Post by rossell on Oct 4, 2013 21:22:53 GMT -5
This is the coffee lounge, so grab a cuppa, this might take some time. G'day from Australia mates. It's spring time here in Oz and my NTV rebuild is so close to getting on the road that I've started to practice pulling bugs out of my teeth! I thought I would pass on some of the things I've learned, experienced and discovered during my part-time 2 year restoration of an NTV 650 J model Revere. The Revere was only sold here in Australia from 1990 till '92 and were never a popular seller despite fairly good reviews. It was described as a more sedentary model when compared to similar chain driven models that were being released by competing brands at the time and the Honda was more costly. Some of the other descriptions included, reliable, fun to ride (although not in a Wayne Gardner/Mick Doohan kind of way), economical and my favourite, perfect for a public servant or bank teller. The lack of sales has resulted in great difficulty accessing replacement parts 21 years later with many parts now on Hondas discontinued list and buying online and shipping from Europe or the U.S. being sometimes risky and costly, especially with the more weighty parts. Anyway, you know what that say about necessity being the mother of invention (or was that Frank Zappa?) well I've had tools made for some jobs, found an old school master sheet metal worker who repaired the dented tank in between his other jobs for a pittance. The old bloke wearing prescription ashtrays that sandblasted the frame for a quote of $80 refused an even $100 on pick up saying, "Nah mate, I said eighty, eighty it is". All of the plastics on the bike were cracked, split or broken off, so when I found a bloke who was prepared to plastic weld all the fiddly bits and fabricate some missing broken off bits and weld those plastics on I was rapted. Just yesterday I was given the name and number of a retiree who "used to make the best exhausts in Australia" by someone who knew him and he'd heard that he was recently doing some jobs for pocket money to help bolster his pension. This contact was given to me with the instruction, "tell 'im that little bastard Brad from Seaford sent ya". Brad's in his mid 60's, can't wait to meet Ken. It should be obvious to one and all by now that I've been the novice on this gig and have been attending to all the duties of an apprentice to my good mate 'Blindog'. Cleaning, grinding, grunt work, wet and dry sanding, under coating,![]()
[/img] sourcing parts, knocking on doors, observing and learning have been my lot on this project and I've loved every minute. All of the people I've approached and met I've approached with humility, "mate, I've never done anything like this, I really have no idea but what do you think about.....?". Through this approach I've met quite a few passionate motorcycle folk, artisans and 'no bullnuts' people all of whom have given me way more than they know and when the bike is back on the road I'll be ridiing it around to each and everyone of them to show what they have done for me, well, except for this forums members and driver 'Jake' whose help has been critical and thanx 'bertrand' for the seat idea. It's been a great ride so far and I haven't even turned the motor over ! 
