L'Animal - New Forks

I decided to go with stock Moby forks on L’Animal. I like the way they look and I don’t find them unstable at high speed. In this case, since my forks are completely un-ridden, zero-mile NOS orange beauties, they will be even more stable. Here is the story:

I got a set of NOS orange fork yokes from BJ at Handy Bikes. I was going to attempt to rebuild some old fork internals I had here from another bike, but BJ also sent me some yellow forks that had major shelf wear. They have no miles on them – NOS – but they were cosmetically challenged. Not the fork boots though – look at how creamy:

The only problem is, I had to take everything out of/off the yellow forks and put them in the orange yokes. No problem – I have the parts lists and assembly diagrams so I just simulated the special Moby tools needed (in this case, a screwdriver, coat-hanger thingie, and a modified little piece of metal that Jerry76 gave me). I greased everything up real nice before reassembling.

The final product – looking nice. I will take my old lock assembly out of my old Orange Moby and reuse here. This will be one of a few parts my old Moby is donating to get this new project on the road.

I’m very mixed about taking orange Moby off the road to donate parts to L’Animal, but I have to face some facts. The frame is cracked and I have tried to repair it before (at the tank seam, down by the driven pulley). Also, the paint is pretty gnarly and rusty. I have proudly rocked this bike – my first moped – and I’ll just put the frame up on the wall as a shrine in my workshop. Here is the last picture of him outside, before retirement:

Shit, even as I type this I know I will want him back on the road one day. I still have the title, and many of the stock parts lying around. Well, rest up for now Orange Moby. Let the new guy get a chance at blasting.

MickR

~ by baltards on December 16, 2010.