have you clear coated the frame or done anything to help the painted parts hold up?
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have you clear coated the frame or done anything to help the painted parts hold up?
Good question. Short answer: no... but a calculated "no" lol
The factory paint was still pretty solid, just rubbed off in a few areas with some exposed metal starting to look crappy. I didn't want to spend the time/money stripping it and powder coating - kind of a waste of money for this job IMO. But I also didn't want to strip all the good factory paint just to do a rattle can job. So in the end I opted to keep the factory paint, clean/lightly sand/prep it and throw a few light top coats on. This way, the frame is still well protected with the factory paint, and dings/scratches will be easy to touch up.
I did a few test sprays on some sheet metal with and without the clear coat, and the clear coat looked like ass. I liked the matte silver so much I just left as is.
Only other thing painted were the footpegs and kickstand, which I'm not concerned about. Easy stuff to touch up if keeping it pretty is important.
After spraying my DR frame and beating the hell out of it for two years, I think spray jobs get a bit of a bad rap. It'll never be powder, but with a clean surface/prep/proper application and high quality paint (Rustoleum high performance enamel) it holds up surprisingly well.
Got some very ugly front/side panels on eBay. Cleaned up good & new graphics in the mail.
https://i.imgur.com/fweP7wql.jpg
Groceries:
https://i.imgur.com/TAUMAcVl.jpg
New Fly aluminum bars. Not what I expected. Listed as red, pics look red, bars are... pink? Purple? Identify as red? Oh well... "character" I guess.
https://i.imgur.com/M74HdSIl.jpg
In other news.. it's alive!
Second break-in run, cut the idle back after this vid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLPoK5xphBc
Next:
- Wiring/hose routing/body cleanup/graphics
- Finish rear brakes
- New steering races
Maybe a few other little things I'm forgetting, but it's almost 100%.
smooth as honda buttah!
You should have left the Comp Cams decals to confuse people.
Think I was just hearing about crossheads on The Workshop. Must have been a steam engine in a past life.
looks and sounds so good. nice work ... where are you getting your graphics from? think i'm going to give Motocal a try this season. just wish i could upload vector files.
Thanks! Super pleased it's running.
Ordered a full set on eBay from Factory EFX in New Bedford. $45. Scheduled for delivery today so we'll see how the quality is. Not expecting super-heavy-duty some of the kits have, but they have a ton of great reviews and a nice clean design for the CR.
Graphics are stupidly expensive. All the mid-priced kits (<$100) I find are just covered in logos. Then there are some nice looking sets for $150+ but not going there. I have two sets of shrouds, one with mint OEM stickers, and I think this kit might look good with either set.
Have also searched for someone to take vectors without much luck. I suspect Factory EFX might be able to pull it off but haven't asked.
do you guys have local dudes?
my friend in the moto community does stickers for a living...just brought it over with the new plastics mounted and he made me a custom kit
yeah, Factory Effex makes quality stuff. had a set of their graphics on a CR250R that were great.
TSS is local to me, been talking with them about supplying Beta templates i have and new plastics. on the fence. i can handle all the design, just not the printing. hence the potential Motocal experiment but their 'design tool' is a PIA. i just want to work in Illustrator and press PRINT.
Likewise, the templates are the tricky part.
New Dubya spacers arrived today... still 5mm too short!!
I could possibly tighten it down, although it’s a sizeable gap. The issue is that the current spacer length puts the rotor very close to the swingarm and the chain doesn’t properly center up with the chain guide.
Going to triple check the fiche and compare to the small wheel swingarm to make sure I’m not missing something here. Dubya got back to me pretty fast and was a little confounded...
Ok, my setup doesn't come into alignment until you tighten it up, so yeah you've still got something wacky going on.
Really weird. Talked to Dubya again and they swear it’s the right setup. Compared the sprocket-to-spacer-end distance to the stock wheel & spacers and its about 3mm too short, which to me kind of confirms that statement is wrong. They have a 37mm RM spacer I’ll have to try, it’s either that or get new ones cut.
FWIW, my CRF150 rear is a melange of custom spacers. I have to space the sprocket out to get that to line up. I *think* I have a similar or identical setup to you.
Interestingly they asked I happened to be running a 150 swingarm. Very similar but the 85 has a 15mm axle vs a 17mm on the 150 I think.
Oh, yes, I have the 17mm axle. That made the CR85 big wheel I bought wrong, but I still have this odd mashup of spacers.
Well at this point I'll probably end up with some odd mashup, just a much more expensive one. :mecry:
Sent some more measurements to Dubya, either I'm crazy or their spacers are just incorrect. My standing theory is that maybe they're correct for the newer style Talon hubs and never bothered to go back and verify for the previous version. Set up the new ones as-is and the wheel is definitely off-center by about 3mm.
New kit and first stretch of the legs
https://i.imgur.com/dRr3xpph.jpg
:plusone:
So reactions?
Can't really tell with the power because the rear tire probably just spins in the snow haha.
Wait, you got the spacers sorted?
Zero traction and no rear brakes! Felt pretty good though, just wanted to get it through the gears and on the pipe to break it in some.
Well, no. I popped a bearing, installed the new center axle tube & spacers, then added a washer again to get enough clearance. So basically back where I started. :mope: