Continuing with the front of the bike, I restored the fork clamps and associated brackets next. This is a fairly straightforward part of the motorcycle. The only part that was a bit of a pain was the lower triple clamp. The stem and lower bearing race is not removable from the clamp but I wanted to blast the clamp to clean it up in the blasting cabinet. I had to wrap the lower part with tape and plastic to protect it from the glass dust. Not a big deal but it took a little more time. I just love the way the parts look when they have been glass bead blasted, especially on this build as I am going for a matte black and matte gray with just a little color on the tank.
Upper triple clamp
For all of these parts, I sprayed them with a clear matte finish polyurethane coating to protect from future corrosion.
Upper Fork Assembly
The polyurethane spray also gave the parts an even nicer finish than when they first came out of the blaster because it smooths over the surface and provides a consistent look across the part.
Full Fork Assembly
You can see the old front fender in the background of these pictures. I'm still trying to decide what to do with it. I want to run a fender but this one seems a bit too big for the look I'm going for. Maybe trim it down all around to make it smaller? Anyone have suggestions on what to do?
Next up it to hook up the new brake lines and bleed them. After that, the engine comes out of the frame, stay tuned!