Modifications made to my new Viva VX200SX!

[TheOtherRide]

Holy cow! I can't believe you got 'em! That's great!

Did you get your mirror, too?

[TeamCheap]

UM yeah I'm thinking those rims need to be sent to me because, uh yep thats why, just because.

Nice.

I almost have my bike back rideable (maybe today) then I'm going to look at the suspension also since I really like what you've been doing to yours.

I'm starting to think again about how it would have been easier/cheaper/better to just find an rolling Honda, no engine and just install a new Lifan engine in it.

[SamM]

I got the new mirror too! It was a shock and completely out of the blue! Pun intended!

The R1 shock seems to be the ticket on this bike. It's the right size. My hat is off to red2003 for pioneering it.

[red2003]

[SamM]

Did anyone notice the Uni-filter in the top of the picture of the rear shock and mount? My new rear 35T sprocket is already mounted to the new blue wheel. The shock mount almost hits the Uni-filter. I still need to cut the small wedges to finish the mount. I may add a couple plates to stiffen it more. This will allow me to drill the correct sized holes and move the mounting bolt up a little more. I hope to work on it again Monday and Tuesday. I have plenty of steel to make the wedges and battery box. My plan is to get it rolling sometime this week or next weekend at the latest.

One more picture for the china bike enthusiasts. The blue wheels are going to look awesome on it. I can't wait to get it back together. The extra tabs on the frame to mount the toolbox and battery box have been removed. The tabs for the airbox have also been removed. I'm looking for a better battery. The battery I had in mind, may put out too many amps. I don't want to burn the stator up.

[shammash55]

wow looks like a good project going. good luck on it.

[AZ200cc]

Wow, I read the entire thread and You are making it one he!! of a project.
Very cool...Can't wait to see it when everything is done.

[SamM]

Thanks guys,
I can't wait to get it done and ride it! I've been messing with it too long.

Hopefully, I'll have more pictures tomorrow. The last day of my long weekend is today. I'm stuck at work until 8pm tonight. I'll be up early and be hard at it tomorrow morning. The agenda for tomorrow is to get the welding done on the shock mount and swingarm, gusset the shock mount, redrill the shock mounting hole, then remove the fork clamps, grease the head bearings, grease the front axle, swap the front disc onto the new wheel, red loc-tite the disc bolts, and install the new wheel onto the frontend.

On a side note: With the new handlebars being higher and after removing the ABS valve the front brakeline is just a bit too short. I may have to buy a new brakeline. First, I'll try to reroute the line. It's coming together slowly but surely!

[TeamCheap]

Stick with it you'll be happy in the end.

Mine is now ridable but still missing side covers and I'd like to get some REAL handlebars that will allow REAL bark busters not the handlebars that have a solid rod in them like mine.

[SamM]

I'm sticking with it but I'm a little slow! Hopefully the quality work will show when I'm done though. In my own defense, the weather is beautiful and I rode half the day away this morning.

A short update: I found spacers for my R1 shock. The spacers were in the XR200R rear link that I just purchased on ebay. The bolts and pins from the link are the same size that I'm looking for. I've been looking through hardware store bids and at Lowes to no avail. Just by chance, I saw the link and thought, nah, those won't fit! I tore them down and voila, they fit! Just like the KTM brakeline I had. Still can't believe it! I'll be swapping the bolts and pins over to the R1 shock. The bottom pin on the R1 shock will need to be drilled out, so the Viva bolt will work. This shock swap is almost a bolt on. The pins will need to be cut to be used as spacers and then painted. My plan is to offset the R1 shock over to the leftside. This will allow the bottom clicker to clear the Viva link. I've also been looking for new metric bolts and that has slowed the work down some.

Below is a picture of my booger welds on the top shock mount. I'm adding (tack welding) new steel washers to the mount and raising the bolt just a little more. The hole is the wrong size and the R1 shock needs to move up and back just a bit more for extra frame clearance.

[/list]

[katoranger]

Originally Posted by AZ200cc

Wow, I read the entire thread and You are making it one he!! of a project.
Very cool...Can't wait to see it when everything is done.

Ditto. Thanks for doing all the hard work so the rest of us can copy it.

Allen

[SamM]

Thanks! If I can help, just let me know! I wanted to get a lot more done today. Other matters are always more pressing. I had a birthday party to attend this afternoon and I got the insurance and plates transfered this morning. I'm legal now! After the party I had to cut grass. Joy!

Did manage to get a few things done. The new front aluminum wheel is on the bike. I had one issue with that install. One of the threads in the new hub was already stripped out. When I tried to install the bolt it slid right into the hub. I'm going to try to get a Helicoil installed in it. I don't understand why they would send a hub out like this. You could tell it was stripped. Bummer! I measured and got the spacers for the rear shock ready to cut tomorrow. The rest of the supplies I needed were also purchased today. It should be a roller tomorrow! Hopefully! I'm not counting any chickens yet. Sunday is a busy day for me!

[red2003]

So you are putting the stock Viva shock linkage back on there Sam?? Also, I don't think you'll be able to resize the bottom mount of the R1 shock to accept the Viva bolt, that is a needle bearing in there.

[SamM]

Yes, and it's not as easy as I once thought. The needle bearings aren't the problem though. The real problem is that the R1 pin is made of tool steel. I chewed up 2 drill bits on it yesterday trying to resize it for the Viva bolt and where do you find metric drill bit. Nobody here has anything metric. I'm also having some spacer issues. My spacers OD is the same size as the shock pin. They just walk the pin back and forth. This causes a clearance issue with the stock linkage. I never thought of that. Bummer!

I want to ride. I'm legal. I may just weld the new mount to the swingarm and use the original shock until I can find the proper spacers. I can take the pin to a machine shop and have it drilled there.

[red2003]

Before I made my own linkage, i just welded 10 mm washers on the outside ot the stock linkage and used a hardened 10 mm bolt. You'll need some large diameter fiber or nylon washers to keep the lower shock mount centered as the needle bearing pin is free to float, like you stated. I picked up some large nylon bushings the OD of the shock body and used those as my spacers. This way the pin can still float back and forth, and if the shock rubs the washer it wont wear away the aluminum shock body.