Lovingly restoring the worst bike I've ever ridden.

Something happened! Not much, but it's SOMETHING! Derek asked me to remove the old lock mount on the head tube.


So I immediately drove over to his shop two weeks later and picked up the frame, brought it home, and had my cousin do the work. Because I'm proactive about stuff.





AND I finally fixed the pictures, sorry about that.

Next step, bring it back to Derek's and apply a little more high quality Heat-N-Smash.

I really can't wait for this whole chapter to be done, it is slow going and aggravating. I am SO ready to work on something other than the stupid neck.

Cheers for the update! Nice to see some new pictures

Thanks man. I love this shit.

This has to be the most addictive and frustrating thread ever....

OK, so I finally got all the way to here.

This is a really cool project, though quite painful.

As I always say: "It isn't an adventure if you enjoy it when it happens"

Take your time Mullet. Good work takes time. When my buddies start rushing me I tell them this aint no @#$%^& &**&()*&% monster garage! Heck I've been working on my Cushman scooter since 1972. All bs aside the Minsk is looking good.

I wanted to work on the Minsk yesterday, but Derek is swamped, so I just tinkered with some parts at home. Here are some pictures to laugh at...

I gave the rear wheel a quick cleaning with some steel wool. The ultra low quality chrome on the rim came out nice, and I was able to remove most of the dirt/oil/spray paint melange from the spokes. I did a little bit of wire brushing on the hub, but only enough to knock off the larger chunks of baking soda coated grease.


I live a few blocks from a Cycle Gear, so I went there to pick up a new tire and tube, only to be told that they don't have anything in that size. They can get one tire that will fit, but it's special order, and it looks all new and fancified. So the internet search begins for something with appropriate looks...

But I still wanted to work on the Minsk! There isn't much else I can do on mine right now, so I decided to open up the other ones (remember, I have not one, but THREE of these things) and just sort of look through the parts, organize, and hopefully renew that strange combination of "yay, a fun fun project!" and "oh dear god, what the hell have I done" feelings.

Box #12, 30 pieces


Let's see... a fender, one turn signal, one rear spring, luggage rack, headlight. All in a heap, with one piece of bubble wrap laid over the top. Is this not how you would pack a box of motorcycle parts?


Another carefully packed box


An engine!


Complete engine, with carb, wrapped in a single layer of bubble wrap (for safety!)




The other engine. Note shifter poking through the cardboard. More importantly, notice the baking soda covering the top and stuck to the sides... yeah, I still find baking soda everywhere.




Note that the the engines are labeled "1" and "3", but both numbers are upside down. Like they set them on the spark plugs to write on them.


More crap!

{snip}

Yay!!!!! Love that you are jumping back into the fray!!!! Love that you are opening X-mas presents!!!!!

Dare I dream it? Is there more Baking Soda in our future? Oh please, please, please..

Hope you have fun. Maybe take the best pieces of all 3 and make 2 good (?) ones.

Best of luck.

Kevan (Deniz's friend)

Hey Kevan, glad you are still following this! I worked on them some more today, post to come soon.

You would need way more than three bikes to make two good ones...

I think you might be just a little too optimistic there Mullet

Time to hit Ebay Asia or Russia.

So nice to see some new progress

So after opening up those boxes, I decided it would be a good idea to clean the other two frames. Here's what I was faced with.

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zalgBWHUyO276qus-3iwMtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_IcfepMJpKs/T2y-LmxS6nI/AAAAAAAAJvQ/98I4VucUY6I/s800/IMG_20120322_182125.jpg" height="600" width="800" /></a>

So I went out to the lot behind my warehouse, fired up my friend Jeff's Honda powered Karcher pressure washer (thanks dude!) and went to work. Oh, I almost forgot to mention: it was cold, windy, and best of all, dark! Pressure washing Minsk frames by Range Rover headlights, lovely.

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/S2zNXa6kFr68OIrMBL6zfdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-l1OzTepr9mY/T2y_DpTWsSI/AAAAAAAAJvo/_xOqW4zNlAw/s800/IMG_20120322_195805.jpg" height="600" width="800" /></a>

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Zx8AfMJ8dOJgRl62CHX1DdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-DT7Cj98uNcI/T2y_Njx-T6I/AAAAAAAAJvw/SrL5Flh4VTs/s800/IMG_20120322_195923.jpg" height="600" width="800" /></a>

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Xj-ZncCvdH5GipW_Xy-8udMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ALIwKwZjW7c/T2zS4sGeedI/AAAAAAAAJwU/HhvhgYHokJk/s800/IMG_20120322_195953.jpg" height="600" width="800" /></a>

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/az8oZDTXqUf6-MdVVP45btMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nvE6QHLRbxw/T2zYn3LprHI/AAAAAAAAJwg/aRNlwBg-XG8/s800/IMG_20120322_200004.jpg" height="600" width="800" /></a>

Much better! Or at least less greasy.
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QjeN5BoRr65eHGfG9GWkltMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lhP82zbfsAU/T2zZCGIUvcI/AAAAAAAAJwo/_ljJkE4Xx3E/s800/IMG_20120322_211413.jpg" height="600" width="800" /></a>

Woohoo! An update!

Oh come on man! The last photo had a Buell in it, just for you, and no comment??

I've never seen such a dramatic bike wash scene. Very hollywood...

Wow. Lovin the head tube on the frame on the right... :huh Are those crankcase bearings?!

Doh! (ahem) What a cool tuber! An X1?

I vote addictive.