CR500- Road Race bike

Thats what I figured when thinking about it. Was gonna get a Nova trans anyways for reliability's sake. Got this dude's whole kit instead.

The second part, well... lols haha. Its "yellow colored"... like Wyatt Earp i can talk myself into anything.

 

Interesting, yeah never took it into consideration, but it would make sense, those are pretty tight radius bends and bending metals generates alot stress which is what generates the heat, depending on radius and speed the bend is made, the metal can get pretty hot in areas.

Aluminum can be a good one to see the results of stress on pretty tight bends where the metal fractures or starts to tear...and can also require annealing, etc.

And right, anodizing Ti can be tricky, not your usual apply aluminum technique.

Very cool should look really good once its done up right

Coming along....I can imagine, I , along with hundreds of others, cannot wait to see the finished product and videos of it running

 

well hopefully. springs came back a more yellow gold tone now, like a matte ohlins spring instead of bronze. still enjoyable. im gonna get them laser inscribed next week hopefully again cause it went away with the redo, then send back to Fast Bike. Getting some info about Sicom rotors so maybe i get some R1 carriers made and do the carbon thing. we'll see as each piece comes along i guess.

 

Bump Mr. @Sweatypants

 

LOL godamnit. I'll have a little something something cool for you in 2 or 3 weeks here. Couple goodies to show since last. Been waiting on the Martek frame (which appears to be literally completed and done) now for months. Said he's sending it before the end of February, that's 3 days. Bought a rear Marchesini for the Martek bike that took 3.5 months to get from Italy (supply chain COVID shit I'd bet). Front Marchesini is getting powdercoated to match right now at MRP. Need to figure out how to drive the Vdue bike to Minneapolis and avoid snow maybe in March here to get the exhausts underway.

After the Martek frame comes and MRP is done, I'll send that chassis out hopefully and get a motor put into it. I bet that'll take most of the year. After one more thing comes back for the Vdue bike, I'll figure out the exhausts. Bet that also takes 6 months. That's the last part to get for it, then it'll be ready to assemble. Pretty much been stalled all winter. We'll see.

 

Waiting with baited breath, sweaty palms, goosebumps, butterflies, etc...

 

Yeah, it's something like that!!!

Just don't tell my wife I feel this way!

 

so, let's see... a little update:

first things first... got the springs re-coated, pneumatic preload adjuster on. Titanium Finishing Company in PA is awesome, will be using again. and the Fast Bike Industries dudes in NC were super rad to deal with. I wanna move down there unrelated to my good service haha, but that would be convenient if i lived in Asheville. Fast Bike sent out the rods in the shock and steering damper to get gold Ti coated and then reassembled as well.

 

Then I got a race trans with hardened and super finished gears done, with a dry clutch conversion for a Banshee motor from a dude that does them in Greece. Another awesome dude to deal with, and he whips these up fast its sick. Uses old GSXR750 clutch plates from that old school dry clutch bike. Now I have this ready to go for when the Martek frame finally arrives. Also the Astralite wheels are a no go. Just not enough meat in the rear to fit a proper bearing for how big the R6 and new bike axles are. Might still refinish them tho and keep them around cause they're my most favorite wheels ever. Got a 7 spoke Marchesini to go with my original forged mag Marchesini front. Its being refinished right now in gold to match.

 

So then the Martek frame/tank is about done I believe. Mark said he's getting me a shipping quote this week, but we'll see how long this takes. Once this is here and the wheels are back from MRP, I'll try and ship it off to get an engine and exhausts built and get a running bike.

 

Annnnnddddd last but not least, my favorite update. Got a pair of Ducati 320mm SICOM rotors from Freddy at Superbike Unlimited. SICOM was pretty sketchy about making R1M rotors unless I provided them all the exact dimensions, and since I was weary about decimals of millimeters and shit like that for clearance, I decided I'd just buy these, and see if Charles @cf at Motorsport Studios could take care of me like he had for all the other stuff, and sure enough... we set off to make our own rotor carriers. I got most of the rough dimensions gathered for him, and a few people helped out here with some exact measurement confirmations, so thanks very much. Sent over my Braketech's as another template as well, and he got to work. Dude is a damn beast! Sent me a 3D print section to verify fitment after we settled on a design, once confirmed, he arranged the machining and anodizing and done deal. Super annoying because the R1M are 0 offset instead of a dish like most rotors, so because the rotor sits on top of the carrier instead of even with the carrier on most rivet rotors, we had to design it to bend inward towards the spoke center and make sure it clears the mounting surface on the hub and all. Pic next to the Braketech shows just how bigger the PCD is on an R1 v. a Ducati. I can't wait to get these things on an assembled bike. Thanks again Charles for everything. From Ducati to R1M:























And done for now. Titanium exhausts next. Then the Vdue can be assembled. Last "part" besides buying some more titanium bolts and small little things. I also bought all the stuff needed to anodize titanium myself now, so I'm gonna start toying with that.

 

Been a while - any updates?

 

Naw nothing. Still don't have my Martek frame. My buddy in England picked it up from him, but now he's dragging a little. Astralites are "hopefully" getting totally refinished as they should be. Had to go to 4 powder places before anyone wanted to touch them, even with a blank check when asked what my budget was. Got the swingarm all squared away with an underslung Brembo and the Fast Frank stuff for the Martek frame and the front Marchesini now matches the new rear Marchesini. That's about it.







Exhausts for the Vdue are the main thing. Last part it needs besides brake lines to be put together. I've been holding off on that though because I don't want to ship the chassis and carbon monocoque, so I THINK i will be renting a car to drive it 18 hours to Gary Braun (assuming he will take it) and then flying home. I've been putting THAT off because of a potential vacation in the fall and I'll be out of town most of next month. Some other life stuff going on. I'll let you guys know if anything else pops up, but that's it for now.

Been trying my hand at helmet painting for the first time. Was always fascinated with lowrider/glitter painted stuff, so finally wanted to give it a go. No booth, no compressor/gun, no airbrush, but hey... the cheapest shittiest glitter Rustoleum paint you can buy. Half the time it would get clogged, sometimes it would sputter or throw a bunch of clear with no glitter, so the gold layer and the red layer had to be laid on thick, creating kind of a ridge that was hard to get rid of without hosing the whole. Doing the black shading was also pretty impossible with a spray can and not an airbrush, although I thought of a few techniques afterwards that I could have done. All in all, not bad for a learning experience and first try, until I went to wetsand and cut/buff, and little white specs appeared. Found out I have solvent pop, you can see the milky white specs in the red specifically in the pic below, either from those extra thick dumb ass layers (probably), or the fact that I would take the helmet inside to my cold basement immediately after spraying to not get bugs or leaves on it, instead of letting it cure in some heat. I did extra taping steps too i didn't need to do cause I wasn't thinking. Also i could have done black shading over a layer of clear and it probably woulda shown up better than over the rough glitter. also i tried the wool disc for cutting at first and it was throwing hair and bullshit everywhere. switched to foam.

My process was... prime, white pearl, tape off main design, teal glitter, 3 coats of clear, wetsand with 800 and 1200, tape off again and apply patterns, 3 coats of red glitter, tape off, on the outer part 2 coats of metallic black, then 3 coats of gold glitter over that. 3 coats of clear on the whole thing, wetsand with 600, 1000, 1500, 2000. cut with meguiar's and the white foam pad, then buff with a polishing meguiar's and the yellow foam pad.

Anyways... lessons learned. And I ordered a portable airbrush now, and a dry glitter gun so i can just spray real paint and straight glitter onto it instead of a mix of garbage paint... and most importantly real paints from a real paint place that are quality. Will try to be thinner on the layers, easier on the wetsanding, and better with curing. Can also now do propper shade/fading. Got some cool stencils coming too.

 

Is this still about the OP, and a CR500?

 

OP was for a CR500 road racer for sale on Craigslist which evolved into discussion of other 2 stroke race bikes, many of them involving 2 stroke motor transplants, which is what Sweatypants has going (V-due 2 stroke 500 into a custom Martek frame). His venture into helmet painting is a little off from where the thread was going...

 

lol well, somebody asked for an update. that's what i've been doing haha. i'll report back when there's something new with the bikes. the Martek frame should be in the mail next week finally.

 

I appreciate the update even though it wasn't as much as some previous updates (I love any pictures of this project!). I'm no painter but not against reading about something different and learning from someone else.

 

I'm also no painter haha, but I always loved that stuff. At least I learned some things to apply to the next one. I might take a class in the Fall.