Next, the brake was mounted to the swingarm and the rear tire and derailer installed. Then it was time to pull the bike off the hangers and lay it down to work on installing the front end and seat. The handlebars were mounted to the top fork plate first. Next, the front forks were installed with the bearings in the headstock and the top nut installed on the spindle. Then the top plate with handlebars was attached to the top of the fork tubes and secured to the spindle with the locknut. The kickstand extension from the $4 WalMart kickstand was attached but was too short by around 1". A block of wood solved that short-term. The seat post was installed with the toggle clamp and a 1/4" anti-roll bolt.
Then came the un-fun part, running the cables. The biggest hassle was threading the new cable into the grip shifter and getting that back together. Then, the shifter and brake lever were slid onto the RH side of the bars. The cables were routed along the bottom of the backbone. The brake ran on the LH side to meet up wth the caliper under the swingarm. The rear shift cable ran along the RH side and down the strut on the swingarm to the rear derailer. A standard shift lever was then attached to the LH side of the handlebars and a new cable run to the front derailer. After a quick installation of the tailight to the swingarm, the bike was ready to roll. I have also fabricated a longer kickstand extension that props the bike up properly. It can still be a bit tippy if the front wheel's turned to the left, but in all other positions, it sits well.
Of course, it's been raining all day today, so I have not been able to take it out on a first ride. I also noticed that the 70" wheelbase is going to make hauling this thing in my truck tough!
Paint Ding Counter:
1- Small chip on a swingarm weld while installing pivot bolt
2 - Small chip on RH side of backbone where fork struck it.
3 - Big ding on the RH fork tube from the bike falling over and striking something. This was before the new kickstand was installed!
