Thursday 25 October 2012

Let there be light!

A while ago I picked up an old side light from Newark auto jumble, it cost £1.50 with the lens and still had the original bulb holder inside. I decided it should go on the BMW. The only problem was that it was a side light and I needed a stop and tail light. I stripped the old bulb holder from the original CB-1 rear light and cut off all the extra metal so that it would fit inside the side light. The bulb holder fitted straight into the holder of the side light without any modification.


I went to the Stafford classic bike show and found a rear mudguard/fender for £5 which cleaned up well, had tabs underneath to attach the wiring and fitted perfectly! I have managed to fit the light and hide the wiring under the mudguard.
I was loaned the single seat but it's time to give it back so after a lot of internet searching for the right seat for the bike I settled on a pattern Police seat from Motorworks, no bargains to be had here, but it is very well padded and hopefully will be comfortable on long journeys!



I am struggling to find a set of 4 indicators that look the part, most modern ones look too modern and will not look right next to the old rear light, old indicators are far too big and when I do find some that look ok they cost £50 for 2!! My search continues......

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Round headlight


I have finally had some time to work on the R80 after too much work and a nice relaxing motorcycle tour of Spain and France in September.

The first thing to go was the square headlight! Over the summer I bought a head light and brackets from Ebay for a reasonably cheap price. While I was stripping the front end down I fitted new fork seals, progressive springs and gaiters. Fitting the headlight bowl needed a lot of re-routing and tidying up of the dodgy wiring bodges the previous owners had inflicted on the bike.



 I then fitted some nice new black handle bars and brown grips which seem to work quite well.


I was going to buy a new set of indicators for the bike, but found the old ones from the CB-1 will do the job without spending loads on fancy LED ones. I also need to tidy up the back end wiring and lights as well. I should be going to Stafford at the weekend so hopefully get a front/rear mudguard/fender and possibly some kind of old rusty rear carrier while I'm there!