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JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz Discussion

22K views 176 replies 19 participants last post by  370steve 
#1 ·
JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

I'm sure I'll mess up along the way at some point so why not point it out and make me look like an idiot (this is my first custom bike afterall) :fu: :party-smiley:
 
#2 ·
JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

Well it's a rather unusual start I suppose. The bike is 80 miles away from me, I don't have the licence to ride it home yet so there she will sit, 80 miles away.


How ever I've taken inspiration from another fighter (can't remember your name sorry) who had his bike over 200 miles from his flat which is shared with his girlfriend and he did work in his flat and bought a frame to start mocking things up on - this is the route I'll be taking so I'll get the dated photo from that point.

I've decided to call my bike Liz after a friend who sadly lost her life at the age of 22 doing what she loved most - riding her speed triple 1050 - I've decided to try and use as many triumph parts in my build as possible


I've got a few parts already so I can at least start working on things.

This is what I'm hoping to create


Discussion thread http://www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3052116
 
#4 ·
How ever I've taken inspiration from another fighter (can't remember your name sorry) who had his bike over 200 miles from his flat which is shared with his girlfriend and he did work in his flat and bought a frame to start mocking things up on - this is the route I'll be taking so I'll get the dated photo from that point.
That'd be me :D

Looking forward to seeing this come together!
 
#5 ·
Re: JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

Just finished work and there was a package waiting for me....






zx10r forks have come, the only disappointment is that what I thought was a scuff is actually a dent
Photo makes it look worse (paint wise) than what it is but shows the dent rather well

 
#6 ·
Re: JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

Onwards it is... and out of the bedroom. Hang on this is the wrong forum for that. :shocker:

I took the wheel, forks, and finally the calipers downstairs, I got the mounting bolts for the calipers from a pair of very bent 675r forks and the bottom yoke from them too.


and the rest of the stuff


Raided the garden for a bit of tube that's 25mm..ish... this is 23mm typical but this is it cut down to length ish.


With the calipers bolted on I put them on the wheel without the spacers at this point. Looks alright so far.


Until I look at the caliper alignment




I had some tea (to eat) and had a break, looked in my room again for the caliper and I couldn't find it. Found it under some stuff in the shed my mum had been moving (typical - how most of my things go missing), it was last on the kitchen table.



Delighted with my efforts I had a cuppa tea,, more specifically a pint of tea. Why? Because I'm English... and moving onto urm cheesecake.


I then took some measurements for future reference.







Celebratory cheesecake, also just realised the colour scheme of the wheel matches the cheesecake... which remind me I'm hungry again. Dammit!!!




As I say these are for later references.

I wasn't able to do anything else as the tube was bending and not the right diameter, axle bolt - should I find one - will be bought next week. Having that will allow me to work out the front end dimensions easily, I have a few mm to play with either side thanks to the caliper running track for the disc.
 
#7 ·
Re: JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

No progress has been made but I have new parts, and others on the way.
Today I bought a rear sub frame, frame and tank, 60 miles from home so I did the only logial thing was - bungie it onto the back of my trusty cb500.

Can finally get some dimensions sorted out for the swingarm so that should be good.



Couldn't get a dated paper sadly so I've used the monthly issue of motorcycle monthly (November issue)


Oh and I've got the front axle bolt coming at some point next week so that should make the front end workable.. just need someone with a lathe now who's local.
 
#10 ·
#11 ·
Re: JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

Lost my job today so I was back at home for 8:10am, got the frame and subframe and bolted them together.


Since today is my mum's day off work we sorted out the back end of the shed (her things) and that took most of the day. Managed to move some of my stuff to make better space too.

Managed to finally get my vfr frame into the shed onto a bench that hasn't been free in months, just gave it a quick wipe down with some TFR. Somewhat mocked up the swingarm and it needs a bit of trimming to make it fit the frame - not much but it does a tiny bit.






Oh and I bled through the front calipers and mastercylinder with new brake fluid.
 
#12 ·
I used some alu tube to make spacers for my front axle... 25x35 sounds familiar, I can check what I have left over. You need about 50ml of spacing total?

Sorry about the job, hope you get something else fairly quick.
 
#14 ·
Re: JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

Done a tonne of cleaning of parts today as well as measuring up, good and bad news... atleast for me. Might be needing custom yokes unless I can manage to somehow claim back a few extra mm on the front.

To claim back a few mm (I'm thinking of spacing out the front discs which is less than ideal, or somehow finding some discs that have the same bolt pattern and pitch but I've got no idea where to start looking this up. Discuss pro's and cons with that please. I think custom yokes will cost more than new discs?

Here is a photo of the mocked up rear end that I took before the build off (thanks to Cookie and his thread for the details)


I wasn't happy with how rusty the rear nut, axle and rear disc looked - also a pre-build off photo


Video won't embed so here is the link https://1drv.ms/v/s!ArP4grxhMWOpnhO3YhlTyi8c1GV0

I started with cleaning up the nut, look at them bubbles go (and that is real time as you can also hear from the song)




A bit better than before




Still not 100% happy with it but it's much much better than what it was, just the inside of the axle letting it down now.



So onto the front end... The axle bolt came today



fitted the axle bolt and pumped out the pistons in the calipers to make sure they were centered and on the disc correctly.


Poor photo but this shows that I need a 5mm spacer for the caliper to clear the disc.


And this one shows how much of the spacer needs to have removed to get the alignment correct. 4mm


With the current spacing I'm roughly at 204mm but to get the alignment correct for the disc I lose 8mm, putting me down to 196mm and there isn't any yokes with that eye to eye distance. Lowest I can find is 204 (08-10 cbr1000rr) so it's either spacing out the discs, somehow finding some offset discs or buying some custom yokes.


Here is a load of measurements for the rc24 frame, axle points, swing arm pins ect.I don't want to clutter them all on the thread as they're kinda irrelevant for now - that and this thread isn't lacking in other photos
https://1drv.ms/f/s!ArP4grxhMWOpnh8aUFzIhM9ezbHA
 
#15 ·
Done a tonne of cleaning of parts today as well as measuring up, good and bad news... atleast for me. Might be needing custom yokes unless I can manage to somehow claim back a few extra mm on the front.

To claim back a few mm (I'm thinking of spacing out the front discs which is less than ideal, or somehow finding some discs that have the same bolt pattern and pitch but I've got no idea where to start looking this up. Discuss pro's and cons with that please. I think custom yokes will cost more than new discs
This website can help you search for discs by bolt pattern etc, but also, handily, offset:

http://www.metalgear.com.au/search_by_disc_measurements.php
 
#16 ·
Thanks cookie Rep'd for that. Turns out they don't even have my size as a standard disc but always handy to know.

Turns out... don't do measuring when you've got a headache and you're very tired. Measured up the front end wrong yesterday.
:doh:

I've remeasured it this morning and with the custom front spacers come the fork eye to eye should be 204mm, meaning I won't be needing offset discs and that the cbr1000rr yokes (or any 204mm yokes) should fit. :ebay:
 
#18 ·
It's the radial caliper to disc offset that I'm trying to correct enough to keep the disc off the calliper body.

Just been speaking to Yorkshiregooner and he says that the Gen 3 and Gen 4 cbr1000rr yokes are the same dimensions meaning the 2008-2016 yokes are all interchangeable with each other. So I'm picking them up on Sunday at a bargain price too!
 
#19 ·
Re: JamesHambleton 87' VFR750 Liz

Picked up some cbr1000rr yokes this evening for a bargain price, went to meet the guy instead of getting him to post them (making connections) even though it for me about £7 in fuel and 2 hours of time. He also pressed out the stem for me so I can just get mine pressed in.

I was in a bit of a rush so no photos of them loose but here is them mounted to the top of the forks, I could have got some suzuki parts but urm... suzuki... Moving on Loving the look of these.




I did some measuring and some remeasuring and got the spacer sizes figured out. They're not exactly ideal for the caliper alignment but it's close enough and besides the pistons can take up the extra few mm.

Between the bottom of the forks there is 160mm of space. The wheel with bearings is 107mm, this leaves me with 53mm of space. I need x2 spacers so it means each spacers will need to be 26.5mm
 
#22 ·
I did consider it - it's something that I've done on my cb500 (23,000miles done so far since 1st jan 2017) when I did the rear wheel swap as the disc needed moving out by a few mm to clear the calliper. It's something I'd risk on the rear (I never use the rear at all, it's gone rusty for perspective) but never something that I would want to do on the front even though I know it's safe.
 
#24 ·
Dammit saw you had commented and though you was going to suggest guidance. :doh:

It's an AGS PCR-1 (air rifle), with a silencer (can't remember the brand) and a nikko stirling 4x32 scope. It's on the legal limit of power without needing a firearms licence (12ft.lb) though I don't need anything bigger as it's only pigeons and rats which I shoot.
My dad does a lot of shooting so he's got a few rifles and a couple of shotguns, oh and about 3/4 air rifles.
 
#26 ·
I've taken the easy route and getting the vfr stem pressed out... now I think about it.. *goes away and measures*

I'll be needing a shim for the rc24 stem (30.5)into the cbr yokes (35mm) damm it.
Sometimes I wish I had a lathe..

Top yoke stem hole 33mm wide, 16mm depth through yoke

Bottom yoke 35.25 wide?? Flange depth 6.5mm, flange dia37.25, total depth through yoke including flange 35mm

I'll get the rc24 dimensions tomorrow as it's 6c/42f outside and a 8mph wind.

Really it's with the swingarm that I've got no idea with, get the shock aligned up properly first and then work out everything else from there or is the shock ok to be off center in the swingarm but corrected with spacers?
 
#29 ·
Managed to work out that I need a 30x35x30 bottom bushing for the cbr yoke to accept the vfr steam.

Top yoke is a bit different so I'll have to get something custom made for it. Is there anyone in the uk who does machining, don't want to keep bugging Yantosh for spacers when he's also got his own build to do.
 
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