Saturday, May 9, 2009

Nice legs, Shame about the Face

Transformation Page #6

Painting the front lower legs

We had an unexpected spring snow storm and that put the brakes on my riding for the weekend. I decided if I'm not going to ride, I might as well wrench. The one project I didn't get to this winter... painting the lower front fork legs.


So... up on the lift she goes.



First, I removed the caliper. I put a piece of folded cardboard between the pads to keep them apart.

I wrapped a bungee around the caliper and hooked it between the trees so it won't hang from the brake line and it'll stay out of the way.


I removed the axle nut and the axle retaining pinch nut.

Didn't I just have this tire off?


Crap, the axle fell on the floor. I'll have to clean it (I was going to anyway - as well as the spacer) & add a grease skim coat before I put it back in.

Yup, this is the part that sucks, taping and sanding. By the way... I decided NOT to remove the legs from the bike and just wrap the sucker up with tarps.


Yeah, not the best way to go about it but save it, because I don't care! I just want to get 'em painted and get riding!


Hey, it's my old friends... Mr. green tape & the rattle cans.

The primer has been laid down, time to dry.


So far... so good.

A couple of dead soldiers, so it's back to the hardware store for more.

All right, time for the semi-gloss black.


More dry time (two more coats and some clear) and we're almost done.
Let's button this puppy back together (I didn't think you would need a reverse sequence of what I just did).
However, you should know I did take my time (my twelve year old daughter helped out) inserting the wheel between the fork legs, because I didn't want to scratch my new paint job.
Nice! Now she's just a little more sinister.

I'll add another post with more snaps of the bike and it's new legs, for now it's "Back to the Funny Farm"!

Ace ♠

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