Continuation of the diary

19. September 2007:

Today I'm going to try to describe the last details i've changed. Let's see... I'll begin at the rear again.

The rear light holder is made of piece of stainless steel pibe. I have made a hole in the lower part for the licens plate light and inside a bottom plate is welded to the pibe where the lamp is mounted. Regretfully I don't have equipment for welding stainless steel, so I got a local blacksmith to do it for me. He has made a couple of things for me earlier. He also welded some modifications on the license plate holder. I bought it last year at a swap meet. Originally, I wanted to make one myself, but then I found this one for a reasonable price. Still, though, I had to make some changes to it.

The rear light is a Shin Yo 'Shark Nose' and can be found here.

Further to the front in the small box under the seat: As you can see a couple of wires are situated here (as if there wasn't enough on the Morini!) The former tool box now contains an Autocom communication system and a Cyclone C11 alarm.

The Autocom is great. I can only concur with all the satisfied reviews I've heard. And it's a lot cheaper (and probably functionally better) than the one from the rival Beahr.
The alarm is surprisingly cheap, very stable and even has remote controlled start of the engine. I've made a couple of modifications so I can ride "keyless" - that is with only the remote. This requred a couple of relays and, once again, extended wiring!!
 
The regulator. After rebuilding the bike and riding for some time it began to burn the light bulbs at high revs. Actually, it began last year, but it got even worse and in the end it burned everything, even the battery was killed (that was an expensive fault, I can tell you) The problem was discovered: it was, of course, the regulator. It had to be changed, but they aren't that easy to find and after some discussion with the friends in ital-web.de the solution was to build one myself. The diagram was delivered by a german Morinisti, Andreas Neugebauer.

On the other side you can the switch for a power unit I've built. It delivers power between 3 and 12 volts and I use it to charge my mobile phone, camera and all the other stuff I take with me on longer tours.


The small rods for the brake and gear lever I also had to make because of the rear sets. They're made of stainless steel. The brake side was unproblematic, but the gear side came to be in to steps. The first I made was 6 mm in diameter, but it proved to be too elastic and made the shifting "inaccurate", so I made an 8 mm one. This way the elastics feeling was gone and the gear shift accurate.

The tank: normally there are two "wings" in the front where you mount it. This I always found a bit primitive and not very elegant. The wings lokk as if they aren't really a part of the tank nor the frame, but it used to be "the way to do it." Initially, I thought of painting the wings in the frame color, but I decided on a more drastical approach. The newer tanks are mounted in another way: on the inside of the tank there are some brackets that grab to rubber plugs mounted to the frame. I have an old tank, so I welded two brackets to the tank and cut off the wings. I think this makes the overall impression more harmonic.

The tank actually had quite some rust damage, so after the sand blasting all the holes where soldered and the tank was sealed with Scotch Clad. Scotch Clad is in fact a type of glue that is pertol resistent, but it was discovered to be an excelent tank sealant. The glue is simply poured into the tank (that has to be completely free of rust, dirt and water), you turn the tank over again and again for about an hour and then pour out the superfluous amount. The glue hardens for a couple of days and the tank is tight.


The instruments are inspired by the new Corsaro, as mentioned. The rev counter is from an Excalibur. I fell in love with the idea of a white dial and I was lucky to find one on ebay, which is actually a N.O.S.
Four LEDs (indicators, high beam, oil pressure warning and alarm), and four switches that control the modified bike computer.
The advantage of this model (BC 1605 L) is that it stores the most important information even if the the power is disconnected. Because it serves as the only speedometer and I want to keep track of the total distance this is an important function.
As you can see I've made a pcb where all the diodes and resistors are soldered on to. Also the switches and the computer is soldered on. I had to make a small power circuit that delivers 3 volts for the computer. this is also solder to the pcb. Two white LEDs in a plexiglass frame serve as lighting (in the photo it's still the red LEDs I used in the experimental phase).
 

What probably also catches the eye is the small small badge that normally says Sport. I had the crazy idea to make one with my name - the number of letters and the first letter are an excact match! A friend of mine works with CNC, so I thought I'd ask him if he could do it. Luckily he was up for it! He also made bushings for the swinging arm and for the gear and brake levers.


For my last birthday last year I got a TomTom Rider as a present from my family. The Rider now has a central place over the aluminium bolt for the adjustment of the steering head. I made a small bracket from stainless steel an mounted the it on some rubber dampers. Now that it isn't possible to tighten the bolt with a wrench, I've bored holes through the screw head and so it's possible to tighten the screw with a pin stuck into one of the holes.

 

I also found a pair of Daytona heated grips on ebay. That is so nice!!! For a cold and wet autumn ride they're perfect. I've made a small bracket for the switch so it's discretely placed next to the other switches.

The last thing I'll mention here is probably the one I've received the most comments about - especially from experts: The clutch cover!

Early in the process I decided  that I wanted to have some sort of perforation in the cover. Partly for the improved cooling of the clutch, but also because it looks great and especially because the rattling sound of the dry clutch is really brought out ;o)
I've seen a lot of suggestions: round holes in circles,  oblong holes etc. But very soon it was clear to me that I wanted some sort of logo that in a way paid tribute to earlier days' attention to details and craftmaship. I (of course) decided on Moto Morinis falcon logo.

I had to simplify it a bit, otherwise I would have been to flimsy. The three stripes also came quite natural. They are simply an "elongation" of the holes in the engine brackets. (These holes I've also changed a bit - they now have pointy ends).

A frequent question I've had: "So, who du you know that has a laser cutter" - And almost every time they answer is met with obvius astonishment: "Actually, I've made it by hand with drills, saw and files"!

That's it for today. Next time I'll describe the last things I've forgotten to mention