New parts have arrived

Yeah! Brand new "bandit look" headlights arrived :) I like it! Fully road legal with nice chromed brackets.




New fork gaiters arrived as well. Nice rubber quality and good price :)




I bought new handlebars end weights. Old ones were sratched and one was missing. So I decided to buy "bullet" alloy weights. Not to heavy but should rise to the occasion ;-)



Front wheel - my "brand new" alloy

Wow! It looks awesome :) I can't wait when I'll see the wheel on her :) Yeah!
Mark has done great job :) Belive me guys - it looks better than original new one :)
All signs are grind out except rim dimensions and "made in japan" :)



Front end: triple clamps and handlebar painting

I removed old paint from triple clamps and handlebar. Then I polished it and painted.
Handlebar holders are aluminium made so I decided to polish it and left unpainted.
I used 5 sand paper grades - 120, 240, 400, 600 and 1500.


Painted handlebar - primer + paint + laquer clear. Looks like new :)




Painted triple clamps.
New washer and Koyo bearing is going to be installed.




Painted upper triple clamp + polished handlebars holders.

Front end: bearings and races removing

Steereng stem lower bearing is hard to remove.
I smashed old lower bearing with screwdriver. Then I cut the race in two places with Dremel tool. You have to be careful - stem should be untouched!




Then using the hammer and drift punch I carefuly removed the race.



I removed bearing races with hammer and long drift punch.
Race wear is easy noticeable.

Front end: summary

The front end tappered bearings are in a bad condition. I'm going to repleace them :)

What do I have:
Dirty, rusted front end with already painted fork tubes.
Untidy triple clamps and handlebar
Damaged steering bearings and races

Goal:
• Repleace old steering stem bearings and races
• polish and paint triple clamps
• polish alloy handlebar clamps
• polish and paint handlebar
• put new handlebar end weights
• put new yellow fork gaiters

Front Wheel - measurements + spacers

I bought an alloy Suzuki GS500 wheel . 17" and 3" wide.

REAL supermoto wheels are often very expensive and choosing the right one can be not easy :)

Supermoto bike for street use, should has a front rim 17" x 3.5. alloy rim - professionally drilled and specified for supermoto + spokes. I chose solid alloy wheel because I like it and the price is many times lower than real SM wheels. Thats it :)

Wheel has came :) It is dirty, has small chips and scratches. It is going to be cleaned, polished (I'll remove all numbers and Suzuki logo). Then my friend Mark will paint it to Subaru Gold colour.

But first of all I have to do lots of measurements to fit it XT660 forks :)

What do I have:
Dirty, untidy Suzuki GS500 front wheel
Avon tyre is in decent condition and Koyo bearings are fine

Goal:
Remove signs and Suzuki logo.
Clean and polish then paint to Subaru Gold
Put the brake disk to the left side of the wheel

Do measurements to fit XT660 forks
Mill some spacers to centre the wheel. Material: sainless steel
Remove speedo drive - spacer + seal instead

Measurements:

Wheels fit accuracy should be done carefully. Front wheel has to be exactly in the middle between forks so I have to measure it then mill some spacers. I used old XTZ spindle - fits perfect.

After measurements I prepared technical drawing of spacers.

I want to remove speedo drive permanently so I have to mill spacer with collar and then put some seal to prevent coming dust into a bearing.

I turned two spacers: left with colar and to the right side I used old Suzuki GS500 spacer with collar and cut it few millimeters.

Problem 1:
The tyre is exactly to the level of forks brace bolts so I can't put the fender here... I have to do something with it... but later :)

Problem 2:
Theres no enough space for caliper bracket. Is to close to brake disc.
I already have a solution. I'll let you know later :)

Front forks painting

At first sight I realised that the main thing is to paint some parts of the bike.

Forks are dirty and has lot of scratches. Brake disk cover holder is broken. I have to cut and grind it.

Forks was on a bike. I removed an old paint with Nitro Mors Paint & Varnish Remover bought in Halfords for £6.79. It did its job perfectly!
Then I used a 240 grid sand paper. Next was 400 and last one was 800. Surface was smooth and shiny. It is aluminium and I know that I should not paint it with ferrous metal paint but I did it.
2 coats of grey primer, 2 coats of Nissan Silver paint and 2 coats of clear laquer to finish it :)
Look at the difference!!!!