GPR Camp: Replica Racers

Finally got some time to get at the bearings again. Once the wheels are built I'll really be able to start back in on this project again.

A nice little package showed up from China today.

When I switch out the throttles on these bikes the right hand switch gear is removed as well. I've done a number of things to replace it including employing a nice setup from Domino, but sometimes there's just not enough room for all of the things on the bar. I found these units on eBay. The quality look a little questionable, and I'm more than a little hesitant to trust my brake lever with this, butt hopefully it will be fine.

I ordered three red, and three yellow. I figure I can use one to replace the starter switch, and one to replace the kill switch.

Okay there are some acceptable valves on a two stroke. Like the tire valves. As per Xero's suggesting I laid in a bead of silicon sealer around the groovy Kurvey Girl valve stems. Now the wheels are ready for the tires.

Did the same with my KG valve stems !

I have Italian angled ones from Kurvygirl on the GPR and the SV, but didn't think to seal them on the inside when I installed them. So far they haven't given me any trouble.

Not a bad idea though. I'll do it next time I have a tire off..

There's just something really special about red wheels.

Finally got to the frame headset bearings today. This took me a while because things were just all over the place. But collected together they went well. Before I could get started though I had had to sand the edges a bit with some 400. If you don't do this the powder will crack.

Then it was heat things up and pop in the frozen bearings. I used Ed's bearing tapping tool again. Sure is handy, especially if you don't have a press. The spacer tube is a bit longer than the inner stops on the frame, so I inserted the bottom bearing first to the stop, then did the top bearing with the spacer inserted, until the spacer was tight, checking it with the bottom triple in place.

Then I cleaned up the triples so that I can assemble everything.

There's a huge amount of prep work to be accomplished to put this bike back together! Lots of cleaning. Probably have to replace a number of fasteners due to corrosion. It's going to be great to have this bike back on the road again.

Since the crash the bike has been slowly going through a pigment alteration. The front cowling that I found for it was white, and I've picked up one white side panel. I found this tank in white which matches the other two parts. It was in Japan so getting it was rather traumatic. I've purchased it, and I'm hoping that it makes it over here. Technically it's new, and never been used, but as you can see it does come with some damage, which thankfully should be hidden when installed on the bike.

The original tank took some damage in the crash, and I had purchased another tank for it, but it's the yellow Malossi Belson tank. That one didn't quite fit in with the color scheme of the bike. This one will look so much better.

Went out to the storage foraging around for 05 parts. It's impressive how in a couple of years the parts can migrate so much!!