Nice going Steve, going to be a nice bike!

Bit of an update later tonight.

Right then , where did we get to......................

True'd up the rear wheel, straight forward job, fitted the tyre and ultra sealed tube, new bearings.
TOOK ME 8 HOURS TO GET THE FRONT WHEEL TRUE'D UP!!!!!!
Couldn't believe it. Every time I touched a spoke it went all cattywampus on me, couldn't get it true for love nor money.
Left it alone for a day, came back to it, started again, 2 hours, all done. Straight as a straight one. Thank god for that.
I have to admit that I wasn't sure about how they wheels would look once they were in the bike, but now they're in I like them.





Got the engine in, took the swing arm back out to fit the new chain protector, fitted the forks, gaiters and wheels, top yolk, tail tidy.
Re-fitted all the engine covers I'd had off to paint, new zinc plated hex head bolts, then found some chrome enamel spray paint.
Wondered what it would look like on the bolt heads, liked it, so started doing a few of those as well.
It's getting there slowly. I missed my own deadline of last saturday, but what the hell...............it's looking ok so far.

I'm curious how the paint on the rims wil hold up. Still thinking about painting my rims black, or install excell rims :)

These are Excel rims, that got hand painted black hammerite !
I'll let you know how the paint holds up.................if I ever get round to finishing it and riding it again. I say that because I might sell it on when it's done, been looking at the DL1000, Versys 1000, KTM's and the like. But I do need one bike for touring and another for commuting really. Either that or I'll be changing them every 2 years.
Done a bit more over the last few days, slow but steady progress.

stevep10 wrote: Tue May 01, 2018 12:58 am These are Excel rims, that got hand painted black hammerite !
I'll let you know how the paint holds up.................if I ever get round to finishing it and riding it again. I say that because I might sell it on when it's done, been looking at the DL1000, Versys 1000, KTM's and the like. But I do need one bike for touring and another for commuting really. Either that or I'll be changing them every 2 years.
Done a bit more over the last few days, slow but steady progress.

I'm curious :)

Also thought about buying a different bike instead of my XTZ, but turns out that most of the bikes that I could affort would offer no gain over my own XTZ and only significantly expensive bikes would be an improvement, so decided to fix the XTZ. Maybe overdoing it, having just bought a complete set of panels, 320 mm brake rotors and the likes

p.s. I found the Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 also a nice option.

Had to stop work on this due to a customer bringing in his zx12-r for LOADS of work on it. He's only done 1000 miles in the last 3 years on it and now decides to go to the Isle of Man on it. . All new discs and pads, fork seals, front tyre, fluid changes, coolant change, full service, front indicators, choke cable. That's all done, called him, then he tells me the lads bike, a 600 bandit, has a slipping clutch and it needs a full going over/service because he's going as well now. On the 23rd of this month! Oi vey!

But at least I got a little more done before I stopped.................oil tank in, pipes and hoses and a few rear inner plastics.

Get the weekend to work on my own stuff for a change.
Neighbours done the decals:



Changed the seat cover, foam was good underneath, no rot or dusting:




Cleaned the downpipes and box:






VHT blacked them:




The cover for the rear box is currently in primer ready to go nice and blue.

Calipers and brakes are all done and back on the bike, bled and working nice, might be able to paint the tank tomorrow

Exhaust back in place, I like it

Looks good