DR800: Crossing the Rubicon with a Hacksaw
01 06 09 - 22:26 Saturday comes, and it's time for the first step - getting that new cross member welded in to the frame - it barely compromises anything, and is the key to the whole plan. As I pick up a hacksaw and walk across the garage towards the bike, I paused to reflect that there are definite advantages to running bikes which are barely worth anything.A quick bit of work with hacksaw, angle grinder, and file saw a square cut out of the frame lugs ready to accept the aforementioned cross member.
At this point there was a brief interlude as I did a test plug in of the new tail light, just to check that everything lit up. Cliches abound about the Italians and electrics, and I was forced to wonder whether there was a grain of truth to them (Acerbis being an Italian company). Either that, or it's just my foolishness for expecting, when confronted with a stop/tail light with red, yellow, and black wires, that the black one would be the connection to ground, and the other two would be the live feeds. You decide. Either way, when wired up correctly (yellow for ground, black for the live to the tail light, and red for the live to the brake light) it burst into life.
My reason for checking the tail light function at this stage was because I had come to the realisation that I was rapidly approaching the Rubicon* with regards to this project - the night before I had thought I could fit everything up without further molesting the frame, but on reflection it was going to be more trouble than it was worth - I'd end up putting the tail light in at a compromised angle to clear what was there, then change it later.
A deep breath, and time to cast the die...
So we're committed. Time to get that cross member welded in - first tacking it in, then fully welding. Shortly before this, the Dremel had again proved its worth in cleaning the paint off the frame around the weld site.
To support the tail light and number plate, I welded another, smaller tube to the back of the cross member, and ended the day with the tail light fitted and the number plate bolted in place.
Still to come...fun with indicators, and trying to reassemble a bike around visits to the BSB.
*If Julius Caesar only had a hacksaw, rather than a Legion.
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