A Bit To Do

I have started work on getting this one tarted up a bit. She is sound, just tatty round the edges and the rear shock has NO damping left whatsoever - a proper pogo stick effect that goes on and on after every bump, I just ride accordingly!

Mikey built it back in 2012, this is the build spec:

TT tank conversion (400 mile total range)
F800 front mud guard conversion
14/15/16/17 tooth sprockets
49 tooth rear sprocket
R1200 headlight (with guard) and screen
LED indicators
Adventure spec LED aux and spot lights
Kriega 5 litre bag
PDM 60 fuse box
3 aux power sockets
Scottoiler e system
Pivotpegz
TT adjustable gear lever
Acerbis multiple hand guards
Tony Archer seat
Reprom disc (e manual)
Renthal bars
R&G tail tidy
TT brake disc guard
TT side stand hard part
TT chain guide
Scheffelmeier oil cooler
Scheffelmeier sprocket cover
Bespoke bash plate - alloy
Marzocchi shiver forks with progressive springs (built at Hyperpro)
Hypropro rear shock with hydraulic preload adjustment
Side mounted tool box
Remus exhaust
Symtec heated grips
Unifilter (foam)
Permanent live jump start point (lead included)

Actually, when I say 'started', I mean I have got to the stage of deciding what to do when....

First thing is to get the shock off the back, never having seen one apart, is it similar to the 1150? Just a nut and bolt through a hoop? Or is it more involved than that - I don't have a covered space to work, and with no centre stand it is going to need some thought as to how I go about getting the shock off to get it rebuilt. Once that is done, I can do the other jobs.

Any suggestions of how to go about attacking the shock job greatfully received.

You'll need some sort of stand under the engine, then
Rear wheel off
Plastic shock protector off (2 bolts)
Lower shock bolt off (either 17 or 19mm spanner (can't remember which), and a large hex head tool to insert into recess in swingarm to reach the other end of that bolt)
Then top shock bolt with same hex head tool.
Lower shock down tiwards where rear wheel would be and extract

It's quite simple to do unless the lower bolt is seized in, in which case penetrating fluid etc.

Grease up that bolt with waterproof grease prior to reassembly.

This going to be interesting given the revealing post that did the rounds about this bike.
Good luck Simon and I sincerely hope it doesn't turn out to be the horror implied. If it was sorted properly you've got a great concept there.

10mm Allen key, a long one for the bottom shock bolt.

blueranger said:

This going to be interesting given the revealing post that did the rounds about this bike.
Good luck Simon and I sincerely hope it doesn't turn out to be the horror implied. If it was sorted properly you've got a great concept there.

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That was all over-egged. It was a write off, but then so was my 1150A... scratches add damage value, but hardly detract from the thing. I bought it so as to have a lightweight winter knock about, one I didn't mind dropping on the ice or snow and having got on so well with the XCO, this was a no brainer! I wish I had the taller wheels really, they were sold seperately by the owner who hit the van I think. Anyway, I have been riding around since I bought it, done about 5000 miles on her, even with the kangeroo rear end. Yes, OK, I should have got the shock done in the dry weather, but I didn't realise that there was anything wrong with it at first, I have tried fiddling with the settings to see if it was that, but it doesn't make any difference now, it just goes BOING, BOING, BOING... but at the speeds I ride, it doesn't really matter.

The lights are fantastic, it has some super dooper little side lights that are like searchlights, the 1200 light on its own turns night into day for about 100 yards. The other thing I have got to redo is the chain oiler, it 'works' but I am no good with comuter setting stuff - so I can't work out what the buttons do. It is like a digital watch, I have no idea how to work them - push buttons, but I can't remember from one push to the next what I have just done! I have new oil pipe to fit and the nozzle to remount, then I think it is just getting the dashboard thing with the buttons pushed correctly, it comes on with the ignition and numbers and things whizz round on the screen on the controller. It is my memory that lets me down, watching You Tube is no good, I can't remember shit - I can watch a film and 5 minutes after it have no idea what I have just watched or what happened. I need written instruction, with pictures, on a sheet that I can refer to, frequently, one button push at a time.

Other than that, it is just a matter of elbow grease and deciding if I am going to get her painted, possibly DPM camouflage colours, so I can go fishing or shooting and throw it in a hedge and nobody will notice it.....

It rides superbly, pulls like a train, doesn't smoke on start up, fires up just like my other one, brakes are good, steering angle is a bit 'weird' but I have got used to it, which I put down to the smaller wheels on the long forks. OH and I shall get the seat recovered, properly! The Tony Archer shape throws me too far forward and is too narrow at the tank. I don't care about the off road ability shape - I need some padding to sit upon that keeps me in normal riding position. I have a friend who does custom seats, so she can put a new cover and padding on it for me.

I could also do with finding some kind of R clip that will hold the tool box clasp shut. It does stay shut, but there is a small hole for a pin and it doesn't have the pin. Or some other method of ensuring it stays shut. So really there isn't that much to do. For what I paid in the end, off the chap who bought it, unopposed, on the scrappage auction 'Copart' and he bought it from the insurance company for peanuts. I can't understand why the owner didn't buy it back off the insurance company. The Copart people didn't know what it was and described it badly - I saw the auction history and was still happy to pay what I did. He more than doubled his money - but I'm afraid I was simply asking myself: 'am I happy paying that much for that?' I was. With the work and parts that have gone into it, it is an aweful lot of motorbike for not a sizeable sum.

Why not just ask Mikey for an appraisal on getting it sorted again...

crumbles said:

Why not just ask Mikey for an appraisal on getting it sorted again...

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I did ring him, he said he couldn't remember anything about it because it was 6 or 7 years ago that he built it.

I am trying to fathom out how the TT tank has been fitted up - the fuel lines should just join on a T piece and go in through the breather of the standard tank and siphon in.... everyone elses does! The breather from the standard tank is linked to the breather of the TT tank... so how is it venting? I think there might be a hole drilled in the standard tank and a fitting installed, I can't see that far yet. If it isn't, I can't work out how the fuel gets from the big tank to the delivery tank. I have emptied it now, so I can start to find out these things.

King Rat said:

I did ring him, he said he couldn't remember anything about it because it was 6 or 7 years ago that he built it.

I am trying to fathom out how the TT tank has been fitted up - the fuel lines should just join on a T piece and go in through the breather of the standard tank and siphon in.... everyone elses does! The breather from the standard tank is linked to the breather of the TT tank... so how is it venting? I think there might be a hole drilled in the standard tank and a fitting installed, I can't see that far yet. If it isn't, I can't work out how the fuel gets from the big tank to the delivery tank. I have emptied it now, so I can start to find out these things.

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From memory TT instructions were to drill into the main tank and attach the fuel pipe there. Common practice was to ignore that and just attach it to the breather on the main tank.

If the latter option is chosen, then it vents via the breather on the cap on the TT tank (the main tank just becomes a sealed lower chamber in effect)

GFJ said:

From memory TT instructions were to drill into the main tank and attach the fuel pipe there. Common practice was to ignore that and just attach it to the breather on the main tank.

If the latter option is chosen, then it vents via the breather on the cap on the TT tank (the main tank just becomes a sealed lower chamber in effect)

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Exactly, and what I would have expected... but it isn't. The fuel lines disappear together in behind the engine somewhere, I can't see where.

The breather of the standard tank is linked by a pipe to the breather on the TT screw filler..... so how is it venting? My thought is that it isn't, at all, it is just panting using the flexibility within the volume of the TT plastic tank, because both breathers are joined. Strange. I might even look for a used tank somewhere and start again - properly.

Quick update: the parts are on their way from Hyperpro for the shock to be serviced and fettled back to life. I am taking it over to SSR suspension specialists in Telford, which is only a nice bimble away from me. I can go and look at the Long Mynd or Wrekin at the same time... or Ironbridge, maybe both!

The resurrection shuffle has started.

I've got the touratech instructions somewhere if any good to you, I didnt fit that way but used the main tank vent as Gareth said, works fine for me.

Wardy said:

I've got the touratech instructions somewhere if any good to you, I didnt fit that way but used the main tank vent as Gareth said, works fine for me.

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Yes please. That will be the next stage to address. While the shock is being rebuilt/serviced/whateveryoucallit.

I am also thinking of colour schemes because I can't stand white...and it is difficult to hide when you are fishing 'as a guest' without an invite.

I was thinking something along the lines of the new Triumph matt green, that should confuse folks. Open to suggestions though - something simple.

Parts have arrived for the shock rebuild.....

King Rat said:

Parts have arrived for the shock rebuild.....

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Ran over to Telford to SSR Suspension with my Hyperpro shock and the seals. Had a bite in Ironbridge and explored some very narrow lanes between Stafford, Shifnal and Telford! Shock absorber is already done and I am collecting it tomorrow.

King Rat said:

Yes please. That will be the next stage to address. While the shock is being rebuilt/serviced/whateveryoucallit.

I am also thinking of colour schemes because I can't stand white...and it is difficult to hide when you are fishing 'as a guest' without an invite.

I was thinking something along the lines of the new Triumph matt green, that should confuse folks. Open to suggestions though - something simple.

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I think the green will look great

The white is a bit of a flag, I'm not sure how plastic takes paint especially with fuel beneath.

Bike is back on the road - wow! It wants to stay upright and you really have to hussle it down to go round corners, all the time it is wanting to stand up, even with some throttle, it feels completely different to the very neutral handling of the standard X Country, the geometry has changed with the longer forks, longer rear shock and the smaller wheels off the X Country, but when upright it is very nimble at turning using the steering, which I suppose is what the original project manager wanted for the gnarly bits off road, she is so stable naturally. I have a 16t on the front, I haven't counted the rear - but 108mph on a slight downhill was no problem, cruising at 75-80 is not working the engine hard - I don't know if the injector and air intake have been enlarged, but the Remus can't have made that much difference on its own, surely? just waiting for the seat to be recovered now - I have borrowed an X Moto one from a friend for the time being. The chain oiler works (it didn't when I got it) - it didn't supply any oil because the it was turned off on the controller! The language was set to German, so I didn't understand a word of the few bits I could read: warning, the Scottoiler control has some very small type that even with my glasses I can't see what it says, which is not clear at all. I did manage to watch a video that showed how to change the language, so it is now English, but still too small to read! I shall have a play and get it set up. Other than that, it was purely cosmetic scratches. There is still one broken spoke in the rear wheel which I shall get relaced at some stage, meantime I shall just take it easy and use it as the winter hack for now. Oh, and I shall put a proper horn on it, one that makes people jump, I have a Denali mini bomb or a Nautilus steble to choose from.
The Long Ranger lives again!

Nice one, we need photos .

Wardy said:

Nice one, we need photos .

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Better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drRXpRt95Rc