Wednesday, 23 June 2021

'01 Honda CBR600F4i PC35 - Part 1 - Introduction

Few months ago I was looking to buy a new project bike. There was one enduro bike for sale nearby which peaked my interest and price seemed reasonable. I contacted the seller but the deal fell apart and he decided not to sell it for some reason. I weighed my options I decided to try to sell my '91 Honda CBR600F PC25. On a whim I made an add for my PC25 and on the next day it was already sold. 

Now that I got more room available in the garage I started to look for a newer Honda CBR600F4i. PC35 seemed like a good option since I had purchased some parts earlier (more about those later) which would be easier to fit to PC35 than PC25. After browsing market places for available PC35s I ended up buying this one a week later. 

It had 50 058 km on the trip meter when I bought it so it was time to get it serviced. I took it to a local maintenance shop. Main thing was to check clearances of inlet and exhaust valves. Engine oil, oil filter, air filter, spark plugs and coolant were changed and charging, battery, fuel injection, suspension, control system, brakes, lights, tire pressures etc. were checked at the same time.

Overall this bike is in good condition and rides nicely. I haven't got to ride it too much yet but first impressions are good. It feels more nimble and responsive than my previous PC25 and has better ergonomics. There are small things I want to fix along the way such as rust on the silencer, scratches on the right side fairing and crack on the windshield but are not urgent at the moment. 



Sunday, 9 May 2021

1st of May Cruise 2021 @ Riihimäki, Finland - Part II

 Here's first part of photos from last weekend's May Day cruise 😎 Next part covers Yankee cars.

Austin 1300GT

Saturday, 23 January 2021

'73 Suzuki GT250 - Part 16 - Stainless steel front brake disc

I had an opportunity to cut a front brake disc for my GT250 out of 5 mm thick stainless steel sheet using abrasive water jet cutting. After googling and looking at different front brake disc designs I decided go with similar style used in aftermarket Triumph Speed Twin front brake discs. Once I was happy with the 3D-model I exported it to a DXF file which was used to program routing for the cutting machine. 

After cutting I machined grooves around each bolt hole used to fix the brake disc to the front wheel hub with 14 mm square mill in a vertical milling machine. Once that was done I sand blasted the disc to get a good surface for paint. 

This time I decided to use simple spray paint. Before painting I masked outer edges of the disc and cleaned all the surfaces I wanted to paint with acetone. I applied a thin coat first which supposed to help the next heavier coats to stick better. Instructions in the can said to use primer when necessary so I opted to leave it out. I'm curious too see how it works without primer. If it doesn't I will prep it and paint it again. Once paint had cured I installed the disc with a 12 mm spacer I also got cut with abrasive water jet cutter and rolled the bike outside to snap few pictures of it 😊

Design for front brake disc

Dimensions

Blank

Grooves for socket cap screws machined with square end mill
in a vertical milling machine

Sand blasting before...

...masking and coat of matte black spray paint

Dimensions for spacer

I painted the outer surface also with matte black






Saturday, 9 January 2021

Turpakäräjät @ Ullan Pakari - 7th of October 2020 - Riihimäki, Finland

Here is my last set of photos from 2020 and throwback to meet from week 41 😊 As days were starting to get shorter and shorter and amount of daylight running low when I took these photos I decided to wait until springtime to visit this meet next time. Until then check out how my season ended!

Cadillac Eldorado