This dawned on me slowly and as such, over the recent weekend (between carting tons of no-longer-needed junk out to the footpath for the half-yearly council cleanup and a large selection of other honey-do's), I drained and refilled the oil from the forks. I then used some Mother's brand aluminium polish and a dab of locally produced elbow grease to shine up the fork lowers. Any devoted and regular reader of this blog (ED: does anyone read it, I wonder?) will already recall a previous thread on how I removed the old, dull and chipped black paint from the lowers. Anyhoo, they have come up really nicely with a bit of a polish and I am very happy with the result. They do look heaps better than the black version IMHO.
Then just last night, I went out to the shed, grabbed the top yoke and loosely bolted it on. The left-side fork leg slipped up inside the bottom yoke with just a small amount of persuasion. Not forgetting to first slip on the clip-on, I then pushed the fork up into the top yoke and aligned the top of the stanchion with the top of the yoke and lightly tightened the top bolt to hold it there. Nice!
The other leg proved to be a little more difficult. For some reason it would not fit into the bottom yoke. The hole looked round enough. The bloody thing came out of there just 12 months ago, surely it should go back? Nope. I then checked that there were no extraneous bits of powder coat in there, and even lightly sanded the surface. Still no luck. Add some lube? Nope.
Oh well, there was only one thing left to try; I decided to introduce Ms. Tightass Yoke to my good personal friend, the inimitable Mr. Dremel Grinder. It was a wonderful experience for both and with the smallest amount of tickling, Ms. Yoke yielded to Mr. Grinder and the lightly lubed stanchion slipped neatly into the hole. That put a smile on all our faces. Then it was slip on the clip-on and up into the top yoke it went and then tighten as described previously.
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| It was a tight, yet strangely satisfying fit! |
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| Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. You do see a hammer, a chisel and a jemmy bar! |
In other news:
When all round good egg Brett Rosenthal was around a couple weekends ago, he looked aghast at the state of the original rear inside guard. It was soft, worn and torn. Not a good look. But what to do? Being the skilled artisan that he is, he just happens to produce (at reasonable cost) a selection of replacement parts in fiberglass. And luckily for me, he tells me has a rear inside guard available. I say, "yes please, I will take one".When I attended the monthly meeting of the Moto Guzzi Owners Assoc of NSW on the following Tuesday, he had it in his bag. Very nice it is, too. The following night I drilled it, pop-riveted the compliance plate on, and fitted it to the frame. I am very happy with the result.
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| This is what 32 years of faithful service looks like |
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| All bolted on and ready for the next 32 years |
Coming up:
New switches are on their way and will arrive soon. Also may try to fit braking system.
Stay 'tuned'...
Yes, someone is reading :)
ReplyDeleteAre you leaving the original air bladders and springs in the forks? Did I miss that on a previous post?
Cool! The springs and FAC dampers were previously done for the forks when I first put the bike on the road. All I did was drain the oil and replace with new stuff. The oil only acts as a lubricant in these forks. The only other thing not mentioned is that I have a Tarozzi fork brace to put back on. It made the world of difference.
ReplyDeleteBow Stabilizerrks. The only other thing not mentioned is that I have a Tarozzi fork brace to put back on.
ReplyDelete