My original intent was to make the bike mechanically sound and ride it without too much concern for the cosmetics, but the rims and spokes were horrible. Do get by inexpensively, I bought a set of reproduction CB350 spokes and spent many months waiting for appropriate alloy rims to appear on eBay. I finally found two rims decribed as "straight and no cracks" and bought both of them, only to discover that both WERE cracked, one horribly so (I hate eGay, sometimes).
Not willing to wait another six months only to receive more broken crap, I ponied up and bought myself a set of new Excel rims for Christmas. Since I was spending that kind of cash, I figured I'd splurge and get Buchanan's stainless spokes, too. Pricey, but they are very nice! Coupled with a set of Avon Roadrunner tires, I now had almost as much into the wheels as I had paid for the bike.
It just wouldn't be right to run a ratty bike on such nice wheels, so I spent about six hours this last week sanding out a few deep scratchs on the rear hub, followed by another couple hours of polishing. The hub flanges are now very shiney, but I just couldn't bring myself to spend any more time on the inside ribs, especially since that area gets filthy and is hard to reach on the bike, anyway.
For some reason, a lot of people are afraid of building wheels, but I rather enjoy it. The truing can take a bit of patience, but I find it relaxing and quite satisfying once the process is finished. Lacing a wheel is pretty straightforward - simply replace the spokes as they were originally installed, keeping in mind that inner and outer spokes are a little different shape.
Ducati casserole, anyone? While I was truing the rear wheel on the bike I also worked to replace all the bearings in the engine cases. Today was a good day, since Tami was off teaching and I could commandeer both the oven and the kitchen counter. The bearing are supposed to "fall out" at 200 degress, but of course that didn't happen. Most of the bearings are accessible from from the both sides and can be driven out, except for one. Fortunately, I found a product called Freeze-Out. I froze the bearing after heating the cases and it worked pretty well.
Oh yeah, I left the bearings in the freezer overnight with the peas. With the cases hot they dropped right in.
Nicely cleaned engine cases with all new bearings. They're all set to shim the crankshaft.
No matter what I tried, I could not get the bead to seat on the new Avon tire, so I finally gave up and simply inflated the tire so I could install the wheel, turn the bike around on the table, and start working on the front wheel. All that new shineyness makes the rest of the bike look pathetic.
Keba is supervising the lacing of the front wheel - he needs to be involved in everything. The wheel is actually laced wrong in this pic. Apparently the old 19" wheel was laced differently than the 18" I'm replacing it with. I laid the spokes the same as the old wheel, but it wouldn't lace. I had to alter the pattern to make it work with the new rim.
I got the front wheel laced, and hopefully tomorrow I'll get it trued and installed.
Keba the happy helper cat says "Merry Christmas!"
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