National Motorcycle Museum

I was in Taree NSW this weekend for my sisters wedding and stumbled across something rather interesting during the down time. About 30 km down the road was the National Motorcycle Museum... Sweetness.


"i'm not angry this is how I usually look..."

So Dad myself and my brother piled into the car then off we went and what a great place it is. I have never seen so many bikes in my life, any shape and size they had it and usually with a bit of information as well. not only that but the walls are covered in motorcycle memorabilia and in some places motorcycles. If you get the chance go down and have a look.


"so many things to spend money on"

So what's next? why a heap of photos of course. Enjoy.






"i love the paint job on this old bike, simple yet striking"


"only 50cc and made out what appears to be bicycle parts but its a record breaker"


"stylish"




"Honda MX250 1983, any of the parts used on this motorcycle look familiar to you?


"Honda VFR750R"





"apparently dad bought the frame for one of this and used a victor lawn mower engine... he never could get the timing right though"

Their is so much crammed in to this place I havent even shown you half the pictures I took. To be honest the only way I could absorb what was on show was to focus on Hondas but trust me they have everything else. Definatly check it out of you get the chance. For more info have a look at there website which I shall provide a link for below.

National Motorcycle Museum

Looking Good

The only thing I really need to do before Silver is pulled down is test fit the indicators and cover the sides of the front fairing. Taking this into consideration I thought it might be fun to post a bunch of shameless beauty shots. And since this is my blog thats what I've decided to do. Enjoy the pictures, and bask the in awesome that is slowly emerging.









These photos aren't the best quality since the were taken using my Blackberry. But when the bike is completely finished, mark my words I'm breaking out the Canon DSLR. Oh Yeah!

VT250F "Silver" part 04: Mounting the front fairing!

Its time! Time to do something I have never done before! Time to mount the new front fairing... This is going to be fun "gulps".


"this motorcycle needs a face ASAP"

So as you know I have decided to replace the stock front fairing with a new aftermarket one that I saw on eBay. I decided to do this for a couple of reasons, but the main being I don't like square headlamps and I was looking for something a little bit more modern, or at least interesting.


"old"

"new"

Holding the new fairing up against the forks I was pretty sure it would work with very minimal modification to the gauge housing, though I was prepared to fork out cash for new gauges if needed. Luckily this didn't need to happen. New brackets however would have to be made, as the ones that came pre packaged were not suited for my bike and how I wanted the finished product to look.


"someone, somewhere would have a use for this... not me"

I have never made brackets before, in fact I have no metalwork experience except for that one term of metal shop class in Year 10 about 6 or more years ago. So I was given an incredibly quick crash course on how to use the tools by my father and left to my own devices. The results I think are rather excellent, considering its my first time doing this. So what I'm going to do is outline the steps I took to make the brackets, post the steps as pictures and then you can feel free to laugh at my craftsmanship. Sound good? well it does to me so lets go.

1. Firstly I marked out the length of steel I was going to need. Luckily the shed had just the right thing laying around in the corner.

2. The pieces were then ground down a little so that they're rounded and don't have any sharp edges. Then a center punch was used for the pilot hole.

3. I stacked both pieces of steel on top of each other and placed them in a vice. Then drilled a pilot hole through both pieces at the same time to guarantee the holes will be an equal distance apart when finished.

4. Next step was to drill through the pilot hole and make the opening big enough for the bolt I was going to use.

5. After that I tidied up the pieces on a grinder and sander to remove it of any barbs.

6. They were then put back into the vice and I used a hammer to bend them to the required angle. My perfectly calibrated eye was the first tool used but this was then double checked with a tape measure to make sure it was going to work.

7. The completed brackets where then put on the motorcycle and I admired my work... while at the same time completely surprised I managed to pull it off.

I had to create four brackets in total. The ones I showed steps for were for the bottom of the fairing, The top brackets are essentially a giant "L" shape but I followed the same steps.

Im really pleased with how it turned out. The gauge dust cover blends into the new fairing in an interseting way. Probably not to everyones taste but when its all painted no one will care. Their is a gap on the sides though, but this will be filled in with the new indicators and some Silver automotive mesh.


"not bad, not bad at all'

Aftermarket Front Fairing.

Another package has arrived today, huzzah! The second package today contained an aftermarket front fairing that took my fancy while browsing on eBay. as it was only around $80 all up including postage, I grabbed it. Admittedly it isn't to everyones taste, but since its my motorcycle thats sort of irrelevant.

The plan is to do a test fit tomorrow. The gauge housing may cause some issues, or it may not. If it does there are a few options to consider but we can cross that road when we come to it. For now feast your eyes on the new front fairing.


"almost looks like the face of a robotic drone"

New hand grips are here!

Another day another parcel from the good old eBay. This time its a set of cafe racer style hand grips that have found a new home. Now before I purchased these I did ask the seller if the end caps could be removed so I could fit my bar end mirrors. I have had a look and it doesn't seem as though you actually can... which is annoying.

It could however be that the end caps are screwed on really tight and I cant see the seam. But a vice and some elbow grease will reveal the truth.

They are rather nice though so will definitely be used either on Red or Silver, hopefully silver. Made of aluminum with rubber strips down the sides, they have a bit of weight which is a good thing,  for me at least. If things are too light i get the feeling that they're low quality or going to break... but thats probably just me.


"what's this? a parcel for me? excellent"


"looking very nice even through the packing plastic"


"very nice indeed"

VT250F "Silver" part 03: replacing the clutch and brake master cylinders

Today's mission was to remove the old clutch and brake master cylinders and connect up the new ones, then fill them with fluid as well as attach the nice new levers.


"all the lovely weird build up on the old cylinder"

Both cylinders came off the bars easily, however I was struggling to remove the cable lines for a good 20 or more minutes. Dad walks over and immediately spots the problem, turns out I was turning the bolt the wrong way. I recommend you all learn the mantra "lefty loosey tighty righty". This of course is only good if your holding the part the right way up, which I wasn't.

Once that little problem was resolved we could then have a quick look inside the old cylinders. They were both full of crap. The brake cylinder is much worse though. I have been told however then it can be reconditioned and left on the shelf as a spare, which to me sounds like a good idea. The plastic window on the side can also be replaced through an online seller.


"dirty"

The new cylinders then had their levers attached and were mounted on the bars. Bolts from the old parts where used when attaching the levers as thats all I had available to me at the time. The clutch went on with no problems what so ever as it was off of a VT250F. The brake cylinder though was off a CB250, which meant the fluid line comes off the side and not off the front. Luckily its a small part and fit without issues. To be honest I prefer the CB250 part since I can see the levels window while sitting on the bike, unlike the previous part which had the window located on the opposite side.


"new clutch master cylinder with its new lever looking very good indeed"


"you can see the gap which the old part would have used, works though'

Bleeding the brakes was the next step, so as its a two man job I fiddled with the lever and dad was on the bleed valve. After 15 minutes of not getting anywhere it was discovered that the lines where full of crap... oh joy. Dad being the genius that he is feed some Mig welding wire down the line which cleared it up enough for fluid to pass through a little easier. With that done we started bleeding the brakes again only this time it was successful. The brake pads are worn though and will have to be replaced.

As a quick note I should mention when the bike is stripped down the plan is to replaced the original lines with braided steel lines. This mean they will be more efficient and also look a hell of a lot better.

Happy that everything works and progress had been made I then trial fitted the bar end mirrors that arrived the other day. They fit no problems which is a relief, but we might need to use an extra sleeve so it stays in nice and tight. regardless they look good and will look even better when the bike is finished.

We then turned the bike over and let it idle for a while just to hear that sweet, sweet sound. While it was idling Dad discovered a hole in the exhaust which wasnt too big a surprise. When the bike is stripped down I will most likely get a completly new set made up.

Thats all for now. You should have a look at the video though by clicking here.

VT250F project: episode 02

The second episode of the VT250F project. In this installment the brake and clutch master cylinders are replaced and you get to see how crappy the parts originally on the bike were.