spoke | Moto-Abruzzo

20/12/201603/05/2019

More bunged up …… or spoke too soon!

I’ve been carrying six spare spokes around in the front wheel spindle for years ….. however the whole thing was a bit of a mash-up and not worthy of a post on here unless I desperately wanted some serious ridicule. Until now that is! Out with the hand-cut foam and insulating tape and in with the nice new 3D printed parts – two spacers to hold the spokes all nice and even and two new symmetrical end caps. All this held together with a length of 8mm aluminium tube, two ‘O’ rings and two M6 stainless fasteners topped off with a pair of decorative washers I had left over from my old Honda Blackbird days. All works pretty well, even if I say so myself! 😀

08/05/201508/05/2015

Bye bye Karoo 3 …. hellooooo Anakee 3!

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid with Michelin Anakee 3 tyre Well yesterdays arrival of a spanking pair of Michelin Anakee 3’s makes the total number of tyre types fitted to the Capo a head spinning …… 5. The OEM fit Tourance, oodles of TKC80’s and Karoo 3’s and one fantastic set of Anakee 2’s. They were by far the best with excellent grip and long life – so the Anakee 3’s have a hard act to follow, I wonder how they’ll compare.

With the back wheel dropped out, I decided to give everything a once over and quick scrub-up – nice and shiny like. The vernier showed the rear disk had finally met the minimum thickness (4.5mm), so off it came and on went a nice almost-new one from an 07 bike …. a floater instead of fixed. Now I must admit to being more than a little perplexed at what the hell Aprilia were thinking about when making the rear a floater – front yes, but rear! What for, where’s the benefit? With 74,710 miles on it, I can’t ever remember riding around thinking ‘damn this bike’s just screaming out for a floating rear disk’ But in the end, it’s what I had in my sack of goodies, so it’s what went on. With the rear done, the fronts looked a little sorry for themselves, so I pulled them off and gave them a once-over and spring re-tension …… I must say they do look rather nice again!

Rear wheel bearings, seals and cush rubbers are original and all in perfect condition, so the spares can stay in the cupboard for a while longer yet. The front bearings and seals that I replaced back in 2009 (@11,700 miles) are also fine – packing the void between the bearings and seals to prevent water getting trapped seems to work wonders! So now she’s all buttoned up and a final wipe with a soft cloth and ACF50 to fend off the corrosion gremlin should do the trick nicely.

28/06/201426/05/2016

Ruba-dub-dub …… one Capo to scrub!

As we fast approach the fun and games of ACIM, I figured it was time to reintroduce the Capo to two things frequently lacking in its life ……. washing and polishing. Yes, the hose pipe, chamois leather and Salvol autosol have been dragged out, dusted off and liberally applied to said Capo. My how she twinkles now, well as much as matt paint can ever twinkle that is!

Unfortunately for the Capo, there has been one cleaning job on the list that I’ve been putting off, and I have to admit that the list was written several years ago – the rear wheel refurb! After a couple of cold ones, I finally mustered up the courage to tackle the gunked on grease, the lashings of welded road crud and the inevitable rusty nipples. It nearly had the better of me once or twice, but tenacity and sheer bloody-mindedness (plus a couple more cold ones!) saw the job through to the bitter end. And here’s the finished article, not too shabby if I do say so myself ….. and that chain/sprocket have now got a whopping 38,730 miles on them!!!

Before it all went back together, the Scottoiler dual-injector was checked over as were all the bearings, seals and cush-drive rubbers – and of course it would have been remiss of me to have not taken the front sprocket cover off and give it a Mk1 eyeball check – looks OK for now, but I’ll get one on order! 😉