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Ian Soady¹ said :-
The eagle Steib has landed! Now in my shed and looking great. It will be a while before I get around to it as I have the little BSA C11 to finish - it's nearly there - and still struggling a bit with the Electra although that is so much better than it was.
The Steib is mostly there and is in very sound condition. I plan to have the body (or boat as it's known) painted by a local sprayshop to match the B'Zuki tank, and will paint the chassis black with coach enamel. I can see me producing huge piles of swarf as I make the mountings......
24/10/2025 16:29:11 UTC
Glyn said :-
I’m looking forward to this Ian, a great project for you ( and us). I’ve taken a fancy to a Honda CX500 that is localish to me. Got to get the money right first. Everyone I know is warning me off saying they’re like riding a jelly and an awful bike. That just increases my interest. In the past few weeks I’ve been restoring a friends TZR fairing. It’s been a long winded task.
24/10/2025 17:57:25 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Those look lovely Glyn, perhaps I should commission you to paint my sidecar! Do you have "proper" [ainting equipment or is it done with aerosols? I've had decent results with the latter although the metallic finish on my XBR tank was a bit fraught as it needed 11 coats each applied within 10 minutes of the preceding one. But it turned out well enough I think.
25/10/2025 10:06:04 UTC
Glyn said :-
That paint looks great Ian. The real finish is obtained after the paint has been applied. Rolls Royce used to hand brush paint their cars and then the real work began. My local paint supplier says that many top bike restorers use rattle cans to great effect. It’s not possible to paint a car with rattle cans because of the large areas and large amounts of cans needed. I have a decent spray gun with a large compressor but I hardly ever use it. It’s such a faff to set up. I painted these panels with Rainbow aerosol cans specially mixed after being scanned on a spectrograph. The total invoice for the cans came to £159 so it’s not a cheap thing to do. After the 3-4 base coats are on, I knock it back with 1000 wet and dry until all blemishes are gone and ( if there’s enough paint still on the panel) apply 3-4 coats of Premium lacquer. Then after 3 days, take that down with 2000 wet and dry before polishing it up with T cut or similar. There was about 5 days work on those panels and I haven’t started the side cowls or tank yet.
26/10/2025 08:37:11 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Thanks Glyn, I think I spent about £50 on the tank and side panels. I got a local paint factor to scan one of the original side panels and fill aerosols for me - they used a silver base coat. The metalflake effect doesn't come out well in the photos but was quite evident in real life.
I'm happy using brushed coach paint - I use Paragon which inmy experience is better than Tekaloid - for most things but an area as big as the sidecar would stretch my abilities too much hence using a professional body shop. I've been quoted £550 which although sounds expensive is probably reasonable. I remember paying about £350 a few years ago for a Guzzi V50 tank and side panels.
26/10/2025 10:02:26 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I think most of the paint shop costs are down to the prep time. Do it ya'self and save a few quid. Deliver it in primer and let them finish it off.
Have you thought about sandblast and powder coat Ian or wouldn't it be suitable for this.
Upt.
26/10/2025 10:18:36 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
You're right about where most of the costs are but it's a big thing and my energy isn't unlimited. Blasting / powder coating did cross my mind but (a) I'm looking for a pretty exact colour match and (b) the finish wouldn't be as good as a proper spray job. It would be cheaper though. The main problem is that when done it'll make the rest of the bike look very scruffy.
26/10/2025 14:23:25 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
In my world the only purpose of paint is to prevent (further) rust.
I admire Glyn's efforts with the TZR panels and Ian's work on the XBR, but I would have neither the skills nor the patience to properly carry out the preparation and painting. I figure if I were truly "into" the aesthetic then I would find the patience, take time to learn, and put in the effort.
29/10/2025 08:12:22 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Yes, we've seen your bikes Ren. This is why you keep having to buy new ones....
Refinishing the XBR tank and side panels did take a huge amount of time and effort which is one reason I'm farming out the Steib body. A proper paint shop has good professional machinery for flatting etc rather than the copious amounts of wet & dry or production paper I use. And I've never had the courage to attack what to me is the final finish with more wet & dry as I envisage it all ending in tears and having to do the lot again. Still that's some lowlife's problem now.
Just been checking what I've got and I have a surplus of the alloy trim strips which need a good polish. How on earth I'll get to the fastenings up near the nose beats me - I may have to enlist the help of the young woman who helps Electra with the gardening as she's pretty flexible. I've ordered a tyre & tube from demon tweeks.
29/10/2025 12:16:18 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Wait a minute...hang on....!!!!!
"This is why you keep having to buy new ones...."
Right. OK. So. The current "68" plate CB500X was purchased in 2019 which means I've owned it for 6 years and put 60,000 miles on it (including 2 quiet years due to Covid). Before that I owned the '16 plate CB500X for 3 years and put 39,000 miles on it (traded in against the 68 plate). I also owned the CBF125 for 10 years and put 100,000 miles on it.
It's hardly like I'm having to swap bikes annually. It's not like each bike doesn't hardly get used. Oooooh the cheek and impudence of some folks!!!
29/10/2025 13:20:11 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Don't bite Ed, oh you already have...hook, line and sinker.
30/10/2025 10:16:24 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
DOH!!!
30/10/2025 10:46:28 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Trip knobs.
No this is not a rude post about idiots on tour.... I need to remove the trip reset knobs from 2 speedometers (modern-ish Japanese) but can't for the life of me see how to do it. Any useful tips?
09/11/2025 15:22:16 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
On the older Japanese bikes with the trip knob to the side of the Speedo, ( as opposed to on top of the Speedo ) there used to be a small hole underneath the Speedo in line with the trip reset knob. I can't remember if this was for a screwdriver or an Allen key, but this hole gives access to a small grub screw which needs to be loosened to remove the trip knob.
Hope this helps. Sorry if I haven't made myself clear. If you still have problems a picture may be of use.
09/11/2025 16:23:35 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Thanks Rod, will have a look tomorrow. It's often these daft little things that throw you.
09/11/2025 16:44:33 UTC
Glyn said :-
Sadly, that is not the case for my TZR speedo. The only way to get it off was a heavy hand that broke it. On closer examination it was only an interference fit but there was no way it would just slide off. I had to file off one side of the knob shaft to remove the bit left behind. Now I’m making a shaft to connect the shaft and the knob. Good luck Ian.
09/11/2025 21:37:44 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
One of the speedos - the one in the cluster I bought - had a tiny Phillips screw buried inside the knob - this came out easily enough so half way there. The one on the speedo I want to fit has nothing similar. I don't mind if the knob breaks as I may want to extend the shaft anyway, but I don't want to damage the inside workings.
10/11/2025 13:33:53 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It's a good job Finbarr Saunders isn't reading this! Fnarr fnarr yik yik...
10/11/2025 20:53:16 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I had to duckduckgo that (other search engines are apparently available). I msuppose I'm not surprised you're a Viz aficonado Ren....
11/11/2025 09:43:19 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I wouldn't go as far as my being a Viz aficionado Ian, I've never once purchased said comic and only glossed over random copies over the years. It's just a part of everyday culture, perhaps you're just not down wiv da kidz like what I is innit ?.
13/11/2025 22:15:23 UTC
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