Lovingly restoring the worst bike I've ever ridden.

[Mullet5]

Two days in a row of working on the Minsk!

Now I feel like I have made some real progress. Actually putting things together, starting to work on something that looks like a motorcycle, not just endlessly tinkering with loose parts.

I did a lot today that I forgot to take pictures of... I have never done a build thread before so taking pictures of every detail still isn't second nature to me.
The front fender was cracked, so I hammered it out and welded it up, then ground it all down and painted it. It's passable, but not great.

Cleaned up the rear shocks and springs with some steel wool, made new carburetor gaskets and mounted the carb, and put on the kick starter and shifter. Then I remembered I should take pictures.

I finally figured out where this black plastic fender piece goes


Cleaned and painted the air box, then Aivars and I spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how the hell it fits.


Got the forks painted and installed. They need to go up a little further, but I'm having trouble with that.


Then I figured out where that strange black plastic bucket goes. Not sure if it's just supposed to be a storage spot or a battery holder...


Front fender mounted. Note Rider Adjustable Fender Height (RAFH). You can set it all the way down for flat-out assaults on your favorite open highway (at speeds approaching 43mph, you are going to want to minimize lift.), or set it all the way up to allow for full travel when you plan on catching some big air.


Rear fender installed, and front fender mudflap installed. That front mudflap is sweet, it says "MHNCK" on it


Figured out where another plastic bit goes. See that thing on top of the rear fender? I don't know what it does, but that is where it goes. Also got the front wheel mounted, but its wrong, I'll revisit that tomorrow.

[fishkens]

[RedRocket]

Just found this thread.

You are a glutton for punishment!

Thanks for sharing!

[YZman]

Originally Posted by Mullet5

I have a long illustrious history of doing stupid things....

NOW the garage was ruined. It was more than an inch thick in places. Even though I had closed all the drawers in my tool boxes and closed the doors of the chemical cabinet, they were both full. It occurred to me that it would probably be easier to just move to a new house and forget this ever happened....

Holly shit thats good stuff

[svejkovat]

I just spent an ENTIRE weekend (well, sunday's still up for waste yet) making two chairs out of pruned maple branches from my back two acres. This, from what looked at first to be a one hour job with a sawzall, hammer, and nails.

Of course, along the way I had to find JUST the right curves and bends in the parts, mortise/tenon the joints, use deck screws, and otherwise totally fuck with the plans I'd swiped off the net. I was finally surveying the damage to the shop and my weekend when I stopped in here and caught up with your thread.

Thank you. Thank you! Some bad ideas certainly do end up worth the adventure. You are an inspiration.... of sorts.

[Mullet5]

Yesterday Larisa and I went out for some rain riding, I took Aivars' KLR, and she took the KE100. When we got back to the house, I wanted to try to get the front fork mounted properly, as it was just kind of mocked up for the pictures last week. First I realized that I had no ball bearings for it. I had assumed that they were in the big heap of parts somewhere, but no. I am guessing that when they disassembled the bike, the ball bearings went rolling across the shop floor, and the mechanic just sort of shrugged and kept packing.

So I need new ball bearings. No big deal. I called Derek at Motolab to see if he could help me find the right ball bearings. For some reason he is always willing to help me out, even if I'm working on a Minsk. As I am talking to Derek on the phone I am removing the forks, and the bottom race just sort of falls out. But whats more, when it falls out I notice that it has a bit of aluminum soda can wrapped around it to shim it in place...



When I put the race back in without its custom soda can shim, I am able to move it back and forth about 1/4", and probably 1/32" left to right. Take the race out and look at the bottom of the head tube and you can see that it is an oval.

Great. I briefly consider not telling Derek about my little discovery, because I know he is going to make me fix it correctly, which means real work. I tell him about it, then start asking him if various idiotic ideas I have will work, and he patiently explains why each one of my ideas is terrible. "Can I just weld the race in place??" and "Can I just cut the head tube off and weld another one in its place?" are two of my brighter suggestions, but he is not amused by either. So I put wheels on the bike, roll it into the Sprinter, and bring it to Derek. He looks slightly horrified when he sees it in person.

So Derek has seen it, and now he is figuring out what will be the simplest way to fix it, but it sounds like no matter what I am going to have to strip it down to a bare frame again.

In the mean time, here's some pictures of it when I wheeled it out of my garage

[DC,Chad]

great thread

i cant work out if your just plain crazy or into self recrimination

but either way you and that bike have been on more than one type of journey now and the memories will live with you forever

[Dahoum]

Originally Posted by svejkovat

So I open the link to "top gear" today and there she is. The instrumental 'Jessica' woven into the opening theme... of a wonderfully witty British show highlighting an adventure in Vietnam. Class act. There's hope for us yet.

I thank you sir - this Brit had never bothered to find out that the theme tune was not an original score.

Now enjoying the Allman Brothers Greatest Hits

And keep watching Top Gear - what they do to caravans is a thing of beauty

And thank you Mullet5 - your thread was linked via UKGSER by one of our tossers.

[dustrider46]

those Minsks are Great arn't they!!!I've had a few Voskhods in my time ,a Jupiter 350 twin and a Planeta 350 "Sport Single" They are pretty easy to work on but I found parts to be a real problem ,even with contacts in the former ussr some bits were impossible to get.I love this thread though ,takes me back to being 17 years old when the Voskhod 175cc was my only bike!!!!

[MattW]

This a great read! - my other half has just had to come and see what's making me blurt out laughing every couple of minutes

[duncan disorderly]

Very good thread

[maverick]

Subscribed - great thread

[bmwhacker]

Originally Posted by Mullet5

..

wow, snow in the Bay Area.

[dilandau]

correct me if I am confused- but don't you have 2 more of these bikes still packed up? Are you seriously going to rebuild them all???

after this you should open your own specialty "Minsk Repair and Rebuild" shop.

PS: I once put a whole motorcycle in the back of my Rabbit Convertible. fit, but there was some oil spillage...

[Mullet5]

Originally Posted by dilandau

correct me if I am confused- but don't you have 2 more of these bikes still packed up? Are you seriously going to rebuild them all???

after this you should open your own specialty "Minsk Repair and Rebuild" shop.

PS: I once put a whole motorcycle in the back of my Rabbit Convertible. fit, but there was some oil spillage...

Yeah, none down, two to go. Thanks for reminding me.

If by some unfortunate turn of events someone else in north america has a Minsk I would be happy to work on it! I don't know why I feel this way, but I do.

Please tell me you have pictures of a motorcycle in the back of a Rabbit. I just spent the whole day working on my Rabbit, and it still sucks.