Spinning Around

The wheels already on the bike had nearly new tyres on them with plenty of life left. Rather than waste them, I had a spare set of wheels cleaned up and fitted with new bearings ready for my new dual-sport tyres. 

Front: 6004 2RS / Rear: 6203 2RS

To try and anticipate the sort of road conditions I am likely to encounter in northern Norway I sourced a set of Avon Distanzia super motard tyres in 120/70HR17 (front) and 150/60HR17 (rear). The front is a little over-size but I couldn't find a suitable tyre with the right dimensions.

 (the white stuff is just part of a sticker which didn't come off completely)

The biggest problem that I encountered was in finding somewhere to actually fit them for me. Most of the local shops either flatly refused as I hadn’t bought the tyres from them, or offered to do it for ridiculous amounts of money. Finally I found somewhere willing and dropped them off. Unfortunately, when I picked them up I was told that they hadn’t been balanced. First guy said that they ‘didn’t fit the machine’; then the other guy who I paid said they didn’t have the time. Who to believe? Probably guy No. 2. 

In the end I did a (very) rough job of balancing them myself and, as everything seemed to be running okay, they were duly fitted.

Only point to mention is that due to the oversize nature of the front tyre I had to change the bolt holding the speedo cable guide to the front mudguard for a dome headed one and fit it from the rear as there was now insufficient clearance for a nut between the mudguard and the tyre.

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Gator Territory

With all of the bodywork removed the fork legs were looking a bit exposed, so I decided to see if I could find some rubber gaiters to cover them up a bit. 

A useful site if you're contemplating this, or if you want to fit different forks for whatever reason, is http://scandalon.com/2009/06/motorcycle-fork-diameter-chart This lists machines based on their fork diameter. 

I eventually sourced a set of pattern gaiters intended for a modern Hinckley Triumph Bonneville. These came complete with a set of thin metal clips (the dark coloured ones at the top of the picture), which I thought were a bit flimsy. So I acquired a set of Moto Guzzi wire clips (the ones at the bottom of the picture) which are a lot more substantial.

When fitting them you have to take the forks off to get them over the fork legs, which is a bit of a chore, but as luck would have it, I had to remove the forks anyway to get the headlight brackets onto them (see earlier post), so killing two birds with one stone.

With the forks replaced, the wire clips hold the top of the gaiters and I used cable ties for the bottom. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the end result, and think that they look made for the bike.

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Kittens

Just in case you were getting bored of all this Skorpion rebuild stuff, here's a picture of some kittens in a basket.

Let There be Light

The standard Tour headlight which I had was in pretty good shape apart from a bit of rust inside the shell and it was missing two of the three rubber grommets for the wiring loom on the back. Nothing that couldn't be put right.

 before

While the rust may only have been on the inside of the shell, I still decided to do something about it. With a wire brush fitted to an electric drill I buffed the worst of it off, sprayed the inside of the shell with a couple of coats of primer, and finished it off with some silver paint that I had lying around. Once the headlight was re-assembled you couldn't see any of this, but I'll know that it's been done, and at least the rust won't be getting any worse in the short term.

after

To finish things off, I managed to pick up some replacement rubber grommets while at the Scottish Motorcycle Show in March. A bit of a polish and it looks as good as new. 

The original wiring requires no attention and all of the connector blocks are interchangeable between the Traveller and the Tour anyway, so all that was needed was to attach the existing connectors to the new headlight and fit it to the machine.

To do this I added a set of standard mounting brackets. These locate on some clamps around the fork legs and the light unit bolts directly onto them. The only tricky bit about this is that you have to fit them over the fork legs, so the forks have to be removed to get them on.

Finally, as part of the faux 'Mad Max' look that seemed to be evolving, I added a mesh stone guard from a Lambretta scooter while I was at it. This was a bit of a squeeze to get on, but worth the effort, I think.

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Get A Grip / Mind Your Fingers

While at the Scottish Motorcycle Show in March I picked up, amongst other things, a new set of grips. 

These ones, rather than being solid rubber, were metal with rubber inserts. I bought them because they were blue and worked with the overall look that I was aiming for. Only time will tell if they're actually any good (I also picked up a pair of standard rubber ones just in case they're not).

I also picked up some moto-cross style handguards. Now, handguards on a bike serve two important functions. First, and less importantly, they prevent your digits getting cold by keeping them out of the airflow. Second, if they are fitted with a strong enough wraparound metal bar, they can prevent your levers from snapping off should your bike fall over.

I bought the ones with the metal bar, brand name Venom, and in a fetching navy blue colour to match the rest of the bodywork.

They came with an assortment of fittings to suit most needs and the only modification that I had to make was to replace the existing bolts fitted through the bar-end weights for slightly longer ones (in stainless, of course) to accommodate the extra thickness of the metal bar.

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Over The Bar

To attach my newly painted handlebars to the bike I bought a Raask Handlebar Riser kit. This wasn't cheap, but the standard clamps are no use for tubular handlebars and you need something else if you're going to mount a set to your bike.

The kit comprises a pair of clamps and a set of risers which provide a standard housing suitable for most 7/8" diameter 'bars, as well as all the bolts necessary, although I replaced all of these with stainless ones.

The Raask clamps come in either 25mm or 33mm heights, apparently a minimum of 25mm is needed to clamp securely onto the forks, and in a range of diameters to fit most forks. 

For the Skorpion I chose the 33mm height option, as that was pretty much what the old clamps used, with a fork leg diameter of 41mm.

Fitting them was fairly straightforward, if a bit longwinded. 

You remove everything from your existing handlebars, then loosen the old clamps where they are fitted onto the top of the fork legs and lift these clear too. 

Then it's just a case of fitting the new clamps, attaching the risers and fitting your handlebars. Re-fit the switchgear and other furniture which will, if you're very lucky, fit straight back on. You then adjust the handlebars to your preferred riding position and tighten everything back up.

Due to my new handlebars being taller and wider than standard, I did worry about the possibility of the wiring and the cables being too short or getting kinked. Although I did have to re-route practically everything, with the tank off it wasn't too traumatic, I didn't need to buy longer cables. Annoyingly the one thing that didn’t fit back on was the front brake line. This was pulled just a little too tight and had to be replaced as part of the front brake upgrade.

The end result is a set of taller, wider handlebars and a much altered riding position. This will show up better on later posts/pictures.

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Bar Hopping

In the past, the first thing that I would normally have done to a new bike was swap the standard handlebars for a set of trials-type braced ones. These offer a more upright riding position and a wider stance, which is what I generally prefer. 

I didn't do this to any of my Skorpions as they all have clip-ons, so changing them is quite involved and, generally, I find the standard riding position quite comfortable once adjusted to my satisfaction (the Sport model being the exception with its slightly more race-style riding position). 

However, with everything else going on, I decided to change the handlebars too and see how I got on. If I found that I didn't like it, I would still have all the standard bits to change them back.

First up was to sort out the replacement handlebars. As the new bodywork I'm using is navy blue, I thought that some blue handlebars would be just the thing. A quick search located any number of ones which would have fitted the bill, but as luck would have it, before I bought any, and while looking for something else, I came across an old set of 7/8" braced 'bars in a box. Luckily they were painted rather than chromed and, although a bit pitted and scratched, they weren't actually bent. Why spend extra cash when I could, with a bit of work, refurbish something I already had?

A further rummage located a nearly full spray can of grey primer, and a trip to a hardware store got me a small 250ml can of Plastikote metallic blue enamel spray paint. I've used Plastikote before and like it. It's easy to work with and produces a decent enough finish from a can, just don't expect to win any awards with it.With the primer, paint and a handful of wet & dry paper I set to work.

After cleaning, and a rub down with some wet & dry paper to remove any flaky paint and dirt, the handlebars were sprayed with a couple of coats of primer, leaving about half an hour between coats. What I should have done was remember that I needed to drill a couple of holes in the handlebars to locate the pegs on the switchgear. Doh! 

Two 5mm holes were duly drilled and the area around the holes was tidied up, then sprayed with some more primer. Everything was then left for 24 hours to allow it time to dry properly.

Before spraying on the paint, more wet & dry was used to remove any lumps and bumps and to key the surface. When spraying paint, it's best to add a couple of light coats rather than try and get it done in one go. Plastikote is touch dry in about 45 minutes, so another coat can be added at that point. If the paint looks to have bubbled or run, then you wait until that coat is dry and get out the wet & dry again and gently smooth it down. 

I ended up using about five light coats in the end and the finish is better than I expected, tell the truth. If I planned on doing it properly I could have added a coat or two of laquer at this point, but as I didn't have any, I didn't bother.

Anyway, I now have one set of nice shiny metallic blue handlebars for next to no cost. You might prefer to just buy a new set and save yourself the hassle. 

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All Dressed Up

First, things first, the Traveller bodywork and fairing needed to come off.  

The fairing, together with all of the bracketry, the headlight, the tank, the sidepanels, and the front mudguard were removed, leaving the bike looking rather skeletal. 

I already had a full replacement set of standard Tour bodywork in navy blue ready to fit back on to the machine, as well as a standard Tour round chromed headlight with all of the necessary brackets and fittings sitting in a box.

With all of that out of the way, the machine got a good clean and I drew up a (very) long list of things which needed to be done and parts to be sourced. 

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Weapon of Choice

I am a great fan of the MZ Skorpion 660. I currently have two, a 1994 Sport and a 1994 Traveller (and another one in bits for spares). It's the Traveller that we're concerned with here, and as this particular machine hadn't been used for over a year it needed to be thoroughly checked and serviced to get it roadworthy and road legal for the upcoming rip to Norway in July 2011.

As well as making sure that it was mechanically sound, I thought that I'd also make it a bit more 'rugged' and more capable of coping with rougher roads and gravel paths than it was at present. Essentially, something that was a little less likely to get damaged should it get dropped.

So, to that end, it got changed from a fully-faired touring model, into more of a dual-purpose one. This involved swapping the bodywork, changing the handlebars for higher wider ones, as well as fitting some beefier tyres and decent off-road style hand-guards. I also knocked up a radiator guard to cope with the stone chippings that cover the unmetalled road surfaces that you find the further north you travel in Norway.

While this was going on, it was treated to some new tyres, a pair of Brembo calipers to improve braking, some new cables, and a lot of the existing rusty fasteners were changed for stainless ones. Other things were done as and when I came across something that I thought would benefit from it.

My target for a rebuilt and roadworthy machine was the end of May 2011 so that I could attend a motorcycle event in Northern Ireland. I had planned on this being the final shakedown ride to test everything out on a decent sized journey before heading off to Norway. I actually finished the work in mid-May, in plenty of time, and the bike passed its MOT without a hitch.

That's the bike ready, then. What you'll see documented here is both the start and the end of that transmogrification process, broken down into handy-dandy bite sized chunks and illustrated where appropriate with some pictures. It wasn't necessarily done in the order displayed, which is why some of the photos might seem to be out of sequence. 

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Inauspicious Beginnings

The original idea was to start a blog to cover this year's planned motorcycle adventures in Norway, beginning with getting the machine I planned on using, a 1994 MZ Skorpion Traveller (see photo), prepared for the trip, and adding in other stuff as I went along. 

Sheer laziness on my part has meant that, while I've done the actual work, and documented most of the various stages, that was about as far as I got until now. So rather than a work in progress, what I'm about to post here is the work done to date. 

How interesting this will be for those of you who don't own or have any interest in MZ Skorpions is anybody's guess. On the other hand, it might give you some ideas about making alterations to your own bikes.

The actual trip will be covered later (crosses fingers and hopes for the best).