quarta-feira, 16 de maio de 2012

The XR plan




Many moons ago, I was still living in the UK I bought this bike in Portugal. It was at first a race bike and I wanted it as a trail bike. I was then a man with a plan.
I had then planned to come back home for good and it would be nice to have a small engined trail bike I could use to see the bits of my country where there are no roads. Small engine means small road tax, and long rides with little money.





I took the engine to the UK and rebuild it in my spare time with my spare money. It took something like 3 months to get all the bits and get everything clean, blasted and painted. New piston, valves, used clutch basket, seals, o'rings, new carb and lots more.




Back home I changed all the plastic bits assembled everything, and gave the bike a full check up. Cleaning and greasing every bearing, painted the frame , rebuilding the brakes and added an oil cooler. Ran it in and spent a week adjusting the new carb.









It has got a few miles now and it's hard to let a weekend go by without taking it somewhere. Every Sunday I'm a happy man smiling in my helmet, riding a great bike in a wonderful country where you can still go where you want to.