Nov 012009
 

A bad start to the week. The parts that I ordered from my local bike shop have failed to arrive from Alicante and the pinstripes for the front mudguard are not available in Spain for some reason. It looks like I will have to order those from the US. I have ordered the de-smogging vacuum seals from the US and found out where to get the core (freeze) plugs from in Spain. The battery has gone flat on the Valkyrie again, looks like I will have to remove the alarm as I have checked the battery and it is fine. I have ordered some 850 degree C exhaust paint from the UK to repaint the headers and given one of the threads on the VRCC USA board this would sound that it is suitable as the temperatures don’t seem to get that high.

Removed the radiator covers and grill and the engine crash bars.  Had a long chat with Marty in the US from the VRCC board about the rebuild and had some interesting information from him on replacing the wheel bearings. Bid on three things from Pinwall overnight and I won them all, now got to persuade them to ship USPS. Found a bike lift s/h on eBay just round the corner from where my son lives in the UK now got to win it and then get it here. Got my first Spanish member for the VRCC Espana chapter from Madrid.

I have bought a bike lift in the UK and it is being brought over next week by the firm who brought the bike over. I have been to see the village welder and he will make the lift adapter for me from the drawings on the VRCC board. The 99 cent bike cover that I ordered from Hong Kong arrived and it is very good quality. Once the lift arrives I am moving the bike to a neighbours car port so that I can remove the wheels and front forks and take them and the chrome pieces for polishing and chroming.

No new photos this week but I will put that right next week. I have polished the front indicator mountings on my buffing wheel and they have come up remarkably well, so they will not have to go to the polishers.

The saddlebags have been finished being refurbished by the saddlers so I will collect them next week. I missed out on a few items on eBay this week as I wasn’t prepared to bid any higher and so I will have to keep looking. Back to the bike shop next week to see if the parts have arrived.