Swingarm refurbishment
 

I have an 888 which has a few scuffs and scrapes on the swingarm which look a bit unpleasant and are rather eyecatching in side profile. I would like to tidy up said item and achieve as near to a standard finish as possible (not brightly polished!).
Has anyone any experience of this? I thought possibly a soft bead blast and then a lacquer might do it, but I would appreciate any tips!
Also I would like to know paint codes for wheels/frame/motor for '93 888 if poss!
Regards
Justin

Hi Justin

As another 888 owner just wanted to say welcome to the club, there quite a few 888 owners in the club hence our own little section on here now!

Where abouts are you? I know a guy in Romford, Essex who could probably help you out, he does polishing amongst other things, I'm sure he could repair the damage and have the swingarm looking good as new again?

Steve
Street Tech
Rear of 213, North St
Romford Essex
RM1 4QA

01708 728600

Hope you get it sorted?

Cheers Queen!

Based in Plymouth for forseeable future. My bike is an SP5, and although the swingarm is not exactly scabby, It does my head in because it's the first thing I see when I look at the bike. The marks look to be from sloppy use of a cradle type paddock stand.
Any tips on paint codes?

Thanks again

You'll be lucky to get a paint code that matches anything you've got. I have just taken a few 888 bits in for painting and they are different shades.

A good painter will match to an adjacent panel though.

Rgds,

Rob

Oooooh you've got an SP5! Wanna swap? :lol:

Cheers for the tips,and as for a swap with you QGP, I used to have an 851 dressed as an SP5 (J893VTG - for those that care!)which was also a fantastic bike. You can get all the fun you need on your own 888, for sure!
The problem with a limited ed. bike is that you can sometimes look at it as a bit of a trinket and not give it the spanking it deserves!

Well I'd be happy to spank you're bike for you! :lol:

I love my bike when it works and have got quite a few nice extras on it. The nice thing about the strada is you can do alot with it and not worry too much about spoiling it whereas with an SP5 there's nothing more you can do to it as its already perfect!

Welcome Otto...were getting quite a clan in here !!! SP5..dribble dribble...!

Ref the swingarm, have you thought about replacing it?? Ive seen a few on (german) ebay the last few months from early monsters (which use the same swingarm I believe). Its going to be difficult to retain that satin finish with polishing. Your idea sounds OK ??

Not sure where your marks are but have you got the michelin stickers on?? These will hide a good deal of the scratches and were standard fitment on the SP5 from new, so your remaining faithful to the orginality !!! (see attcahed picture from 888 sales brochure).

BTW..if your single seat units missing one night it wasnt me or celeste OK ???:lol::lol: (I priced up an OE unit and it was £680 with seat pads..gulp!)

Hopefully well all catch up in the summer !

Nat

NattyBoy
I used to have a replica SP5 seat unit on my 851 made from C/F. It was sprayed so that the no.1 was just lacquered C/F weave - it was much nicer than the black sticker on the SP5 to look at and if I was going to go down the single seat route for a strada then I would definitely not bother with the factory kit as you dont really need the genuine article. If you have a C/F hugger and fender as well then it just seems to knit the whole bike together.
Is there many 851/888/SP's in the club? When I last checked the site out last year it was dominated by 7**/9**'s which are not really my thing.
There was'nt even a 888 section which was pretty pants. Here's to progress!!!!

Justin

Not quite sure how many 888's there are here actually? Ive actually just put an order in for a single seat but decided to go for fibreglass as Ive heard carbon can be tricky to spray if its not autoclaved properly ?? What did you do for a seat on your 851 unit as a matter of interest mate ?? Dont fancy paying £100+ for the OE item !

Nat

Nat

The seat unit was secured at three places to the frame/subframe. It was secured at each side at the tail end of the tank by two allen bolts as per the strada tail piece. Where the strada seat unit was fixed behind the front seat pad to the subframe with the rearward pointing bolt is the location for the final bolt fixing for the single seat unit - basically using the same bolt into the same captive nut. This bolt hole corresponds with the notch in the SP butt stop(!?!) which on the SP models uses a turnbuckle to give you access to under the seat unit via a pillar box style hole. If you permanently fix the butt stop to the seat unit (assuming there is no access cut out)then your only issue is having to undo three bolts to get to your underseat space ........ no big deal in practice!
The main seat pad is the same as the strada. Was the price of the seat pad for both pieces or just the butt stop?
Alternatively smack a bit of foam on there and start investing in preparation H!!

Good luck

Justin

Cheer Justin..very helpful. I did wonder if the main section of seat was the same as the strada. In that case, id only have to shell out for the bum stop which is £40..I can live with that. Bit of a bummer not been able to get under your seat..I can get a curry and rice in the strada at the moment:lol:

Think id leave all the essentials in there and just stick an allen key in my leathers if I need to get in there.

Watch this space for more single seat developments..

BTW, did you see my new reg plate in the photos section ?? £250 from DVLA! Bargain!

Nat

Swingarm is being polished at present after having a gentle blast at my local rad repair shop - got the rad cleaned up while I was there - I would like to know if anybody has experience of lacquering polished alloy - any views/ideas?

Not here..but idea sounds OK in principial doesnt it ??

BTW...we also have a 851/888 e-mail circular that we set up seperate to the DSC (combination of people ive met through buying bits, DSC & DOC members..would you like adding to the list and you may want to ask your question there?? PM me your e-mail address if youd like to participate !! (we have all sorts of owners from 851DS's to 888 SPS's !!)

Cheers
Nat