Powder coating - Part 2

Spring covers came back from Barry in North Carolina yesterday.  Took them out of the box this morning - beautiful.

Here's some powder coated eye candy:

Now he has the upper and lower triple clamps that are getting the powder coated treatment, as well as the kickstand.  Hard to believe that the front fork will probably be the first part of the bike that is completely done.

I'm going to send the frame out for coating as soon as I drill and tap the old rear peg locations for reflectors.    

This is going to look great.

I'm calling Atlas Plating tomorrow to see what's up with the rest of the bits.  If they can't save my headlight trim, I was able to find one on e-bay that I paid way too much for.

Love it.

Powder coating - Part 1

I've been going back and forth on what to do with different painted parts on the Bul.  Paint (as in rattle can) or powder coat?  Painting is cheap.  Powder coating is durable.  Paint I can do.  Powder coating has to be sent out.

The latest debate centered around the spring covers on my fork tubes.  They are basic black.  I could paint them with gloss black krylon (which - honestly, a lot of parts are going to end up), or - powder coat.  But who could do the powder coating?

About a year ago - I had some wheel locks for my Porsche project powder coated by another Porsche enthusiast in North Carolina.  He posts to a porsche bulletin board that I frequent.  We agreed on a price, and I sent the wheel locks.  After getting them, he said:

You know - this is the price I charge for all 20 lug nuts.  You only sent me 4.  If you want to send me the rest - I'll do them for free.

Well - I had already bought all new lug nuts on e-bay, so I didn't need it.  Opportunity lost?

Nope.  I sent him a note to see if he would remember me.  He actually didn't, but his wife remembered the conversation.  And wouldn't you know - he powder coated the spring tops (black) for nothing.

Nice.  They are back in the mail.  I hope to have them next week.  Very excited.

 Thanks again Barry.

Boomarang

Parts left, parts are returning.

Got a call today from Buchanan's.  Turns out, I have 6 different spokes on the Bultaco - Front Inner, Front Outer, Rear short Inner, Rear short Outer, Rear long Inner, Rear long Outer.  So - that's how they are going to custom bend them for me.  Plus - they are going to send me some more assembly oil and a wrench.

The bigger news - I got home from work today, and there was a long box from Frank's Maintenance and Engineering Inc, with this on the side:

How exciting.

I opened it up, and there was my rotten old fork tube, with two new ones sitting right next to it:

Pretty.

Fork re-assembly needs to follow soon.

Parts everywhere

Just sitting here thinking about where all of my parts are now.  I hope everyone is careful:

Fork tube is at Forking by Frank - hopefully 2 are now being made.

All of my spokes are on the way to Buchanan's in Azusa, Ca, to have new ones made.

Front and rear brakes are on their way to Speed and Sport in Meadow Vista, Ca for re-lining, painting and polishing.

Fork spring covers are on their way to get powder coated by someone who owed me a favor in North Carolina.

And finally - a bunch of levers, bolts and bits are up at Atlas Plating in North Houston, where we'll re-chrome a bunch of parts.

I hope everyone is careful and I get my stuff back.  Some of that stuff is really hard to find!!!

Why don't you send me that

I'm learning more and more about restoring obscure classic motorcycles.  Mostly - that even though it is hard to find parts, there are specialists out there that can help.

A week or so ago, I took the front fork apart.  The fork tubes were pretty corroded.  I thought about having them re-plated, but my friend Alex suggested I call Forking by Frank.  Here's how that conversation went:

Me:  I need fork tubes for a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio
FbyF:  What?

Me:  Fork tubes for a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio

FbyF:  What model Bultaco?

Me: Mercurio

FbyF:  We don't have prints for that.  Send us one of your tubes.  We'll make you new ones.

So - off went one fork tube, and we await the results.

Next - I've been taking apart the wheels in order to send the drums out for new brakes.  Since I was doing that - I figured I'd order new spokes for my wheels as well.  The place to call?  Buchanan's Spoke and Rim of course.

1st call to Buchanans:

Me:  I need some spokes for a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio

BSR:  Hmmm - that's not in the catalog.  We have a 65.  Is it the same?

Me:  I don't know.

BSR:  Here are the hub dimensions.  Go measure.

So - went home and measured.  Looked OK.

2nd call to Buchanan's:

Me:  I have a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio.  I need spokes for front and rear.  A 66 isn't in your book, but it's the same as a 65.

BSR:  What size wheel do you have?

Me:  17", 28 spoke

BSR:  There are two sizes of rim.  One with a 16-1/4" ID, one with a 15-15/16" ID.  Which do you have?

Me:  I don't know.

3rd call to Buchanan's

Me:  I have a 1966 Bultaco Mercurio.  I need spokes, front and rear.  A 66 isn't in your book, but it's the same as a 65.  I have the 16-1/4" ID wheels.

BSR:  OK.  Are the inner's and outers different?

Me:  I don't know.

BSR:  Why don't you send us some samples?

Me:  Well - I've already taken apart the rear, and I can't remember which are inner and outer.

BSR:  You can send us all of them, it's OK.

So - I bagged up the rear spokes (long ones in one bag, short ones in another) and the front ones - freshly disassembled (insides in one bag, outsides in another) - and boxed them up to go to Buchanan's.  I'm actually glad they asked a bunch of questions.  These are all custom made - no returns!  Very nice people to deal with as well....

http://www.buchananspokes.net/

Woah Benny

In one of my many converstations with they guys at the Bultaco Center of Excellence, they told me that there are no new brake shoes for my motorcycle.  It seems that the 17" wheels that Bultaco used on the Mercurio are yet another of those rare things.  So - what to do?  Brakes are pretty important.  Google is my friend.

Of course - before you send anything off, you have to take something apart.  I started taking apart brake drums this weekend.  Wow - nasty mess inside.  But - I was able to get the old shoes off without breaking them.  Actually - I cheated a bit.  I had found a front brake on E-bay for a mercurio, and I bought it.  As rare as the bikes are, it seemed like a good idea.  I figured I'd mess with this one, and understand how to dismantle it before I messed with the one on my bike.  If I break it - so what?  I tore into it, and I broke one of the parts of the shoe where it attaches to the backing plate.  Whoops.  Good thing I got the real one apart without drama.  Also - after beating on the "test" drum for awhile to try and remove a bearing, I've decided to send them out for that job!

So - the second part:  Google helped me find Speed and Sport (www.speedandsport.com).  I talked to Matt - and they will re-condition my shoes (front and back) with new lining, as well as change my wheel bearings and paint the hubs.  Hopefully, when done, they will look like this (which is from Matt's site):

But first - I have to unlace the hub out of the wheel.  Spoke wrench is enroute........

Next I'll have to call Buchanan's and get some spokes.

Mercurio 175

So - the Mercurio 175 is a pretty rare beast.  Bultaco made a lot of Mercurio 155's for domestic use (ie - in Spain).  The 175 was primarily made for overseas markets.  

I've not seen very many Mercurio 175's.

Regardless - the guys at the Bultaco Center of Excellence sell a sticker that says Mercurio 155 and has a picture of Mercury on it.  On the 155 bikes, this sticker was located on the rear fender.  I can see the outline for one on my bike.  I'm not sure what it looked like, and I figured it would be nice to have something like that on the rebuilt bike.

So - where to get a sticker?

Lucky for me - I know someone that owns a graphics company.  So - thanks to Scott Sislane and Calico Grapics (www.calicoscreenprinting.com) I now have a fantastic sticker on the way that proudly proclaims that this is a Mercurio 175.

Thanks again Scott and Ashley!!!

Chains

Well - I read how to understand the code of motorcycle chains tonight.  They are sized by the number of rollers on them.  So - to figure out what you have, you can:

Count the number of rollers on the chain

Count the number of pins on the side plates

Count the number of side plates and multiply by 2.

So - the Bultaco has a 124 link chain (62 side plates, 124 rollers).

Now - I had planned to re-use the chain, so I was just doing this for tonight's "one thing".  And then I found a split side plate while counting.  That's not good.

I thought about going with a basic chain while I searched for a new one.  But - I've heard the o-ring ones are so much better.   So - thanks to amazon.com, a 124 link o-ring chain is headed my way (with free shipping no less!!!).

It's too bad I can't re-use the old one.  I did a lot of work cleaning that one up...