The Friendship Bike - NobleHops restores a 75 Z1

OK, more progress, fun stuff. First up the fork:

I had previously disassembled it all, cleaned and hand-finished the stanchions, but just for fun I put them through the vapor blaster too. That still required hand finishing to look jussst right, but in this photo you can see the difference in the nooks and crannies that are near impossible to get spotless by hand.

KYB damper rods won't work as-is, that cap interferes with the fit and the oil flow...

...so "Off with its Head!"

Better:

Drill a couple more holes as directed, enlarge the existing ones, chamfer and deburr...

Oh no!

Swap over these bushings to the new fork tubes:

Push the seal in before the tube is installed, just to keep it perfect, install the damper rods, GoldValve and adapter, springs, spacers, cut to length for preload...

90% done, just waiting on new washers and circlips for atop the oil seals before I can put the dust seals on and call them done.

OK, on to the swingarm.

Recall I had rebuilt it prior, but found it binding. More careful sleuthing uncovered a bent pivot bolt, but not before I trashed my new bronze bushings in a vain attempt to seat them a bit better in the swingarm. Faced with $60 for another set of bushings, or $100 for this tasty set of roller bearings plus a new pivot pin and trick radial end bearings, I went with door #2.

Z1 Enterprises sells these, a Japanese part, with German instructions. Go figure!

Short version: I will use this setup every time moving forward, if it is available. Suggest you do too.

Long version:

Kit (does NOT include the new swingarm pivot pictured, but that was cheap and readily available elsewhere):

Linky: www.z1enterprises.com/ItemDetails.aspx?item=KL31-6924

Cool radial bearing/caps, used instead of the stock dust caps, fit a lot easier:

Needle/roller bearings furnished, two per side.

Took the stock bushing, cut two kerfs in it with a cutoff wheel and used is as a bearing driver. This worked perfectly and easily.

These things are a skosh over 15mm wide, and the full diameter of the furnished collar is a tad inset when installed and centered in the swingarm, so I drove them in till there was ~17mm of space for the second one. You DON'T want to try to drive one with the other - they are only designed to be driven on one end, the end with the markings. Measure your driver, mark it, only drive it till you hit your mark, A bit of space between them is perfectly fine, they are snug in there, they aren't going anywhere.

No getting around it, you're going to have to bonk on them to start them off, as straight as possible. Use a plastic or hard rubber hammer:

Grease the daylights out of everything, with good waterproof grease, You cannot over-grease these bearings in this application.

I could not resist cramming as much grease as I could force into the radial bearings, to lube and waterproof them

Install the spacers:

A little piece of plywood over the rear frame stays made the installation of this SOOO much less fumbly for me, and less prone to nicking things up.

Likewise a bit of tape around the pivot bosses prevented me marking up the fresh powdercoat.

5 swipes with a file on the bosses to remove powdercoat insured a snug fit with no binding. Torque it to 25 lb/ft, check for play and stiction, found absolutely none of either. Silky smooth, best one I've done so far. I'm converted.

Looking good!

What Race Tech "recommends" is not gospel. If the forks are too plush you may need to find some replacement, unmodified damper tubes. That's still one mod I have been meaning to do over the last few years, but read up alot on those valves. I mainly work with MX suspension.

What are your plans for shocks?

Kidkawie wrote: Looking good!

What Race Tech "recommends" is not gospel. If the forks are too plush you may need to find some replacement, unmodified damper tubes. That's still one mod I have been meaning to do over the last few years, but read up alot on those valves. I mainly work with MX suspension.

What are your plans for shocks?

I've been happy with the other damper rod forks I've done this to, but I hear ya - that was sure some invasive surgery . I'm going to err on the short side of the "air spring" in the range of fork oil heights they suggest, they are using 15w oil too, which should firm things up a tad too.

I bought a pair of Ikon, should be a decent match for the fork, and rebuild able. They look pretty correct too, a bonus.

OK, who noticed?

:blush:

i thought everyone test fit there swingarm upside down first :whistle: !

sooooooooooooo,

i didn't feel right mentioning it !!!!!!!!!!!!

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: i thought everyone test fit there swingarm upside down first :whistle: !

sooooooooooooo,

i didn't feel right mentioning it !!!!!!!!!!!!

leon

Yeaaaaaaah, yeahhhhhhh, that's it. All the cool kids test fit their swingarms upside down first. :woohoo: :woohoo:

EDIT: False alarm, operator error...

I see a complaint here.
Steve

...aaaaaaand, nevermind. Cockpit error.

Took me three tries to get the front wheel started in the correct orientation, and then of course it tumbled to completion. All is well. In my next life lacing wheels will be fast and intuitive.

Setup

Antisieze and spokes

Started...

Finished!

May as well do the rear, all warmed up now...

and done

Installed the Ikon shocks too, once I flipped the swingarm around, that is :blush:

And now I am going home, 'cause that's where I sleep,

OK lads, what do we like for tires these days for these? Given who is going to be riding it, priorities would be for handling and grip, as opposed to wet weather performance or longevity.

And are the stock sizes still the best bet?

TIA for your thoughts and experiences.

I Like my Avon Roadriders...Not dragged a knee yet, but I do enjoy leaning her over a bit, and they have not scared me once,,,seem pretty grippy in heavy rain too! I will probably stay with them when it comes time to replace