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27 May 2014

Week, er, 4 - Motorcycle rebuild project IT175F

Next thrilling instalment - OMG, LOL, JMO!

Jerry Rulf

Blah blah - sez Jerry...
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Omg, lol, jmo! But I reckon the bash plate looks good. And while we're on the subject, it has come to my attention that these things are also known as “sump guards” or “skid plates”. Well, it doesn't have a sump, so I'm not having that, and a skid is tyre related, a moving object stopping moving - that is not relevant under the engine. So, I say to you, let's all agree to call it a bash plate - it describes its function more precisely, and also reminds me of the Beano. You may have noticed my awesome non hydraulic stand system - surprisingly it hasn't fallen over, yet.


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You, my loyal and intelligent army of readers, were promised shocking revelations this week, so...here goes -

When I bought the bike It was advertised as a 1979 IT175F. It has subsequently emerged that it is actually, a 1977 IT175D. Shock horror!

This is disappointing for me, as the 1977 model is known to have less midrange torque, and was criticized at the time for being too peaky ... also it had super slow steering, which was modified and improved with a tighter head angle for the 1979 F model - so I feel like I've kind of been sold a pup.

Front fork - Disaster!

There's no pic of the front fork disaster saga, but here it is in brief - One fork is bent so much that it's impossible to change the leaking seal, so they are now very near the bin... I've sent for a decent pair from Ebay USA, something I think I should not have had to do- The phrase “suspension works as it should” is vague enough to cover the importer I suppose...

I must say that the engine had better work alright or I'm going to fall out of love with it...arrgh!

So I'm now waiting for forks, then I can bung the wheels on (new spokes on back wheel now) with their new tyres. Pics of them next time.

Pip Pip!

Any comments or encouraging worlds for Jerry, email :[email protected]

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