SF Classic - The lows and the lows

So, after doing multiple repairs on my bike: Clutch replacement, Shifter arm replacement, a shifting cable replacement... the fucking thing still was not cooperating. I think I may need to replace my some gearing parts, the selector rod might have broken or maybe just detached from the cruciform or ... something. I really am at a loss right  now.... which is very frustrating.

So... I went to the SF Classic Rally with NO bloody scooter! We attended a 2 events, but were unable to rendezvous with the the group for the picnic.  I was a frustrated that there wasnt a bit more info and communication about the events, the whole rally was pretty bare bones, I miss the ol' days of really thought through and activity filled rallies... oh well, sign of the times i suppose.

We made the most of it and did some random fun of our own!

Here are some pics

Getting ready for Thee SF Classic Scooter Rally

All set to have some fun! This weekend... Hotel is booked, Trailer rented, Scooter repair set to completed before end of the week. Now i can focus on the important things like dresses and shoes!

Once again the Black Sheep SC of San Francisco is hosting their annual Classic Rally. 

Gear Box Repair

So, I incorrectly diagnosed my clutch / shifting incorrectly. After successfully replacing the clutch.. the problem persisted. So in a last ditch conclusion I opened up the gear box and found the problem. I broke the gear selector arm. I was surprised, this is pretty hard to do...

Clutch Rebuild - DONE.

So my clutch "went out" a week or so ago and it looks like im going to have to rebuild it.  I haven't done this in a while so Im going to document it here.

This is a pretty straight forward repair and there are a couple great resources that I'll be using:  My Haynes Manual, The Scooter Mercato rebuild guide (which is where i just received all my new clutch parts from) and also the ScooterHelp site, specifically the clutch removal section and the clutch rebuild section.

SF Classic Vintage Scooter Rally 2013, 20th Anniversary

Sunday morning at Cafe Vega

Here is a very long overdue  follow up to the summer rally in San Francisco. Hosted by the Black Sheep Scooter SC of S.F.

This was my first year joining up with the West coast scooter folk. My girlfriend and I rented a small trailer, loaded up the bike and drove north to the big city.

We are the MODS... If you didnt know.. IM TELLING YOU.

A few more little additions to make things more practical and of course more chrome.. cuz.. why not?

Received a few more things from ScootRS, a few rubber odds and ends, new headlight, brake switch, licence plate surround and bumper, nice quality chrome, built well. 

I never have liked how the MC licence plate just sat ackwardly in that rear area, slightly too wide, made for a Euro sized plate. So since I can't have a cool British style plate, I modified mine to fit better and to look like it belongs in that space.

Some more Black & White..

Just in! New handcrafted black and white seats

Saddle and Pillion seat, made to order direct from England. The fine folks at BeedSpeed Intl. shipped these out in just a few days after having them completed.(total time was about 6 weeks altogether). I think it really adds quite a bit to my bike. I've wanted these two tone seats for a long time. I couldn't find anyone who sold them, at least not in the color scheme that I wanted. Until Beedspeed, you can custom order a variety of colors, or all one solid color if you like. Pretty good price too for the pair. They're made really well, and the saddle seat came with the whole seat mount, spring, etc,all primed and painted silver. There is a chrome passenger grap bar attached, and the base of the pillion seat is sheet metal, very sturdy. Nice Quality.

Functional Chrome

Just got my new Cuppini 4 in 1 back rest from Scooter Works in Chicago. They had the best price,and free shipping! Got it in less than a week!

Yep! 4 in 1: Spare tire carrier, back rest, passenger rail, and luggage rack! Put my spare tire and rim to use finally! looking sharp I have to say.. gonna test it out tonight with my girl on the back. The one thing that I was surprised by was the fact that the wheel area was slightly small I had to really work the tire into position, just few millimeters more room would've been way better... but it fit fine in the end.

Proper jetting = MORE FUN!

So since I can remember I have been struggling with a slight flat spot in my acceleration, just out of idle. I have on numerous occasions tried to adjust my mixture, but never with much significant success. I stupidly had never really examined my jet sizes.  I was under the assumption that my jets were all the stock sizes.. and therefore just needed to be dialed in... WELL.... I was totally wrong. Whoever set up my scooter.. forever ago, put all different jet sizes, none of which were even close to stock. Since I have no mods on exhaust or carb, my understanding is that I should be optimal with the stock sizes.

Embellishments, Accessories and Shiny's finally out of the box and on the bike!

Spent alot of time putting all these additional pieces on. All in all Im feeling pretty darn good about how it all worked out. Pretty much every piece required a small or large tweak, bend, or custom adjustment to properly fit. And some even after that.. didn't really work out.

Chrome!

Just got my order from ScootRS :D  (Fast shipping and great communication, great company!) It all looks amazing and is really quality.

Spent the day attempting to put some of this on my bike. Ran into some problems with the center stand and side stand. Issues I believe due to the Frankenstein nature of my set up.. 10inch wheel height on a old VBB style body, etc... Next step is some modification, filing, bending, etc to make it all work... updates and pictures forthcoming!

seat cover rebuild kit, rear bumper, leg shield wings
front fender crash bar, side panel crash bars 
Kick-start  Curved old style for P200 engine,
rubber, center stand, side stand, fender  crest 
fork link cover, spare wheel rim
12V light, horn, kill switch.

"GS style" center rails... I couldn't resist!

I've always loved the way the Vespa GS had the center rails instead of the floor mat.

Vespa GS example

So I revived my old left over floor rails and end caps and ..... Gasp.. drilled holes in my scooter!! I drilled and tapped it ;) ie.. I created a threaded inner for a screw... wow this is sounding dirty...  So I ordered extra floor rubbers ( Im not even trying!! It just sounds wrong!) and I polished my old rails and end caps till they shined.  The old ones Vs. the new ones.. then new ones are bigger, but it actually works out good since I have less room to fit it all in the center area. On a GS there is actually a larger space in the center and less on the sides (or lower) sections. All in all it looks pretty good I think!

License, Badge, Floor Rails, Clock/ Speedo

So after a long row with the California DMV, I finally got my scoot registered and plated!  I also successfully earned my MC license. I had an issue with my VIN on the body not being readable, So I had to go the CHP, another trip and appointment. I used chalk to fill in what was apparently unreadable. Also the first lady at the DMV didn't like my odometer, ( did have a traditional looking speedo in there, albeit- it was a Photoshop/ and Kinko's.. job). The CHP officer told me it was fine and waived it off :) 

Step 5: Back in 1 Piece!

I took my time putting everything back together, I was waiting on few small bits (like the column lock, preventing me from putting the steering column on..) and also polished / cleaned up / replaced screws, nuts, aluminum, chrome, repainted the exhaust with temp rated paint, etc. Tip: easy way to clean up metal, chrome (only use steel wool on chrome- no sandpaper) , metal;  basic steps: med sand paper (enough to get level surface) followed by some 400, then 800 or 1000, then finish with fine steel wool, (steel wool will buff and take out any lines or directional patterns from the sanding) amazing!, my levers came out so nice!  Also used a can of silver and black to touch small misc parts. Makes for a nice clean overall look (ex. - painted my plastic engine cover, and kick stand metal)

Step 4 - Paint

The dishes are DONE! Primed, Sanded, Painted, and Clear Coated.

It took me longer than I estimated. I thought I could do it in one day, but it took me 2 full days. I had an issue, when I got to the paint stage. I realized that I somehow forgot to order Reducer with my paint order! I lost an evening or work due to that.

DIY is the name of the game. Painters cap on...

After going back and forth about where and who could paint my beloved scooter, I have opted to do it myself. I chose this option based on the ridiculous prices and answers I got when I asked a few local shops. I was being quoted about $1000 - $1600 (N. California) I just couldn't make sense of that figure, when I know that I could do a very similar job myself for more that half that price. I racked up a total of about $250 (before shipping), that included a paint gun, a diff spray tip, air hose, metal prep cleaner, paint, primer, clear coat, wax and grease remover, a respirator, paint cups, and strainers!

Step 3 1/2 - Front shock dis-assembly

Front shock dis-assembly - Brought this inside.. too cold and dark in the garage! So this required a bit of a strategic removal order, and good lighting. To start I removed the damper shock ( previous session.. involved blood..)  despite the pain, it was pretty straight forward, a few bolts on the top and bottom. Then I got confused in trying to remove the spring... what I found is that what you actually have to do is remove the brake pads, then the fork.

To remove the brake pad, wedge a screw driver between the
2 plates where they overlap (bottom of pic) through the bolt.
Lift the top one away and then they come off easily.

Step 3 - Still sanding and cleaning up stuff

Sanding, sanding and more sanding... wow this really was more work than I realized. There were 3 layers of paint, so that was part of the pain. In future, I would absolutely consider sending it off to be media blasted. I finally got the dust cover off the fork, which was preventing me from removing the fender. I found a hand held torch for like 12 bucks at Home Depot. I had to heat the dust cover, and then tap from underneath to get it to move. It took alot of wedging and taping and more wedging, there was the cover and then a collar, 2 pieces that eventually came off and  then fender came off! Yay! I removed the damper, and managed to slam my hand against the fork and lost a good chunk of skin... grrrr, did I mention that this wasnt very fun? Now Im stuck trying to get the spring off, etc.. I have to find some manual info on that.

Step 2 - Dismantle, remove engine, drop forks

So I did most of the sanding about a week ago initially thinking I was going to just paint without dropping the engine, and fork. Then later I felt like that was a bad idea, and half ass, so I decided to strip it down.

Step 1 - Evaluation and Goals

I have had this scoot for a long time... originally bought from a kid who built it into the frankenscoot that it is. The frames is a 65 Allstate, but it has been converted to 10" wheels, and it has a stock P200 engine. The electrical has all been upgraded to 12 Volt, and runs off the engine (no battery), also the tail light has been upgraded to VBB style, more functional i guess, and the oil just goes in premixed like the old style.