Superbike In The Making

I've been trying to limit my work for other people to a pretty select group but one of the security guards asked me to fix this key for a wind-up clock. I don't know what if anything they've got for solder at the college, so I brought it home and took care of it. No biggie - just another thing.

The spools I ordered for the 900 swingarm came in. I could easily have made these but by the time I farted around picking up the bolts and machined the spools, it wasn't going to be worth it. I machined the bosses they thread in to last evening. I hope to have the swingarm finished up in the next few days but there's a lot going on. The wife's PET scan and the follow up visit with the doctor for her lymphoma are on tap the next few days, so it'll be hard to get much done with my fingers crossed. I'm feeling pretty good about things but I'll feel better when the doctor confirms it.

Surly sent me a link to the Cycle World archives about a Yoshimura Suzuki superbike from back in the 70's. I haven't read all the article yet but it looks like it's got a lot of good info on what was going on with the bikes back then.  Since that's sort of the look I'm going after with my 900, the article should prove helpful. Surly also posted some pics of points covers on his blog. The early superbikes had clearance issues with both the points covers and the alternator covers. They came up with some pretty creative, but often times crude, ways of dealing with the problem. I've got a sand cast clutch cover I'm planning on using on my bike. When I'm a little farther along I'll see about making up some kind of modified points cover to go with it. Surly tells me Moriwaki is still offering their points cover for sale. They're nice looking but I'm usually in favor of making my own stuff. That was one of the things that attracted me to Superbikes. Lots of smart guys tackling the same problem but coming at it from different angles depending on time, engineering talent, money, etc. Of course I did buy the spools.

Shop Teacher Bob hit 65 today. As you can tell from the blog, I'm still makin' and fixin'. And to steal a line from my old department head at the high school, my feet are still sore from stamping out ignorance. Not doing too bad though for a guy who's on Social Security and Medicare. Looking forward to at least twenty more birthdays - should be able to finish all the bike and car projects by then.

Have a good weekend and holiday.