Score!

I came across a PDF of a 1970 RT1 service manual tonight. I'll probably buy a copy anyway, but this is going to be some good bedtime reading. Best of all - skimming through it, it seems I've been getting things right so far.

Shock horror!

Pretty, isn't it? A cheap, homemade tool to dismantle my replacement shocks.



My replacement shocks. One of the old shock's mounting tabs had been busted, so I grabbed a cheap replacement set on ebay, which came to me with flaked paint, caked mud, and rust spots. I'll do a bit of scrubbing...





So this is the kind of thing that I've been doing lately - just taking things apart, cleaning them up, getting some parts ready for paint. I could have left these as they were, but besides splitting the engine block, I want to play around and get to know as many parts as I can. As long as I have the bike this far apart, it seems silly to not take care of these now.

These will probably see some silver paint for protection, but I reassembled them so I could pat myself on the back a bit, and familiarize myself (play) with my homemade spring compressor.

Baby steps.

Only made a little progress tonight... You probably wont even notice.

Easier done than said...

I'd been dreading this, but pulling the engine this morning was painless. Got into the shop with one hour before I had to get to work, got the engine out with half an hour to spare. Cleaned out the carburetor last night, and tonight I may yank the wheels, fork, and swing arm... Haven't met a stuck bolt yet - tonight's probably the night.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

Spent a few hours yesterday and today, just cleaning, studying, and stripping the bike down.



Found out that the bike has things that I thought were missing, and it's missing things that I thought it had.
Photographed the hell out of the layout, then pulled the electronics, oil tank, air box and battery mount.
I pried some rocks out of the engine fins, yanked the skid plate, and the high-clearance fender mount.


Not in any rush to get it running, so this'll probably be taken down to the frame before it all goes back together.

Step 1 - find a bike.

On Saturday, I was checking out the bike section of a vintage auto show. Later that day, I was listening to some Richard Thompson, which spurred me on to look at old Triumphs, Nortons, and Vincents. A friend of mine is restoring a BSA Goldstar, and I went to look at his restoration blog...
After realizing that I'd spent the better part of an afternoon looking at bikes and reading up on Cafe Racer conversions, I sent a buddy this message -
"Dude... I'm in trouble. I've spent the afternoon reading up on bikes and cafe racer conversions."

I quickly received an invitation to a Facebook group of local bikers, and he told them what I'd said. Another friend in the group found a few potentials, picked one up, and offered to sell it to me. Less than two days after feeling the itch, I'd wheeled this into the shop (which by luck, I rent with four members of the bike group)

1970 Yamaha RT1 360cc. Dirty... Very dirty. She's missing parts, doesn't start, needs re-cabling and wiring, no title... Also, it's not a bike that's frequently Cafe'd. But I've got a bike. If I lose faith in this one, I can always sell or part it out.

Step one complete.