imago

I'd suggest putting old tyres on and off would risk more damage than being careful as they are. Fear not, they'll come to no harm in the couple of weeks until they get tyres on.

All coming back off once I've got my measurements for spacers etc. Lots of trial fit stuff to sort out, then I can get some boots on them and work out what I need in the way of discs and sprocket.

Fair to say I'm pretty chuffed with the way this is shaping up.

Time to remove the now run in big valve head and 1168 Wiseco big bore. The head's going on the Dresda. Big bore on something eventually.

Looked a great turn out and show, a shame I missed it but you can't win them all. What/when is the next show with an OSS presence?

ISR levers look really good on special frame or race bikes, they should look trick on the concentric. I think they look a bit out of place on a modified ET or EF though. A bit too 'technical' looking if you get what I mean.

Looks like a good turn out for the stand. It did strike me looking at the pics on FB that of the 12 bikes on the stand only 3 are air cooled. A sign of time moving on I guess, I wonder how long before it becomes OSS/OCS?

That was the thing which impressed me most when I was talking to Graham about it. Very simple techniques and tools used, but done with a great deal of skill and knowledge.

Harry's finished the polishing, looks the nuts.

It's just sitting on the rails as it is. The final/correct position will see the very front of the seat/tail come down, the back up a touch and the back of the tank down about 5mm. Basically the top of the tank and the top of the tail unit will be a straight line. I need to get the wheel and arm under it before I go too far down the lining things up road though as it might not work so well then so I don't want to waste time and effort only to in it later. Once that's done and I've decided between a combined electrical tray and mounting or two separate parts I can make it/them.

Right, moving things on a bit and I got an xr55/Slabby seat unit to try courtesy of @SFC(it's a seconds unit for chopping purposes). A bit of cutting and trimming at the skirts and I'm liking the lines. I'll take some more off once I get the arm and wheels under it so that I can see the general shape of the bike better. Don't want to cut too much off until then as it's a bit more difficult adding than taking away.

Good call on the base gasket. I need to get the big valve head off of the engine in the ET, check the compressed gasket thickness and then double check what I have squish wise. I haven't sorted the cams for it yet, so I need to get on with that so that I know where I'm at with lift and duration.

The engine that the block and pistons came from must have been insanely close to the edge. The squish is purely head gasket thickness. I think a base gasket adjustment may be in order. By my reckoning that gives me 11.5:1 compression and 1165 cc displacement.

Right then, deck height, squish, compression ratio and capacity checking time.

It'd need to be Santa paying for them, I don't even want to think about or know the amount of spending I've done in the last few months.

I was talking to the bloke I got the pistons from last night, and he has photos of a Saxon race bike which has the same wheels, but although the centres are identical the rims are one piece carbon.

They are indeed, but having paid a man to make them shiny you'd be proper pissed if they weren't.

Rims are done now, exactly as I asked them to be. i.e. make them as shiny as possible without removing material to get rid of any deeper marks. Pays dividends using someone who knows what they're doing and listens to the customer. Arm will be done after Christmas.

The polisher is cracking on well with the rims.

Just seen this.

The gathering of stuff continues, soon be time to start building up the Dresda.

Undoubtedly times and technology have improved, but I unless there's some test data about frame flex it's going to be impossible to say if it's just the tyres (for example) or a combination. It's also worth noting that the top times at the classic TT are not on 40 year old frames. To name one as an example Michael Dunlop's XR69 shares bugger all with an original. So I would suggest that if your starting point is a 40 year old frame of the original diameter and tube thickness then the stuff Pops did is of more direct relevance than a special framed bike built over 40 years later.

That photo's at the exact moment where "Something feels off?" transitions into "Oh fuck!"

The frames and air cooled engines are exactly the same as they were 40 plus years ago. So while the things you mention will improve on what was available then they won't affect things like designed in bolt stretch or flex at the head stock.

I think the most interesting thing to come out of that article is what they didn't do. Just goes to show how much of the 'must do' stuff is marketing BS, urban legend and while it does no harm doesn't help anything either. Frame bracing around the head stock and HD head studs being two examples. "Bloke on the internet said ..." vs "Yoshimura's successful race bikes didn't have ..."