SOCC Part II

When last we left The Mad Max-im, the forks were removed, the wheel was laying horizontal with it's guts torn out and new tools were being fashioned to get it in running shape. 270 miles from home and the picture to the left was what I was dealing with. Looks sad, doesn't it? I suppose if I had lost my front legs, I'd be feeling the same way.

As you can see the brake calipers were being held back with plastic zip ties and the front end was being held up by an axle stand. I tried this at home with mixed results. While the bike was held loosely by a rope to the ceiling pulley system, I was constantly checking to make sure that the bike wasn't going to just tip over.
Here's Dwayne, aka Yoda, using a table vise to hold one of the front fork tubes in place. Again, worried parent that I was, I'm sure I nagged him near to death with my questions about the pressure in the vise damaging the tubing, shouldn't there be some sort of buffer between the tube and the vise, won't the chrome get scratched... blah blah blah. The vise worked great, I needn't have worried. The top of the tube held a small screw in piece called a front fork cap that held all the inner workings inside. I was told there was a big spring just below, and that care had to be taken in removing the piece. Strip that baby and you need to buy a new fork tube. I also imagined the tube as one of those trick cans of nuts that explodes outward with a accordion style snake. Luckily, that wasn't the case.

The fork cap needs to be rotated counter clockwise, not pounded out as was first thought. Once the idiosyncrasies were worked out, rust notwithstanding, the cap was removed.

A special word of thanks goes out to Louie and Mano, the dream team when it come to work that needed to be done on my bike. While Mano was there to learn how front fork seals were done so that he could do the same with his bike, Louie was just a big help. He had a peculair knack when it came to cleaning parts up on a rotary grinding brush, and I was amazed to see the parts that were originally rusted and clogged with corrosion actually look brand new again with Louie's expertise.

I haven't really spoken too much about Ross's garage. Absolutely amazing. And clean! He owns a motorcycle, which he confessed he hadn't ridden more than a few meters in the last few months. Of course, he doesn't own a vintage, eclectic bike like the XJ series, but his bike was pretty nice. He also owned a kick ass Pontiac Solstice. Beautiful car.

As punishment for not owning an X series, he was forced to clean my bike from top to bottom with a toothbrush, as shown in this revealing photo. Actually, he's applying anti-seize compound to the areas where the forks will rest. Thanks Ross.

About half way through the day, pizza was ordered and Ross's beautiful girlfriend brought out some delicious barbeque wings. There was also coffee, beer and a yummy cake and cookies. Beer and cake. Is that a Canadian tradition? :)

Things were progressing rather smoothly at this point, and I began to think that perhaps I might make it home after all. All these great guys working on my bike. Years of experience, the kind you can't learn from a book or learn in a school. I was in heaven!

Of course, without heaven, there's hell. Shortly after these photos were taken, it was discovered that the speedometer cable was clicking against the brake rotors on the front and had damaged it almost beyond repair. The cable was fine. The housing the cable sat in was not.
I guess that explains the clicking I was constantly hearing. Funny thing was, the noise was intermittent, so I could never nail down exactly where it was coming from.
A new housing had to be created. Dwayne took it upon himself to create something that started out as a piece of brass tubing, and ended up a work of art. The pieces fit together perfectly.

Finally the bike was put back together, with no extra pieces left over. Mine was the last bike to be tuned, and since it was raining, I was unable to take my Wa-hoo ride until the following morning. Dinner was excellent, with Lasagna, rolls, cole slaw, mixed vegetables and hotter than hell peppers my colon is still screaming about. Thanks to Marina and Ross for the fantastic time.

All in all, the SOCC was a fantastic learning experience. I encourage everyone to go, or even hold your own and see who shows up. Doug and I are going to be setting one up in the spring for people in surrounding states to come and show off their masterpieces. I learned a lot at this clinic and although it was a very long way to travel, the XJ held its own and stood up to everything I threw at it. Thanks for reading!

Here are a few other random photos of goings-on at the clinic.

Here is a steel drill bit, supposedly unbendable, bent by Yoda. He used this to bore out the center of a pipe, making it wider in diameter to fit the 22mm hex bolt that eventually slid into and helped release the front fork retaining bolt.

Brass tubing was used to break the bearings free from the wheel. Hey... that looks a lot like the tubing used to make my speedo cable housing! Well, those Canucks sure are thrifty, enterprising fellows!

Thom Stagno gets up close and personal during a carbtuning session with his bike, while Doug Rojek does the same in the background. Hey Thom! Hurry up! I got a bike to dismantle!