My bike, seat covers

 This last weekend I managed to finish up fitting the seat covers. I had ordered these covers from an Italian company called Volcano Industry  based in Sicily (probably named after Mt Etna!) who I originally found on ebay. 

The kit turned up fairly promptly and had a run of elastic sewn on the edge which you can use to staple it to the seat base. The kit is very tailored and fits very snuggly, so a little effort is needed to pull it around and get it in the right place, an extra set of hands would be useful! 

The end result is as good as the original if not better, the cover follows the curve of the foam and looks factory. Volcano also can offer alternative colours for the back pad for Sintesi use.

Bottom line: I am super impressed, Volcano have over delivered in quality, fit and finish and I can't recommend them highly enough. If you are restoring a Sintesi, buy this kit.

Full disclosure: I paid full price for this kit, I just believe in praising and recommending a great product when it warrants it. 

https://www.volcanoindustry.com/shop/seat-cover-aprilia-af-1-sintesi-1989-1992/

My bike, wheels, mudguard, loom, footpegs

This week I needed to progress with the final big jobs, firstly the wheels were looking worse the more i looked at them, I found a local dealer (to me) in Waterlooville called Bike Shed who could remove my tyres while I waited. They are a little local motorcycle workshop run by a couple who had been there for 19 years, super nice people, very chatty, very old school in a good way, I be using them again!

Ive now removed the front disc and the front wheel bearings and dropped them round to Plasticoat Powder coaters who I have used before

I fitted the rear inner mud guard, routed the zip tied the loom, fitted the rear foot pegs and generally replaced and bolts and nuts with stainless items.

Saddle

I had previously ordered a pair of seat covers from a company in Italy called Volcano Industry I got say these are amazing, fit, finish, colour all spot on. The covers are tailored to the original shape with an elastic strap sewn on the inside with you can pull about and staple down. I actually run out of staples so the job his half finished until more turn up this week. I will post again the finished articles.

My bike, Footrest and fairing

The riders side front rear set was snapped on the heal guard, I had previously got the replacement I just needed to get round to fitting it.

As I swapped everything over I cleaned, polished and replaced all the nuts and bolts with replacement stainless items.

Rear set main bolts, M8 x 30mm socket head x 2 plus 2 x M8 nyloc nuts

Spring bolt pedal side, M6 nyloc nut

Rear brake cylinder plunger nut, M6 nyloc nut

Mater cylinder bolys 2 x M6 x ? bolts plus 2 x M6 Nyloc nuts

Fairing lowers

I decided to fit the decals I had previously bought to the fairing lowers. 

Using the original sales brochure as a guide I started with the big 'A' in line with the front of the fairing edge. the lower part will overlay on the fairing vents so some cutting is required.

Next I fitted the green and red triangles, because of the curves I cut them in to two separate parts and installed them separately, I used a hair dryer hear to get round the corners.

Next the white 'aprilia' word, the 'P' bleeds in to the white and used spaced accordingly.

Next, sponsor stickers, these just aligned as per brochure.

Thoughts? Firstly I will say some of the scale of these stickers is questionable, so it is difficult to make it look 100%. Secondly I think I made the white spacing a little tight, if I did it again (and I may do) and would make the white lines thicker. But there is no instructions for this, you just got to give it a go and if it looks right to the eye, it probably is.

OG panel for reference 

UPDATE

Feeling brave I decided to see if I could remove the flag elements and re-position them, this worked out much better than expected and I am much happier with the placement now.

my bike, sprocket carrier updates

This week I decided to re-furbish the sprocket carrier and get a few more parts on the bike, to help with this I ordered a stainless bolt kit of ebay that was listed for the AF1... 

Sprocket carrier: The carrier had previously been (badly) painted and generally looked poor so I first went over with a course and then a fine wet and dry paper to get the worst off. There were lots of paint flakes that came off as the alloy had oxidised in a couple of places lifting the paint. It looked ok, then I dusted it with primer and quite frankly it looked dreadful. The original paint reacted with the primer and listed anything with an edge on it, the only solution was to paint strip it to bare metal and start again.

paint disaster

paint stripped

From here I masked the critical areas and lightly dusted with grey primer, some parts still didn't look great, so these were rubbed down with fine wet and dry and re-painted with the primer. Luckily it was a hot day and the paint dried quickly, so i could afford to go light and slow. 

primed and ready

The next stage is paint, there are a million silvers out there, I chose Porsche silver as it sounds more fancy...

now as fast as a GT3 RS...

Bolt kit: For ease and because its not going to be a full on factory restoration I decided to buy a stainless steel bolt kit off ebay, the dealer had multiple listings with different models in the title, i chose the appropriate one for my bike. Upon arrival of the kit I was slightly annoyed to see it was a more generic bolt kit and for example it had no M8 x 30mm dome head bolts for holding the sub frame on. I checked the listing and rather frustratingly it said 'a selection of common nuts and bolts and not model specific'. I should of read the small print and if i noticed that I wouldn't of ordered, so don't to what I did, read the listing in full before ordering. 
I ordered some M8 x 30's on amazon and had them the next day so I could install the subframe. With the subframe on its tricky to get the airbox fitted. To do so I removed the lid and filter, it also helps getting the connecting hose on to the air box as you can see inside, then refit the filter and lid.

Brochure: AF1 Sintesi 1989

 AF1 Sintesi 1989 brochure - unfortunately its not original copy but I am working on getting a high-res update. :-)

my bike, swing arm rebuild

After getting the swing arm powder coated I wanted to get it back on to the bike could get back on its wheels and I could have a shuffle about.

First thing was to get the main bearings (4) back in to the pivot, these are super snug so lots of grease is needed. TIP, place the bearings (4) in a freezer for 10 minutes then install them in to the swing arm. The cold will make the bearing contract a little and make installing them a little easier. Fit the O-rings (7) to each side of the roller bearing and grease liberally. At this point I put the pins also (5) in the freezer to shrink a little while the roller bearings expanded to their normal size. Next I just slid the pins (5) in the bearings (4), easy!
Next I installed the bearing shields (3) to each end, again with grease so they wouldn't easily drop off.

The next stage was to offer up the swing arm to the main frame and slide the main pivot axle (2) in to hold it there.

The next stage was to get the rear shock and the shock linkage fitted. The shock can go in via the top or bottom but you will have to raise and lower the swig arm at points to get every bolt it. Again grease all bearings, and plenty of it.

I re-fitted the rear hub then re-fitted the wheel to be able to move the bike around but it will need to come off again for power coating.

Note, the wheel has a boss (1) on it which mates to a cut out on the rear wheel, make sure you do this.

Lastly I fitted the chain slider.

Torque values. 

The workshop manual states torque values in daN.m- Dekanewton, where the more common values now are in Nm - Newton, the conversion is just one decimal point or x 10 for ease, I have included both.

Shock linkage bolts including the top shock mount (fig 88 + 89) = 5 daN.m or 50Nm

Main pivot = see fig.92 follow correct procedure:

• Complete unscrew the adjustment boss on the right hand side (3)
  
• Insert the pivot axle and screw it in a few turns
• Screw the adjustment boss (3) and torque to 1 daN.m or 10Nm
• Tighten the retaining lock nut (1) in using the notched Aprilia tool to 2.5 daN.m or 25Nm
• Tighten the main pivot axle to 8 daN.m or 80Nm

Wheel nuts = 8 daN.m = 80Nm

Main axle shaft nut (fig91, part 4) = 8 daN.m or 80Nm

this nut is torque to 80Nm, which may require an extension bar... 

main pivot requires a procedure to correctly tighten.

My bike, powder coating

As part of the freshen up I decided to powder coat the swingarm and rear sub frame. The swing arm is highly visible so desperately needed doing, where the subframe could of been rattle canned on the parts you can see, however it was a bit rusty in the parts you couldn't see so I wanted that addressed also.

I use a local powder coater to my work and I have used them before and been pleased with the results, check out http://www.plasticoat.co.uk/ if you are in the Portsmouth/ Gosport area. A good powder coater will mask all holes and bearing surfaces all you need to do is remove everything including bearings.

The colour I chose isn't the same as the original Aprilia colour, the original is more of a grey which over time looks quite drab especially next to the brilliance of the main frame and footrests. I went for a silver with a little sparkle like a Honda swing arm, I hope this will lift the bike a little and give it a slightly more premium look... I hope I am right about this!

Swing Arm

before

After

After

After

Subframe

Before

After

After

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