ATKustom

Monday, August 25, 2014

REPAIRS: Rear and Countershaft Sprocket Change

Like any good story begins, I was out on a 100 mile Taco run on a Sunday morning last year minding my own business.

I started feeling some slippage in the hind end and the horrific sound of aluminum being eaten away.

Fewer teeth than a Eureka Tweeker, and that chain doesn't looks so hot either.

A quick call to Lee at ATK and I had a nice bright and shiny, yet slightly orange 48t in my mailbox. He was very in kind in telling me that I had my chain WAAAYYY too tight and the three finger rule is one to abide by and the only thing that could shred a 7075 aluminum sprocket is over tightening the chain. He was right.

Got a gold Regina D.I.D. 520x120 to "match" the talons

That Loctite was exactly that!

My countershaft

The countershaft I wish I had.

After trying to source the countershaft part locally I finally came to my senses and called down to Ron Woods shop and got a replacement 16t within a couple of days.

Of course trying to make sure it is "shouldered" and the splines are correct. Looks decent.

A few different shades of anodized gold FTW!

Took the opportunity while the bike was on the stand to take a look at the CRF brake pads....not so good.

Some EBCs popped in and I'll be doing stoppies in no time.

PART #s

Rear 48t Talon Sprocket 090034 From ATK

Regina D.I.D. 520X120 340582 From Amazon

Rotax 16t Countershaft Sprocket From Ron Woods

COSTS

Rear 48t Talon Sprocket $59.99 + $15 Shipping = $74.99

Regina D.I.D. 520 x 120 $88.44 Free shipping

Rotax 16t Countershaft Sprocket $34.99 + $16.60 Shipping + $2.80 tax = $54.39

Total: $217.82

Sunday, August 24, 2014

MODIFICATIONS: Tail Light

So the stock tail light was working just fine, but the tinkering bug got ahold of me and I decided to replace the stock bulb light with LEDs.

The oldness

The new hotness

Side by side

Super tuck

No tuck

Just right

Well those colors don't seem right

Time to look at some diagrams

...aaaannnddd more diagrams

White to yellow

Black to brown

Red to yellow / green

Mounted up

Working!!!

In the wild

Part #s

Polisport Rear LED Combo 1286080001 (Note this may not be DOT approved)

COSTS:

Polisport Rear Tail Light: $24.99 + $7 Shipping

REPAIR: Rear Brake Allen Bolt Failure

I packed up all my camping gear and took off to Shelter Cove last year, going the back way through Petrolia and Ettersburg. It was supposed to be a short 300 mile trip... Buuuuuttttt, the ATK decided to make that not the case.

All packed up in the middle of some Doug Firs that rival some of the bigger Redwoods.

One of the disc bolts decided to back itself out on the road. I heard a slight "tink...tink...tink," and I suspected a rock had worked itself into the disk...

But a sudden jolt stopped the bike in its tracks once it backed out enough to stop itself on the caliper and I got a quick introduction to the gravel.

When I got back to town after limping the last 120 miles trying to avoid using the back brake at all on some steep roads into Shelter Cove I got some replacement bolts. Here is the stripped and bent bolt compared to a new one.

The threads were stripped all to hell as well, So I took the wheel to a local machine shop and rather than re-tapping the threads the guys had the idea to pass a "blank" threaded rod through the aluminum hub that was of equal pitch from the back side where the threads were unaffected.

Passing a "blank"

All four replacement blots back in with a nice fresh application of blue Loctite

Back on the road ready for whatever.

COST:

Labor: Free

Bolts: 3.75

Replacing damaged plastics: Hell no!

MODIFICATIONS: Battery Tender and Shim

So this modification is something that came on my bike, but given the nature of ATK's to eat Batteries it comes in handy. It is an easy plug and play that wires through the existing holes in the battery box on the left hand side of the motorcycle.

Simple hook up to the positive and negative terminals in the battery box. There is a fuse box with a 3 amp purple blade fuse on the positive terminal side that I have had blow a couple of times making me think that the tender itself was toast, but 50 cents later it worked like a champ.

Routed through the left hand side holes behind the frame

And back out beside the motor for easy access

As you might note from the previous pics, the Battery is slightly larger than the battery box. I came up with a simple fix by jamming a cut portion of a ball point pen sleeve that is rubberized and gives enough resistance to keep the battery in place. The zip tie is threaded through the pen so I can retriwve it if it slips down too far in the battery box.

There are also a number of Battery Tender accessories available for the product such as:

USB Charger which would be handy for charging GoPro on the fly, or keeping a GPS charged. For those of us with sheds instead of Garages, an off the grid.

Solar Powered Charger may be worthwhile.

These look like they would be worth checking out.

VIDEOS: Straight Pipe 605

Never going to do it on my bike, but now I know. Shooting flames! Thanks Youtube.

BIKES: Craigslist Customs

When I run across interesting bikes on Craigslist I try to make a point of saving the pics, which I will publish here with absolutely no permission whatsoever, except that the original owners put them out on the interwebz, and I say that is open season. Also, by "interesting" I may mean kick ass, or not so-much-so.

Carbon Fiber may look cool on some bikes

this is not one of those bikes

Gotta love the black and blue no logo style.

Note the custom black rims too

This bike is super clean, and takes advantage of the weight savings by ditching the plastics and bash plate.

I'm pretty sure you could save that much weight by taking a poop before riding. He also has incorporated the oft needed after market kick stand.

This owner tried to make his bike look super pimp with some color variation, but inadvertently provided us with a nice photoshop template to try out new colors on our bikes!

This shot looks a little more honest

This is the only appropriate color scheme for a red frame. Don't know why we don't see more of these floating around. Super beast mode! Also that sprocket doesn't exactly look like a Talon made situation... hmmmmmmm

Mardi Gras themed ATK. Would you like to earn some beads?

Super clean street tracker.

Looks like the owner plopped an 18 on front and done. Digging that custom seat, looks plush.

Flat track style: check - low mounted Supertrapp, custom tank topper to match the seat, all he needs is the last bikes wheel set and he should be golden.

MURDERED OUT! This guy's ad said that he had just murdered the whole bike out using Plastidip... I'm willing to bet that has not stayed on the Rotax. Just be glad he left the discs alone.