Whilst awaiting parts for the electrics and bushes and ball bearings and key shaft steel to fix the lathe, I got on with what I could today.
It started badly, the 6 and 8 mm LH taps arrived so I tried to thread one end of the gear linkage rod LH and after about an hour had only managed to bore out one end to about 7 mm for about 6 mm. The tap just would not start. I used the chuck from the lathe to centre the shaft to be tapped but the tap would not hold firmly enough in the drill chuck at the other end. A 6mm x 1mm thread is quite fine and each time I thought I had a start it just stripped out with the next half-turn of the chuck.
I will need to reface the end of the gear linkage rod and try again but for that, I need a working lathe.
I had more success with the rear brake torque arm. I still need the LH lock nut for the caliper end and I think I want to shorten the overall length by about 10 mm.
The routeing of the rear brake pipe will be a bit of a challenge as the brake pipe though described as a flexible pipe is actually very rigid and I think the rear brake caliper will move about 30mm with suspension movement. Routed as is, inside the hugger, there is quite a big risk the brake pipe will scuff the tyre. Outside the hugger will look odd/ugly but I may have no choice. I will check to see if I have some rubber rear hoses (from a Suzuki or Kawasaki) that would be a bit more flexible.
I had a go at upholstering the seat, which came out OK (just about). The picture was taken before I ironed out all the creases so it now looks a bit better than the picture (but not much). The ribs are cut from self-adhesive 20 mm wide window sealer. After I had glued it down I wished I had feathered the edges with a sanding disc as the right angles cause the ambla to not adhere to contours in a consistent way. It will do to get the bike on the road, maybe I will get it professionally re-covered over next winter.
