Subject: Re: Progress report, karma, et al, LONG
Author: Ian Adkins
Date: May 13, 2001, 5:29 PM
Post ID: 1706707259
Tom,
The bike sounds like it is coming along great. Once it starts taking shape
with the engine in etc....you will start to really feel like you are making
progress.
One thing about the frame. You will likely need to chase out the threads
with a tap. I would recommend getting a metric set and do all the threads.
When I brought my frame to be powder coated I made a point of letting them
know that the threads needed to be kept clean. They did a pretty good job
but always a little of the powder gets in. Chasing out the threads make the
work of reassembly much easier. Also note that the powder is much thicker
than (say) paint so you may need to grind some of the powder coat off when
you are assmbling the bits. Fitting the crash bars into the recess on the
frame is one place I can think of.
Good luck....Ian
-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Bowes <kk-@home.com>
To: Loopfram-@topica.com <Loopfram-@topica.com>
Date: May 13, 2001 12:26 AM
Subject: Progress report, karma, et al, LONG
So, just as I was beginning to question my sanity for ever taking on the Ambo restoration project the powder coater calls. Three hundred dollars later I am the proud recipient of a buch of Guzzi parts that I could swear were cast from black glass. Learned a few things about the need to thoroughly degrease EVERYTHING before hauling it in for blasting and painting, but overall the stuff looks great. I fought the battle about a month ago of trying to find a decent chrome plate shop in the area that didn't want an arm and a leg to do my parts. The first place I went to wanted $1240, with NO crash bars included in the quote! Stopped by a friend's house, a guy who does Indian restorations for a living, to discuss the problem. He volunteered to take the stuff in with his next batch to a place about 70 miles away. A friend of his stops in on her Harley that has gobs of custom chrome on it. I asked her where she got it done and she directed me to a place about 15 miles from here. Again, another beautiful job, and only 480 bucks! I found a local place that does bright cad. Took my stuff in one afternoon, they called me the next morning and said it was done. $75 for all the various bits and pieces, and again, an excellent job. Having gone three for three, I run into a friend of mine who has restored more old brit bikes than anyone else I know. He asks me how I managed to find all these places, none of which he has ever heard of. I can only attribute it to karma. Who knows maybe its mine, maybe its the bike's, but so far it seems to be working, except for one thing. My son and I spent the previous two weekends taking the motorcycle safety foundation beginning rider course. Both of us pass, he gets his endorsement, I already had mine. Last weekend a 19 year old friend of his got killed in a single vehicle accident, trying to pass on an s-curve. A "buddy" of his was with him on another bike and estimated that they had their crotch rockets going about 100 MPH when the kid lost control and hit a tree, head on. Definitely some bad karma going on there. Not much left of the bike, the kid or the tree. The funeral was open casket but probably shouldn't have been. Kinda' sobered my son up to the realities of riding carelessly. At least it made for a good opportunity for me to point out a basic truth of motorcycling; "You can always go faster". Ride safely. Tom '70 Ambassador '82 V50-III Shelby Township, Michigan |