MK3 Restomod

grandpaul said:
That's some nice work.

One of these days I'll get a lathe and mill...

Once you do, you'll never want to give them up. Moving up the tool chain never stops. I'm still lusting after some CNC equipment, but just don't have the budget. I've considered converting mine, but they are both 25 - 30 year old Chinese manufactured products, and getting pretty worn out.

Ken
 
A little more progress on the fork yokes.

This shows them after cutting the inside curves with a boring bar.



And this shows roughing out the outside curves on the mill.



And finishing the ends on the mill.



The upper yoke with all the rotary table work finished. I should be able to get to the other one tomorrow.



Next step is cutting slots and tapping holes for the pinch bolts. I'm waiting on an order for a larger slitting saw before I can do those.

I might actually finish it someday!

Ken
 

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This is a picture of the Spondon adjustable yoke design that I am mostly copying, with a couple of design changes to suit me. These are the yokes I used on my Production Racer in it's final configuration as an AMA Pro Twins bike, back in the '80s and early '90s. I got them off of an early TZ250 racer. It's at its maximum offset position in this picture. That's the setup I liked best after lots of experimentation. It still gave a bit more trail than the stock Commando, but not enough to make it slow to turn in to corners. On the plus side, it was very stable in high speed sweepers.

I don't expect to have to make much adjustment to the ones I'm making, but I like having the ability to do so if necessary.



Ken
 

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Almost finished yokes, with some lightening pockets in the lower yoke.



Ken
 

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lcrken said:
This is a picture of the Spondon adjustable yoke design that I am mostly copying, with a couple of design changes to suit me.....I don't expect to have to make much adjustment to the ones I'm making, but I like having the ability to do so if necessary. Ken
Interesting, I was wondering about the cut outs in the center section since I'd never seen any like that. :eek: Anyway lookin' good & thanks for posting!
 
Slotting the ends with the new saw.



Boring the counterbores for the pinch bolts. I don't have piloted counterbores for metric fasteners, so I roughed them with an end mill, and finished to size with a small boring head.



The finished yokes, except for cleaning up and probably anodizing.



Next is making the steering head stem, being roughed to shape here.



Should have the bike up on wheels very soon.

Ken
 

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The yokes are pretty much finished, except for sanding, polishing, anodizing, if I decide to do any of that, and making some clamps for the handlebars. The stem is not yet pressed into the yokes. I'm also still waiting for some more fasteners to arrive. But they are finished enough for me to start fitting the front wheel and brakes.







Ken
 

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Thanks for the kind words. Feels good to be making some progress.

This pic shows the yokes fitted to the frame



And this one with the forks in place



Next step is making front axle and spacers, as well as caliper mounts. The rear wheel is ready to install, as soon as I finish the caliper hanger. I should have a roller soon.

I did notice after putting it all together that I had neglected to include any fork travel stops. I'll add those before getting too much further.

Ken
 

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A couple of pictures of the front wheel set up with spacers to center it. Next step is to make axle, then caliper mounts. I got a little sidetracked by brush clearance for fire season, running a bike at El Mirage, and a cracked rib. But I should be able to make some rapid progress now.





Ken
 

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I hope you have plenty of brush clearance, that's quite a bike. What can you tell us about the shocks?
 
pantah_good said:
I hope you have plenty of brush clearance, that's quite a bike. What can you tell us about the shocks?

Both the front forks and rear shocks are fully adjustable Ohlins I bought from Kenny Dreer a little while ago. They are the same ones he used in his last prototypes, before the company got sold to Stu and company. He sold off a lot of spare parts when he got out of the business, including these.

Ken
 
So they have a little Norton history in them as well as matching your beautiful front end. Very cool! They make the Ikons I'm considering look a tad plain.
 
Yes, they do have an interesting Norton history behind them. This is a picture of one of the last prototypes Kenny built, showing the same forks and shocks.



Ken
 

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Ken, you gotta be careful that your very special build doesn't end up looking like 'just another' 961...
 
lcrken said:
Both the front forks and rear shocks are fully adjustable Ohlins I bought from Kenny Dreer a little while ago. They are the same ones he used in his last prototypes, before the company got sold to Stu and company. He sold off a lot of spare parts when he got out of the business, including these.
I was "this close" to buying those forks, you snapped them up about a week before I finally scratched together the spare cash, too late. I spent well over $30K in VR880 parts including the one and only monoshock rear end and other bits from the original prototype show bike.

Did you buy the pair of wheels he had also?
 
Fast Eddie said:
Ken, you gotta be careful that your very special build doesn't end up looking like 'just another' 961...

Not too much risk there. I'm still using normal Commando roadster tank and sidecovers, and slightly modified seat. Also Smith gauges and stock headlight shell.

Ken
 
grandpaul said:
lcrken said:
Both the front forks and rear shocks are fully adjustable Ohlins I bought from Kenny Dreer a little while ago. They are the same ones he used in his last prototypes, before the company got sold to Stu and company. He sold off a lot of spare parts when he got out of the business, including these.
I was "this close" to buying those forks, you snapped them up about a week before I finally scratched together the spare cash, too late. I spent well over $30K in VR880 parts including the one and only monoshock rear end and other bits from the original prototype show bike.

Did you buy the pair of wheels he had also?

No, just the forks and shocks. I did also buy some of his gearbox shells, a billet Falicon crank and crankcase that has the next size larger main bearings, a pair of alloy rods, a few alloy cylinders, and some of his earlier crankcases (used). I've since sold most of the gearbox shells and one of the alloy cylinders, and will probably sell some of the other bits as soon as I can get around to it. Like you, I've realized that I'm just not going to be able to get to all the projects I had in mind. I have a lot of accumulated stuff I really need to sell, but it's way more fun to work on the bikes than deal with selling stuff.

Ken
 
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