NQ1965
PR Elite
So I got a few minutes after mowing tonight to pull the CR out of the garage for a few pic's. As I was doing this I began remembering a whole lot more on where I left off on this bike, along with how the project got stalled.
I recall that I was progressively going through all of the parts in the totes, (Nancy has always teased me on my "tote-box bike", because it's the first one I brought home that I couldn't roll off of the truck
).
I was beginning to work through the engine water pump issues. I had just finished rebuilding my first shock with parts from Race Tech. I ordered and received a new/used air box off ebay, along with a few other odd's and ends. I had also began stock piling new parts from an Iron Pony trip, tires, bars and other stuff.
I then began reassembly. This is where these pic's from June 2012 came in:
So at this point, I realized that I was beginning to get in a hurry on the reassembly, which is not what I wanted. I knew that I really wanted this bike to look good, and that I needed to slow down and focus more on fine detailing, (which is often a struggle for me when my time is limited).
And then I spotted an issue that I wish I hadn't. The powder coating was chipping off in spots. The frame paint wasn't stripped and the PC was losing its adhesion. And then when I held the body plastic up against the frame there was a significant color shade difference. At this point I decided to set the bike aside for a moment until I sorted out in my head what I wanted to do. If I kept going forward with it, my gut was nagging that I'm going to half-ass this job and it's going to show. The bike will be a race bike, and not a show queen, so I can accept some "lack of polish", but needs to look well built. I also knew that I was going to have a good bit of cash wrapped up in getting this bike going so, I really knew what I had to do at this point.
Here are the pic's I snapped tonight: (bear in mind, the bike has been in barn storage for the last 5 of 8 years.)
Look close and you can see the PC losing grip on the steering tube. You can scrape it right off with your fingernail.
A lot of this chipping was just from it sitting in the barn and other things rubbing against it.
And then you have dark shadow spots where the original paint underneath was worn through revealing bare metal, but then powder coated over top.
So at this point, I was getting bogged down with the water pump issues, and now faced with re-stripping the entire frame down and starting over.
Our daughter had just relocated with our 13 month old grandson to Montana, and I was having to work a good bit of OT at work to help cover the cost of making many trips to Montana to see them. And then in the mix of all of this there were the constant demands of keeping three other bikes maintained for racing. So the 84 CR250R got postponed.
Sooooo............ where was I ?
oh yeah...…… looking for the best way to strip off powder coat.
I recall that I was progressively going through all of the parts in the totes, (Nancy has always teased me on my "tote-box bike", because it's the first one I brought home that I couldn't roll off of the truck
).I was beginning to work through the engine water pump issues. I had just finished rebuilding my first shock with parts from Race Tech. I ordered and received a new/used air box off ebay, along with a few other odd's and ends. I had also began stock piling new parts from an Iron Pony trip, tires, bars and other stuff.
I then began reassembly. This is where these pic's from June 2012 came in:
So at this point, I realized that I was beginning to get in a hurry on the reassembly, which is not what I wanted. I knew that I really wanted this bike to look good, and that I needed to slow down and focus more on fine detailing, (which is often a struggle for me when my time is limited).
And then I spotted an issue that I wish I hadn't. The powder coating was chipping off in spots. The frame paint wasn't stripped and the PC was losing its adhesion. And then when I held the body plastic up against the frame there was a significant color shade difference. At this point I decided to set the bike aside for a moment until I sorted out in my head what I wanted to do. If I kept going forward with it, my gut was nagging that I'm going to half-ass this job and it's going to show. The bike will be a race bike, and not a show queen, so I can accept some "lack of polish", but needs to look well built. I also knew that I was going to have a good bit of cash wrapped up in getting this bike going so, I really knew what I had to do at this point.
Here are the pic's I snapped tonight: (bear in mind, the bike has been in barn storage for the last 5 of 8 years.)
Look close and you can see the PC losing grip on the steering tube. You can scrape it right off with your fingernail.
A lot of this chipping was just from it sitting in the barn and other things rubbing against it.
And then you have dark shadow spots where the original paint underneath was worn through revealing bare metal, but then powder coated over top.
So at this point, I was getting bogged down with the water pump issues, and now faced with re-stripping the entire frame down and starting over.
Our daughter had just relocated with our 13 month old grandson to Montana, and I was having to work a good bit of OT at work to help cover the cost of making many trips to Montana to see them. And then in the mix of all of this there were the constant demands of keeping three other bikes maintained for racing. So the 84 CR250R got postponed.
Sooooo............ where was I ?
oh yeah...…… looking for the best way to strip off powder coat.
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