Front end refresh

[Mister Fishfinger]

When I bought my bike I thought it would be a regular rider that I wouldn't be too fussy about, just so I would have something to ride round on while my restoration project proceeded at a stately pace in the shed.

But no.

Turns out I am a fussy bugger and I can't leave well alone. The front end of my bike has been somewhat neglected by the PO and corrosion has got to the forks and various other bits. Even though it all works OK and doesn't leak fork oil or whatever, I just couldn't look at it without wanting to fix it properly. So today I stripped the forks down ready to send the forks of for rechroming. While they are away I will get some other stuff cleaned up and powder coated. Hopefully the fork refurb will be done in 5 to 6 weeks, which should mean I miss some horrible weather and get back on the road when it's nice.

So here's some pics of the evil stanchions and the nasty sliders:

[Mister Fishfinger]

The fork oil smelled pretty foul and was fairly dirty. I would guess it has been in there since 2005 when the bike was made:

[Mister Fishfinger]

And here's a pic of the K5 fork disassembled, which might be useful if anyone (including me) forgets how it goes together:

[seth]

What are you doing with the stantions?
I put mine to A.M.Philpots they did a fantastic job of rechroming and now at double the miles still as good as the day I refitted them.

[Mister Fishfinger]

What are you doing with the stantions?
I put mine to A.M.Philpots they did a fantastic job of rechroming and now at double the miles still as good as the day I refitted them.

Yeah, they are going to Philpots. Used them on my last 2 classic rebuilds, I wouldn't go anywhere else now. Unfortunately because they are the best in the business there's a 5 or 6 week turnaround time, but it's cheaper than buying pattern replacements and the chrome comes back much harder and deeper than either OEM or pattern parts. So you get OEM forks with the finish Suzuki should have put on them in the first place.

Anyway I will use the time to clean up and refresh various bits of the front that have caught the worst of the weather.

And I might do a bit of DIY round the house 

[Red Biker]

Good stuff Mr F 👍
What colour are you doing for the bottoms?

Red

[Mister Fishfinger]

Good stuff Mr F 👍
What colour are you doing for the bottoms?

Red

I can't decide between polishing them up and leaving them bare, or perhaps satin black. They do look nice in black.

[Mister Fishfinger]

Well Philpots let me down and delivered my fork stanchions yesterday, beautifully refinished. I was taking my time cleaning up the rest of the bike, but now I'm under pressure.

Here's the front of the bike - it's a good time to go round and clean up all the rust spots when there's no front end on it. There's a lot of rust on the frame, to be honest. Suzuki didn't spend a lot on that paint.

[Red Biker]

Wait until the Sun comes out next week Mr F! That's proper pressure, last year I booked a week off work to get it finished 

[lloydjames]

Good stuff Mr F 👍
What colour are you doing for the bottoms?

Red

I can't decide between polishing them up and leaving them bare, or perhaps satin black. They do look nice in black.

Black wins every day in my opinion. polished forks look amazing but are a nightmare to keep looking good. Your choice at the end of the day but i like riding my bike more than polishing it.

[gsxbarmy]

Polish and then cover leading edge in helicopter tape 

[lloydjames]

Polish and then cover leading edge in helicopter tape 

Or just powder coat and leave alone  

[Mister Fishfinger]

Today I rubbed down the frame rails, treated the rust spots (there were many) with rust converter and sprayed the rails. I used Simoniz Tough Black Gloss, which I have used before on other bikes and is a reasonable match for the existing paint.

I've never heard of helicopter tape.

[gsxbarmy]

So Helicopter tape is the tape they use on the front of helicopter blades and is very resilient to scuffs etc. You also often find it on sills on cars where people get in and out.

Not expensive and very effective at stopping scuffs and chipping (on front sliders), the 50mm wide is recommended for front sliders down the leading edge.

As an example see this auction on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Invisible-Bike-Frame-Protection-Tape-Helicopter-Film-Heli-carbon-1-5m-x-50mm/322996049911?hash=item4b341097f7:m:mxxcTeCdigW_YABtcK-B0oA

[Mister Fishfinger]

Today I finally got the bike back together and on the road. Here's a list of stuff I've done:

• Rechromed fork stanchions (nice job Philpots)
• Powder coated rusty steel headlamp brackets
• Polished alloy headlamp ears
• Vapour blasted alternator cover, timing cover, fork sliders
• Rebuilt forks with new seals and fresh Castrol synthetic oil
• Replaced the bent handlebars with Renthal super lows
• Powder coated rusty centre stand
• Replaced grotty old aftermarket blue brake and clutch levers with standard Suzuki parts
• Cleaned and greased steering head bearings
• Stripped the fuel pump and cleaned out the teabag filter
• Replaced high pressure fuel hose to cure the slight leak
• Stripped and cleaned the front brake calipers as per gsxbarmy's instructions
• Rubbed down and painted oil cooler lines
• Powder coated oil cooler hose bracket, replaced mounting bolt
• Rubbed down and painted lower frame rails
• New rear tyre
• Fitted an Extenda Fenda to try and keep some of the crap off the engine
• Ditched the Renntec crash bars and Givi screen
• Removed and cleaned the exhaust system
• Replaced rusty exhaust header flanges with nice stainless ones from Delkevic

And here is what she looked like after all that grief: