My bike, restoration update, rear brake

Apologies for the lack of updates recently as I have been super-busy with work so my bike has had to go on the back burner for a couple of months.

This week I decided to mount the rear brake pedal, unfortunately where this item was powdercoated it didn't fit the frame so I had to remove the paint from the pin and the frame before assembling with plenty of copper grease. A new split pin was fitted to retain it and the re-plated adjustable brake stop and return spring fitted.

I also have had the new decal kit turn up plus an assortment of bolts and nuts to fill the gaps where the original was too poor to be re-used.

My Bike: Bodywork, bolts, wheels

Job 1 this week was to re-assemble the tail unit, this evolved re-riveting the internal metal support, re-fitting the seat lock, rubber grommets and re-fitting the indicator blanks.

The second job was the mask the spoke blades on the front wheel and have a go at painting the front hub.

the 3rd job was to install the new taper head races to the frame and fit the triple clamps. I used this Pyramid parts kit bought of ebay. The upper and lower bearings are different with the lower pressing directly on the the steerer, remember to fit the seal on first! Also pay attention to the lower race as it needs tapping inside the frame's head tube all the way to the frame stop, this way the bearing is in the frame and the seal works properly. I actually didn't use the supplied top seal and retained the dust shield of the original MBX headset, firstly it assembles better this way and secondly keeps it looking standard.

lastly I got some more bolts back from zink plating, so the nuts on the suspension linkage now all match!