darrylri
Cannonball Rider #52
In October of 2005 I was involved in an accident while riding my 1953 R51/3. My friend who was riding behind me hit me at speed when I slowed for a couple dogs that were in the road. The results were awful; my friend suffered a bad concussion in spite of his nearly new DOT rated helmet and it was months before he was himself again. His R1100GS and my R51/3 were totaled by the insurance company.
I took the settlement and bought the /3 back. Yesterday I rode it over to Joe Groeger's to meet the vintage group for breakfast, and now I have put 190 kms on the restored bike. You can see the whole thing at my web site:
http://darryl.crafty-fox.com/mcpics/2007/r51-3/
Because the frame was badly broken, I bought a donor frame and gave both to The Frame Man in Sacramento, CA (www.motorcycleframeman.com). In three weeks he fixed and straightened the frame undetectably and the resulting bike rides straight.
I powdercoated the frame, the wheels, and a number of miscellaneous items at Precision Powder Coating in Belmont, CA, (650) 631-6535. They did an excellent job and there's no evidence of orange peel in the results. They also were able to keep the frame number easily visible.
The painting was done by Danny Irby of Irby Designs in Soquel, CA, and the pinstriping by "Real" Ralph Newman of Boulder Creek, CA. Danny painted the silver stripe of the wheels on top of the black powdercoating.
www.irby-designs.com
www.realralph.com
Of course, I bought a lot of parts from Vech and Mark Huggett. The new rear fender pieces went together and onto the bike perfectly.
I am so thrilled to finally have this sweet bike running again! And now it looks so much better, too! I'm thinking I'll be riding this to the '49er in a couple weeks!
I took the settlement and bought the /3 back. Yesterday I rode it over to Joe Groeger's to meet the vintage group for breakfast, and now I have put 190 kms on the restored bike. You can see the whole thing at my web site:
http://darryl.crafty-fox.com/mcpics/2007/r51-3/
Because the frame was badly broken, I bought a donor frame and gave both to The Frame Man in Sacramento, CA (www.motorcycleframeman.com). In three weeks he fixed and straightened the frame undetectably and the resulting bike rides straight.
I powdercoated the frame, the wheels, and a number of miscellaneous items at Precision Powder Coating in Belmont, CA, (650) 631-6535. They did an excellent job and there's no evidence of orange peel in the results. They also were able to keep the frame number easily visible.
The painting was done by Danny Irby of Irby Designs in Soquel, CA, and the pinstriping by "Real" Ralph Newman of Boulder Creek, CA. Danny painted the silver stripe of the wheels on top of the black powdercoating.
www.irby-designs.com
www.realralph.com
Of course, I bought a lot of parts from Vech and Mark Huggett. The new rear fender pieces went together and onto the bike perfectly.
I am so thrilled to finally have this sweet bike running again! And now it looks so much better, too! I'm thinking I'll be riding this to the '49er in a couple weeks!
