Bar conversion with pics

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by Bibio

they are designed to be taken out with a blind bearing puller or pressed out using a press. if a shell gets stuck then get a joiners wood chisel and slice the shell or a hacksaw and cut a groove, once you have 'split' the shell then you can 'roll' it up inside and it will just drop out.

Exactly, this is what we had to do, split the shell and then break it out. It was well stuck in and had to be pulled away from the walls of the rocker. Very careful use of a Dremel tool and a tiny grinding head cut the shell into two pieces which then had to be removed with pliers.



New bearings went in with a threaded bearing press and took about ten minutes, the grease nipple took about five minutes to fit. After all of that fuss, it went back together so easily.





The last bits I need are the bearing sleeves which I have on back order at Fowlers, these are the tubes that run on these bearings and keep the dog bones nice and happy. Once all of this is back together I can fit the new shock and start thinking about the rest of the rebuild.

[garynortheast]

That's looking good Jayne. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take a look at the swingarm and rocker bearings on my curvy soon and I may well follow your excellent example and fit a grease nipple. I wonder if there would be a case for fitting a couple to the swingarm bearings as well?

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by garynortheast

That's looking good Jayne. I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take a look at the swingarm and rocker bearings on my curvy soon and I may well follow your excellent example and fit a grease nipple. I wonder if there would be a case for fitting a couple to the swingarm bearings as well?

Thank you, I did not think that my bike was in such a need of attention until I opened up the scary bits, but in truth I am now glad that I have.


I have given thought to fitting a grease nipple to the swing arm, but the issues as I see it are that the bearings in the swing arm axle are shielded from the space around the axle by an inner sleeve. Pumping grease into this part of the swing arm may not actually get grease to them. However now that the other bearings are sorted, I can spend some time looking into this aspect. I bought enough grease nipples to do this job, I just need to make sure that it will work and that I can get a grease gun to the nipple once it is fitted.

The nipples I have used are excellent quality and came from a shop called "The Nipple Shop"! How could I not use them given that name? You can find them here!



Linky if the above does not work.
www.thenippleshop.co.uk

[garynortheast]

I shall go and order a gross of nipples at once! The urge to succumb completely to the siren call of double entendredom is overwhelming. Must... reach... the.... off button.........

[shiftin_gear98]

Jane, Great effort. Loving your style!!


Much respect for the PACE grease gun too.

[Jayneflakes]

Originally Posted by shiftin_gear98

Jayne, Great effort. Loving your style!!

Thank you

Originally Posted by shiftin_gear98

Much respect for the PACE grease gun too.

That is a relic from days as a MTB mechanic. The last time I used it professionally was to service my friends RC35 fork a few years ago. Pace grease was a weird green colour and felt like melted chewing gum! Nasty. Not as bad as Jonny Snot though from SRAM though.

[Dave-the-rave]

The Nipple Shop. Just great. There's a restaurant in Chelsea either Thai or Vietnamese, I don't remember, called The Phat Phuc restaurant. Seriously.

[Jayneflakes]

The Swing arm is in...

sy83 by Jayne Carter, on Flickr

I was so happy...

sy86 by Jayne Carter, on Flickr

Now that is happy

[Geodude]

Yay nice one

[Jayneflakes]

With summer slowly coming to a close now and the slight hints of autumn in the air, spending the day in the garage working on the bike is joyful.



As for Sylvie, let's just say that she is starting to look like a motorbike again. The nose cone is back on again, the front end has been tidied up and the wiring redone. The horn is now hidden in the fairing and I have waterproofed the wiring loom that leads to the power socket.



I have also now refitted the rear subframe and put the loom back into position. I have done a lot of work on the the loom and wanted to check that nothing was glitching before I put the plastics back on. Imagine my utter despondency when the ignition came on and listed nothing but faults. The alarm kept firing off, which in the small space of my garage quickly stopped being fun. I checked every connection and join, every wire was right, but power to the ignition completely failed. On the verge of setting the old girl alight I took a can of electrical contact cleaner and sprayed the connectors in the speedo and plug and snapped them back together. The result was subtle but different. Everything suddenly worked just as it should.

The rest of parts just snapped back into place and I have no idea what caused the electrical fault or why it suddenly disappeared



All I am waiting for now is the new bearing tubes for the rocker and swing arm dog bone mounts and then the rear shock. Once these are in, I can refit the exhaust and start that gorgeous engine. Following a complaint from a neighbour about the noise of our bike engines, I fully intend to start the bike up with out the can being fitted, just to hear what she sounds like.

Being with out a bike at the moment is killing me, I miss riding so much and even though I can ride the wife's ZRX, it is just not the same. I miss riding Sylvie so much, however once I get back on her with her new suspension and shiny new brakes, she will be like a new bike. I am so excited, I cannot wait.