New projects at ArmChairCycles include two new "Italian Jobs." A '70 Leggero and another '71 Rapido. Both were found locally and in running condition. Will post picture updates soon. The Leggero is completely original with plenty of 42 year old patina.
OCT 2015. Stripped everything off that we absolutely didn't need. Lights, ECU, switch, battery and box....added number plates. Left the powder coated frame completely stock so I can put everything back if I want to.
Yes, It's not stock. This Rapido is running great and turned out just the way I wanted it. It has transformed over the last couple months but we're happy with how it turned out. What's next? Ignition switch mounted in the headlight and we're looking for the right cafe tail section. No rush. What we really need is another bike!
Also added a functional Light and battery. The number plate just didn't look right to me.
How often do you find a new (NOS) 43 year old seat? Those are NOS shocks as well. These cost more than the whole bike, but worth it. We have a very nice set of used shocks, but couldn't pass these up.
Haven't updated in a while, but we've done quite a bit. Had to ditch the hard struts. They looked cool but rode terrible!
Original Ignition System. The ignition system was orking but why take the chance. Check it out below.
Too bad we have to cover ti up!
Of course we tested everything. All works perfectly!
Here's where we are. Have a NOS Seat ordered and we're fine tuning the carb and ignition system. Yes, I know that's not a stock Rapido headlight or bracket, nor is the rear fender stock. I just like the way it looks.
We'll post detailed pics as soon as it makes it's first road test. The headlight bucket is from a Leggero, with modified aftermarket brackets. We've also got cafe clubman style bars on it now. We'll see if they last?
We picked this up in SEP while riding our Softail thru Big Bear. Good thing we decided to take the long way home!
While this one has many parts that I wish our other Rapido had when we got it, it doesn't have fenders (usable) or a seat pan. This may end up as a bobber or a cafe bike???
Most would use this as a parts bike at best. Probably should mention that it does run.
Check out this "custom" seat!
We sent this one out for powder coating. We painted our last Rapido frame and it did turn out nice, but we're anxious to get this one off the ground. Performance Powder Coating in Apple Valley did a super job!
Since we continue to refinish parts in the shop, we're assembling our pieces in the office.
Notice how we're starting with the parts for a rolling chassis?
Sticking with the black theme. This bike was in really rough shape. Watch us turn it into something special....for minimum $$.
We had no usable upper fork tubes. Sourced these NOS parts from Charleston Custom Cycles.
Have you ever priced new spoked wheels? We replaced 20 bad spokes/nipples for about $35. Media blasting, paint and clearcoat in-house. Yes I did say paint!
Lots of progress this week! Experimenting a bit......decided to use a Leggero headlamp and speedo mounted to the fork tubes. Had an extra one, so we'll see what happens.
Stripped the headlamp down to nothing ando took the headlight bucket to bare metal.
Headlamp bucket in bare metal. The modified rear fender is in the background.
Other progress this week includes the hand controls and electrical box.
Took the cover down to bare metal as well.
Modified rear fender. Go back to the top to see the condition of the original.....had no choice but to re-shape it.
Refurbished hand controls.
Refurbished hand controls. Turned out really nice! I re-used all of the original parts, cleaning and polishing all done in-house.
Decided to polish out the coil.
Taking the stock tank down to bare metal. What a pain in the a--! The original color was red, it was then painted red again, followed by blue, then black. Plus primer in between. I started out with chemical stripper, but with so many layers and so little patience----media blast!
Vintage look? These hard tail struts were on an old iron head bobber. replaced the Sportster ends with those from an old set of Aermacchi shocks.....
Truing the wheels, finally. Now if we can only find new wheel seals.
Let the painting begin! This is the color we're going with. We always paint the underside first.
We always spray undercoating in the tunnel to reduce overall prep time. Same thing with the fenders.
Our modified rear fender.
Been a couple weeks since our last update. Lots of progress!
The fender is bolted in place. Clubman style handlebars and our hard-tail struts. Many problems with the wheels on this one. Laced and re-laced many times to ensure they are as perfect as 40+ year old wheels can be.
Notice the clamp on headlight brackets. Thinking of using a Leggero headlight to house a number plate and the minimal wiring. Wiring will be a switch and a kill switch with everything in place to add a full harness easily if wanted.
Finally some progress on the Rapido. Took a break from this to work on the Leggero.
A few new seals, o-rings, gaskets, paint and polish.
Looking good so far.
Progress on the Rapido. Brake and clutch cables are ran and connected. Rear brake lever and peg mounts shown. All polishing done in-house.
Kick start and shift lever installed. Check out the side cover. That's the same one that we bought the bike with.
Thinking aboout using a Leggero headlight bucket. Also thinking about a stock bucket, or perhaps just number plates. What do you think?
Did I mention that we do our own polishing? Had planned on completing the ignition system with new coils, points and condensor. Some of the parts I ordered were incorrect and the others didn't arrive.....I hate when that happens!
Done! This is just to cool to restore. Rebuilt the complete ignition system and tested every wire. It now starts easily and runs/shifts well. All electrical now works perfectly. Headlight, Taillight, Brake lights and even the horn. We'll post pics soon. It still looks the same, but it is now a completely working 43 yr old survivor. Wish I could say the same about me!
Found this completely original '70 Leggero right around the corner! Haven't decided to restore it or to just make it a bit more reliable with new cables, wiring, etc?
Pretty much all original...including the tires. All it required was a new tube and we were tearing up the streets with 65 cc's of raw power!
You have to start somewhere! Since our latest project is all original, running and 99% there we've decided to correct everything before deciding on a complete restoration. We're starting with the lighting and wiring.
The 43 year old taillight is missing the reflectors, red lens, license lens along with one of clips that holds the red lens and license lens in place.
We found a good used taillight assembly on ebay for all the parts we needed.
A little toothpaste and an old toothbrush and the plastic cleaned up pretty nice.
An easy project! Next we'll replace a broken light switch.
Have already removed the broken switch.
This shot is in the headlight housing before removing the faulty switch. In very good shape. Just one wire nut and a couple of twisted wires to correct. Guess I should mention that a manual with wiring diagrams sure does come in handy!
The rear brake switch was completely shot, but an easy fix.
The wiring is in very good shape....that always helps! Next up, the front switch.
The front brake light switch is also pretty easy. Just requires routing the wires thru the headlight. This was one of the bare wires that needed to be corrected anyway,
No more electrical tape, bare wires or wire nuts!
This linkage is not pictured in the manual but may be from a later model. It was also wore out.
Shot of the manual showing the correct part.
The new part.
The finished product. Next, on to the shifter pawl and spring.
Another easy fix. The spring was a little worn and one of the pawls was 1/6 in. shorter than it was suppose to be.
Replacing the worn original cables on our Leggero with NOS parts.
Front brake, throttle (shown) and clutch cable had seen better days.
Will take the time to clean things up a bit. The levers, and hand-control hardware responds very well to a fine wire wheel and buffer using various compounds resulting in a nice shine and no surface rust.