I wasn't planning to rebuild the calipers. They weren't seized or leaking. When I pulled the brake lines, I pumped the lever and a bunch of crap came out so I thought I might as well. There might be a little junk in there.
Yeah, a little.
I've never seen anything like it. What a mess.
My ultrasonic cleaner is my new favorite thing.
I picked up a rebuild kit from a company in the UK (I seem to get a lot of stuff from the UK) and new Gafler lines. The master cylinder is a little tricky. Someone on the Aprilia forum repurposed a kit for a Honda but it wasn't a direct fit. It's a Brembo MC, I'm not sure why it's a challenge. I think I have an identical MC in my Ducati spares. I may just use that. Or run a bunch of fluid through the current one and see what comes out.
In other news, the guys on the Aprilia forum convinced me I'm crazy not to pull the crank and replace the seals so I guess I'm going to do that.
Well, this went solidly off the rails. In a good way, I guess. Everything pivot point is freshly greased and reassembled. Fresh fork oil. Cracked engine cradle fixed. Brake calipers rebuilt and new lines. Fresh chain/sprockets ready to go.
I ended up taking the engine completely apart and rebuilding with a brand new crank, trued and welded by 2-stroke legend Ed Toomey, all new seals, all new hoses, Wiseco pistons, like-new cylinders, and aftermarket powervalves. Engine is in and I'm very close to making some noise again. Once it's running, I have a Zeeltronic ECU to install.
Talking to a friend about paint, it turns out that his favorite shop for motorcycle work is 1.1 miles from my office, so I guess I know what I have to do.
I've almost precisely doubled the buy-in of $3800 and still need tires plus whatever I spend on cosmetics. I could have bought a nicer-appearing bike for less but w/o a fresh engine. Engine parts totaled about $2500.
Temps in the high 40s yesterday and I couldn't resist. I'm having it tuned with 100LL and had managed to source some over the w/e so I emptied the tank from my other RS250, added a gallon or so, and took a putt around the neighborhood. It was a weekday afternoon, so just a few people out and about. I wonder what - if anything - people in the neighborhood think when I ride around on my various not-street-legal 2 wheel contraptions. They generally smile and wave, perhaps in bewilderment. "Is his mid-life crisis ever going to end?" The long-termers know better. :)
Anyway, no unnecessary excitement to report. I need to install the aftermarket ECU so the tuner can mess with timing and powervalve activation. I kept a detailed spreadsheet last time and have the 2nd bike as reference, so I expect it to go quickly. After that, it's getting dropped off for tuning, right in the middle of the Daytona prep season so I probably won't see it until April.
My part is done. Installed the Zeeltronic ECU last week. My friend has an RG500 with an annoying habit of pouring gas out of the carbs, a common problem. We arranged to drop both bikes off together this past Saturday. Mine is getting the 'make sure Mike didn't do anything stupid' treatment plus tuning on the dyno.
Took his Rivian. Temps at about 27 that morning. Took a while. :) We learned that the Nav is REALLY conservative with range estimates and it threw an extra charge at us on the way down to the shop in Delaware (180miles). Now that we know better, the round trip when towing will be two stops at the 300kw Rivan-branded chargers at a mall in Newark, DE which is 120miles from home. The shop is 60 miles from the charger.
The shop, Speedwerks, is insane. There were - I still can't believe this - THREE Spondon frame/RG500 builds in the shop. A Bimota V-Due. Close to 10 NSR250s. ("Mike, you want one of those MC28s?"). It was nucking futs. A CBR400RR. A Kawasaki ZXR250. NC30 VFR400. Just yesterday he received a RIMAR 587V2 bottom end from the Netherlands. You buy the bottom end, slap on some KTM 300cc cylinders and install the trans from an Aprilia RSV1000. The whole thing is designed to fit in a 2005ish Aprilia RSV1000 chassis. Ta-da! 150hp 2-stroke sportbike that weighs <400lb wet.
Did I take any pictures of all this awesomeness? No. No I did not.
