Monster 900Sie 50000mile refresh.

[900Rebuilder]

No worries I've got the parts list ready but from memory it's about 300 notes all in so not urgent. I did contact Redfox but whilst they sell them they didn't have any stock or could tell me when more would be manufactured.

[Mr Gazza]

Sorry to say that this project has pretty much stalled due to having so many things to do!
I'm hoping I can get back to it soon, otherwise it will be a totally Monster-less Summer. The longest lay-up since I've owned it.

The last thing I did was dismantle the Mandarina Duck panniers and scrub them within an inch of their lives. They came up quite well considering the all year use they get.



They had become a bit unpicked and frayed in places, so I dug out my Dad's Palm and needle to do some heavy duty stitching.



He used it for repairing sails and anything else with really thick material. it's basically a thimble but you push the rather large needle through the material with your palm, engaging the eye in the very hard dimpled pad. I always pull a face when I'm pushing as slipping would be unthinkably horrendous! But it never has.

I swapped out the broken zip pulls for UKMOC keyrings and set about remaking the handles.
They only had one between them when I bought them and that was held on with a cable tie.

I machined up a couple of lengths of Indian Rosewood that I had squandered away for a very long time.




Bejesus it's hard stuff! I managed to shape a couple of handles replicating the original plastic one as closely as possible.



I couldn't help making the connection between Indian rosewood and guitar finger boards, as it happened I had some pearl dots left over from a recent guitar restoration. So I couldn't resist the temptation to add a couple to the handles to make them a little bit special.



A few coats of sprayed lacquer brought them up quite nicely and I like them a lot.

I've just got to replace the temporary steel crosshead screws with some ludicrously expensive slotted stainless ones and the job is complete to my satisfaction.

Well worth the effort as these are the way best of my extensive pannier collection and apparently unobtainable now, and I have been looking.

[Mr Gazza]

Another little bit of progress of sorts has been to acquire Kato's old compressor.
Sadly the couriers threw it off a lorry or some such and quite extensively damaged it.
This was UPS by the way.
The basteds wouldn't even pay any compensation despite Kato making a full account of the damage with evidence supplied by myself.
That's UPS by the way. UPS.

Even before they (UPS) had refused to stump up for their negligence, I had cunningly repaired all the smashed parts and gotten it coupled up to my original compressor to make a much better set up with a total of 100ltrs of tankage and Kato's super powerful V-twin pump.
I've renovated my old regulator/moisture trap and mounted that into the system too, so all should be good to spray all the bits.. But when??

[yellowfever]

Wow, love those wood handles, beautifully done and great to see these paniers repaired and brought back to life…

[Mr Gazza]

Just had a little trip down the road to see local upholstery magus Clive The Seat.

I'm very pleased with what he's done with the material I've had stashed away for years to do this job.

Hump is Alacantara and the seat pad is from the original seat, retained as it matches the Mandarina Duck panniers.

Photo doesn't do it justice. I'm hoping this will spur on the project.

[WAH]

^ very nice!

[Mr Gazza]

Well there's hope for riding my Monster again one day.
I found some time to do a little spraying and I've managed to get the carriers on the new Rezo discs painted BMW Solid Gold, which is a match for the "Brembo" Gold that was on the original disc carriers.





I used my new mini spray gun for this and it was just the job until I got to the clear lacquer, when it would just not deliver quick enough, so I had to flat it off and get an old favourite out which did put the clear on at a much better rate, so it could float out properly.

I've also got a coat of primer on the tanks at long last!



I had far more primer mixed up from doing the discs than I was prepared to throw away, so I set about one of the tanks with the mini gun, but it was so slow and the coat was thin and dried rough!
I've now mixed some more and it's gone on the other tank like a dream with my bigger gun. So just a matter of choosing the right tool for the job.

The weather has been perfect the last couple of days, for spraying outside, which is just as well since I still can't figure out how to curtain my workshop out with polythene to do it inside.
Doing it just inside the open door with a small fan at the back of the workshop seems to work too, so maybe that's the way forward?
Kato's old compressor coupled to mine seems to be working well too. I turn them both on for the initial fill, which is very rapid, but then I switch mine off and let the bigger V-twin take care of top ups.

I'm hoping I can manage to get some Rosso on at home and maybe the first clearcoat before decals and stripes, but I think they will have to go to Oakham for the final clearcoat in my mates proper spray booth.

The spare tank will be for sale when it's done in Rosso with standard Silver decals. (In the right place too. )

[Mr Gazza]

Progress is still slow as so many other things get in the way of working on my Monster, but.
There has been a little tangible progress. I've been snatching to opportunity to get paint on when the weather has been suitable to do this outside.
I found I was still going through to metal after rubbing the second coat of primer down with 1200, so I've resorted to my old trick of putting a bit of base coat in the 2K primer to distinguish it from the lower layer and act as a depth gauge.
I slipped a bit with the red and a bit more went in than intended, but I really like the result. So much nicer than looking at grey tanks for so long!


Note Buzzer; Orange is not the only colour.

Also commissioned some masks for the tank lettering, which I will spray on.
I worked with this company earlier this year to produce some stained glass designs in translucent film which a specialist glazing company then made into sealed units.
We pushed the boundaries together and achieved a stunning result using techniques not used for this before. It was quite flattering the way they all welcomed me when I stepped in... I wonder if I'll get my masks a bit cheaper?