This is just my opinion, but I personally would not use a Volar chain on a 50 HP bike!! Stick with reputable stuff for drive-train items... Driven and other good manufacturers have colored items available.

 

Yea wouldn`t want to crack my tranny case with a whiplashing chain... That is one of the parts that should actually cost some, haven`t been able to find any colored ones though, they don`t sell them in stores here and that Volar brand was the only one that came up in eBay... Gotta check if STG would have some...

 

Finally got some work down on the bike today, my wife was out with my sister yesterday night so today when we were dining at my moms I snuck out to the garage for a few hours





The new shorty levers went on without much of a fight, put some NLGI grease on and around the bolt holes to assurre good lubrication, the clutch lever seemed pretty sticky at first until I realised it`s actually the cable that`s sticking, gotta try to lube it up if it would start sliding properly.



I also tried fitting the steering damper, took a few rounds of trial and error to find a position where the damper doesn`t restrict the movement or hit any of the wires or hoses but eventually did find it.



Made a crude fast preliminary mock-up bracket for now, didn`t want to spend the whole day making a proper one just to find out the damper cannot be there, the final one is going to use both of the valve cover bolts so any sharp jerks won`t nudge the bolt open, and will be made out of stainless steel.





When the bars are turned all the way to the right the rod does stick out pretty far just as expected, but still nowhere near my leg,and the situation where the bars are turned like that is a) very rare b) always happens either one leg down or the whole guy flying, I don`t see it as a problem at all. Specially on the latter case, a sticking damper rod might just be one of the lesser problems...



When turned to the left the travel is just barely enough, just out of curiosity I loosened the clamp and tested, there is about 3mm of travel left in the damper





Also took the cbr out, filled the tank with fresh gas along with some PRO Honda Fuel Stabil so I don`t have to take the carb battery out in the spring, fired `er up, ran the carbs dry, filled them with stabilised fuel and ran it some more before pushing it back in, man it felt GOOD sipping on a cold beer and listening to the purr of a motorcycle engine for the first time in a few months! Oh how I would have wanted to take it for a spin but decided not cause it was my second beer...

Yesterday I phoned my local parts shop for a new chain and sprockets for the Daytona, and ordered a set of RK Gwx "superlink" 530 racing chain kit in blue, the price of almost 300EUR made me swallow a few times but I think that the chain is the worst place to cheap out on, especially with a bike that has almost 150HP, that can rip a cheapo chain in pieces, and probably take out the engine case with it -in the best scenario...

Oh! also tried fabricating the new headlight but only made a hell of a mess and had to find that my metal fabricating skills are not on the level to make it pretty enough for my standards so I ended up ordering a ready kit I found on eBay, bums me a bit cause I already have the lights and now had to order more of the same ones but I rather pay up that look at a bodge job light, curse myself and probably end up ordering the ready one anyway...

BTW: need your guys opinion on one thing: As some of you might have already figured out from the parts ordered the color scheme of the bike has been decided: Blue fairings around and orange frame. What I cannot seem to make up my mind of are the "Triumph" stickers in the tank. I have a sticker shop order form open in another tab but cannot decide do I want chrome or orange stickers. What do you guys think.

 

My vote is orange, but maybe I'm traditional and predisposed against chrome. Is it like a metallic blue or just your normal plane Jane blue?

 

Starting to get there Mattson. Keep it up.

I'd urge caution about having the damper stick out that far on full lock. I know it's no where near your leg, but in the unlikely event of an accident, that rod would become a spear.

Have you looked at other Trumpies on-line to see where they mount them?

Cheers, SB

 

I`m probably using the Wolkswagen Golf mk4 blue, not sure if it`s actually a RAL color but almost "industrial" anyway. Also leaning a bit towards the orange too... The orange of the frame is going to be the RAL 2004 "pure orange".

Seb: Yes I have actually thought of that, the "original" damper of the Daytona is fitted more or less on the same place but on the left side between the fairings, not entirely sure where it connects but nonetheless it has to stick out pretty far too. That`s pretty much the only place to put it, or at least I cannot think of another...

EDIT: checked, the "official" kit is fitted the other way round, the rod sticks out inside the front cowl, would look pretty dang dumb on a naked bike...

 

Yeah, I just had a bit of a search in images and saw the same thing.

I was thinking behind the steering head - similar to the TL1000S. (you'd need a smaller damper though)

Or perhaps and extension bracket from the forks that brings the back end of the damper in a little.

Some of the 'specials I saw had it mounted where you have proposed.

Cheers, SB

 

Gotta think about that a bit... an extension bracket would lenghten the travel needed and that 21cm was the longest I could find, and the official kit is so expensive it's way out of the question... this is why it's good to make preliminary fittings to see if things work out or not... on the other hand I like the way it looks there and on the other it could be a potential hazard... don't want it behind the steering head as it would be so high it would become a nuisance and look goofy...

 

Maybe play with the color of the lettering border?

 

Funny that, I`ve actually already sent an email to them for a quote of a custom pair with orange frame around chrome letters

Made a few totally sweet deals over the past week.

My friend`s little sister is working at this hardware/convenience store, and phoned her brother that there is two tool trolleys about to hit the skip if no one from the staff cashes them, conveniently enough I`ve been planning to buy one for a few months to my new garage when we move so we instantly told her to buy both, of which I took the other one.



Absolutely nothing wrong with it, not even any dents or scratches, they just hasn`t sold and the owner wanted them out. Not a bad deal to pay 40 EUR for it IMO.

The second one occurred at work when one of my friend`s (the same one) employees managed to break the release lever from a brand new pallet truck, and again, I`ve been meaning to get a new one for ages so I`m gonna cash that too, it can be glued so it won`t matter.

And the third one, actually linked to the bike, I go to this one powdercoating shop every day at work to bring and take stuff and know the owner very well, we`ve all been waiting for the old POS forklift to finally break down beyond repair which it graciously did a while back, and the workers have been complaining that the new one doesn`t have lights. Well, I`m an electrician by training and have a shelf full of barely used work and fog lights at the garage, so I proposed to the owner that what if I hook lights to the forklift and he paints my frame, swings and rims for it, he was like "well, if I can get away with THAT then sure!" didn`t say that it`s me who`s getting away as I inspected the forklift: it has ready holes for everything and even a prewired light switch ready, it`s gonna take me two hours MAX, with a coffee break to bolt four lights to the truck and get the parts powdercoated for free!