Dai wrote:

Born Again Eccentric wrote:That was why I couldn't ride Gretel back from Ireland on Irish plates when I bought her from Sgmayhew.

Someone gave you duff information there. I imported LFB from down south. As far as insurance is concerned, you can get 30 days insurance on just the VIN. If you have just bought the vehicle and have the relevant paperwork with your name on it, there is nothing legally to stop you driving/riding it home as long as it is insured. Once you get home it becomes a different matter; the vehicle shouldn't be used again except for a pre-booked MOT (required on import) until the UK documents and numberplate have been issued by the DVLC and it's been taxed.

Okay, so that didn't stop me from riding LFB around for three days on West Meath number plates while I waited for a UK numberplate to be made...

The info was off the gov.uk website. The advice on the website was not to ride the bike until the import process was complete.

I did insure her using the VIN (while on Irish plates) - I needed insurance to be able to ride her to/from the MoT test station, which had to be done before I could complete the import process. As part of that process, I also had to show proof of insurance in order to get given a UK registration be able to order a number plate. The cost of the temporary insurance on the VIN was extortionate (a month cost nearly as much as it costs for a full year).  I'm quite sure I could have ridden the bike home from Ireland...but things could have proved tricky had I been involved in an accident or pulled over by the police. It was easier to take the car over with the bike trailer and make a holiday of it!

If we buy a bike we can transfer our insurance onto the bike with foreign number plates and that's allowed for up to a month, all legal and then we can ride it home.

Even better if I am in France, for example, and the bike dies to to the point it isn't worth fixing, I can get another one over there, phone home to transfer the insurance and carry on regardless I mean carry on camping.....All legal too. Breakdown cover will normally repatriate a bike but only up to their value of the bike so in the case of a K its quite likely it won't be coming home.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote: I mean carry on camping..

With Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Barbara Windsor et al?

Bill

No. Just Barbara Windsor!!!!


Glad to see you know your camping too!.

Even with her laugh?

Oooh you are awful, but I do like you!

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:Oooh you are awful, but I (do) like you!

Dick Emery... that was his catchphrase.

He was also a motorcyclist, as I remember.

His comedy now seems dated, but it's charming, in a 1970's kind of a way.

We used to wind my mother up with those shows. She hated Dick Emery, Benny Hill and the Carry On series. Very 70s though and brilliant.

These, especially your link, will help BAE get back on Gretel for some hard riding around Wales and over here.

Go to 1min 10secs for a lovely Airhead

VMG 211M - R90S - Where is it now, I wonder..?

http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_817474-BMW.html

Interesting. I remember the R90S when it came out here, exactly twice the price for the Honda CB750-4. but it was some machine.

Blimey!! and I thought I was good at going off on tangents! 

Enjoyed the Dick Emery clips though - last time I saw the Dick Emery Show, it was in black & white and I'm sure that I didn't understand the not so subtle innuendos...ahh such innocence!

BAE you are supposed to be hard at it working on Gretel, not looking at Dick Emery!!

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:BAE you are supposed to be hard at it working on Gretel, not looking at Dick Emery!!

Sorry! But you can't beat classic comedy!

OK, back to the grind stone...not very warm in the garage at the moment, so I'm looking at putting a tent in the (unused) downstairs dining room to allow me to start body work repairs and prep for painting.

Good idea, then you can use the dishwasher to wash any parts and the oven to get that baked on paint work. Maybe you could send some parts to me and I will leave them outside for a few minutes for the baked enamel finish.

ainsjac wrote:Good idea, then you can use the dishwasher to wash any parts and the oven to get that baked on paint work. Maybe you could send some parts to me and I will leave them outside for a few minutes for the baked enamel finish.

Surely that is the whole point of having kitchen appliances?

• Dishwasher - to clean and degrease bike parts (non electrical parts only)
  
• Oven - to bake paintwork and heat bearing parts to enable easy fitting
  
• Hob - to heat bits too big for the oven
  
• Freezer - to shrink other bearing parts to enable easy fitting
  
• Refrigerator - to keep the beer cold to lubricate the maintainer
  
• Aga - to pre-heat gloves etc. and dry wet gear
  
• Extractor fan - to get rid of smoke and that burning paint/gloves smell and petrol fumes from kitchen.
  

Many people put a freezer in their garage - so it is only fair that others can put their bikes in the kitchen?!

Born Again Eccentric wrote:Many people put a freezer in their garage - so it is only fair that others can put their bikes in the kitchen?!

Welll... when I lived on my own I had many bikes in various stages of rebuild in the living room, plus another X out in the workshop. Does that count?

My friend has a very nice R69S. It lives in his dining room. Proper order.

Not a huge amount of progress on Gretel this week, but the project is still moving in the right direction. It has been very cold this week - not conducive to working in an unheated garage!

Importantly, I finally decided on colour; as soon as I had talked myself into sticking with Artic Silver, I found that neither of my 2 local Halfords car/bike accessory shops had any of that colour in stock! So I'm now going for Stratos Grey (same as Heidi). That way I don't need to paint the "new" upper fairing and lower fairing side panels.

My other dilemma was whether I invested in a decent compressor and spray gun. I was very tempted, but eventually wimped out. Main reason was my current lack of a proper workshop...when I get myself back into the property market, I will definitely be seriously considering it, but this time round, I'll be using rattle cans again.

When I inspected the panniers, I found a big crack across the bottom of the right hand pannier lid and one of the hinges was bust. New set of hinges on order. Damage now repaired and looking much better. As I am now changing the bike colour, I now also had to remove the duck tail, which I previously had thought was undamaged. It turned out that the right hand side of the duck tail upper was split and the rear of the tail had broken away from the lower (black) part. I think the damage was caused by having a much larger top box than the standard LT one. The top box had been twisted on its mount during the crash and I think that this force had been transmitted through the ducktail mounting points. Fortunately, I still had the complete duck tail from my donor bike, so that has been cleaned up and prepared for use. The old bits may be repairable, but I'll do that slower time.

So far, the small side panels, duck tail, grab handles, petrol tank, pannier lids and front fender have all been prepped and coated in primer. Top box has had some minor chips filled in and is next in the queue for priming. The upper fairing mounting bracket has been wire-brushed and is waiting on a lick of black paint. Now I have opted for rattle cans, I will be ordering the top coat paint next week - the RS Paint people are usually pretty quick and efficient.

I ordered a "new" radiator fairing off eBay a week back - but am still waiting on it arriving (should have been here yesterday) - unfortunately, it's blue so it will need painting, but it was a good price! When i started working on Gretel's old one, it was obvious that it had been previously repaired and, additionally, both upper mounting lugs had broken off in the crash. Along with the impact damage to the bottom face, it was looking pretty shabby. I will still attempt to repair it and keep as a spare, but thought that eBay one would be a quicker solution!

Mechanically-wise - head stock bearings are going back in tomorrow (necessary parts and outer races are already in the freezer), bearings to go in the oven tomorrow morning. Replacement forks are being fitted with new seals and will be filled with fresh fork oil before they go back on. I'll also be refurbishing the front brake callipers and fitting new pads. All easy, routine, maintenance stuff but easiest to do while the bike is stripped down. 

Having the bike supported on it's own trolley has proved to be a massive advantage. It is so easy to move around in the garage - I even pulled the bike out of the garage this afternoon and wheeled it around to the front of my house to give it a bit of a deep clean (taking advantage of a short, but welcome, spot of sunshine on an otherwise freezing cold day) before wheeling it back into the garage!

Disappointing.... very disappointing......... colour will not be orange! You have achieved quite a deal in a short time. Pity about the weather, but it is winter over there and you have little choice. Keep at it and she will be back on the road in no time.

Nice to see Gretel recovering from her injuries.
Years ago, I repainted bikes with rattle cans and got a fairly decent job. The secret is to put a coat of "rattle" clear coat on too. Do not paint when there is a lot of humidity in the air. (Difficult in your area )
About painting with a gun, this would be a big investment and as I discover on my rig, you have to have a good water filter in you compressed air line.
It may not be important in hot climate, but when yo live where the temp is most of the winter under 0, this has a huge impact on how long the paint job last.
Good luck with the project.

Bert

BAE

While you are doing that lot I zapped my card this week and ordered a brand new radiator fan, injector seals, clutch, engine rear seal and all the gubbins one meets or encounters on the way in that I know may be or actually are kaput. Aim to have all done by the Patricks weekend camping trip for when you are over with the Kompleted Gretel.

The K has not had anything serious spent on it in 3 years so I am quite happy with getting this lot done.

Crazy Frog wrote:Nice to see Gretel recovering from her injuries.
Years ago, I repainted bikes with rattle cans and got a fairly decent job. The secret is to put a coat of "rattle" clear coat on too. Do not paint when there is a lot of humidity in the air. (Difficult in your area )
About painting with a gun, this would be a big investment and as I discover on my rig, you have to have a good water filter in you compressed air line.
It may not be important in hot climate, but when yo live where the temp is most of the winter under 0, this has a huge impact on how long the paint job last.
Good luck with the project.

Thanks Bert - humility and the cold are big problems with spray painting at this time of year, in this part of the world. To overcome these problems, I have set up a spray booth in the house(!) - actually it is an old 3 man pop up tent that just about fits in my otherwise unused dining room. That way the bike parts and paint are all at a sensible temperature (about 20 deg C) and in dry air. The tent helps keep the over-spray under control. 

Only down side is the lack of ventilation - once zipped up inside the tent, I have to limit myself to a fairly short period of time to avoid inhaling too many paint fumes! At least it stops me rushing the job and trying to get it all done in double quick time. When I get to the lacquer coat though, I think I will be moving the tent out to the back yard to get some air flow though the tent.

I hadn't even thought about needing a water filter in a spray gun - until you posted recently about spraying your sidecar. At least I won't have that problem this time around using the rattle cans.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:BAE

While you are doing that lot I zapped my card this week and ordered a brand new radiator fan, injector seals, clutch, engine rear seal and all the gubbins one meets or encounters on the way in that I know may be or actually are kaput. Aim to have all done by the Patricks weekend camping trip for when you are over with the Kompleted Gretel.

The K has not had anything serious spent on it in 3 years so I am quite happy with getting this lot done.

Sounds like you are going to have a few busy weekends Olaf. Those jobs do come around eventually - the hard bit, for us year round riders, is getting the downtime to do them. It's not looking good for me for the St Pats weekend at the moment - my eldest daughter pointed out that she will probably want picking up from Uni on 18 Mar. Plans can change, so I'll stay as a "maybe" for now.

Day 2 of a weekend free to concentrate on Gretel.

Turned out to be a beautiful sunny day, but the temperature struggled to get to 6 deg C. Despite a cold, frosty start, I heard the occasional roar of Sunday riders passing on the nearby main road out for a spin on dry roads...and I envied them!

My head stock had spent the night in the freezer, along with the outer bearing races, and was ready for assembly this morning. The bearings went into the oven for a gentle warming while I got myself ready for the challenge over a steaming hot coffee. I put two electric heaters in the garage to try and warm Gretel up too - might as well have not bothered - after nearly an hour, the garage temperature (and everything in it) remained stubbornly at 2 deg C. In fact, even once the outside temperature had warmed to nearly 6 deg C, the garage stayed at a chilly 2 degrees., despite having the door wide open.

Anyway, job on - remembered (at the last minute) to put the spacer cup on the shaft before dropping the nice warm bearing onto it. The bearing slipped on easily and a couple of gentle taps with a wooden mallet had it sitting square at the base of the shaft. Next, the bearing outer races went into the frame - ideally the frame would be much warmer (expanded) and the bearing parts much colder (contracted) to allow for easy assembly with the minimum of kinetic persuasion - however, even with just a 20 deg c difference, I had little difficulty in first getting the bottom race set in place and then the top one. Dai's top tip of a few posts back - i.e. keeping the old outer races to use as a drift - was an absolutely top tip. Cheers Dai! Naturally being exactly the right size and suitably hard, it was an absolute breeze to knock both new outer races firmly and squarely home into the bearing recess in the frame. The old race outers have now been consigned to the "special tool kit" for future use. I had watched the Chris Harris video on doing the head bearings - he did the job without removing the upper fairing. Since my fairing was all off anyway, I didn't need to be doing all the fiddling about and, for a job that only needs doing once in a very long time, I reckon that doing it with all the fairing removed is by far the easiest way of doing it. Either way, I now have lovely smooth steering again and no nasty notchy-ness to ignore!!

Next job on the list was to replace the fork seals and fork oil in the newly acquired forks. I don't know if the old seals were good or not, they looked OK, but while the forks were out, it seemed to make sense to put in new seals and have a known starting point. It didn't take me long to complete the job - but I had to cannibalise my old forks for the filling screw sealing crush washers - neither filling screw at the top of each of the "new" forks had a crush washer, which was odd as they both still contained oil. Might explain why they were both oily to the touch when I got them.

With the fork seals fitted and the forks filled with the prescribed amount of oil, back onto the bike they went. With the steering all back together, it was now immediately apparent that all was not well with the handlebars. I couldn't tell if the bars had been bent in the crash when everything was smashed and crooked, but with it all back together, it was obvious that the right hand handlebar was clearly bent out of alignment. Fortunately I still had my spare bars from the donor bike. Even so, this was not a job I had been planning on doing so it was a bit of a pain. So, off with the aftermarket heated grips, off with the left and right controls and off with the bars. Again, with the bike stripped down as she was, actually the job was less hassle than it would normally be, so it was the right time to be doing it. 

The bent bars: Donor bars at top - Gretel's bent bar at bottom.

If shove had come to shove harder, I am quite sure that I could have bent the misshapen bars back to their proper shape, but as I have a spare...I'll use that for now. Unfortunately, there were a few minor rusty patches on the donor bars, so I've had to rub them down and treat them to a fresh coat of black paint. Once the paint dries, I will be able to proceed.

The final job of the day was to fit new brake pads to the front callipers. Taking advantage of the mobility of Gretel on her trolley, I wheeled her to the front of the garage, so I could give the callipers a good clean once the old pads were out - without flooding the garage! It also meant I was sitting out in the marginally warmer sunshine!! 

I really need to do something about tarting up the engine block - but the main intention remains to repair the crash damage and get Gretel back on the road again, not strip her right down and make her gleam like a new bike. I may treat the engine block to a little paint in due course, but right now, it is too cold and I think the effort would be wasted as it would probably chip off easily again. Now, if I could get the engine into the house.....

So that was pretty much it for today - apart from a little more time spent in the spray tent putting a coat of paint on the handle bars and a final coat on the upper fairing mounting bracket. I'll let them fully dry and harden through the week and may get round to refitting them next weekend.

This evening, I will be trying to glue/GRP repair the broken centre console piece back together (the trim piece that supports the radio speakers on a LT). This flimsy bit of brittle plastic was quite badly broken in the crash and I have been looking on eBay for a replacement, but without any luck. There are a couple on eBay, but they are cracked and are generally in very poor condition for the price being asked! I don't have a radio fitted to either of my LT's (I prefer to have the extra storage space and rely on my blue tooth headset for my radio and MP3 entertainment), so the speakers are totally redundant. As I see it, the speakers are now just unnecessary weight, but I don't want to leave gaping holes either so I will probably remove the speakers and insert a blank in their place underneath the speaker grill. Similarly, whilst I don't need it, I will refit the aerial so I'm not left with a hole in the top fairing.

Onwards and upwards!

This may be too late to be of any use to you, but I believe that your flimsy bit of fairing trim is made of ABS plastic.  At least the trim that goes around under the windshield on my K75RT is. 

I have successfully repaired cracks in my flimsy bit by using the cement sold for ABS plumbing fittings to cement patches made from 1.5mm thick ABS thermoforming sheet.  The black cement is better than the clear as it has a filler of dissolved ABS in it that acts to fill the gaps between the parts, adding a bit of extra strength to the repair.

The 1.5mm sheet is easy to cut, and is flexible enough that clamping can make it conform to simple curves.

Well done and considering the weather the project has really moved on. Lucky that most of us have reached the stage of having two and a bit or maybe three bikes at our disposal to aid the resurrection of a nearly departed.
What plans for next weekend?

good to hear and see paul

hope your injuries are healing well mate ...such a sad thing to experience and see ..even from afar

pity about those infill pieces though ..I believe the liner is still available ...new and unblemished from motobins ...at a reasonable price too
well if plastic ever comes at a reasonable price that is ...

heres a thought

if you want to tart the motor ...get the front wheel on ...pull chassis to engine bits ...cables etc ..leave the back wheel off, even perhaps the whole rear swing arm and trolly  the whole driveline , including engine inside . shouldn't take much more than a couple of hours to strip it back .. but you will need a friend to help out ...thankfully there are folks like Alby in this world ..forever enthusiastic and willing to help out ...im sure you should be able to find someone that might help out for a couple of hours ...fingers crossed







good luck mate

Point-Seven-five wrote:This may be too late to be of any use to you, but I believe that your flimsy bit of fairing trim is made of ABS plastic.  At least the trim that goes around under the windshield on my K75RT is. 

I have successfully repaired cracks in my flimsy bit by using the cement sold for ABS plumbing fittings to cement patches made from 1.5mm thick ABS thermoforming sheet.  The black cement is better than the clear as it has a filler of dissolved ABS in it that acts to fill the gaps between the parts, adding a bit of extra strength to the repair.

The 1.5mm sheet is easy to cut, and is flexible enough that clamping can make it conform to simple curves.

Thanks Point-Seven-five...it isn't too late - such is the extent of the damage, I was having to glue it in stages anyway. It really is a flimsy bit of brittle plastic. I'll see if I can get some ABS sheet and glue..if not I'll be using a GRP repair kit.

ainsjac wrote:Well done and considering the weather the project has really moved on. Lucky that most of us have reached the stage of having two and a bit or maybe three bikes at our disposal to aid the resurrection of a nearly departed.
What plans for next weekend?

Yeah, it's getting there slowly Stan...buying the salvage on my first bike was definitely a good move. Mind you, if I could wind the clock back a few years, I would have probably rebuilt the donor bike rather than slowly cannibalise her. In my ignorance, I thought a write off was the end of the road (pardon the pun) rather than an insurance cop out.

To answer your previous post too...sorry to disappoint about the colour selection! 

Next weekend, I may be top coating or I may be trying to clean up the engine block. Who knows? I really could do without having to work during the week and then I'd be done much quicker. Perhaps I better go order the top coat?

charlie99 wrote:good to hear and see paul
hope your injuries are healing well mate ...such a sad thing to experience and see ..even from afar
pity about those infill pieces though ..I believe the liner is still available ...new and unblemished from motobins ...at a reasonable price too
well if plastic ever comes at a reasonable price that is ...
heres a thought
if you want to tart the motor ...get the front wheel on ...pull chassis to engine bits ...cables etc ..leave the back wheel off, even perhaps the whole rear swing arm and trolly  the whole driveline , including engine inside . shouldn't take much more than a couple of hours to strip it back .. but you will need a friend to help out ...thankfully there are folks like Alby in this world ..forever enthusiastic and willing to help out ...im sure you should be able to find someone that might help out for a couple of hours ...fingers crossed
good luck mate

Cheers Charlie - injuries pretty much healed, but physio is ongoing to try and recover strength and full range of movement. It'll get there, but it all takes time. 

Still trying to repair the centre trim panel - some good advice from point-seven-five to follow up on. I wonder if I am flogging the proverbial dead horse though - and might be better of buying new. I hadn't looked at Motobins - I usually use James Sherlock or Motorworks, but note that both motorworks and motobins have the part in stock (that surprised me) - don't like the price much though £71.45 from Motorworks or £60.60 from motobins. You call that reasonable for a bit of formed plastic? Mind you I forked out £72 for a new screen (a larger but simpler plastic form) but the old screen was definitely beyond repair after I broke my way through it and scattered the pieces on the road!

Still undecided about how deep I want to go into the engine block tarting up at the moment - maybe I should accept it as it is for now and get the engine and gearbox off my donor bike and tart that up first. When it was done, I could then drop Gretel's engine out, insert the donor engine and then tart up Gretel's engine in slower time. It would be one heck of a way to do an oil change! If only I had more time and more space.

Born Again Eccentric wrote:If only I had more time and more space.

Never a truer word spoken...

That's close enough to an Eternal Verity, as makes no odds.

I bought a new panel for Margie's bike when she upended it and it was surprisingly flexible and cheap considering it was genuine.

Fantastic effort BAE.

Really admire you getting on with this in fairly hostile conditions.

I'm still in awe of your recent efforts to ride and meet up with the Irish Eccentrics by the way.

Hope both you and Gretel continue to heal well.

Cheers,

D

Born Again Eccentric wrote:

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:BAE

While you are doing that lot I zapped my card this week and ordered a brand new radiator fan, injector seals, clutch, engine rear seal and all the gubbins one meets or encounters on the way in that I know may be or actually are kaput. Aim to have all done by the Patricks weekend camping trip for when you are over with the Kompleted Gretel.

The K has not had anything serious spent on it in 3 years so I am quite happy with getting this lot done.

Sounds like you are going to have a few busy weekends Olaf. Those jobs do come around eventually - the hard bit, for us year round riders, is getting the downtime to do them. It's not looking good for me for the St Pats weekend at the moment - my eldest daughter pointed out that she will probably want picking up from Uni on 18 Mar. Plans can change, so I'll stay as a "maybe" for now.

My box from Motobins arrived yesterday morning. Not bad service at all but looked small for the amount I spent!Still, it included a brand new Bosch fan, hazard switch and loom, brake switches, injector seals and more. I could have got the fan cheaper from Motorworks but the saving was eaten by the difference in postage so I got the lot from Motobins. Busy workwise at the moment so I also eBayed a complete stand assembly off a 16k mile K and in good nick and will pop that on. My main stand broke after the last off and this was the easiest way to do it. When I get the old one off it I will get the centre stand welded up and sorted with bushings and bolts that I already have.

Well if the Patricks weekend outing doesn't work there will be more. Maybe now a camping trip down to BobT in France in September is a thought.....

dee why wrote:Fantastic effort BAE.
Really admire you getting on with this in fairly hostile conditions.
I'm still in awe of your recent efforts to ride and meet up with the Irish Eccentrics by the way.
Hope both you and Gretel continue to heal well.
Cheers,

Cheers D, I'm not one to sit back and wait for balmier weather -I don't mind the cold, I can wrap up with extra layers and a wooly hat to cope with that as long as it is dry, but it is really miserable when it is cold, wet and windy working in a pokey little unheated garage. 

That ride on 27/28/29 Dec and the meet up was great - but, by the time I got home again, I realised that it really was a case of "too much, too soon". I haven't ridden again since, but hope to be back on the bike again by the end of January.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:My box from Motobins arrived yesterday morning. Not bad service at all but looked small for the amount I spent!
Well if the Patricks weekend outing doesn't work there will be more. Maybe now a camping trip down to BobT in France in September is a thought.....

I know what you mean about looking small for the amount spent! I've had a few recent deliveries that have cost quite a lot but actually have very little in the box. Got package today from James Sherlock - tank emblems and pannier hinges - exactly what I ordered but quite a cost for not very much at all (all at very similar prices from motorworks and motobins).

Paint now on order from RS Paints - realised at the weekend (in day light) that the new fairing parts are a greener grey than I thought they were and not as dark a grey as the Stratos grey of Heidi. Thanks to some side by side cut and pasting from the colour chart links provided by Chocolate and David Nimrod (thanks again guys), I have assured myself that the new fairing colour is actually Diamond grey (makes sense as it is a RT fairing), so that's what I've ordered. Hope it's right!



Also "bit the bullet" and ordered a new flimsy plastic infill bit from Motobins - my old one is pretty much beyond repair and has too many bits that have broken off and gone missing. I suppose if survives the 27 years that it's predecessor did, then it is not a bad investment!

617 ( diamond grey ) is a great colour !

John Re

JR_K100RS wrote:617 ( diamond grey ) is a great colour !

John Re

I hope so John - if I've got it right! I didn't have the paint code to go by, so it is a little investigative guesswork.

Well, I've had a disappointing weekend where I have made little real progress due to waiting on various deliveries. 

I had ordered my paint and it was dispatched very quickly...only I didn't get a tracking reference so wasn't at home to sign for it when the UPS man came unannounced on Thursday (or when he tried to re-deliver at the same time on Friday). I don't think these delivery people get the fact that some of have to work and aren't always home at 10am during the week. I have made arrangements to be in on Monday when he tries his "final" delivery. I had hoped to be painting this weekend, but without paint, that plan was somewhat scuppered.

I am still waiting on the radiator fairing that I ordered off eBay way back on 13 Jan. Allegedly, it was sent on 18th but, to date no sign of it and the seller has gone very quiet. I have got the eBay resolution section engaged, but they won't do anything more until 2 Feb. Having paid through PayPal, I will be able to get a refund if it comes to it, but really I just want the part so I can get on with preparing it for painting. In the meantime, I may just have to go and order another one that is showing on eBay for a reasonable price. 

Even so, I did spend most of yesterday tinkering and fiddling about. Shiny, repainted, donor bike handlebars fitted. Trip odometer replaced with one from donor bike instrument cluster as the reset knob wasn't spinning all the dials back to zero. It wasn't particularly bothering me, but while the cluster was off and I had a little time on my hands, it made sense to get in and do it. Instrument cluster refitted. Upper fairing mount and horns fitted and a fair amount of time spent fiddling with the mass of cables and wires to try and get them to sit right. Also, yesterday, as it was a fairly warm 5 deg C and sunny (up to the point when there was a hail storm, today it is just miserable and raining!), I did an in-situ clean up of the engine block and covers. Sprayed with heat resistant matt black paint and it looks better than it did, but not as good as it should. Probably better done on a warmer engine and/or in warmer weather. I'll give it all a good rub over with ACF-50 when the paint has had a few days to harden fully and see if that makes it look more presentable.




The final job of the weekend was to order a new set of tyres - I usually use Avon Roadriders, but am trying Dunlop Arrowmax StreetSmart for a change (about the same price). Both of these will go on Gretel and her current rear tyre becomes my spare wheel. Gretel's front tyre was approaching the wear limit before the accident, but the wheel will need some attention before I can put more rubber on it (hopefully, I can knock out the dings - but whether it will be any use, depends how buckled it is). I'll take the bent wheel into the tyre place on Friday with the other two wheels and get them to remove the old tyre for me.

Hopefully, more progress to be made during the evenings this week when I've got my paint. 

All being well, I will be back to commuting on Heidi this week - 10 weeks is long enough to have been suffering the warmth and comfort of commuting in a tin box (even if it is the right make and colour). Forecast is for wet and miserable though...but probably preferable to frost and ice?

Great progress BAE. As regards Tarting up the engine I did mine on the LT back in 2012 over a saturday and Sunday morning. All you need is some gasket goo and a couple of aerosols of paint to hand to whip off the 3 covers and spruce them up. I then polshed up the bolts in a brass brush in the drill and a bit of Autosol for even better results.

Good to see the knock didn't curb your enthusiasm for the bike!

88 wrote:Great progress BAE. As regards Tarting up the engine I did mine on the LT back in 2012 over a saturday and Sunday morning. All you need is some gasket goo and a couple of aerosols of paint to hand to whip off the 3 covers and spruce them up. I then polshed up the bolts in a brass brush in the drill and a bit of Autosol for even better results.
Good to see the knock didn't curb your enthusiasm for the bike!

Cheers Will - I've had enough painting for now. So will leave the covers in place until another day. I really want to get Gretel back together and running again.

I had a busy week in my painting tent this week. I finally got my paint delivery on Monday and have spent most evenings in the tent putting on the top coat and lacquer. To speed things up, I put a oil filled electric radiator in the tent - incredible how much heat the tent retains - a proper little drying oven! The tent is also very effective at preventing the airborne paint and lacquer escaping into the room and making a mess! 

The radiator fairing I ordered off eBay never showed up - the eBay resolution centre were very helpful and refunded me. Annoying though, the reason I ordered it was because I wanted it! In the end, I reverted to plan A and repaired Gretel's broken one. It's far from perfect, but will do until I can get my hands on a better condition one (for a reasonable price). 

Today was mostly spent reassembling. Ducktail rebuilt and fitted - with a good squirt of deOxit in the ABS brain connector; top box on; upper fairing fitted; shiny new screen fitted; fuel tank fitted - I've used the one off my donor bike, so I also re-keyed the lock to match the ignition key; seat back on; and front fender on. Gretel is starting to look like a bike again! I would have put on the fairing lowers too, but want to give the radiator fairing paint a few more days (in the warm) to fully cure and harden (oh to be In Oz - it would be cured in about 10 minutes flat!) and experience has taught me that the lowers and radiator fairing need to be fitted at the same time.

I should be finished with the rebuild next weekend - and once the wheels are back on and she's off the trolley, I'll do an oil change, check gearbox and final drive levels and then get some petrol in the tank ready for the moment of truth...

Looking good. What do you need to do in order to be back on they road legally? Here you are supposed to produce an official weighing certificate (she'll be right mate... looks about 250 kilos). In our state you pay registration based on weight.... damage to roads.

ainsjac wrote:Looking good. What do you need to do in order to be back on they road legally? Here you are supposed to produce an official weighing certificate (she'll be right mate... looks about 250 kilos). In our state you pay registration based on weight.... damage to roads.

Thanks Stan - nearly there.

The bike was declared a Cat C write off - which means it was considered uneconomical to repair. However, a Cat C (and Cat D) write off can be put straight back on the road without any additional checks. If it had been either Cat A or B, it would be scrapped as that indicates a serious fault. Once flagged up as a Cat C write off, she will stay as such for the rest of her days and it is just a marker for any future buyers to let them know that she has had an accident. I was going to put her through a MoT (annual inspection) again, and still might, but my MoT is still valid so I'll probably just take her out for a spin to see what she feels like first.

Weighing certificate? - I guess you turn up and the weigh station with panniers, top box, tool kit and spares all removed and an empty fuel tank...? Do they weigh the riders too?

No, they do not weigh the riders......they may outweigh the bike at times. Our government works on the idea that the heavier the vehicle, the more damage it does on the roads and therefore you have to pay higher registration costs. Most inspection stations just go and check the manufacturers' specification on the official government site. When I went to register my orange RT, the official data base did not go back that far and so, in theory, I was supposed to supply a weigh certificate. It gets worse as when I changed the tub on my ute with an aluminium tray I was supposed to get it reweighed... in case it was heavier. No, it did not happen.
So your bike continues as if nothing happened.

good to see mate ...fingers crossed

Just for non-UK members; in UK insurance terms 'uneconomical to repair' (Cat C write-off) occurs when the cost of repairs exceeds 66% of the value of the vehicle. I've had a couple of non-fault claims where the insurance assessor has worked with me to get the damage valuation to 65% just to avoid any possible third-party insurer problems by hitting the Cat C marker.

me too dai ...

my old rolla was written off ...but fortunately was able to buy it back for a whimsical sum ..but with a 3000 payout
back on the road within 2 weeks with money in my pocket.
all glossy and looking mean again ...served another 8 years good service before I had to retire her with corrosion issues , outside the affected areas .blooming atmosphere around here took out the chassis ...besides a truck ripping a new wheel arch in the rear drivers side ....blah them buggers really don't give a shoot  do they ?

its good to see bae restoring a great thing

charlie99 wrote:its good to see bae restoring a great thing

Trouble is Charlie, the cost of all the bits (even through eBay etc) and the paint pushes the repair cost up towards the cost of a replacement bike and then there's the time and space needed too. I fear that too many repairable bikes have gone to the scrap yard or become a totally unique cafe racer gone under the butchers knife. Eventually, the insurance men will ensure that we run out of K100's.

I've spent about £650 on recovering Gretel - for another £200-400 I could have picked up another LT. That's what I did last time and ended up with the wreck acting as a donor bike (which, with hindsight was very repairable - too late now...I've used too many parts now).

Hopefully, once the insurance pays out (assuming I win...third party loss and injury claims are never quick), then I'll be able to go and find myself another bike to add to the stable (still hankering after a K1100RS) - I think they call that a win win?

Took Heidi into work today - woohoo, felt so good to be back on 2 wheels again, even if it was -2 deg C this morning (frosty and foggy) and +5 deg C and pissing down when coming home. Only had one eejit trying to side swipe me by lane changing in Bristol without looking or indicating. He waved a very nice apologetic sorry in response to the blast from Heidi's horns - so that's OK isn't it?!

Born Again Eccentric wrote:
Hopefully, once the insurance pays out (assuming I win...third party loss and injury claims are never quick), then I'll be able to go and find myself another bike to add to the stable (still hankering after a K1100RS) - I think they call that a win win?

No point "hankering" BAE. You will certainly not regret buying a K1100RS

Born Again Eccentric wrote:

charlie99 wrote:its good to see bae restoring a great thing

Trouble is Charlie, the cost of all the bits (even through eBay etc) and the paint pushes the repair cost up towards the cost of a replacement bike and then there's the time and space needed too. I fear that too many repairable bikes have gone to the scrap yard or become a totally unique cafe racer gone under the butchers knife. Eventually, the insurance men will ensure that we run out of K100's.

I've spent about £650 on recovering Gretel - for another £200-400 I could have picked up another LT. That's what I did last time and ended up with the wreck acting as a donor bike (which, with hindsight was very repairable - too late now...I've used too many parts now).

Hopefully, once the insurance pays out (assuming I win...third party loss and injury claims are never quick), then I'll be able to go and find myself another bike to add to the stable (still hankering after a K1100RS) - I think they call that a win win?

Took Heidi into work today - woohoo, felt so good to be back on 2 wheels again, even if it was -2 deg C this morning (frosty and foggy) and +5 deg C and pissing down when coming home. Only had one eejit trying to side swipe me by lane changing in Bristol without looking or indicating. He waved a very nice apologetic sorry in response to the blast from Heidi's horns - so that's OK isn't it?!

I understand fully bae ...but its the things we do, to something that have brought us joy or pleasure that restores the soul ..mere financial decisions just don't feel the same

yes there are the hard nosed decisions  ,...but love to see the challenge attempted and achieved ...speaks volumes for the conviction or appreciation of the soul, mate

good onya

I still go with BAEs route of recovery. Think I would have done the same.

In last few weeks I went about getting the parts for my RT for the rear main seal job. Small part and low money but a long way in. So the inevitable decision to do everything else along the way....and all the other jobs that had been left off.

I looked at the cost and seems I have spent about £530 on parts, plus a few that are recoverable accident damage.

In the back of my mind was well, one could put this toward another K instead but then I looked at what one would end up doing unless a full history was known. Having done things like head bearings, water pump, rear shock and may more items over time a change wasn't really on the cards. These things along with a rear seal are probably the remaining bug bear items on a K so why let a well sorted one go. Gretel is also a lovely K and was well sorted as most of us Eccentrics knew when Sgmayhew had her before BAE bought her.

Looking forward to seeing you over her some time Paul....or maybe joining us on the trip to France in September.

charlie99 wrote:
I understand fully bae ...but its the things we do, to something that have brought us joy or pleasure that restores the soul ..mere financial decisions just don't feel the same

yes there are the hard nosed decisions  ,...but love to see the challenge attempted and achieved ...speaks volumes for the conviction or appreciation of the soul, mate

good onya

I agree. Its not just about the money.

While the circumstances surrounding the need to do the work are extremely regrettable , there's a lot of satisfaction around a job well done.  

Bill