43000+ miles until it fell

[Brian Moffet]

So, I put in new oil, put it on prime, and coaxed it to life.  It took much longer to start than it usually did, but it has been sitting for a while.  But it did start, and ran fine as I let it idle.  Once it got warmed up, it handled the throttle fine.  To test the rear brake light (the front lever is off) I pushed down on the rear brake lever with my foot and heard a "tink".

I looked down and saw the foot press for the rear brake lever sitting on the floor. 

Apparently, it also hit the ground and I can now see a little scraping on it.  I guess when it hit, it fractured the area just under the weld. 

Anyone have a spare I can purchase off of you?

Thanks,
Brian

[Rick G]

Brian is yours a '83 or a '82 with fairing? I have one for a '82.

[Brian Moffet]

1983.  Night Vision has offered one, thanks.  But I now have a front brake lever on, brand new and all of that  :)

Brian

[Tiger]

 :) Hey Brian, how are the repairs going with you and your Vision... ???

                    8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Brian Moffet]

Unfortunately, slowly.  I've been exhausted after work, and away during the weekend.  I hope to do quite a bit of work on it this weekend.  It's in a running state now, and I just need to put misc pieces back on after repairing the fiberglass.  The upper fairing is scrapped along the right edge, I need to replace some of the nylon bolts holding the windscreen on.  The lowers are cracked and need much more work.

I'll wait on the tank until later in the year.  Wife's temporary job went away, but came back after a little while. Now the renters in the house we own in Santa Cruz have moved out, so we're not bringing in that income until we get new renters...  But other than the tank, the rest I can pretty much handle.

Brian

[Tiger]

 :) Brian, as "The Mistress" fell on her left side and shattered the left side lower (among other things!!) and I have now installed another full fairing, lowers and all, I have a perfectly good right side lower with a working vent system. However, it is in Pearl Orange finish and would need painting...Make me an offer via PM or email, if your interested ;)

                  8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Tiger]

 :) Right side fairing lower now on its way to a warmer climate, from the "Frozen North" :o :D :D :D :D

                        8).......TIGER....... 8)

[Brian Moffet]

Today was fiberglass day.  I put on the rear brake lever from Night Vision, and started the bike.  It took a little while, but within a minute was purring happily.  I let it warm up and then to check things out I took her down the street (about 1/4 mile or so) and back up.  Everything was running great, though there was more wind since I was riding it without a fairing...  I took special care because I didn't have turn signals either.

Then, came home cleaned up the oil on the garage floor and opened the Bondo fiberglass repair kit.  I was expecting a different type of glass cloth, a woven kind like you would use in making airplanes.  The nice thing about that is that you can align the strands with the needed strength.  Instead this cloth was a mat of sorts.  It will do though. I poured out 2 ounces of epoxy, some 24 drops of hardener and mixed them thoroughly.   I saturated the two pieces of glass mat I cut, one for the upper fairing and one for the lower  side.  I have Tiger's lower which I may end up using, depends on how it all turns out.  I don't have a lot of hope for my lower side, but since I was playing with epoxy anyway...

They're downstairs curing now.  I'll take a look at them in a couple of hours.  I still need to repair the rear exhaust scrape, and I'll try doing that with liquid metal epoxy. 

And yes, all of the above epoxy work was done with latex gloves on.  I don't have any desire to get an allergic reaction to the stuff..

I imagine after this I'll have to paint it....

Brian

[Brian Moffet]

Today, after spending a lot of time (not today, just over the last few months) I put the fairing back on, the turn signals, and all of the miscellaneous parts that go into the fairing.  Unfortunately, I am missing one bolt, the one that goes on the fairing right below the heater vent with the very large flat screw head.  I have another one on there now, but it doesn't look very good.  The fairing has been patched, filled with epoxy/micro-balloon filler, but not painted yet.  The tank is still dented of course.  Thanks to all who helped, I really appreciate it.

Clicking on the photos will get you to larger versions.

Brian

Filled in and smoothed out the lower fairing.	Same with the upper fairing.
The tank is still dented.	The new mirrors look nice.

[Brian Moffet]

Oh yes, as to whether and how well it runs.  It runs great.  Started right up, and ran very smoothly.

I look forward to riding it again, though I'll have to wait to get it painted.  My car was broken in to, they broke out the passenger window and swiped my stereo.  I have insurance, but the premium is still going to hurt a little.

Brian

[Night Vision]

being robbed must suck

[funkamongus]

Good work, Bro!

[Brian Moffet]

being robbed must suck

I don't recommend it.  Although it is sucky, I'm taking it in stride.  The insurance will pay to have the door fixed (they tried to pry the door handle off, it's a flat insert type of door handle, when that didn't work the shattered the window).  I'll put the original stereo back in it rather than an after-market unit.  I plan on selling the RX-7 later this year, it just doesn't make sense in San Francisco.  Like the Vision, I am the only owner of it...

Brian

[Brian Moffet]

And, 75 degrees out this morning, sunny, great day to ride into work...

Brian

[joevacc]

Hey Brian and all,
I dumped my bike a few years back too... :-[

I used this ding king thing to get a baseball sized dent out of my bike.

http://www.asseenontvguys.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=49&HS=1&gclid=CLK1kuD__5kCFRBbagodswmmFA

It works great!!!  I had pushed my signal dead into the tank.  On the commercial they take a Ferrari or something with a big dent in the side and bang "It's Just Like new!!"

It took me four hours and a about four feet of the glue to get it out but it looks great now!
Check it out.   8)

[Night Vision]

PLUS it's endorsed by Billy May... ding king indeed!

[funkamongus]

dry ice is supposed to work too.. I saw one on the web with a large det in thin body panel of a car,, they heated t up with a blow drier,, turned an "air duster" upside down and squirted the dent,, few seconds and BAM popped out on its own.. I tried that with a gas tank,, didnt work,, too thick,,   

[Brian Moffet]

I think dry ice wouldn't work, the steel in the tank is really heavy.

I've been riding it to work all week, and one of the things I've been doing is looking at how I ride and how that may have contributed to the accident.  I noticed that I ride without using my rear brake.  The twin-line galfers really help braking, but there's a point where the front wheel will lock up and I was still not getting all braking capability out of thee bike.

So, I'm relearning to use the rear brake.

By the way, there was an interesting little thing in AMA about measuring braking on bikes, and how the people who can stop the fastest actually modulate the front brake a little.

Brian

[joevacc]

I have heard many a biker say, "rear brakes are useless on a motorcycle"!! :o

Don't      you      believe it!!!

Human beings can be as good as anti-lock brakes in panic situations... The trick is to stay calm and in control!  Never stop trying to get out of trouble!

I have been modulating the brakes forever...  I remember when anti-lock brakes started to become prevalent in autos, I thought, "what a good idea... who needs a machine to do that?  Besides flashing the brake light couldn't hurt! 8)

Also, braking is the only way to load and unload your suspension front to back. I am way too lazy to explain what i mean by that - for those who don't know what I mean there are plenty of courses and books on the subject.