More Forking Forks… (Red)

Whelp. I gave up. Sort of. My work to open up the pinch arms on the lower fork were a success, but when I put it all back together, it still did not feel quite right. I spent a good amount of time measuring and could detect some very minor deflection in the sliders. In the end, I decided to change plans and simply buy new sliders. I was able to find them in the EU from KFM Motorrader for only a little more than good looking used options on eBay. 

This was my first order from KFM, and I am very impressed with their shipping. Less than a week from the order, I had the sliders with standard shipping. Their site and my account there seems to have no idea that I made the order, and I had to email them to get any details after the sale, so that all seemed a bit sketchy. Turned out to be OK, so I am going to chalk it up to a website glitch for now. 

I was able to get sliders for an 86 and newer model which come in black rather than raw aluminum like the 85 models. They came with fork seals installed, so that was a nice benefit. With some inspection, I did notice that the new left slider was just tight enough to bind on the axle, so I wound up using the same bolt and washer trick I used to open up the old slider last week. It did not take much and coupled with some moderate Scotch pad work on the axle and some metal polish, the parts now fit with a loose friction fit. The axle spins easily, but also makes good contact with the slider.

After installing the sliders and inserting the axle, the forks are nearly free of stiction. There is a small bit of binding at the low end. I don’t think it will be an issue once the springs are installed and have decided to proceed with reassembly. Assuming all goes well, I’ll have a few more parts for the spares bin or a future eBay listing. 

In other news, I received the dash brackets from SendCutSend. This was my first attempt at this design, and I am pleased that it appears to be completely sufficient. I wound up getting five of them in a mix of three finishes. This is mainly because SendCutSend imposes minimum costs for bending and different finish applications, so it was possible to get five for only a couple bucks more than just one. 

I experimented with modifying the headlight ears to accommodate the ToasterTan top brace, but am not really happy with the result. Before I commit to the rest of the steering head assembly, I will wait for another option to arrive from the UK. I found some ears from Flat Racer that claim to respect the factory geometry for the placement of the light bucket and they look to allow a bit more flexibility for the more robust top brace. They were affordable enough to test, so I’ve got my fingers crossed that they will work out.

I am also beginning to map out how to attach the newer electrics to the bike. I won’t be using any of the original relays, coils, voltage regulator or ignition system, so I have room to work with. I will be using the EME R21 instead of all the relays and it is the core of the new wiring system. This unit is essentially a BMW Airhead specific version of the NWT X21 and a good alternative to the Motogadget m.unit. A challenge is that it is a bit too large to easily fit in horizontally under the tank, so I designed a few parts to mount it under the frame. Once everything arrives, I’ll share some photos.

I also designed a new bracket to hold the Dyna 3ohm coils since the standard EME bracket did not align well with the mounting points on the frame and also places the plug wires in an awkward location. More to come on those when parts arrive.