Getting framed, and more. (Red)

I wrapped up the holiday break by getting the motor back into the frame. It was a bit of a dance, but not hard at all. There are only to bolts, so it seems simple enough to do. The only challenge is moving an unwieldy motor into the frame without damaging the frame’s finish. I used bubble wrap to protect the frame in a few places. After a bit of careful lifting and maneuvering, it was in.

I have two mounting studs that came with the bike. One appears to be original and one has been chromed. Both are 306 mm. I am not sure why one was replaced, but the chrome stud was putting up a fight with the nuts, even after cleaning. I decided to chase the threads on both studs and all four nuts with the appropriate tap and die. This resolved the issue an all the hardware cooperated, as hoped.

I am not certain, I won’t replace the chrome stud with an OE version, or even swapping both of them for stainless steel at some point. I also did not fully torque them, since I still need to get other hardware mounted and have not sorted what’s going where just yet. I mounted the rear frame and lift handle to get them done, and have begun work installing the front suspension. I’ll save the details for the front suspension for another post.

In other news, the front brakes are now fully rebuilt. This is a very simple process. Take it apart, clean, paint, reassemble. The R80 brakes only have one major possible cost in rebuilding, which is the caliper pistons. Sometimes, these get a bit nasty with wear and pitting. Mine were all in pretty good condition.

I repainted them to freshen up their appearance, being very careful to mask all of the mating and functional surfaces. My plan was to give the Brembo logos the same brushed treatment that other aluminum parts get, but the logo had enough wear (or was simply not a great casting) that I decided to leave it alone for now. I don’t think the logo would product crisp edges anymore. I may come back and apply some white or other paint to the logo, but that will wait until more of the bike is put together.

I think it’s time to reorganize and tidy up the work area. I’ve been focusing on getting tasks done and boxes and bits have been accumulating.