Thursday, August 8, 2013

Bearing the brunt...

I apologize for the delay in posts!  I have managed to accomplish a few things in the last week or so, however not as much as I would have liked.  I am very proud to present my first 'mock up'  with the newly refinished seat.



This seat kit from Pit Replica was very easy to put on and is decent quality for the price.  Once the foam was built up in the weaker sections (as seen in previous posts) it went right on, the material was flexible enough to get over the back and sides without stretching.

Next step is the wheels, I started cleaning these up in order to get this beast rolling.

before- front

before- side view

after- front

I have a set of new bearings and new tires, Duros that are unfortunately made in China.  Finding 2.75 x 18 is not the easiest thing to get in a street tire, however at $33.00 a piece I shouldn't complain.  Why unfortunate?  I won't start a whole symposium here on Chinese goods other than to say I don't trust the quality of their goods;  I also resent the western reliance on such cheap goods, putting many jobs and the economic future of our young people in jeopardy.

This aside, one challenge I will face in this rebuild is the complete and utter unavailability of inner races or tapered bearings for the neck.  Inner races are the pieces where the ball bearings sit and mate withe outer races in the neck.  For some bizarre reason, outer races are available in abundance.  I was taught that when rebuilding a bike always replace bearings and races as they are likely worn.  In the case of tapered bearings there is not a single manufacturer that makes one to spec for any application.  I suppose these are the vagaries of Bridgestone ownership.  There is the joy of having boxes of NOS parts available but oddball pieces that are impossible to replace.   

I will have some more photos in the coming days of my progress! 

This weekend, my father and I are going on a little adventure......if all goes well I will have something very exciting to show you in the next post, stay tuned! 



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