MY Roadking In Restoration - Phase 1

[digitalblood]

hi guys
Thought of sharing my experience with you all in the "NEVER ENDING" process of my Roadking Restoration.

A SAD STORY
I bought this RK for 10K from a known friend's friend who owned this beast. He had done the restoration & stuff leaving the BORE-PISTON to the last size. When i bought it, i was told that she drains her tank after 35KMS done per litre.

But the day i brought it back home, She drank up 4 litres of petrol to cover 36 KMS. YEAH!! I know, i was fooled very easily.

Never mind, I thought to myself, and prepared myself to get her done ready to hit the roads again. In the process, like evertbody else, i too asked a friend of mine who owned a 250CL II long time back & whose father used to tune the carb himself with a successful 55KMS/LTR.!!!!

Upon asking him & showing the bike to him, he literally fell in live with it & immediately wanted to possess it and ofcourse, "FREE OF COST"!!!! I gently denied it. :-)

He started to suggest me ideas on how to make her look prettier/massive on road and i like a dumb idiot, i started buying his ideas too. :( He first suggested that we should change the color. I was a bit negative but he convinced me. !!

Since his family was into this workshop/garage thingy, they had thewhole setup of painting/mechanics/upholstery and stuff. So i blindly gave the bike to him.

He later opened up the bike body line & we both sat & scraped the good color out of it and took some money from me for restoration and gulped it away. He mentioned a mechanic's name to sort the minor things out which i didn't notice & the mechanic gulped another sum of money from me. In the mean time, the friend who came forward to help me had to vacate his house due to non-payments of his rent and my bike belongings got stuck in his house while he was away from bangalore for "HIS PERSONAL WORK"

After 3½ months, he comes back & i immediately pounce on him & snatch my belongings from him. Later the mechanic being a close friend of my other friend, started acting up.

Overall, i have had a tuff time to get her on road & she is still lying in the painter's garage. NOW, the painter has a bubble in his "Not-to-mention" area on his body, he is resting & the climate has also given up on me. :-(

COULD I GET ANY HELP TO GET HER BACK ON ROAD BY ANY CHANCE? WILL THE ANGEL EVER SMILE ON ME???

I have already spent more than 20K just to restore apart from purchase price. ANy help in this regard would be a great help.

Anticipating.....

Thanx in advance
Digitalblood

[digitalblood]

Here are a few pics. In the process of restoration & migration

[rjstyles69]

digitalblood since you have already taken the plunge , finish it up. Now that you have spent close to 20k don't abandon this mid-way.
I am sure someone here should be able to guide you to a good mechanic who could do the job for you.Good luck with the restoration.

OT: Go a little easy on the emoticons,its 2 per post

[mjothi]

You got the right forum. There are many bikers here who can help you. So, keep continuing the restoration. I feel you should first concentrate on brining it to life ratehr than cosmatics.
Anyway, keep us posted.
Btw, where are you located and where is the restoration going on?

[digitalblood]

Originally Posted by mjothi

You got the right forum. There are many bikers here who can help you. So, keep continuing the restoration. I feel you should first concentrate on brining it to life ratehr than cosmatics.
Anyway, keep us posted.
Btw, where are you located and where is the restoration going on?

mjothi, Thanks for the motivating lines. I reside in Nelamangala and the bike was being re-furbished in Peenya Dasarahalli. Now i have shifted the bike close to my place for painting. Even the painter is acting up now :(

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

digitalblood since you have already taken the plunge , finish it up. Now that you have spent close to 20k don't abandon this mid-way.
I am sure someone here should be able to guide you to a good mechanic who could do the job for you.Good luck with the restoration.

OT: Go a little easy on the emoticons,its 2 per post

thanx rjstyles69, & oops! i am sorry about the smiley . Will keep it in mind from the next time

[TuffRyder]

DigitalBlood: I can help you if I know exactly what you want to do. Do you want to restore the engine or do the bodywork? Im really sorry that you had to go through all this, 20k is a lot of money. If you willing to spend time and come to the area where I live, it is the other end of where you stay, we have two of the best Yezdi/Jawa mechs in Bangalore near my place, Addubhai and his brother. By the way, the area is called Maruthi Seva Nagar by the Old ITC factory.

[kuttapan]

I bought and restored a roadking in 15k(including the bike cost, painting, chroming etc.), so 20k is definitely a rip-off.

[headers]

Hey guys, there used to be a "joe" in cox town way back in 90s. He used to do only imported bikes and Roadkings.

I had mine ported and polished by him and the bike rode like a dream!

IS Joe still around guys?

[digitalblood]

Originally Posted by TuffRyder

DigitalBlood: I can help you if I know exactly what you want to do. Do you want to restore the engine or do the bodywork? Im really sorry that you had to go through all this, 20k is a lot of money. If you willing to spend time and come to the area where I live, it is the other end of where you stay, we have two of the best Yezdi/Jawa mechs in Bangalore near my place, Addubhai and his brother. By the way, the area is called Maruthi Seva Nagar by the Old ITC factory.

TuffyRider: I am actually wondering if i can get somebody to get the electricals done. The mechanic who did the mechs, also did the electricals and left it half done. I have made some alterations for the bike an wanted the circuit to work according to my ideas. i have used a Old Jawa type ignition switch & used Fiero Switch assy for the handle bar. The electricals circuit that i designed is a bit complicated for a regular roadking wiring expert. Please do let me know if you can suggest anybody for this.

Also, i need somebody who can make all my locks on the bike (i.e. Sidelock, Tank cap and the seat lock) except ignition to open with one key. I guess i am asking for toomuch.

Please let me know if you can do something on this.

Thanx
Digitalblood

[2StrokeJunkie]

^ yes very much . one of the supposed "super mechanics " of blore . hes now in shivaji nagar.

@ digitalblood : i would suggest u visit this mech called Addu whose shop is located on the ITC factory road in cox town . i also suggest u get street smart with mechanics cas if you are not in the know and appear guilable , any mech however good will make a fool of u. it could go from fooling u of a couple of hundreds to scamming ur entire bike.

[TuffRyder]

Digitalblood: Like 2strokejunkie suggest, addubhai is the right person for you bike now. He is my mechanic and does quite a good job with the electricals. I can say that cos he fitted my Y350 twin with a CDI unit and it works perfectly fine. Also about the locks, that would be a tough ask. It is getting quite difficult to get the seat locks now and also the original ones had the levers just on one side of the key whereas ur ignition key would be two sided. That is one think I cant help you with now. If you want to spend more money on something like this, then probably we could get a set from bullets and try and put it on this but that would involve welding near the seatlock and it would be only same key for ignition and seat. Not worth the work.

-pat-

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by headers

Hey guys, there used to be a "joe" in cox town way back in 90s. He used to do only imported bikes and Roadkings.

I had mine ported and polished by him and the bike rode like a dream!

IS Joe still around guys?

Yeah he's very much around. Now he's near Cantontment Rly station. I don't think he's much interested in doing up the less than super bikes these days. It has to be an RD atleast.

There's Addu in cox town near ITC factory. He's supposedly good with Jawa/Yezdi. When i was there i used to see Jawa 250s and 350s in good condition always parked by his workshop.

[digitalblood]

TuffRyder: I think i will drop the idea of resetting the lock system and shun the seat down with a bolt!!! Sounds good to me as there is no much room to keep anything underneath. I would rather use the cowls to stuff anything in. I will definitely get in touch with Addu in the coming week. I have already applied toomany leaves for this bike and will not be able to get more leaves now. :( Got to plan stuff. Will keep you posted. WIll you be able to meet me at addu's place when i bring the bike down there? just a query though!!

2strokejunkie: True said pal!! I have already given too much ride to ppl. I wil be careful hereafter. Thanx for the suggestion. I think i should give a try with addu too. Theres nothing to lose here.

[digitalblood]

@akeel: SOrry, i could not reply to your PM due to some technical error. Thanks buddy, I would love to get in touch with the mechs u suggested. Since it is almost done now, i rather thought of waiting for another week to see if she would come out completed. Just in case, nothing works out, i will definitely get in touch with one of those u suggested.
Thanx
Digitalblood

[headers]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Yeah he's very much around. Now he's near Cantontment Rly station. I don't think he's much interested in doing up the less than super bikes these days. It has to be an RD atleast.

I expected that. But that guys is good. Even back then, i went through a recomendation from Chennai to get his appointment and get the porting done. He is a very simple guy and does a wonderful job with the bike. He did the job right in front of me.

great!