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BLIZZO

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  1. BLIZZO
    Maybe fucked if you drive a Toyota Corolla. they can’t be worse than the inland road when we did it in 2018, it was chooched As then from logging machinery / new metal / shit loads of rain.
  2. BLIZZO
    Hmmm i'm a bad man. A good deal popped up on a 1982 XT250 recently which I snapped up. Even has current reg and wof. Comes with a few new parts to give it a bit of a tidy up, get spic and span. Might do a few rides on it then take some trendy photos and sell it to some hipster to fund a bunch of expensive BMW parts I need to buy.
  3. BLIZZO
    sell xr100 to fund compliance! def worth getting done. Mitch is in the process of getting his 1990 250r complied.
  4. BLIZZO
    We are thinking of XR250'ing east cape this year for something different, with the addition of riding there and back from palmerston north, doing as much offroad as we can
  5. BLIZZO
    Whilst at the Brass we were discussing some rad 250cc trips to do on our XRs as @Mitch.W is building one at the moment. I had lost the pine for mine a bit so decided to give it a bit of a birthday. I stripped it back a few years ago and had the frame powdercoated and what not but it was a bit smokey and I wanted a more classic XR look to it. Have also always pined the twin headlight Baja XRs which gave me a bit of inspiration. Found a set of XLR250 Baja twin headlights pop up on marketplace so I snapped them up, also got a 1990 red tank off the same kid. One thing I dont like about the XR was the fuel range, this engine was uncorked and was now running much bigger jets and only got like 120km to a tank. Thought shit, might as well go all out and then ordered a Clarke 15.8L (stock is 9) tank from the states. Didnt really want to spend like $500 of a gas tank but trying to find larger tanks that dont look rank for pre '96 XRs is rather difficult. Pulled the bike down and gave it a good clean. Lots of the fasteners had worn their zinc coating off so i pulled just about every single bolt off the bike and sent it to electroplating to get them coated, they couldnt do the dark almost black zinc like factor so might zinc it will have to be Because the jets were so big in this bike and it went so well i always wondered if it had a 280cc kit in it, the fact it was smokey convinced me a good idea to pull the head and see what sort of condition everything was in down there.\ Shes been burning a bit of oil, piston was even grottier. And the barrel had a lovely mirror finish. Oh well, its going to need new rings and a hone, may as well get a.... Wiseco forged, higher compression 4mm over 277cc kit. Now to wait for parts to arrive. Have picked up a stock front fender, which i will painstakingly restore along with the side plastics and rear fender. will grab a blue seat cover, tool bag, fork gaiters then slap a decal kit on it and call it a day I think.
  6. BLIZZO
    Before I left for the trip one of the editors of Bikebound.com must have seen the bike on my insta and hit me up for a wee feature which was pretty choice, he must pine dakar era shit. https://www.bikebound.com/2021/06/17/africa-twin/
  7. BLIZZO
    Took the bike on a 3400km trip around the south island for the brass monkey, great times were had and the bike ran well. Seems to be a tad rich judging by residue on fairing behind tail pipe, need to investigate potential choke issue. Other problem is bad engine vibes relating to throttle position. Dissapears when clutch is in so not running gear etc and def engine. seems to be related more to throttle opening rather than revs. I synced the carbs at tickover as manual suggests but im wondering if there is an imbalance when the butterflys are opened more than 1/3rd ish. Will play around more and see if i can get it better, still ran good, just not as good as it should.
  8. BLIZZO
    so I kinda never posted photos when this was actually finished. well here ya go..
  9. BLIZZO
    So I got the bike all together and dropped it down to Danny, Hayhole and the team at Watermark Signs in Wellington. What a bloody transformation! I gave danny a bunch of photos of the original Rothmans Dakar NXR750 along with what vectors of Logos I could find. Danny drew up the vectors that I couldn't find, color matched everything and sized it up. Hayhole did all the application. Im absolutley blown away, its come out far better than I ever imagined. Its still not 100% complete. I still need to get the sump guard and crash protection on. This wont happen for a week or two though as the tank needs to come back off so I can install the new choke plungers when they arrive from Japan, less than a week before the rally, eeek. I'm cheesin. Will get some lush photos done of some of the cool details once its all back together properly. I do find the before and after photo quite mesmerizing.\
  10. BLIZZO
    yea the oxford ones aren't that thick but i too had trouble with the superglue. i listened to the internet and used gorilla glue as its rated for heaps of heat and expands as it dries so makes a real tight fit. just need to cut them off when the wear. The sportbike ones that you have are the same as mine, they do actually wear quite quick but all the other designs were too long for my bike.
  11. BLIZZO
    got my fairings back from the painter on the weekend. he did a pretty lush job I think. Im glad I put a lot of effort into the prep. Bit of a mockup on the bike Really happy with how the custom tail piece worked out with the XR250 tail light. The tool bag is a cool touch I think and the colour is pretty close. I used the original real mudguard piece mostly to have somewhere to mount the number plate. Would have looked cool without it but will also serve some purpose of stopping too much shit getting flicked around. It is also a small memento of its previous life as it has some of the stickers on it from the South America trip the bike went on.
  12. BLIZZO
    first start -
  13. BLIZZO
    the latest tasks on the africa twin have been the wiring. Ive put together a custom carbon fibre dash which I will show once its finished. The existing wiring for any accessories consisted of both "twist n tape" and household TPS wiring so anything non factory got ripped out and binned. I have a few accessories that i want to run (LED lightbar, USB sockets, Koso temp/volt meter and heated grips. I thought the best way to run all those tidily would be to run a decent guage wire direct from the battery though an ign controlled relay to a small fuse box which can be used as a distribution post, the little narva 4 way ones were the most neat and compact I could find. its all tucked nicely out of the way where it cant rub on anything. I needed one relay to switch the fuse board, and then needed a second one as I want the light bar to be switched by the full beam circuit. there is a separate switch on the dash so I can turn off the lightbar to stop it being switched by the full beam circuit. i got some relays that click together with harness's to keep that tidy. Upon testing I noticed that all 4 of my indicators were flahsing (now LEDs). some reading and i found out this is becuase of the "turn signal indicator bulb" on the dash. it receives an input from each side indicator circuit (no ground) and grounds though the opposite side bulb. This works with the resistance on incandescent bulbs but LEDs dont have enough resistance so the voltage leaks accross and all four flash. the easiest way to fix this is remove the turn signal indicator bulb in the dash, but thats dumb becuase its handy at reminding you your indicators on so i made a fix with two diodes and modifying the factory wiring. I cut one input to the turn signal indicator bulb and ground it, then made a little loom of two diodes merging to one wire for the positive feed (for those that dont know a diode is like a one way valve). I put the diodes in an old fuse holder to keep them safe. Works a treat. https://imgur.com/BCPRJpA The other wiring farkle on these old pigs is shared by many other bikes of the same era (mostly triumphs and ducatis) and that is the regulator rectifiers fuck out. They are old shunt type RR's that get really hot. the biggest issue with the hondas is the cheap shitty plug they decided to use. the plug starts burning out and resistance increases, so the RR cranks out more volts to compensate and eventually cooks itself. mine was working fine but I thought id check the plug out incase and.... It was certainly on its last legs, so preventative maintenance needed. The upgrade of all upgrades to the charging system on these bikes is to switch to a "MOSFET" type regulator off a modern bike. the tech in these farkles means they dont get hot, barely warm and are way better at providing stable voltage. problem is they are like $400 new and the $50 chinese knockoffs are time bombs apparently. A few evenings of trawling trademe and i found a 2016 honda cbr600 that was at a wreckers and got the mosfet RR off it for $100, choice. If doing this mod you want a genuine japanese made "Shindengen" RR, the mosfet ones are idetified by the suffic "FH" at the start of the model number. the most common is the FH020AA which is what I got, it is the same size and bolt spacing as the factory "SH" type regulator. it also has choice waterproof plugs. I had a fair bit of trouble trying to locate some 45mm stainless tube for the exhaust but @Hayholes mum came through with the goods while i was down in welly for conference. Came home and got that all sorted and @Mitch.Wkindly tigged it up for me. looking bloody lush. you can see the new RR mounted here too. im yet to tidy the wiring but its being upgraded and wired direct to the battery with a 30a fuse in the positive line. and here we have it... the first start in almost 2 years, and since all the new carbs and shit have gone on it....
  14. BLIZZO
    Smacked out some pannier racks on the weekend. There is one more re support thats not completed yet in this photo, its a removable strut back to the lower point of the rear mudguard. Its my 3rd set of these ive made with my little 16mm plumbers bender. usually use 1.6mm tube but steel and tube was all out so these ones at 2mm. Nice and strong, gave the bender a work out though. started to the hang of it nicely: The aim was to get them as slim as possible. think i achieved that, didnt want to risk the bag melting on the exhaust so left a bit of room there, ive got a wee heat shield to go on it for a wee bit of extra safety there. Managed to get a morning with no wind so slapped a few coats of 2k high build primer on all the fairings. will give them all an 800g block back one evening this week then drop them all off at my painters for a coat of white. Making some progress now!
  15. BLIZZO
    feels like ive been making no progress on this thing even thoough ive been slamming heaps of time at it. Discovered the possible reason why it had a full engine rebuild 5000km ago, at 65,000 kms, when these things are known for clocking up 200K+ without being opened. Some fucking Einstein obviously tried to make an incorrect battery fit, and thought shit, this piece of plastic cant be that important, ill just hack into it so make room. Too bad they weren't clever enough to realise that the hole they just made is he back of the airbox, behind the filter, allowing all sorts of grubby air straight into the carbs / engine. Hopefully as its pretty recent after a rebuild everythings still ship shape in there. Thanks to @Truenotchmy now resident bike parts man at City Honda I picked up a chonky boi front tyre. Fitted it and realised the axle spacer was some shoddy home job that didnt touch the inner lip of the seal. Ordered a second hand correct spacer from Malcolm at anaconda to sort that out and grabbed some sintered rear brake pads while i was at it as they were on the metal backing plate on one side, eeek. Got a honda tool bag from the same outfit i got one for the XR from, they even colour matched it as best as possible to the rothmans blue that a fair bit of the bike will become once sorted. New side covers are all mounted up. Have tacked on the exhaust mount and ordered some 45mm stainless bends to get it welded up. @Mitch.W is gunna be a GC and drag his tig to my place to sort that out. Went for a rally inspired steep angle pipe position. other than looking cool its well clear of any pillions legs. if your wondering why the rear wheel looks kack is becuase the linkage is disconnected and its stropped up at max compression. i wanted to make sure the brake caliper was not going to foul on the muffler. The fairings have also now had their first coat of 2k high build primer and a block back. Will spray another coat on them this weekend and do a light 800g block black for a nice finish. Got some steel to fab up the pannier frames this weekend as well so I can keep the pressure on.
  16. BLIZZO
    yay new page. Anyway, after losing heaps of motor vation on the africa twin the Brass Monkey is quickly approaching and we have planned a 7day south island adventure around it so i'm fully barred up. The main thing holding me back was doing the custom fibreglass side covers that will be slimmer than the unicorn turn factory ones, so better for panniers. I spent the good part of a day bogging, sanding, bogging, sanding, bogging and priming and priming and priming the plugs i started to make aaaaages ago. they came out alright. sanded down to 1200 grit then release waxed. I went and saw the old boy at fibre-form in town and he sold me all the right amount of materials to make 2x molds and 2x finals. was $150 all up which was pretty good, he measured it all out into yoghurt and milk / cream containers for me lel. Chop strand mat for the molds and weave for the finals to keep the thickness down. I used a special PVA release agent Brushed over top of the waxed plug, this stuff is the shit and releases so good. Black Gel coat over the plug to make the mold- Then one layer of a real thin chop strand mat to start it off, forms around the edges easy so no nasty air holes between the gelcoat and glass. key is to go it when gelcoat was still tacky so it held it down - Then another 3 layers of mat over that to give a nice thick, strong mold- let them dry overnight then popped them out, super happy with the result. gave a quick 1200 grit sand then release waxed ready for the finals Finals were 4x layers of fine weave over the white gelcoat. couple of spots the gel had a wee reaction which sucks but these will likely get painted anyway to its the same white over the entire bike so i'm not stressed. Still super happy with the result for having a crack at glassing quickly trimmed and agaisnt bike to see the shape, pretty happy. still need lots of trimming to fit nice then weld some tabs to the frame to mount it. will just use some flatish dome head screws i think. Will try have them fitted this weekend and also prep and prime the rest of my fairings if i can get the time. I would like to drop them to the painter next week. Have ordered some knifeless vinyl cutting tape to do blue 3m vinyl over parts of the bike, then I just need to give @Hayholes mumand @oldnrusty some hand shandies to make it look like this once its painted and together
  17. BLIZZO
    man this is some picture heavy shit. must be due for a new page surely
  18. BLIZZO
    so after almost 4 years of owning this thing and doing nothing but moving it around between 4 different sheds its time I did something. With the Africa Twin not far away from being completed (not actually starting the G/S until AT is done) it was time to get it home into the shed, so I went and dragged it back from my lockup where it was buried in dust. Since turning myself into a bit of a adv barry and G/S foamer I have concluded that the only thing to do to this bike is restore it to as close to original as possible, which is made possible by companies like Sibenrock in germany that remake most things for them, like just about everything. This is a gen you whine G/S Paris Dakar, and from what i can figure out there is less than 6 of these in the country, they demand oodles of money overseas, and probably here too but there hasnt been one for sale in the 4 years ive owned this. There is a few spendy bits to get, but stage 1 will be to get it back to a restored rolling frame, stage 2 will be refresh the engine and stage 3 all the OG bits and pieces to get it back to its former glory. Gave the dust a quick blast off, seat was removed as the catch is broken and i didnt want it to take off into the stratoshpere. Quickly whipped the tank off to asses the underside of tank and the frame. the frame is really tidy considering, a blast and powdercoat will make it like new. The tank has more rust on the bottom than id like, was a little flakey. These tanks are worth like 2000 euro alone so I aint getting another. Gave the rust a quick wire wheel and chucked some rust kill on it for now. id rather not have to patch it as these have a factory tank liner and this ones still tidy on the inside, so dont want to spoil that. I might get the exterior of the tank sandblasted when i do the frame, but will ask them to go easy on it. And thats about it for now, will do a big parts order from the fatherland in the next couple of weeks and that can slow boat its way over here while I make the reigns cum on africa
  19. BLIZZO
    anyone heading from chch up to hanmer with space to GC freight something to the start for me? ive got some small (300mm) cast wheels for my smoker i wanna get up north. In chch at the moment but figure if i can get to the start then can maybe slap them on the seth afrikans ute to make their way north?
  20. BLIZZO
    Think i'm out soz guys. A shame as the bikes ready and waiting but the mrs is pretty unwell and it wouldnt be fair to leave her with the kids for 4 days while I hoon around the south island. Well I could have but it was a toss up between this and Brass Monkey 2 months later, and the Brass was always going to win. Maybe next year.
  21. BLIZZO
    support vehicles are for pussies who cant tie stuff down good
  22. BLIZZO
    Yea I picked up over 2 m2 of well seasoned plum a week ago so have that stacked away for a start. will start cutting some manuka from sources I have though work to add to the pile.
  23. BLIZZO
    During lockdown the wife I went down a rabbit hole of watching American barbeque shows, and man some of that stuff looked delicious. have been to a couple of bbq joints in NZ and def a fan of the old low and slow so thought id ignore all the sensible advice of starting with a weber kettle and go straight to a wood hungry offset. I had a look at some of the "decent" off the shelf options such as the prime smoke XL and Oklahoma Joe highlander but they are still made with poo thin 2.5mm mild steel and have lots of design flaws that would require modifications to get to a decent spec anyway. Since they are so damn basic I thought id make one myself. I called into an engineers workshop that we use a lot a work and asked if he had any old steel tanks lying around, he conveniently had one pretty much the exact size I was after so a box of export and it was mine. I wanted at least 6mm ideally around 10mm. this thing was so bloody heavy I struggle to lift it on its end so much be reasonably thick and has some sweet patina. Before I jumped into the work i jumped on the smoking meat forum and asked a few gurus. i wanted to go traditional flow (opposed to reverse flow) to keep it OG. Used some updated and verified calculations for things like stack size, height, firebox size, cook chamber to firebox opening etc. Then about a week ago I started annoying my neighbors, and my poor angle grinder. I picked up a 20" length of 16" 10mm wall steel pipe for $30 which was idea, its the same diameter as the cook chamber so perfect for the firebox. Took a bit of fiddling to get it measured square but it worked out all good. then there was starting to hack the hole in the cook chamber to where the firebox meets up. this explains why it was so heavy, it should retain heat well, 14mm thick! I made a jig for some legs and got them cutout and welded on as well as some castors on the stack end. The firebox end is going to get these vintage cast wagon wheels that are about 300mm in diameter. Yesterday I marked out the door and started cutting that. now I need to get some DXF files drawn up for the firebox door, hinges and handles then get those on before I do too much else. excited to spend some weekends drinking beer watching this thing burn away!
  24. BLIZZO
    Yea I made the panniers as far forward as I could, the weight is all forward of the rear axle which shouldn’t make it too bad. Dunno I’ll try the smaller front end and see how I go, might get a few ponies back without ass much tyre weight anyway
  25. BLIZZO
    End result was good other than it drooping a bit during welding. Turns out although the muffler looks cool it sounds like a TRX350 ie shit, so will be getting a nice small stainless one from overseas long boi air filter sorted and started playing around with bag positioning, wanted to get them as far forward as possible bent up some 16mm tube in my little bender that i got specifically for making pannier racks Buzzed them up with my poo MIG then dropped at powdercoaters added a wee tool box that i picked up from an old bike shop selling off some shit. fits a kids pencil case full of tools perfectly. Took for a test ride, it ran rich as fuck, the clutch slipped like crazy and the tail light fell off. took a day off before the ride and pulled the clutch out and scuffed the new steels, adde some HD springs and put some preload on them with some 1.4mm washers. Rich running condition was from me not getting the carb angle quite right, so cut and had mitch re weld the inlet manifold to get it back to the factory angle, then riveted the tail light on and jobs good. I got 28km up and down my street of shakedown while trying to jet the thing right, never seen gravel before and all on a brand new engine. Sounds like time for a 600km gravel ride to me She actually worked a treat. no issues, took it easy on the revs on the first day to run it in, did a drunken oil change at 1am the next evening / morning then sent it for the remaining 2 days. engine went swell. Bike handled like a bucket of shit though, really heavy in the steering and very skittery on gravel, hard to lean over and just wanted to stand itself up all the time. im going to ditch the 400-18 on the rear and go to a 350-18, this should help some of the rubbing issues. going to ditch the 19" front rim and 350-19 front tyre, i think this just had too much rotational mass and was what made it hard to get over. will go to a 300-18 set up on the front, hopefully the mBike boys can get me one in. Fingers crossed I get those things sorted for the molesworth ride
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