Originally Posted by
Scotty
Chicky had expressed a wish to learn more about bikes and mechanics and last September I returned from the Classic Bol d'Or to find that she'd relieved my sister of several boxes of rust that had previously been a little Yamaha RS100 that my sis had found half-submerged in somebody's garden - it had been there since the end of the '80s and was biodegrading and literally becoming part of the scenery, and the householder gave it to my sis. Chicky paid her £50 for the lot, fair enough as my sis had stripped it right down and already bought a new piston and rings, and a few other bits that obviously needed replacing - the tinware was pretty much shot as were the wheels and swingarm. In January we'd done a fair bit of prep work and I'd tidied the engine cases, barrel and head, and reassembled it with the new piston and rings. We visited the Kempton Park auto jumble a couple of times looking for forks and wheels but the RS hasn't (yet) attained popular status so we never found anything useful. Upon leaving Kempton for the 2nd time we decided to try elsewhere and a post on the RS owners Facebook page elicited a quick response - a guy in North London had wheels and forks for sale (he was "upgrading" his RS to use YBR125 parts, something that I'd considered doing with ours to be honest) so we scooted round the M25 a bit and struck a deal - and stopped at the Ace café for a cuppa afterwards.
We decided to park the RS project for a while as we're a bit tight for space in the garage and there were other more pressing jobs to be done, among them being selling two of the collection. Then came along the Coronavirus and lockdown and we haven't even bothered advertising the bikes yet, but with a bit of time on my hands I've dug out the RS and resumed work. Frame and swingarm have been painted, and a load of bits previously identified as needed ordered from Wemoto and Fowlups. Next job I reckon will be to tidy up the fork stanchions before the just-ordered seals and fork oil arrive - Jaydee suggested filling the pits with zinc paint and then rubbing down with very fine grade wet & dry - gotta be worth a try, and if that doesn't work, new fork stanchions are only £29.52 from Wemoto. EBay will be consulted for a pair of shocks too, as the originals are toast and any potential replacements spotted at Kempton would no doubt have had heavier springs on them as the only known correct feature was the centre mounting distances.
More soon....
