With no riding apart from the occasional driveway hop boredom kicked in and i started inventing things to do to the bikes !
The front brake disc on the Beta was uncovered. Having fitted more modern front forks and the Braktec front brake from my TRS the standard TR34 disc protector no longer fitted … but i kind of liked the bare look. Unfortunately some events these days won’t let you run with uncovered discs so I had to decide what one to go for.
The standard old Rev3 cover was fairly minimalistic and would have looked good but I had trouble finding a new one, or even a good condition secondhand one, for a good price. The spacer washers were also difficult to find but I noticed Trials & Tribulations had the Evo guard and spacer in stock and for less than a tenner … I ordered directly from their website and a package arrived within a couple of days, once fitted it didn’t look too bad …
Whilst having one of my hops around the drive in front of my garages I started to think that the clutch was slipping a bit … and it was making some strange noise when disengaged for any length of time. I thought it may be the springs but as BVM had a Surflex clutch plate kit in stock for a good price I decided to try that first. The later 89 TR34 has an extra clutch plate compared to the earlier versions, just in case anyone out there wants to change theirs, and these later bikes also have the removable clutch casing outer cover. This makes the job of changing the discs a lot easier as you can just lay the bike down on its side and unbolt and work on the clutch without losing any oil or wrecking another gasket!
I’ve only had a chance for another 20 minutes playing on the drive but the noise has gone and the clutch much more direct and instant. When we finally get out for a proper ride we will see if that was the only problem.
The TRS didn’t really need much done, apart from I fitted a complete new front brake, having nicked the original for the Beta ! 🙂
I had purchased from a friend nice and cheap a mono-block new Braktec calliper (not the really expensive cnc one though!), and Steve Saunders had sent a new lever assembly and pipe. Gold CSP lever adjusters were fitted to match the clutch side, oil added and bled and that was sorted.
I just need time out on the bike now to see what needs finishing off … i’d like to drop a the gearing a little but it seams front sprockets are hard to find in the size i want.
I’ve been meaning to design a new stealth graphics kit for a while, I fancy going black and grey with a few white and gold bits … hopefully I’m going to work with Ricky Wiggins at Monsters of Dirt graphics not far down the road in Somerset on this. Meanwhile i wanted to get rid of some of the red on the bike, and realised i’d saved a few of the black and white graphics i’d removed over a year ago. So the frame and fuel tank area has returned to that old black and white look for now.
New S3 clamp on grips have been fitted, gearbox oil changed and linkage bearings greased. I fitted the lovely CSP linkage lower a few months ago, and a CSP brake pedal tip. Also Steve Saunders supplied a new carbon fibre front pipe guard, the previous clip on version not only annoyed me by coming off almost every time i slid back down a muddy climb but one of the clips had rusted and broken off. As i was bored i also replaced some worn pins on the S3 footrests !! Just need to get back out and learn to ride again after another 4 months off.
