passes me with his Gilera Runner 125. Like this... :)

Good news

Today we started checking what went wrong, and it turned out to be the circuit breaker. The plastic part on it had melted causing a short circuit. NEVER use a non Honda part!!!
I took the bike for a ride, and it was running rough and smelly. After further examination, the spark plug was also faulty, probably from the circuit breaker's short.
Now the bike is running smooth again, I'll ride home tonight to check it out.

Bad news...

I decided to take a longer ride yesterday, but after 25 km the motor stalled. I had to take it back with the road assistance. It's probably the original '70s coil, which I didn't change...

I forgot to take photos of the bike on the truck.

Next week I will have checked everything needed for the final order. Mainly the fenders, so that the rusty ones can be painted to something close to the original Silver Cloud, which was silver paint over chrome, impossible to replicate.

I need some hand-cream. My hands are like sandpaper...

More photos

The oil leak turned out to be nothing, a seal in the clutch.

First ride!

I rode home today. A small oil leak means that tomorrow I'll have to visit the mechanic again.





















The ugly carburetor is temporary.

Almost finished

Shiny!

















The second order arrived today! Exhaust, rear suspension, switches, installed. Wheels, brakes ready. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be finished with the major parts.














On the front suspension problem, we had to dismantle it again, and I found out that the brand new original Honda nylon guides that control the lateral movement were 2,9cm in diameter instead of 3 of the old ones. So we used the old ones, as even a new order could be 2,9cm again. They were definitely the right part number...

Front suspension and motor installed

Today we assembled the front system, twice, as there was some sand from the sandblasting left, and the motor (partially). Unfortunately, even though all the parts from the front suspension are original and new, there's some lateral play and it has to be disassembled again. On Monday...

A bike again

Stickers, wiring, fuel tank, fenders, rear light installed. Front light and speedometer also ready.

























The speedometer cable was stuck and we destroyed it... Good thing I waited for the final order! These photos show the color more accurately.

Frame painted

The painted parts just arrived! The photos don't do the color justice.








The seat arrived as well, but the HONDA sign in the back was too big and I had it removed...

Powder coating

It' amazing how good the powder coating turned out! Extremely strong too.