Good day today. Found a new Honda NC30 clutch cable for 200 baht (c.GBP4), and an indicator relay for 280 baht. And the new Bridgestone BT090 front tyre arrived from BKK. I'll fit the rear tyre next month (note to self, never buy a bike around Christmas, you won't have any money left!).

Thanks for the thoughts, Karl. The seller sounded a bit surprised I'd made it back to Chiang Mai, too. Not risking the 250km between Khon Kaen and Phitsanulok turned out to be a good move, the front tyre would never have made it. Plus that road's interestingly mountainous and deserted at night. Well worth doing once the bike's sorted.

What to do with your NC30? Keep it. Unless you come across another "it's-gotta-be-an-NC30" nutter like me, you'll not get your money back, and in any case with the rear shock done, the bike will feel sublime. No doubt the CBR954RR is extremely capable, but it can wait. And you'll never have kids after riding a litre bike to work every day.

Busy day tomorrow, so it'll have to be a bike weekend...

"Bike weekend" ran into some trouble - the "Big Bike" shops, as they are known around here, are closed on Sat & Sun. Never understood leisure retailers who close just when their customers are at, er, their leisure.

Adjusted the clutch cable, fitted a second relay as the first "new" one didn't, and lo! the indicators work.

Discovered why the coolant bottle was canted over under the seat. The LHD fairing "fill in" panel has it's RHD mounting hole in the wrong place. A Thai mechanic's solution? Add an extra long bolt, to reach from where it is, to where it should be. Tighten said bolt & it pushes the coolant bottle over.

Think I'll drill the panel to get a correct fit, and see about getting a new panel made up when I visit the fiber-glass experts in town. Or, maybe make a pair of panels in carbon-fibre. In any case, correct panel fit = correct bolt length = coolant bottle level. Funny thing was, the top of the coolant bottle was popping off after a hot run. Why? The overflow tube had touched the exhaust manifold, sealing the pipe shut. An easy fix with a sharp knife, and, of course, re-routing the pipe. Which reminds me, add "Radiator Overflow Pipe" to list as the original has been singed by the exhaust, too.

Paul from Tyga Performance dropped me an email with the proxy login for the TYGA website. Their website is not visible within Thailand. Something to do with the volume of time-wasters asking about fairing kits driving the Tyga guys crazy. Having had a quick browse, those carbon fill-in panels look tasty, as does the carbon chain guard... Think they'll creep onto the "To Do" list, after "Safety/Roadworthy", "Legal (lights, mirrors)", "Suspension", "Engine"...

Had a re-think on the coolant bottle. The hose to the top radiator runs across the top of the engine... WTF? Went down to a medical supply shop, bought a 450ml plastic bottle with a spout (Is it one of those bottles used for "wound irrigation"?), and some cable/zip-ties from the hardware shop nearby. The bottle fits behind the fairing zip-tied to the LHD side of the top rad., and the spout fits the end of the cut-down rad. overflow tube (with some "Swiss Army" help). Gave it a run last night. Magic. Hot coolant overflowed into the bottle. Must measure to test it gets sucked back to the rad. when it cools.

Meanwhile, after a fruitful visit to the local bolt shop (Nana Screw http://www.nanascrew.com/, top right (heading north) exit off Chiang Mai's famous moat road, at 50m.) my redhead now has stainless steel fairing bolts, with SS spring washers, and, of course, SS nuts. Sub'ed a few other zinc coated bolts for SS under the rear seat for good measure.

Next up, some cheapo mirrors, "Honda CBR1000RR 1000 RR INTEGRATED CARBON LED MIRRORS", http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT from HK with built in LED indicators. Should be here early next week. Need to machine an adapter to mount the mirrors (40mm c-c) on the fairing bolt spacing (30mm). The fairing appears to be early CBR600rr or CBR1000rr.

Oh, and yesterday the LHD indicator failed to light. Chief suspect, that dodgy LHD switchgear.

One of the beauty's of living in a Buddhist country is that on Christmas Day, enroute to pickup the folks for lunch, you can drop into Nana Screw for more of those stainless steel bolts... Nothing quite like a proper SS M8 frame damper bolt.

Happy Christmas!

A Happy New Year begins with a good polish! Out with the 1000 grade wet'n'dry, and now the exhaust can and the RHD rearset look much more presentable. Tomorrow, the LHD rearset. The exhaust hanger came out okay too, but some of the other parts are really going to need bead blasting.The remarkable thing about Thai road dirt is that it burns on with the red colour of the local earth. It takes a bit of removing. The exhaust manifold is caked in red powder. Looks like one of those new ceramic heat-treatments. Okay, I know, inside-out.



Unbelievably sad but last night, New Year's Eve, I made the Redhead an A4 file with road tax, insurance, and registration sections at the back, and a massive "To Do" and "Kit" lists at the front. The first major job of 2011 will start with the arrival of Rick Oliver's fork upgrade kit, headstock bearings, front wheel bearings, front and rear EBC brake pads, and a bunch of sundry items. While the front is stripped down, I might as well get the yokes blasted and powder-coated. Quite looking-forward to that, and servicing the brake calipers after-which the bike should be mountain-ready.

Last week, before a final, Chiang Mai pre-registration inspection, I fitted a new horn (& started to fix the horrific mess that is the loom), fixed the horn button, finessed the indicator button, and fitted some mirrors.



On busy roads, riding without mirrors is a 'mare. Not sure about the finish on the new ones though, kinda "mock carbon fibre". A spray of black paint should sort it. Mounted with stainless steel fittings, they're serviceable. The neat thing is, the mirrors have LED's built in, which can be hooked up to the turn indicators. Anything for visibility. So today I managed to get the soldering iron to the indicator wiring. It's a tiresome job, all the wires are thick with "twist & tape" joins. You can imagine how sticky they get after a few hot years in Thailand. But once all the joins have been replaced with spade and socket connectors, it'll be time to convert to LED indicator bulbs. Which reminds me, time to find some suitable diodes...

For a coolant vacuum tube, I used the tube from the original coolant bottle, cleaned it with some 1000 wet'n'dry paper, pared down one end with a Swiss Army pen-knife, and super-glued the tube inside the spout opening in the underside of the bottle cap. The other end of the tube was cut to fit the length of the bottle, and cut diagonally to ensure it won't get blocked.

Spent the morning cleaning up the indicator wiring. "Twist'n'tape" at every join replaced with spade connectors, crimped and soldered. It took ages!

This afternoon I reversed the gear selector linkage to give "one up, five down". Polished the gear selector spindle arm with 600 wet'n'dry paper. Took it back to the casting marks, presentable but by no means perfect. I would be interested to know how everyone else on here polishes various parts of the bike; Wet'n'dry, Autosol, toothpaste?



Gear selector "After" photo... Strange thing was, a stainless steel nut wouldn't take on the reverse thread of the gear linkage rod.



Prised the remains of the chain slider off the swing-arm and cleaned the gunk off with Sonax Engine Cleaner. Shielded the chain from the solvent, and re-lubed it with lithium grease spray for good measure. As the new chain has stretched, and as there's no more adjustment to be had out of the chain adjuster, the bike's grounded until the new chain adjuster arrives from the UK (thanks to "geoff33", and my Mum's postal services).

Great read!

Keep it coming. This is a great thread.

...and bolts, too.



The humidity in Thailand, usually 65-85%, concentrates one's mind when it comes to corrosion issues. So far, I must have replaced about forty original bolts and nuts with A2 stainless steel bolts, nuts, & spring washers. Good OCD therapy!

(For the observant, the background is the inside of a Forcefield hip protector. For the OCD crowd, Canon 5D, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro, exposure f/4.5 & 1/30s at ISO800 with no flash.)