Rocky Mountain High

So, for a little of my personal history:
       My father, Eugene King, "sired 3 sons from 3 different women". Those were his own words to me once when he was in a semi drunken state...which was often as I recall. My Dad was an alcoholic for as long as I can remember, his breath nearly always with a sickly alcohol/sour smell to it. He died  a guilt ridden, tormented man in 1978 (at 62 yrs.) of congestive heart failure brought on by years and years of heavy drinking, chain smoking and being overweight.
      Nonetheless, I miss him terribly. I've wanted to say so many things to him....like: "I love you Dad, no matter what you've done, because I know you loved us all unconditionally and did the best you could do with the situation you had"
     He left behind a bitter wife...my mother Ruby who died nearly 2 yrs ago at 88, my older half brother Donovan, myself, my sister Alexis and his then 9 year old son Darryll...my half brother from his mistress Dorothy...and who incidentally has spent the remainder of her life as a hard drinker and heartbroken over his death. We've all paid a heavy price with our own mental health and relationships.....brought on in some way from those circumstances he created.

Darryll and wife Michelle

     When Mom died, I contacted Darryll to inform him of matters from Dad's estate. We started an email exchange which culminated this summer in a reunion (as I hadn't seen him since he was 4). We had a wonderful time taking a motorcycle trip through our magnificent national parks and ended the trip with an overnight stop at brother Don's.... to spend an unforgettable evening individually recalling memories of our father and sharing a unique bond.....as only 3 half brothers could have.
      As my beloved daughter Carmen commented: "Closure somehow, uh?" Yes, Carmen, closure for we 3 boys at least.

Bros

Daytona conversion.....semi final episode (till I ride it a bunch more)

Well y'all, here I am back at the keyboard once again. I pretty much finished up the bike on Wed after some frustration on Tue with a non-working coil on #2 hole. After stripping the airbox and tank off again (for what seemed like the umpteenth time), it turned out to be a recalcitrant locking clip on the Keihin unit which I fixed with a zip tie. I ran the bike in that state to hear the sound of an unsilenced intake....video below:

I had ordered a Hindle pipe setup, but when I picked it up I discovered they had sent a high mount midpipe rather than the standard low mount. At first I wasn't too keen on this, but "consulted" my son Taylor (his blog on the new VFR 1200) on the idea...got his enthusiastic approval...and installed the high pipe. I had to remove the rear footpeg mounts to anchor it, but I'm extremely happy with the result:

The cool triple spoke wheel is almost entirely exposed now (as it should have been from the factory) and I can now remove wheel w/o pulling the exhaust.









I  took a few more pics of the beast and went for a shakedown ride. There is absolutely no better motorcycle sound on this planet than a Triumph triple with a nice pipe. The lowered suspension was too soft in the rear so I went home and cranked up the rear preload about halfway, lowered the fork tubes to 15 mm above the factory setting ( I had 'em 25 mm before) and went out again.

Completed signal mods

I'm a bit cool on the "double bubble" windscreen (looks like a wart grew there)  since Mr. Daytona now has the naked look, but I do like the wind protection. I'll spend some time on it and see..
Note: tiny bar end mirrors and ya, I'm a bit cool on those too even tho it gets rid of the clutter on the fairing...








Note the angled up rear signals. I had to fab some mounts for these babies, but they keep the light(s) away from the pipe and actually add to the appearance.
Note: Triumph triples have a hell-for-strong engine in all the RPM ranges, no vibration and the aforementioned great sound. I conclude by saying that as good as my old '01 VFR was, this is a much better sport tourer (since the mods of course) in all aspects. SO THERE, HONDA FANS!
    I'm outa here for now folks...have a fun summer!

Daytona conversion.....episode 5

Well, after a few days hiatus, I'm back at the keyboard. One thing I've learned about blogging is that once you begin, you have to keep it up.....I've been enjoying our lovely summer too much and reluctant to sit down at the computer. The project has moved ahead....just haven't posted anything. So here goes:

This is the upper radiator mount after repair. The rad is aluminum and the mount had not only broken off but broken in two, so I was faced with either soldering with a low temp aluminum "welding rod" or drilling out the original rivet holes (3) and using JB weld and rivets to reattach it. I've used JB often as a bonding agent and in general it works great. This time was no exception. It's a solid as the Obama administration!

The hole in the cowling has now become THE BLACK HOLE.......so named because of the plastic goop I used to repair it. This is the bike show stuff a bought a couple years back for $49.95. www.quarical.com
  Ya think I paid too much for 2 small bottles of goo? Hmm, likely, but the good news is that once in place and cured (which literally takes about 5 days) it is easy to file and sand to a finish.

I tracked down a pair of  LED signal lights to replace the smashed originals. Dealer told me I had to also install a resistor in series with the light, as LEDs have almost zero impedance and my flasher would behave as if there were no light there at all. I had to try it w/o the resistor and guess what?..... the signal flashed at a frantic rate as if there were only one signal!
   Note the red object behind the light. It's a pinch clamp (one of a set I bought @ Princess Auto) for blocking off coolant hoses when changing a rad. It and it's larger friends work great, but as son Taylor pointed out to me in a cryptic text message: "just drain the whole system, the engine doesn't hold much coolant and it's likely been in there 10 yrs anyway!". He had a point, but I thought of the dozens of times I'd wished I'd had these.... like when I changed a water pump on my Boxster last summer.....#$%&!

 This cursed aftermarket fairing had perhaps half of the required mounting holes present in addition to a missing cutout for the "running light" in the center. As well, the original fairing had moulded in bosses and stays.....this fiberglass copy by it's nature can't have those unless they are added after....they were not. I decided to leave out the center light as it's not required by law, it removes some weight and when I paint it I'll put a cool Triumph logo there instead. The fairing installation is complete for now....my brother is visiting from Winnipeg in 10 days and I have to have the bike complete and ready to tour!

Here I've removed the cam chain tensioner spring, pulled out the tensioner, removed the bearing caps and I'm ready to pull the cam. This is done with #1 piston @ TDC on compression stroke, arrows pointing towards each other on sprockets. When I checked valve clearances, all the intakes were .135mm (spec is.10 to.20) but the exhaust were all .135 and .152 on each pair of valves (spec is .20 to .30).
      WTF? How can it be that clearance varies the exact amount on each set of valves? I'll have to speculate that the original assembler put in shims that were off spec...maybe because he didn't have enough of the right ones? Exhaust valves always pound themselves into the seat faster than the intakes but this one makes me scratch my head. Another trip to the dealer to get shims. I wonder if they have enough of the right ones or whether I'm looking at ordering from the UK..... as has been the case with almost every part I've bought from Echo.
    As much as I've praised this bike, I'm not impressed with the fact that the Canadian dealers do not have a common, linked parts inventory database. They can tell you what the US dealers have, but not their fellow Canuck counterparts. I broke off a nylon quick release fuel fitting when removing the tank and Echo had to order it from Britain. The following day I called around to a few other dealers and found the part in Kelowna, and I had it next day by Purolator. For all the modern interlinked parts systems we have out there today, this is inexcusable. I'm sending off a critical email to the Triumph brass about this!
More coming......have a great Sunday....





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Daytona day four

Went back to work on  the bike last evening after a fun Sunday afternoon canoeing down the Pembina River with friends. After this trip I had some regrets about buying in Alberta Beach, as the algae bloom is upon us again in Lac Ste Anne. Yechhh! Rivers have become a venue of choice for camping and holidaying....the water is warm and clean in the summer and the Pembina is not fast flowing and too deep for swimming. My friends sold their AB beach property and bought 8 acres right on the Pembina....great spot for a retreat and they are loving it.
                                                                                            Back to the bike.....

This pic shows completed and installed dog-bone.

This pic shows the completion of headlight installation which took over two hours. Two hours you ask?
   Well, the accident sheared off the mounting stud and moulded-in mounting bracket on the headlight necessitating fabrication of a new bracket out of a flat washer, some JB weld and 2 sheet metal screws. I also had to fab a stud using a 6mm shoulder nut, a long 6mm bolt and some silver solder. A new stud from Triumph was $45.00! Forget that BS!

Sneak preview of lowered (40mm) suspension. Note large hole in cowling....I've speculated that possibly the previous owner booted a hole in it with his heel in frustration of having dumped his bike. The bike was layed over on it's right side....why the hole? I will attempt to make a passable repair using a fairing repair kit I bought at the bike show a couple years back. I'll lay in a couple matts of fiberglass first to reinforce it.

Near completion mock up....the new fairing is a fiberglass replica of a Triumph piece I couldn't afford...not the best quality, but I'll spend some time finishing the edges and painting it with the other pieces when the time comes. I also had to reroute the wiring harness as it ran outside the forks when it had a full fairing...not workable with it stripped of the "tupperware". I got the beast running last night too...I'll post a video next post.
Over and out for today!

Daytona day three

Yesterday morning was dedicated to pressing out the needle roller bearings out of the old dogbone and into the new as well as replacing the rear brake pads.
    Note the use of an older Chinese-made vise...complete with bondo to cover the rough castings. I've had this for 20 or so years...the quality of everything Chinese has increased exponentially in that time....and you know the rest of the tale....

     The bearing swap took me about 3 hours including having to fabricate various tools and modify old sockets. Of course a Triumph dealer would have had all the tools to do this...mandated by Triumph Canada...but this old "hillbilly" has had to work without specialty tools before and somehow managed to get by. Heat was applied to the bosses to better allow the bearings to ease in and out. After I reassembled the whole shebang, I discovered a footnote in the instruction sheet warning me to cut a 4 mm relief in the front of the swingarm to allow clearance in case the suspension becomes fully compressed....to omit this mod would surely invite a broken case, as the leverage by the swingarm is immense. I'll get a right angle attachment for my Dremel today and get the fly-cut completed. I  also managed to get the frame sliders moved the their proper places on the front engine mounts. More tomorrow, as it's gorgeous weather out there and I'm outa here!

                                                                    

Daytona day two

Since I began the teardown of the Daytona, surprising details have jumped out at me. As a veteran owner/mechanic of many, many motorcycles.....including old Brit bikes, I was half expecting typical British design....chaotic engineering if you will, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see an amazing attention to detail and quality.....and the use of a high percentage of stainless fasteners. The electrical system makes sense...is well laid out with battery, fuses and relays in a handy place under the seat. This bike has 17k miles on it, has worn brakes and chain/sprockets (now replaced) but overall the hardware is first rate...AND.......NO FIRKIN LEAKS! NADA!

This morning I finished attaching the controls on the handlebars, but the kit was short a mounting bracket and 35mm bolts to anchor the brake reservoir. As well, the clutch side handgrip has to be pulled off the old clip-on and reattached to new bar using soapy water....old but effective trick. The raised bars look cool and are a huge improvement for me, short wheelbase as I am!





The second stage in the conversion is the substitution of a longer "dogbone" link in the rear suspension, thereby lowering the bike some more for yours truly. I chose another German component, a GSG Mototechnik part. This is a fairly involved procedure, but again the Triumph is well designed and access to the hardware was easy. I really like how the rear wheel detaches from the single sided swingarm....much better than my old Viffer....just one nut and it literally falls off!






Old on left..new on right. I also have to press out the needle bearings and move them over. Tonight I ended with installing the frame sliders on the top rear engine mounts instead of the front....duh..... so I pulled them off and went to bed.....more tomorrow....yawn

Day 1 of the Daytona conversion

Finally.... I got the call from Echo cycle to come get my 2000 Triumph Daytona...they had completed the fuel fitting upgrades (so I can finish the import process) and changed the gearing to a 17/44 from an 18/42, a mod I did simply because the Daytona is too cammy and along with the light flywheel has too little bottom end on the street. First time I rode the dang thing I stalled it at least 10 times!





Up on my new lift in "man-cave", ready to start..you can see the Washington temp permit on the plate mount in top pic as well as a bit of my gorgeous new workshop...










I bought this critter on Ebay 2 yrs ago with the intention of leaving it long term at friend Jim Devlin's place in Washington State...where I could fly down anytime for a weekend outing with my Sabmag buddies in the Excited States of Amurica! As things developed however, my new house became a priority and I finally got fed and sick up of it languishing in the Devlin storage trailer...unridden, neglected...so went about importing it last month and started the long postponed conversion to the Street Triple look-alike I had begun in Jim's "garage" two years ago. I had all the parts (mostly) and today I rolled it into my new man-cave and began the journey.

note the extensive damage on right side fairing...a.laydown by previous owner also ground down the front brake lever, shattered the aluminum fairing mount casting and destroyed the front fairing and windscreen. I had previously replaced the casting and brake lever while at Jim's in "Warshington". Duct tape worked it's magic again for the shakedown cruise Jim and I went on around his home stomping grounds.





First order of business was to strip the cowling and seat and false tank front in order to do the biggest part of the conversion...the upper yoke and bar swap using a very high quality LSL kit from Germany. This assemblage is CNC machined, with the aluminum bars powder coated and set back to allow fork tube adjustments...something you cannot do on a speed triple.
.....It was 1 AM and I had got the bars on...more tomorrow...