It’s time to finally get the RC374 on its wheels…
I rarely do any drawings or sketches when I make my bikes because I like to create parts from an image in my mind, but there are occasions when a drawing is unavoidable.
I had recently ordered a length of 28mm T45 chrome manganese steel tube to see if it was possible to bend it at home with my old pipe bender. There is a difference between pipe and tube – pipe is measured by its internal diameter and tube is measured by its outside diameter, so the dies on my pipe bender didn’t match exactly with the diameter of the tube.
I remembered an old trick where you pack the tube with sand and weld discs onto each end to help support the tube wall while it’s being bent. I was quite surprised how hard the T45 tube was to bend and even with the sand packed inside it would bend a bit and then start to ripple on the inner curve.
“I’ve met my match,”I thought to myself, the main frame rails would need to be bent by a specialist firm. I contacted Tom at Tube-bender Ltd (07583 682814), who said that would be no problem, I was to send him a drawing and they would create a CNC program to bend the two frame rails on their CNC tube bender.
Denne historien er fra October 2018-utgaven av Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
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Denne historien er fra October 2018-utgaven av Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Honda VFR750R - RC30
If there’s a more worshipped V4 out there, we’ve yet to see it: welcome to our reboot of the awesome VFR750R RC30…
Mountain tension!
Award-winning motorcycle engineer!
Fazer set to STUN!
What do you get when you mix CRK’s lovely café racer kit to Yamaha’s budget middleweight and the recently-retired Martin Fox? Well, one helluva foxy Fazer!
Project Suzuki 1984 RG250 part 4 BRUNO BARES ALL!
This month, while we wait for backorder engine parts, we strip the chassis back to the bare frame, assess what is needed and plan the reassembly…
Project Kawasaki Z900 Stocker part 2 Ralph has a blast!
For the best finish on his Z900’s motor Ralph wants the best, so he visits Stephen Smethurst Casting Renovation to find out how it’s done properly.
Project Suzuki TS400 Part 8 Loom with a view!
We’re getting down into the nitty-gritty this time with component testing and loom building. What could go wrong?
Project Yamaha TX750 Part 12 A question of balance…
Only The Beach Boys had good vibrations… so what’s Mark been up to, to sort out the bad ones coming from his TX750?
Splitting links
Ralph Ferrand works with tools all day long – he sells them too at bikerstoolbox.co.uk so he knows what works.
STAVROS: PRINCE OF PRANKSTERS!
It’s probably fair to say that Stephen JamesParrish’s persona and overall levity throughout his life have muddied the waters as to just how good a bike racer he was back in the day.
Metal magic!
Ralph Ferrand works with tools all day long – he sells them too at bikerstoolbox co uk so he knows what works.. .