Progress & Set-Backs

After retrieving my two RD400 "Donor-Cycles" I spent about a week just looking at them and dreaming. I scoured the Internet collecting data, downloading pictures and archiving technical data. "What shall I do? Streetfighter, Street-Tracker or Replica TZ Racer, that is the question!" After several days of deliberation and agonizing, I decide to build up both bikes.... The first project will be a "Streetfighter" and the second project will be a "Street-Tracker".

Step One - "The Tear-Down" I COMPLETELY disassemble one entire RD400 donor, bagging and tagging as I progress. A notebook is quickly filling with a long list of "needed parts". The frame, swingarm and various metal bits are sandblasted and then I start grinding off the unneeded bits from the frame. I paint, scrub, polish, and fabricate. I organize dozens of boxes filled with labeled baggies, each holding specific bits of the greater whole. The engine will wait patiently in the corner of the garage until I recover from my initial capital outlay.

Step Two - "My Stimulus Plan" I pull out the plastic and began my own version of the "Economic Stimulus Plan". By now I am on a first name basis with the guys at HVC Cycles, I have out-bid 80% of the RD-heads on eBay, and the UPS delivery man is asking questions - "Do you own some kind of motorcycle racing team?"! The parts are piling up in my study, garage, and living room.

Step Three - "The Build" This is "the big part" and I hope to have the first RD carving corners by the end of November 2009, just in time to freeze my leather-clad butt off. Progress is slow, mainly because I have a life outside of this project. My wife, daughter, extended family and work will not be neglected, so my timeline is a bit longer than optimal.

Setbacks..... So far I have not had any major setbacks or issues, just lots of frustration over the quality and execution of previous modifications to the bike. The worst issue is the wiring harness that has been sliced, diced and mangled by a series of poorly executed modifications. The brakes are also a bit of a challenge due to parts availability, or lack there of. I have already started making a custom wiring harness and I am scouring the Internet for brake parts.