It´s been almost two months since my last post here in the blog. To be honest not much has happened on the bike during this time. I´ve been on a very nice vacation in Sri Lanka for two weeks and after that we started out with the restoration of our last bathroom in the house. Now we´ve done 3 of them in a little more than a year. I´m SO done restoring bathrooms!
A couple of days ago I passed my PC, Proficiency Check, at work. That means I´m OK to keep on flying for another 6 months. We do these simulator checks 2 times a year to keep up with regulations, procedures and emergency training. It is a grueling 4 hour session in a full flight simulator when everything that can go wrong in an aircraft for sure will... Well, it is nice to be out of it until summer!
The very same day we left for Sri Lanka, Acke at ISR called and told me he had my rear sprockets done. I hurried there to pick them up before we boarded for Colombo.
I had bought two 520-chain sprocket blanks from a seller in the UK on eBay and one 530-chain sprocket blank from the "Spinnin´wheel" motorcycle salvage yard here in Sweden. I haven´t decided yet what chain to use on the bike. 530 is the original size, but 520 will most certainly look better. well, now I can choose. I like to have options!
I am more than happy with the work ISR did on these parts. You need to consider these were mere blanks with a small hole in the centre and nothing more. Acke knows his business and machined the center hole, the mounting holes (these have to fit perfectly round the full diameter of the hub...) and also calculated and manufactured the extra weight-reduction-holes between the edge of the sprocket and the mounting holes. Nice workmanship in all details. Check the deburring he did on all those holes... Wonderful!
Here´s what it looks like in place on the rear wheel drum. Not too bad at all....
My friend Janne and I try to help out as best we can with our H1R restorations. A couple of weeks ago he tipped me about a listing on the British eBay. A NOS Kawasaki H1R crank was put up for sale... I´m still surprised Janne didn´t buy it himself. Anyway, I looked at it for exactly 30 seconds and made up my mind. Buy-it-now was available so I got it! I asked the seller to pack it real good and then I just had to wait until the not-so-good Royal mail and the seriously lousy PostNord did their job...
The crank was sold in its original box and the seller had boxed it up nice with an extra layer of bubblewrap. That´s the kind of service you want! Transporting cranks in their original boxes is really quite neat. They are properly secured in styrofoam and oily plastic bags.
The part number tag still intact on the box. my heart took an extra beat when I saw the number. 13031-41 was actually unknown to me. I expected 13031-036 which is the number in my part manual...
The original box on the kitchen counter (my wife at work....). Here we go!
Oh my... Isn´t that a beauty?! Brand spanking new crank for the H1R. Remember I restored my extra crank last year? the cost to have that done was actually higher than what I paid for this one.
In this picture you can see the special roller bearings used on the H1R. There is no groove in any of the bearings for a retaining ring as on the street bikes. Here they used these orange "rubber seals" instead to seat the crank in the crankcases.
Another difference is shown here. There are two oil seals between each cylinders. The street bikes only have one large seal that seals both ways. Here they went double with two single sided seals. Why? You tell me....
We can also see the oil receivers screwed to the crank halves. Remember I had big problems finding them for the extra crank? If I only had known I´d find a NOS crank six months later...
The last picture shows the coned surface for fastening the ignition rotor. The outer oil seal is obviously not included in the crank assy. I need to buy one of those. I chose not to open the plastic bag at all, not even for pictures. the seller assured me it had never been opened since the seventies. I chose to believe him and left it as it was. Even though this part cost a great deal of money, I believe it´s worth every penny! I might even consider selling my extra, restored, crank one day. Having 3 cranks for one bike seems a bit over the top.
When I got back home from vacation, Pär Svedin in Delsbo called and informed me he had my seat covers ready to ship or pick up. Trusting my H1R seat and 4 freshly sewn seat covers to PostNord? Don´t think so! Instead I visited my friend Anders in Linghed, Dalarna, spent a nice evening with beer and whiskey at his house and then went on to Delsbo the day after.
As a curiosity I might mention Anders and I discussed this Kawasaki H1 1970 he has had in storage for another friend since 15 years back. We talked about getting it back on the streets this year and decided to give the owner an offer for it....
The bike is known as "Kermit" due to the very nice (?) Kawasaki lime green color. This is Anders 15 years ago when it was last started. A triple is always a triple and I just love these modified bikes from the time. Stock bone original, 100% correct restorations has lost its glory in my eyes. I might just be getting older, but building from a script doesn´t entertain me so much nowadays...
And another picture when he had just ridden it before we put it back in storage. Those silencers were added to pass the Swedish MOT, but that never happened in 2003. We´ll do that later this year. The previous owner took our offer and now Anders is working on it to get it street legal!
It was winter back in 2003 when we last fettled with that H1. It was winter also now, 2018, when I continued north towards Delsbo and NCCR.
The road from Linghed to Delsbo normally takes three hours to drive. This day it took more than 4. Beautiful scenery and very wintery roads made it quite enjoyable!
NCCR´s device is "GO GOOD, GO NORTH" Well, I´m inclined to agree. Here I´m approaching Knaggälve where they have their business. This village is called Högtomta and is situated between Delsbo and Knaggälve. I wish I had brought my skis...
And here´s the reason for this journey up north! Pär with my H1R seat and the four (!) seat covers he made for me. It took a while, but now he has the templates for the H1R seat cover and can make more of them at shorter notice. If anyone is interested, please let me know and I will forward your request to him!
The collection we made this time. My original is to the front, right. far right is my own try at it. The two black ones in the middle are the ones most accurate, made in black suede for my friend Janne and Aaron in Canada. The brown one in suede is an experiment to see what it would look like in brown. Not too bad at all! And finally the brown to the left is my own take on the H1R seat. Brown leather, entirely produced in Sweden. I was so inspired when I saw the seat Pär had done for the NCCR Harley caferacer a few years back.
Next up for the restoration process would be getting the rear wheel back on the bike permanently. To that I need to decide what size of chain to use, 530 (stock) or 520... I´m constantly debating this in my mind. Go stock or go good looking? Time will tell!
I also need to adress that ignition unit sitting on the bench, winking at me every time I venture in to the garage. The carbs need to go on the bike and I need to call "Tullar´n" and ask about the fairing screen and the fairing for racer number 2. Hopefully they are done soon. The hunt for new or used parts is always on and if you here someone talking about Kawasaki triple parts, bikes or something even remotely connected to the racers I have, please let me know! Life is ever so slightly back to normal now, after the simulator session and the third bathroom renovation. Hopefully I´ll be able to get more done, faster, on the H1R in the near future!
Thanks for reading, guys!
/Per
A couple of days ago I passed my PC, Proficiency Check, at work. That means I´m OK to keep on flying for another 6 months. We do these simulator checks 2 times a year to keep up with regulations, procedures and emergency training. It is a grueling 4 hour session in a full flight simulator when everything that can go wrong in an aircraft for sure will... Well, it is nice to be out of it until summer!
The very same day we left for Sri Lanka, Acke at ISR called and told me he had my rear sprockets done. I hurried there to pick them up before we boarded for Colombo.
I had bought two 520-chain sprocket blanks from a seller in the UK on eBay and one 530-chain sprocket blank from the "Spinnin´wheel" motorcycle salvage yard here in Sweden. I haven´t decided yet what chain to use on the bike. 530 is the original size, but 520 will most certainly look better. well, now I can choose. I like to have options!
My friend Janne and I try to help out as best we can with our H1R restorations. A couple of weeks ago he tipped me about a listing on the British eBay. A NOS Kawasaki H1R crank was put up for sale... I´m still surprised Janne didn´t buy it himself. Anyway, I looked at it for exactly 30 seconds and made up my mind. Buy-it-now was available so I got it! I asked the seller to pack it real good and then I just had to wait until the not-so-good Royal mail and the seriously lousy PostNord did their job...
When I got back home from vacation, Pär Svedin in Delsbo called and informed me he had my seat covers ready to ship or pick up. Trusting my H1R seat and 4 freshly sewn seat covers to PostNord? Don´t think so! Instead I visited my friend Anders in Linghed, Dalarna, spent a nice evening with beer and whiskey at his house and then went on to Delsbo the day after.
As a curiosity I might mention Anders and I discussed this Kawasaki H1 1970 he has had in storage for another friend since 15 years back. We talked about getting it back on the streets this year and decided to give the owner an offer for it....
It was winter back in 2003 when we last fettled with that H1. It was winter also now, 2018, when I continued north towards Delsbo and NCCR.
Next up for the restoration process would be getting the rear wheel back on the bike permanently. To that I need to decide what size of chain to use, 530 (stock) or 520... I´m constantly debating this in my mind. Go stock or go good looking? Time will tell!
I also need to adress that ignition unit sitting on the bench, winking at me every time I venture in to the garage. The carbs need to go on the bike and I need to call "Tullar´n" and ask about the fairing screen and the fairing for racer number 2. Hopefully they are done soon. The hunt for new or used parts is always on and if you here someone talking about Kawasaki triple parts, bikes or something even remotely connected to the racers I have, please let me know! Life is ever so slightly back to normal now, after the simulator session and the third bathroom renovation. Hopefully I´ll be able to get more done, faster, on the H1R in the near future!
Thanks for reading, guys!
/Per
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