My EFE make over.

[dixiethedog]

Ive received some new turnbuckle things to go with rose joints to make adjustable ride height lock up struts.

However,the turnbuckle's look too puney and thin for my taste. The rose joints are hi-performance ones,with a 16000 pound rating,which I think will be OK?
Im going to have to make new fatter struts to give the back end a better look me thinks?

[dixiethedog]

The od dimension of the turnbuckles is only 16mm.
But,even with one loosely in place,I can wind the back end up and down. Up for mot time,down for normal use.

[dixiethedog]

Ive had to take a bit time off from this to do some other work on other f***ing bikes!!!
Just when you see light at the end of the tunnel,a mate drops off (into my workshop)a zx9r,with no front or rear end. Ive got a bad back and cant shift the thing! It probably doesnt sound much,but this takes up my space,and stops me doing much else.
The story behind the bike is that my mate is busy building a very nice cafe racer (CB900 frame cradle,widened,fj12 engine,cb750 old style tank,cafe racer seat......),and decided as its not far from finished,to take the forks,wheels,swingarm etc from what was his daily ride,and fit it into the cafe racer.
Ive done a swop for a chop frame,so Im going to try to sell it on. The money from this can then be lavished on my EFE. The daft thing is,if my mate had told me what he was doing,I would have supplied him a complete front end,a swingarm,a rear shock, a rear wheel etc to keep the zx9 in one piece!
Bike builders,eh?? Tut and double tut.
Common sense,zero. He's a great mate though,so I will forgive him!

[FBJ admin]

Oh well when it's gone you'll have space and dollars so we will be able to see progrree pics.

[dixiethedog]

Its space I need.
Ive a ton of what Id politely describe as other people's "shit" in my workshop. Some good "shit".
im slowly getting to a position where id like to be,with no work for others,and my time being my own!
A good mate of mine is collecting parts to build a turbo zx9r,so,if mine doesnt sell,I'll ask my pal to make 2 of each part and follow suit. The style of zx9's isnt one I really like,but,when carefully modified can be one hell of a good bike. My mate has kept his fairing,with modded bracketry,fitted a top yoke conversion,had the seat modded to be a bit more comfy,altered the rear sets and it has to be one of the nicest bikes Ive ever ridden. It could be a 170mph gold wing!
My EFE with no rear suspension should be interesting in comparison when eventually its done,and we go out for a ride!
Still,parked up outside the chip shop,I know which bike will look cooler (if you like old suzuki's...).

[dixiethedog]

The zx9 is sold,so I have more money to waste,I mean spend on my EFE.
I really need to do something with it soon.
Ive a few sets of bodywork,so I think I desperately need to get a couple of sets of bodywork painted. Im being boring,and going standard,as I dont think Ive ever seen an EFE painted (to look non standard)that Ive liked? No offense if you run a "trick" painted one,its just not my cup of tea. Certain bikes should only be painted standard in my eyes,EFE's and GSX1400's. I nearly won an auction for a Yam xjr1200 that was local,with a damaged tank. I was going to paint it to look the same as a GSX14 for a laugh.
Incidentally for the paint (same as the site logo bike),Im using a mazda bright red,I hope its not too red? We'll see soon enough. The black I have is the right shade though.

Should the tank "suzuki" stickers be white or silver????

[dixiethedog]

Does anybody have any good suggestions for where to get new graphics for the GSX??
I will politely ignore anybody suggesting A-Z stickers.

[arnout]

The zx9 is sold,so I have more money to waste,I mean spend on my EFE.
Should the tank "suzuki" stickers be white or silver????

White for the red/black paint scheme (which is the one you'll be using I guess?)

Does anybody have any good suggestions for where to get new graphics for the GSX??
I will politely ignore anybody suggesting A-Z stickers.

http://www.bdesigns.ca/Main_Suzuki.htm
Can't recommend them by personal experience though (as I've had none).. But they do claim to replicate OE decals and refer to their partnumbers, so should be close..

[dixiethedog]

Thanks for the link for the decals.

(Oh Oh!!!).
A strange thing happened to me last week. My Mrs and her friend headed off to Amsterdam on the ferry from the Tyne. So,on the Sunday morning off I trooped to pick her up as the ferry came in. Her friend on this journey was my mate Robbie's wife. I dont know if anybody from here ever reads the likes of BSH/100%biker etc,but Robbie has had several bikes on the cover's of the magazines with full articles about his bikes (some of which i painted). Anyhow,theres me and Robbie,standing waiting,watching all the foreign bike riders pouring from the ferry,and the conversation turned to "actually" riding bikes,instead of being in the shed.
"you know what?" I said," I could fancy a bike that I can just put the key in and go anywhere on...."
Robbie called me a puff.
The longshot of this is,yesterday I headed over from the Newcastle area to the very pleasent Lake Districts,to pick up my freshly purchased (I can feel the abuse coming...)kawasaki ZZR1100D something or other. Its got 21000 on the clock,with all the old MOT's to verify this,Im sure it will do speeds far faster than my license will allow,its relatively good on fuel (150mile trip back yesterday didnt use that much petrol). It has a full test,12months tax and didnt cost a lot more than I paid for my turbo kit (that lacks oil pipes and boost gauge,which when I bought it,thought it would have).
I dont know if its just a mental block patch Im going thru,but,Ive lost all interest building bikes!
Maybe a week or two away from the workshop will get me wanting to tinker on again?
I hope it does,otherwise egay here I come....

[dixiethedog]

............Last week I was explaning to a friend that if I put the projector above where the milling machine is at present,and the big screen down the bottom end of the workshop,I could sound proof the "workshop",fit a nice sofa and have a cool home cinema.

Whats happened to me???????