Nice work, Phillipe It's coming along nicely

So, it's been a couple of months since my last update and it's been a case of one step forward, two steps back with the 550 :( But let's start with the positives ! After some consideration about where to go with the front fork springs, I had a chat with Larry at PDQ (thanks for the recommendation, A...

Al - 130lbs ?? I know I'm thin, but I'm not ill :lol: I looked around the Race Tech website (lots of useful suspension related information) and using their online calculator (ensuring I selected the right bike, my correct weight, etc) it came up with a recommend linear spring and a spring rate of 0....

Hi Al, Thanks for your input - invaluable as always :) All the replacement springs I can find are progressive, dual rate at 6.0 kg/cm & 8.0 kg/cm or 6.0 N/mm & 8.0 N/mm - The standard springs were linear and were pretty soft from what I remember. Ideally I would have liked uprated linear spr...

I've taken this extract from my GPz550 rebuild thread in the projects forum as I thought it more suited to this forum. The fork springs are not original, but a set of WP Progressive springs I fitted back in the day when I proddy raced the 550. They were great on the circuits, but when I converted th...

Next on the list to rebuild were the forks, but I came across an issue with the springs that I need to resolve before I can progress. The fork springs are not original, but a set of WP Progressive springs I fitted back in the day when I proddy raced the 550. They were great on the circuits, but when...

My plan is to get a rolling chassis first, which will make it easier to move the GPz around my garage (or out of it !) and then build the bottom half of the engine and drop that in the frame, before building the top half of the engine in the bike. I know some people drop the frame over the completed...

Today was the first day back in the garage since the Xmas break and the pile of bits "to do" appears to have almost disappeared, whilst the pile of boxes containing refurbished parts has almost taken over the garage :shock: So, after countless months of disassembly, cleaning, checking, rep...

I've spent the last few weekends preparing the exhaust system to be re coated/sprayed. It's not the original 4 into 2 system, but it is an original, period, Harris 4 into 1, which I fitted back in the late 80's after the original system rotted too far to repair. The Harris is not without its problem...

Looking good

The last couple of weeks, I've been examining the bodywork in preparation to send out for painting. I knew there were a few old "repairs" I had done to the plastics, back in the day, using fibreglass and they needed to come off and be repaired properly either by plastic welding or adhesive...

A lot of the recent work on my 550 has been sent out to specialists to complete - so it was nice to complete a couple of jobs myself and bask in the glow of self satisfaction of a job well done :D I had spotted a small piece missing from the plate that holds the CDi/Reg/Rec. I did consider trying to...

The wheels have now been polished and painted

Why don't do polish them yourself? For the sake of a 1/2 HP bench grinder and a set of mops? I find it one of the most satisfying jobs, you're covered in crap but you can see the result straight away. It does become addictive. I used to strip my Zeph11 every year and polish the side casings, forks,...

Everything is back from powdercoating :D The wheels have been chemically cleaned & blasted, but the rims need to be polished before going back to be painted - so now it's off to the polishers with the wheels, whilst the rest goes into the growing pile of refurbished parts, ready for the rebuild ...