Messing with my Aprilia Cup

Congrats on the bike! I think you got a great deal regardless of all the work it needs. In the end you will have an awesome track bike! Do you mind measuring the stroke of the steering damper? I'm building a hybrid using a the same front end (missing the damper) and I plan on ordering a universal damper as the originals are impossible to find. I want to make sure I get the correct stroke. Keep the progress pics coming!

 

60mm. It's off the bike so I can't say how much of that it uses.

 

Hyperco spring showing "400-394" on the top. Assume I have a 400in/lb spring, which might not be too far off for my 170ish lbs from what I've found on old AF1 threads.

Finally found that the original cup springs were 0.71 and 0.77 kg/mm. I can probably tell that difference by hand if they're not marked so I'll throw in the stiff ones.

The fabricator wasn't happy with his first pass and didn't want to take my money. It doesn't fit anymore. I left him the frame and took some pics of my other bike to show him the room he has to reinforce. As always, it will be done when it's done... He took some measurements and pics too for a quick estimate to fab up a few.

 

Just shoot me. LOL motosapien was suggesting I should update the trans and get a straight cut clutch basket. This is not the bike for that stuff.

 

Thank you very much!

 

Excavating dirt from the swingarm.



The main mount roller bearings were a little gritty. The ones for the linkage are better sealed and perfect. Washer missing from the nut inside the swingarm. Of course.

TTW order in. Waiting on pistons. My good cylinders are RGV250 parts. 22D0 vs 22D5. The Internet seems to think they're identical except the the "Aprilia" cast into the 22D5. I need to figure out the right tool to order to take the Showas apart.

Low point of the project. Almost everything taken apart, nothing ready to go back together yet.

 

Sent a note to Sean Hadley at TTW about RGV vs RS cylinders. He says they're identical. Actually, he said "they are within normal manufacturing tolerances between casting runs". He must be an engineer.

 

And this is why you go through the whole thing. Nice stream of garbage came out of the brake lines. I have new Gafler lines coming from AF1 and a caliper rebuild kit from a shop in the UK.



One of the Wiseco pistons from Partzilla was missing the wrist pin and rings. Rather than just send me those (which they stock) they had me send the box w/missing parts back and will ship me out a new box with (hopefully) all the right parts. For reasons that are probably summed up by "our back end system kind of sucks".

 

The box of chocolates Cup bike continues to reveal its secrets. Changed fork oil in one of the legs this morning. The spring that came out does not seem to be OEM Aprilia. The manual says min length is 237mm and the spring that came out was 267. The spare springs I have are about 242mm. About 340ml of oil came out. I was expecting at least 400. On the positive side, I finally completed something. The right fork leg is ready to reinstall with 13.75W Motul fork oil (I mixed what I had sitting around in 15 and 10, the manual says 5-20W).



My friend stopped by the fabricator yesterday and he cracked that Matt had a prototype for the cradles made out of beach chair components. I only asked Matt for a quote! It reminded me that many years ago I brought him my Lotus Esprit with a plate I wanted installed over the shifter hole (it made the chassis a lot stiffer and was a factory update that happened about 30 cars after mine). It had taken me 6 months to source the thing. I thought he would put some rivnuts in and be done. When I picked it up, "that plate sucked [bends it for effect] so I made a custom insert and cut my own plate".

 

I tell myself I'm not going to post every time I put a wrench on this bike, then I put a wrench on it and uncover some new horror. I've been waiting on the MotionPro tool for pulling the cups but discovered that the right socket with a little blue tape for an interference fit pops them out pretty easily.



The ultrasonic cleaner is my new favorite thing.

 

Which cleaner do you have?

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01FDIFAG2

It's a generic one sold under a bunch of brand names. It has a temp setting and readout but does not seem to have an actual thermostat, which is bizarre. I don't know if that's true of the others copycats.

 

There’s a special tool for removing brake caliper pistons? I thought most people just used compressed air to push them out. Ultrasonic cleaners are great. Cleanliness is next to godliness and motorbikes can never be too clean.

 

I looked at that exact one, and the negative comments kind of made me question it. Most complained of failed control panels, or lack of heat control. Seems every brand I've looked at, from HF to anything on AMZ, they all seem to have the same complaints.

 

I saw this little Motion Pro tool and thought it was kind of clever. https://www.motionpro.com/product/08-0591 There are others that are like expanding pliers.

I know air works as long as it's not seized but I keep imagining a huge mess. Also, I like new tools.

That's why it took me so long to buy one! Finally just decided to roll the dice.

 

All the generic Chinese brand ultrasonic cleaners are a roll of the dice. The weakest link is the electronic control system, so if you can find one that uses electromechanical controls like dials instead of PCBs with LCD displays and push buttons, you should be better off. But for $100-$150, this is what you get. High quality units that professionals use cost like 6x-20x and are usually made in USA or Germany. Those are cost prohibitive for most hobbyists that use them a couple times a year for cleaning motorcycle parts.

 

Can you send me details on how you plan to reinforce the lower engine cradle? Need to do the same to mine.

 

My plan is to hand money to Matt The Fabricator when he's done doing whatever he thinks is best. . I will update with pictures once I get my hands on it.

 

Well, it's not going to break there again.

 

About ready to pull the crank. I was out of town for a while and, frankly, a little worried about screwing something up, so it's been dragging on. It looks like the crank has been out of this engine before.



I didn't realize until I pulled the cover that the transmission pulls out as a unit. Neat.

I'm thinking I would be smart to send the crank (maybe both my cranks) to Steve since I don't know anything about anything.