When you look at the workflow later in photos and turn it into a blog post, it’s like “that was quick!”
The time spent going “hmm…” has no photos, and I suspect that’s actually the longest part!
The night I made this, I came up with an incredibly easy method and eagerly checked it first thing in the morning → rejected → back to the usual way.
A steering damper is an extremely critical component if it’s not mounted securely.
Once installed, you don’t check it often = even if it’s a bit heavy, make it rock solid! With unbeatable strength → steel = surprisingly good machinability, which is nice.
To make it as light as possible, the fastest way would be to weld a boss directly to the upper cowl stay, but that requires removing everything and careful positioning to avoid problems, so I went with a bolt-on design instead.
Since it clamps around the upper cowl stay, it’s secure.
Since I had the chance, I painted it with gun coat and baked it. Rust prevention is excellent! Maybe.
I felt uneasy about just bolt fastening plus threadlocker…
On the plate side, it became M8 tap + stud + lock nut with spacer collar + steering damper + lock nut. It won’t loosen or fall off, and on the bracket side, removing one nut is convenient with just one tool.
The bracket side uses a bolt and cotter pin. Peace of mind, safety, and workability all check out perfectly.
The clamp was tightened to the specified 5N.
So the idea was to make the undercowl a fastener design~
SUS304 + rib catch + fastener receiver welded pattern.
I make each piece differently, with the philosophy of “add more value than last time!”
The opposite side has basically the same shape.
The right rear gets threads cut into the down tube.
The left rear has no outlet, so I welded an ultra-low-profile fastener to a normal band and secured it with spot welding to make something that won’t fail.
Make the stay → shine a laser at the hole position → temporarily fix the cowl and mark with a marker → drill. Failures are almost nonexistent.
In the old days, I’d sharpen the end of a bolt, paint it with marker, and press it from the back. Thinking about it now, it’s really convenient.
Cleaned the calipers. They’re new so the pistons are stiff. I worked them in and out well.
Replaced the fluid and done.
*Rear is skipped since the caliper was replaced the other day
*Sintered pads didn’t arrive for some reason, so that’s on hold for now
That’s how it is. Whether it’s the Plasma effect or not, the braking feel is excellent and I think it’s really good.
That’s all for this time.
