Author: Buck

I’m still learning as I go with this painting lark, but I’m getting the hang of it. 90% of it is preparation, the other 10% is patience. You have to have a perfect surface to get a perfect finish. And then you have to apply very thin layers of paint many times. Also, I only found out yesterday, there are different types of clear coat. I had normal clear coat, which gives a nice shiny result when polished, but it seems there is also gloss. I’m hoping that is the final step. Here is some stuff I’ve done. It’s hard to make out detail there, but the fork stanchions are in black satin, the mudguard is in black gloss. While I had the forks off I’ve had a look at the yokes. The top yoke has polished up surprisingly well. From this To this I’ve done a few other bits. The most notable was my front wheel. The Tractor was stood for 20 years so the chrome on the rims was ruined. I painted them aluminium while I was getting it back on the road, which was an improvement, but it still looks noticeably poor. And now it’s getting stains and smudges it looks worse. I thought I’d give it a go black. Vast improvement. That’s before the clear layers and polish. The black covers a multitude of sins and will hopefully not show any further muck. I resprayed the bottom yoke, but that’s not come up so well. I’ll see what it looks like after the clear layers and polish. When I took the yokes off the bearings lifted out with my fingers. I thought that was alarming so ordered a new bearing kit while it was all apart, another job I shouldn’t have to do ever again. It turns out Harleys have the bearings loose, situated in a race which is jammed in. I checked the races. The bottom is fine but the top one has notches so I’ve knocked it out and ground it down (as per the manual) to use to drive the new one in when it arrives. Things are all going suspiciously well. I’m working tomorrow and Sunday, but as soon as my parts all arrive I can spray the clear layers then polish up the bits. Fit the new race and bearings. Refit my yoke, forks, mudguard, front wheel, and handlebars. Then jack the back wheel off the ground and sand and paint that. And take the connector apart in my headlight so I can take the headlight off and use filler to smooth it off, then respray it. Then the rear mudguard. Then the real test, the tank. I’m going to spray the one that’s on it, for now. It will give me an idea if I’m good enough, without me having to spend £340 on a new tank and another £200 on an air compressor to leak test it. I may try to spray the engine in situ as well. I […]

I did the wet sandpaper and polish on the mudguard today. As I said, I didn’t prepare it properly, I only roughed it up with coarse sandpaper before spraying, I should have used smooth to get rid of all the scratches. But even so, you have to get within a few inches to see the flaws. I’m happy with that. As long as I do the smooth sandpaper in preparation (and do several more coats of both paint and primer) I’d be happy with that for my frame. The paint before I started And after The other thing today was finding my current fitness levels over a Half distance. On Warrington Half (10 days ago) I set off too slowly then found myself with tons left in the tank at the end. I wanted to know what a good time would look like now. I set off aiming for around 7 m/m, but every mile got slower. By the end it was a battle of will just to keep going. My first mile was 7.02, my last one was 7.39, and I was battered! I casually jogged home the 2 miles after Warrington Half, I shuffled around the corner to home today. The positives are I didn’t get any chest pains this time, I did what I set out to do, I didn’t quit, I was 2 minutes faster than Warrington time, and I was within the top 10 of my Half finishes with a 1.35:56. But bloody hell! I started on the heart thing yesterday. No biscuits, low fat food, and a statin pill. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. I am fueled by fat, sugar and rage. I was so wasted after the run. It took me three meals to get any strength back and my calves are still all crampy.

The world is going straight to hell, but I’m still making progress with the Harley. So, swings and roundabouts. I rode it in to work after my last post. I noticed on the ride home the headlight beam was rubbish. It was projecting in a horizontal line just in front of the bike. I hadn’t moved the headlight, so I was worried it was non-UK spec and I’d wasted more money. I took it off again, to see if I’d fitted it wrong, but there is a groove in the headlight casing into which it can only fit one way, so it wasn’t that. While I I had it out I looked at the two loose wires on the headlight. There is a 3 pin plug that fits directly into where the standard headlight attaches, but also two wires. I ran a wire to them and to a powered line, one lights the headlight halo orange, presumably for indicators, the other lights the halo bright white. As luck would have it there was a taped off power line in the headlight already so I just ran a wire to that. Then I read up on headlight beam setting. 3.8 metres from the bulb to the wall, 50 -110mm lower than the bulb height. Marked the fence and rolled the bike to the correct distance, then just rotated the headlight up. I think that’s all set. Looks good. While I was at it I fitted the new handgrips. It’s really coming along. I did those jobs in between applying layers of paint. I was looking at a sexy new tank but it’s about £370 and I don’t need it. I thought about getting any old crappy one just to practice on, but they aren’t cheap (for something I’m going to throw away afterwards). Then I remembered that front mudguard I bought for the Bonnie. It doesn’t fit, so it was just sitting there. Perfect to practice on. I’ve taken my time and learned another good lesson. On the video the guy has a dented tank he says to use coarse sandpaper to prepare a good, grippy surface. I did that, then started spraying. In retrospect, he applied filler, then smoothed it all off with fine sandpaper. The scratches on my mudguard from the coarse sandpaper have remained visible as ridges in the paint. Lesson learned. Also I think I’ve picked up flecks of dust from drying the paint in the sun in the garden. Tomorrow I’m going to (very gently) wet sandpaper it, then polish it. The results so far certainly look good enough to respray the frame. I don’t know if it would be good enough for the tank and mudguards. My next job is to tart up the front end. There are decorative caps that sit on the dust seals on the forks (ordered) so when they arrive I’m going to take the forks off and respray the stanchions. I have some of the grey aluminum paint that’s on […]

Mainly just adding pictures. Spraying the plate has taught me some valuable lessons. Preparation, preparation, preparation. That was my biggest mistake. That and rushing because I was on the clock as I needed the bike back on the road for work. I ground it down and sandpapered it, but I didn’t fill or grind out all the tiny pockmarks in the metal. The paint doesn’t fill the holes in, just highlights it. Also I think I may have picked up dust. I’ve ordered some drop sheets to make a sterile tent in my shed. Another thing is it’s better to spray too little each time, I got impatient and got a drip. I only had engine black paint so I had to cure it in the oven. So, appropriate paint for the job. Possibly add more layers of clear. And finally, be very gentle with the wet sanding. I think I rubbed out some of the clear. There are some positives. The paint went on. There is a nice reflection of the bolt on the lower right of the picture. Rough as it is, it looks better than the surrounding paintwork, and it was much worse. I’m hopeful, applying all I’ve learned and with more practice, I could do a reasonable job. The other thing is the Sportster. I was struggling with it. Since I changed the handlebars I’ve been having serious issues with the clutch pull. Recently It’s become more and more difficult to find neutral. I read online that that is a clutch adjustment issue. I took the clutch cover off today and adjusted it. It was miles off. It turns out I’d put a locking nut on the wrong way around so the clutch had moved way out of position. I set it correctly and put the nut on the right, then went for a spin. The new mirrors give you a wonderful view of your gloves and forearm, but if you move your hands and head position they work adequately. And they stay in place, unlike the bar end mirrors, so I’m happy enough with them. I took it out for a 20 mile tootle in the sunshine and it was great. The clutch was (relatively) light, the gears went up and down smoothly, the riding position was comfortable, it was a different bike. That’s the first time out where I could just sit back and enjoy the ride. I’m really happy with my Harley. I have been going through some dark times with it, thinking I’d remembered it wrong and I don’t actually like Harleys after all. Which would be a huge gut punch after all the money I’ve poured into it. Now I’m thinking of respraying it, getting the wheels rebuilt, and changing my insurance next year so I can ride the Bonnie one week, the Sporty the next. Oh, and I’ve just remembered to go and test my headlight at night. It’s way bright! Cool.

I’ve had a pretty good spell since my last blog. I got the waterproof trousers and a yellow warning for rain off the Met Office, so a solid test. On the way home, through rain, constant spray, and puddle splash on the motorway the only issue was my socks got a wet patch on the top. So my boots, combat high, aren’t fully waterproof. Oh, and my helmet needs replacing. The padding has gone, so it falls down over my eyes a bit, moving the de-mist visor insert too low. I had to ride with my head tilted back. Always something. Then I had the local half marathon. I jogged the 2 miles there, and was well early (3 minutes to off) but oddly the starting pens were already full. I had to start behind the 2.10 pacer. There were about 1,700 people starting (half and 10k) and I must have been behind about 1,500 of them. It took me 6 minutes from the start gun to cross the start line. So the first 4 or 5 miles I was battling through tightly packed slow people. I was holding a 7.45ish pace which I thought was reasonable for my fitness. I picked two people who seemed to be holding a good pace for me as markers and stuck with them. At about 6 miles, up the hills around Appleton, they dropped to an 8 m/m pace. I thought I had more in the tank so I went for a neg split. I was doing 7.30 even with the hills. By 9 miles I knew I had enough left to make it, so I went for it. I threw in two sub 7s and then on the last miles, into the wind I held 7.05. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever been miffed with myself for going out too slow. Usually I go too fast and blow up. That was a real surprise. I can only think it’s the beasting on MyWhoosh (cycling app) that have toughened my legs and improved my stamina. It’s a big boost for my sub 3 aspirations. That’s why I set off at such a modest pace, I didn’t think I had any more over the distance. I’m going to try again, a solo, flat-out half, to see where I am. I got my eyes tested and got a new set of glasses. I’m not so sure of the varifocal split (too much middle/ reader, not enough distance), but at least I’m rid of that annoying scratch, finally. I’ve seen a video on YouTube (got to wonder how many disaster stories start with that) on how to get professional respray results using spray cans. I had a plate on the front of the Triumph that I was meaning to respray anyway, so I’m using it as a proof of concept experiment. If I like the results I can scale it up and do the Harley. That would be cool. I’ve done what the video […]