Thursday, October 18, 2007

Honda NX250 Psuedo Motard!

This isn't a photography article, but if you've read this far on the blog, I hope you won't might a diversion 'round about now...

Three years ago I had a fun little Honda NX250 dual sport motorcycle stolen at my previous residence. Although I reported the VIN number and kept a vigil for my lost ride, time seemed to work against any odds in recovering it. Only a photograph and memories remained...

In October 2007, my former employer's HR director called me and said the police were looking for me - what!? They had recovered the Honda! Several weeks later (after the TN DOT cleared an altered VIN), I picked up the well used 'cycle and brought her home. fortunately, she runs well and apopears to have suffered little mechanical harm - the former 'owner' must have had some appreciation for it.



Since then, I have spent hours cleaning and rebuilding my old friend and thought a simple progression of images might interest those with similar interests (see, it's still about photography,sorta...). My objective this time around is to create a motard - a street-tired version of an offroad bike. A true motard has tires and wheels of the same diameter - I'm sticking to the original rims due to cost.



Replacement parts needed to refurbish the stolen NX included: Kenda Challenger street tires, a rear sprocket, front and rear brake pads, clutch and brake levers, tail light, spark plug, rear brake pedal rod, and other hardware bits needed to make for a safe ride. I've disassembled the bike to refinish the braking surfaces, lube all drivetrain points and cables, flush radiator for new antifreeze, repaint the exhaust pipe and do a bunch o' cleaning of old grease and dirt off the wheels and frame. The plastic fairings got a scraping up too, so some model paint minimized the visual damage.

With a new helmet and Cortech GX jacket, I'll be on the road in late Oct/early Nov. I'll also be mounting an old metal Army ammunition box as a 'pannier' to carry photography gear. It's essentially watertight and should make a rugged container for a camera body and two lenses plus a flash.

Thanks for listening to my sentimental tale - I'll have more adventures to report once I get on the road and look for photographic scenes to display...

11/4: Still not on the road yet - speedo parts are getting hard to acquire, so I may do a simple parts mod and get the front wheel on without one. Arghh!

Motard Mule