Ugly Betty

[Goodysnap]

I can enjoy riding a real beauty!
Wilf

A beauty indeed!!!! Very nice results.

[CliffC]

Wilf,
As I said before you have done an exceptional job on turning the bike into a real looker. The only thing I think you could do now is find a full front fender. Even though I have to admit that after bending mine I did run a chopped fender for a couple of years. Nice job, enjoy it. Cliff

[Wilf]

Thanks Goodysnap and Cliff. And yes, I think it would look better with the full fender if I could one.

Wilf

[s2000erick]

Beautiful job Wilf - Happy Motoring

[Wilf]

Thanks Erick! I had a nice little ride this evening following my wife on her Vespa to her parents' house. It felt good.

Hope your project brings as much joy to you as mine does me.

Wilf

[e3steve]

Great job, Wilf; bloody great job!

FWIW, I do like the chopped front fender -- I wish I had one that's as nice as my full front. I wouldn't swap mine (the fenders and side covers have been finished in a deep, luxuriant base coat & clear -- not pukka, I know, but I love the finish!), but I'd like to have the choice of 'which one do I ride with today'.....

What a metamorphosis from what you had to work on at the start. And many thanks for the detailed timeline; many of us here will benefit from your pictorial documentation.

Enjoy the ride!

Steve

[e3steve]

I'm wondering about the upper mount hardware for the rear shocks.

On my 1963 frame the mounting studs coming out of the frame have holes at the outside of the studs. This usually indicates a cotter pin and castellated nut combination, yet all the parts fiches I have seen clearly show a 'blind nut' or 'cap nut' or 'acorn nut' (depending on local terminology).

I ordered a pair of the nuts from cmsnl and was quite surprised to see how small the outside diameter is on the superceded (94021-100-200S) nuts--a 14mm wrench for a 10mm stud.

The small OD (wrench size) of these nuts and the existence of cotter pin holes in the studs has me a bit confused--maybe changes were made along the line somewhere and I just haven't discovered them yet?

My old nuts (ooo-err, missus!) were 17mm AF; I, too, was surprised when the new ones I bought via ebay (OEM) were 14mm AF.

Split pins were never used, although they may have been intended in the original design. Imagine the torn clothing! I think it was back to the ol' drawing board, once the faux pas (Japanese: つまずく) was realised; hence the dome nuts.