The inspiration that led to a dream coming true started in 2010 with a rather capable motorcycle undergoing a brilliant makeover. All good things come to an end, but leaving room something better to take shape.
Incase you haven't read about the beginning, you can read about it here.
Turning point - 2012 to 2014
These were the two years that saw plenty of riding, learning, contemplating, meeting & associating with interesting people and a few brands. Somewhere at the back of my head there was a recurring thought, a memory, a nagging feeling of something left incomplete.
Sometimes you meet the right people at the right time which leads to a change in the way you think & go about doing things. Motorcycle Travellers Meet led to the meeting of another like minded fellow* who had the same inspiration & dream. By this time I had already picked up another motorcycle that was already slotted as a project in my head. All the project needed was a push in the right direction.
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| The Project |
A second hand, barely run Hero Impulse was the project in mind. What it lacked in performance, it pretty much made up in agility & was the perfect replacement for UniCross & the dream that began with it.
Well, it was almost the perfect replacement for UniCross. It needed a hard push to get out there & perform. At that point of time it did not matter, the project sketch had already been laid out & the new friend had similar ideas, so putting two minds together was the push in the right direction.
Turning the Page - September 2014
You need a technically sound mind to do the actual math with any kind of mod or custom job when it comes to motorcycles. All it takes is one wrong calculation to throw the project off track and only burn holes in your pockets. Thankfully, my friend (Adi) was technically sound and all he needed was to find a good deal on his project bike. A couple of months of patiently searching later, another second hand Hero Impulse was found & that set the wheels in motion. By then Adi already had everything he needed including the donor motorcycle, tools & access to a garage with the additional tools he needed.
Patience is a virtue not everyone has and while all the discussions before the project begun had clearly outlined the need for immense patience, I was running short on it. It was the pure excitement of the outcome that had the kid in me jumping around. There is always a little bit of trial & error before things settle in place & this obvious fact was starting to show its face.
The Excel sheets & +75
Adi had a rather meticulous set of excel sheets that he had created with all his research on this build. Right from figuring out the electrical to the final drive ratio, his excel sheet had everything needed to make sure this build went off well. Adi's bike was built in no time as a result of all his research, though 2 weeks does seem long, but he was working this along side his hectic job. Then came the testing times of Adi wanting to get it right before working out a second build. The first off road test had him grinning from ear to ear & he already had a name in mind for the bike "+75", being the additional in displacement from the original engine.
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| The engine rebuild |
A couple of weeks of trial & error later he had figured out most of the corrections needed & only then was he ready to encourage the build of a second motorcycle.
By now, there was another test that had me scratching my head & wondering if I would find that one donor engine. It did take a few weeks of hunting to find the right one & a few weeks after to find all the right components to rebuild a scrapped engine.
So by the time, everything was ready to go on the build, the year had almost come to an end. But the light at the end of the tunnel was all about just making it out to the other side.
Mid December 2014 - Quick 6 Hours
Its all a matter of planning & a day was chosen to start the build. more like an evening was chosen. Post a quick dinner, Adi & I began stripping my bike down with his checklist of what was needed & what wasn't. A little bit of struggle here & there, some rethinking and restarting later, the new engine was in.
Of course there were small niggles that we faced, but the excitement of it all, didn't seem to be a bother. It took a total of 6 hours from start to finish to get the engine, drive train & electricals in place. There was only one worry now since the engine had never been run after the rebuild. Since we did not have an exhaust ready yet, we had to make do with a very brief & extremely noisy start to put those engine not running fears to rest.
About 90% of the work was done, all that was pending was an exhaust & overall check of the engine running, which needed to be done by a mechanic. It was another day, by the time we towed the bike to a garage. I had my fingers & toes crossed, but there just had to be another delay, my fault really. A mismatched Clutch Bell & Counter gear, saw me frowning & the bike limping back home at the end of another very long day.
Lesson Learnt: Engine rebuilds are not just about everyone's cup of tea & sometimes its best to listen to other people
The grin & the maiden run
All said and done, issues take time to get sorted & after a nail biting & nerve rattling day of waiting on the issue, a happy motorcycle made it way home with me, just in time for two back to back road trips that lay a day ahead.
With any custom build, there are always issues that do crop up from time to time, but none that have not been solved. Of course a year later the motorcycle look very different from when it all started & there have been a range of improvements made.
"Ride, Ride, Ride, thats all I want to eventually end up doing"
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