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Jan 19, 2017 18:51:11 GMT
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After a year or two of collecting parts for my newest motorbike project it's now underway and not far off being a rolling bike again. The aim is an RD250 based, Aprilia hybrid with aluminium bits and a fairly simple approach. I started with the engine, which came from a friend of my dad, and had been used in a farm buggy kart thing and left outside to rot. Once spotted a couple of years ago we rescued and stored away the engine with a plan of getting round to something one day. Roughly slung together to get an idea of the frame with some YZ250 (Motocross bike) forks and swingarm the bike looked pretty mean, But I decided in the end to go with something a bit shorter and more road-rideable. As the engine was disassembled it looked in fairly good condition, spark plugs and carbs had been left in stopping the worst of the rot setting in so a straight forward strip, clean, paint, replace seals and gaskets, and rebuild was completed. Recently purchased an ultrasonic cleaning tank which was good for the carbs, and a rebuild completed on them too. Unfortunately I failed to capture any pictures of this stage as my camera died, so we skip to the frame sat on the bench with engine inside and tank on! A bit of a rethink over Christmas with the engine sat inside in the warm ended up with the YZ250 forks put back in the loft for another day, I found some Aprilia RS125 ones to go with the wheels and brakes already selected. Headstock bearings were a case of ordering the correct size, 25mm internal and 48mm outer taper roller bearings which fit into the frame. The front end is loosely assembled and works, still need to look at something for the steering stops and a handlebar clamp as i'd like to use riser bars in the future. For the swingarm, however, the YZ250 item will be adapted to add another 20mm width, while moving it over in the frame to get the chain line correct. By luck, the swingarm spindle/shaft in the frame is the same OD as the YZ meaning minimal adjustments are needed at the front end. The swing arm for now has been cut and measuring started on the extension. Currently i'm waiting for new bearings as its hard to set up the chain line with loads of play inside the swingarm.
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Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,188
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Jan 26, 2017 12:25:58 GMT
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I like where this is going, more updates!
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K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus
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Jan 31, 2017 21:04:48 GMT
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My Dad is the man behind the fabrication on this so far and he's been working on a few mounts and bits as well as putting the swing arm back together in the correct place to accept the wider wheel. First is the front engine mounting plate, as the frame was picked up without any parts this was missing. The standard RD stuff is fairly expensive and sometimes hard to come by so a plate was made. The awkward profile meant a few welds were required, fits very well though. Then a similar situation with the rear mounts, these were missing also, one flat and straight forward and one with two bends, and some tube to space. The swingarm needed a post to stop the brake plate from spinning, on the original brake for the arm there was a T shaped mount that the plate slid along when the chain was adjusted. The aprilia only required a post, so we drilled and tapped a piece of alloy bar, drilled a hole through the swing arm and welded it in, then a head cut off a bolt and the remainder screwed into the new boss to hold the plate in place still allowing for adjustment. The left side of the swing arm pivot has been trimmed in this picture and a spacer fitted to the right to move over the swing arm and centre the wheel, our recent purchase of a little Myford ML7 lathe has been handy for the small spacers. Re-welded swing arm, Small mount made up for the back of the tank, bolted one side to an existing mount and a boss will be welded to the frame on the opposite side to match, Countersunk sprocket bolts to fit the wheel closer to the swing arm, How it sits now! The next task is to make some spacers to sit on the bolt through bit of these clamps, fit handlebars and figure out the seating position for the footrests and seat height.
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sridgett
Part of things
the only way is Dagenham
Posts: 434
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Very cool
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Mk3 capri, escort xr3i, mk2 fiesta,mk5 escort rs2000
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Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,188
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That looks damn mean! Hurry up already haha.
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K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus
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Feb 12, 2017 16:29:33 GMT
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From a sheet of 4mm alloy we bent up a seat pan to start looking at where the footrests etc. will go. It's all a bit of a juggling act at this stage, anything you fit will affect everything else. So we fitted the exhaust, seat, kick start and then made a ply bracket to bolt the modified rear sets on and line up the seating position. With everything roughly bolted in place some brackets can be made to re-locate these bits.
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Feb 12, 2017 17:15:26 GMT
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Here's a little summary of some of the stuff I've built and since sold on, Puch Maxi S The was bought as a purple bike with no registration from Ebay, stripped, powder coated and reassembled with some little touches and a load of parts from a company in Austria who still stock everything for these. Yamaha XS650 Not one I modified myself, but this came from a machinist locally. I re-wired it and changed some bits over a year or so, including fitting a proper paper oil filter and housing and some other bits. Sold on to a guy on the IOM. Yamaha DT250MX Rescued from outside a council estate tower block! When I bought this it was rusty and a bit of a wreck, repaired and powder coated the frame, went through the engine and rebuilt and took it on a trip up the strada florida in Wales.
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sridgett
Part of things
the only way is Dagenham
Posts: 434
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Feb 12, 2017 17:22:16 GMT
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Cracking stuff loving the puch
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Mk3 capri, escort xr3i, mk2 fiesta,mk5 escort rs2000
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Feb 12, 2017 17:27:52 GMT
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You did well to get that through strata Florida It must have been summer (low water levels)
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Feb 12, 2017 19:49:25 GMT
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You did well to get that through strata Florida It must have been summer (low water levels) It was the middle of winter, we made a snorkel for my friends XL125 so he avoided it. Whereas I spent around 30mins, twice, clearing water out of the engine on the DT!
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Feb 12, 2017 19:55:43 GMT
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Some deep crossing in the winter Very brave
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Feb 23, 2017 20:34:42 GMT
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sridgett
Part of things
the only way is Dagenham
Posts: 434
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Feb 23, 2017 20:37:52 GMT
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Very nice work
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Mk3 capri, escort xr3i, mk2 fiesta,mk5 escort rs2000
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Feb 23, 2017 21:17:42 GMT
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Bookmarked
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Mar 15, 2017 17:31:09 GMT
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Mar 15, 2017 21:56:01 GMT
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A lot of nice work going on there, those shocks actually look quite decent - any idea what they are like damping wise and have you got a link to where they came from?
While you are doing all the work I would suggest doing a serious porting job on the 250...I had a bog standard RD250DX and it was by far the most uninspiring thing to ride engine wise I have ever had, none of the rev happy get up and go my 125LC had nor anywhere near the power of my richer mates RD250/ 350LC's, yet it had just the same appetite for pistons, rods, labyrinth seals, mains etc when being worked hard....I would hope the expansion pipes you have on might help - mine had the standard pipes on it
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Last Edit: Mar 15, 2017 21:56:38 GMT by dodgerover
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Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,188
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This is really starting to look smart, very purposeful.
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K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300 EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus
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Mar 26, 2017 10:25:29 GMT
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Apr 24, 2017 16:44:54 GMT
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Pulled the RD out of the garage last week to shuffle some things around and took a couple of pictures, Seat! So the above seat foam was binned in favour of something a little firmer and easier to trim to shape, I introduce kids playroom floor foam tiles! I layered them, cut roughly to shape and spray glued together. Then sanded to shape finally, Then covered in felt (from the cupboard) to keep it all together, I used paper to create a new template of the seat shape, in the sections I could sew together to get the correct shape. Cut out some material to the pattern, backed the top with a quilting type foam and sewed the lot together to form a seat cover. More spray glue to attach the complete seat cover to the felt covered foam, Then I made up some bits of aluminium to clamp the cover down, and pop-rivets along the edges,
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Apr 24, 2017 16:53:50 GMT
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Foot pump After buying a foot pump for my mate's birthday, after giving it a little tidy and passing it on, I've been looking for one for myself. While at Amberley Museum yesterday the Tat shed was selling off a collection of old tools I found this for a 5er. Quick clean with WD, a short polish, and some tape on the hose, it doesn't look too bad.
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