What did you do to or for or with your Laverda today?

Nice bike Andy, can you make it all the way to Fortress service station or do you top up at Longview before heading west? I agree they seem to like the cooler weather.
Stu
 
psg said:
Nice bike Andy, can you make it all the way to Fortress service station or do you top up at Longview before heading west?
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Hi Stu, I topped up in Longview, as I wasn't certain if the Fortress station was open.  Tons of bikes on 40 through Kananaskis today... I think people are treating each nice day now like it might be the last of the season.

BTW - the photo for my avatar was taken on 40 heading south about 38 yrs ago.
 
The good-ole days. 38 years ago you had that road to yourself, I was over the Highwood early August and it was packed with cyclists, tourists, and bloody Mountain Sheep in the middle of the road eating something on the centre line. Judging from the way your tucked in, and the background I'd say you were east of the winter closure gate on those nice open sweepers heading to Longview, unhindered by traffic and cops in those days.
Stu
 
rpo83 said:
I thought I'd have a go at polishing the cover in situ... if it comes up good it will save me having to remove it.

The battery drill is not the best tool, so I'll go see if i can find any of those old fashioned ones with a cord :)

I bought a cheap supercheap auto kit, and in this pic i have just used the second stage compound and wheel as the cover is in great condition... I've got to say that I'm pretty happy with the result.. it is looking great .. though ive only done the easy big flat areas...

YvuzdGJ.jpg
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Nice work. I need to bit the bullet and do some polishing - but my covers are pretty dull and I'm wondering if anyone can tell me the best prelim to using the buffing wheel and compounds (which I have). Do you start with superfine emery paper? if so, what grade?
 
You can still see some gouges in my points cover, i didn't want to remove too much material, so i bought a drill attachment with a scotch-brite ball with some autosol, it worked really well.

pYnf4ir.jpg
 
Wow! Scotchbrite material! I would have thought it would scour it really badly! I know I've used the finest grade emery I could get, then a couple of grades of polishing/cutting compound for the buffing wheel on the grinder. Finishing off with Paul's elbow grease, of course  :D
 
Piranha Brother 2 said:
Wow! Scotchbrite material! I would have thought it would scour it really badly! I know I've used the finest grade emery I could get, then a couple of grades of polishing/cutting compound for the buffing wheel on the grinder. Finishing off with Paul's elbow grease, of course  :D
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I watched a few youtube videos on alloy polishing, some of the guys were using 320 or 400 wet and dry on an orbital sander then going finer from there... Lots of material taken off!! I only used the scotchbrite on the points cover as there were a few deep gouges, but as you can see it polished up pretty well.

I'm going to buy a bench grinder and polishing kit, as i have a few things that need a good clean, the drill wasn't the best tool, the bearings aren't really designed for much of a side load...
 
I went looking for a power tool that would take a 50mm polishing disc you could use square on, running on air even. Something that included a splatter guard that didnt get polish all over the place. I couldn't find anything suitable. So its fingers an Autosol for me.
 
Guys, I?ve been a serial clan freak ever since I bought my first Laverda and saw those beautiful polished cases. So here goes with my experience.
I use a n electric drill, they are cheap enough to throw away if you stuff the bearings😊 and use the Josco polishing mops available at most tool shops and also use there polishing compound sticks. I have found that the grey compound works well on old grotty alloy and with a bit of effort does remove quite a lot of scratches. Then I use there various compound sticks working down to the white for the fina finish.
Now that you?ve got it all shiny the trick to keeping it shiny is to use a good metal polish, I use Meguiars metal polish or Mother?s alloy polish, both excellent polishe?s in my experience. Now another trick to keeping it looking good is that when you wash your bike , if you have an air compressor the fire it up and blow all the remaining water off your bike taking care to remove any water off the alloy cases. A quick wipe down with a clean microfibres cloth , job done😊👍
Tom
 
chrisk said:
Yep, every six months.
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Blimey, you must be at high risk to get it done that often. I only get the arse camera thing done every couple of years. That's only because my brother got colon cancer so there's a family history.

I don't mind having the video camera shoved up my arse, but it's the bloke with the clapper board and the guy with the megaphone who shouts "Action!" that I reckon is a bit OTT.
 
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