Ivy: Bike Stand, Round 1

After a few different (discarded) designs, decide to try to build a bike stand using the Clement Street wooden stool along with 90-degree steel braces from Ace.

For step one, just used a coping saw to cut down each leg until I could just barely squeeze the stool in under Ivy's engine.

Then added the four 90-degree brackets to give it a more stable stance.

Ivy: Street Legal (Finally)

Big day.  After three hours at the DMV, $747 in back fees, and a few nervous moments where it seemed like it may all go south, Ivy gets her title and plates!

Top tip: appointments at the DMV are almost pointless.  Don't even bother going until you can get an appointment as soon as they open.

Ivy: VIN Verification

VIN verification for Ivy with Officer Wong at the CHP station on 8th. 

Nice conversation with Dave on the way over.

Roxy: Epic Rear Flat

Following the sudden and overwhelming paranoia of riding Ivy without a title, I was looking forward to getting back on Roxy for the first time in ages.  Especially wanted to feel the acceleration again to see if she really was that much faster, or if it was only my imagination.

Started to pull her out of the parking spot only to discover a totally flat rear tire.  I knew this wasn't the normal deflation since the front was still good.  Decided to try to put air in it anyway and could clearly feel the air escaping out through the hole in the rim (missing spoke).

So that ride cancelled...

Luckily had the perfect session time later that afternoon. 

Fender
First things first, had to get the rear fender off.  But the left side bolt was covered by the chain guard.  And the bolts to the chain guard were hidden by the front sprocket cover.  So both of those had to come off in order.

Then, while disconnecting the taillight wires, I popped off one of the bullet connectors.  The top bolts underneath the seat were fiddly to reach (probably would have been worth my time to remove the seat entirely) but once those were out, the fender came out easily.

Rear Axle
The rear axle popped out with no problem.  But the sleeve itself was completely stuck inside its notch in the frame.  Really jammed in there.  Luckily, that doesn't stop you from removing the wheel, but the sleeve and rear flange have to stay put.  That's a fix for the future, although I'm not sure it'll come out without significant damage.

Tire Tube
The tire popped off with no problem.  I checked both the rim and the tire for any sharp points but couldn't find anything.  Couldn't even find the puncture in the tube until I pumped it full of air and then I only found it from the low whistle.  It was a tiny puncture.  Could have just been age that led to that?

Re-install
Everything went back together pretty easily.  Fortunately had a spare tube in the bin that was the right size.  Because the sleeve was stuck, though, I couldn't easily move the wheel forward in order to give the chain some slack during reinstall.  Not quite sure how I managed to muscle the links close enough to put the master back on, but somehow got it together. 

With everything back on, found the chain was still too slack, but also discovered that the sleeve did move if you use the chain adjuster nuts.  In retrospect, I realized that I could have also used the chain adjusters to push the sleeve forward to get the chain back on.

Added a new bullet connector to the taillight wire only to discover that the taillight is not lighting up anymore.  Brake light works fine.

Unboxing: Front Hub and Clutch Lever

Unboxed the new front hub and brake.  Using this to remember how the speedo gear works.  This will serve as spare parts in case there's something missing or broken when I check Ivy.

Also got an original clutch lever to make the low bar complete.  Tested the NOS clutch cable and it was the perfect fit.

Tested the cable with the cafe bars and it worked there, too.

Bottom End Build

Added the tensioner setting A, which actually came from one of the new cases (where I'd had to Dremel/reslot the screws).

Red: Day Off Jobs

Day Off garage time.

Added the new foot pegs, which at first I thought were another non-S90 version, but I think maybe they're ok.  Will need to test with pedals in place to be 100% sure, though.

Then the first attempt at bondo on the tank.  Found it very hard to apply in a smooth manner.  As you tried to smooth it out with the plastic applicator, you end up moving more of the bondo around then you really want to.  Definitely takes practice and patience.

Let it dry then did the first sand down.  This went pretty well, though I soon realized that I'd left some of the bondo too thin in some parts, which resulted in some deep grooves that I will need to add another layer to eventually.

But with 80 grit, it was just a matter of shaping it until it matched the contour.  Pretty straight-forward.

Also mounted the red badges to the white temp tank using the 3d printed mounts.

Added the original speedo back, too, now that it's fixed.

Ivy: Speedometer Fix

Brought Ivy's original speedo upstairs to see if I could figure out why the speedo needle wasn't moving.

It was a good thing that I had left the chrome ring "loose" when I had taken it apart last time to paint the face, so it was a breeze to pop off the top.  Three screws on the bottom released the speedo itself from the housing.

Played with it for quite awhile, testing it with the drill and just observing.  Finally realized that there's a little nub at the base of the needle that is supposed to hit a metal arm that acts as a stopper.  But the metal arm must have moved over time because instead of stopping it, the nub was actually locking itself up against it.  That was why the needle wouldn't move on its own.

Just had to bend the little arm back enough so that they didn't run together and then the needle worked a treat.

Also glued the green neutral light back to the underneath of the face where it's supposed to be.

Ivy: Speedo Troubleshooting

Taking a closer look at the speedo situation and realized that it's the front hub that's the issue, not the speedo.  The speedo works because I tested it with the drill.  The cable works because you can turn it at one end and see it move on the other end.

Disconnected the cable from the speedo and taped it to the bars, then ran the bike down the garage and could clearly see the cable wasn't turning. 

So the problem must be somewhere in the hub.

Unboxing: Speedometer

Unboxing the new spare speedometer to help with troubleshooting Ivy's.

Run Red Run: Solder Pot

Really had zero idea of what I was doing with this new solder pot.

First started just trying to figure out how high I had to go with the heat to melt the silver solder.  Started at low settings and just worked my way up.  At first I thought the metal would "liquify" but eventually realized that unless you fill up the pot completely, the solder will just pool into a little blob.  Realized that the best thing is just to max out the dial to get the solder nice and melted.

First had to figure out the "bird nesting" technique, which ended up being simply tweezing it with pliers.  Seemed to work just fine.

Then I dripped flux on the nipple, but didn't realize that the flux worked its way down the cable when I inverted it.  So when I dipped it into the solder, the silver actually "crept" up the cable, making it very brittle.  First lesson learned: gotta be careful with the flux.

Second time around, I only heated the solder enough to make it soft.  Did a better job with the flux this time, but when I dipped it, a whole glob of solder stuck to the end instead of "flowing".  Second lesson learned: max heat.

Third time was the charm.  Did a good bird's nest, was careful with the flux, and heated the solder to max before dipping.   Ended up with what seemed to be a very strong joint.