After deciding to sell my blue ’03 VFR and keep the red ’09 VFR (previous post) I needed another little project to tinker with, there was no rush and I spent a couple of months refurbishing our kitchen in the process… (now theres a story !)
One fine day I was sniffing around the spares and replairs on eBay and came accross a CF Moto 650 NK – 2015, parallel twin, naked style, stolen/recovered & a bit tatty and in need of the usual and a price that was very cheap. It was going to need quite a bit of work as the front wheel was dinged (and the discs too I found out later) and some of the plastics wherre beyond repair.
She arrived more or less as described so I set about making a list of what woiuld be needed, repaired, checked etc.
- Front wheel (cracked – replace)
- Pair of front disks (warped) and rear disc (worn)
- Various plastic panels and covers
- Headlight surround
- Exhaust end-can (rusted away around weld)
- Full service kit
- Replace dash/speedo (worked but was battered and looked really old)
I knew from the start the Black/carbon Grey looked odd but I will sort that later when the repairs are done. Roll the sleves up, large mug of coffee and away I went !
1st was to check it all over and confirm it run ok, I found a small oil leak by the water pump but nothing bad.
2nd was the missing rider peg that had broken the alloy bracket so I shaved it back and used a steel bracket to replace it.
On to sourcing and buying the bits needed, all quite cheap to get and no major problems apart from a seller sending me the wrong part number (rear disc) and taking three weeks to sort it out – what a muppet !
Exhaust rusted at weld
Steel bracket to fix footpeg
Panels, parts and new tyres too
The repair and replace was going well and I gave the panels a quick lick of a candy red to stop them looking like a patchwork quilt but it was not intended to stay that way. I found a nice digital speedo that looked better than the old and cheap looking OEM one and a red exhaust end can that I could fettle in to place..
During the service I decided to change the clutch from a heavy cable pull to hydraulic to lighten and smooth it out, I added a pair of mini fogs and the headlight screen to keep some of the crap off when I get to ride it…
I found the small oil leak turned out to be a nightmare, it was new seals right thru the water pump and the seal set between the crank and pump (keeps the water out the oil and visa-versa) there was no mixing but the leak was the teltale that the crank seal was on it way out.
Water pump seals
New clutch and switches
The work stopped for quite some time as this was when I got stuck in to Cal’s Cruiser (other post) and that was a major restoration and upgrade project.
Then I got back to finishing off the CF when time allowed… Fished the service, new pads and anything else she needed…
The finished bike came out quite nice, I had tried for the panels and bits to be black with a red mica content to give it a black cherry look but the paint mixer anly put in half the mica needed so its still very nice but not quite as expected. The red can be seen when the sun hits it but I was hoping for a rich red “flicker” in the black….
Just needs her MOT and a few test riddes to complete 🙂
