Back to the Future

So I'm way behind in posting updates on the ciao...

1. Disc Brake failure...again. I was running the bike up and down the alley tuning the carb. On my last trip of the night I let her rip, but when i went to hit the brake...POP! The aluminum tab I was using on the forks broke off, leaving the caliper to hang and ping back and forth on the snowflakes. Thankfully I was wearing decent shoes and had a bit of room to stop myself. I meant to add a bridge and knew the tab was not a complete fix...but I pushed it too hard.

2. So once again I had to David Bowie the disc brakes (cha cha changes). Some stock alluminum, some dremel work, and Nate Bandit's allumium welder and whalla! We have a better braced, better placed, and more ugly disc brake setup.















3. Ghost Ride! Was able to take the ciao for it's first rally debut.

Loaded up the bikes in the volvo and headed for Grand Rapids. The rally was awesome! It felt like more of a vacation than a rally. Sara Mier was an AMAZING!!! host. For some reason everywhere we were housed that weekend was a pool and a hot tub. The rally was super chill and I had a great time getting to know some more TBS members as well as chill with Ghost Riders, Guns and a few gen forum favs. While my rigid ciao didn't like the absolutely terrible Michigan roads, (it was like riding a bucking bronco)...


...the ciao wasn't running as fast as it should. I need to continue on working on the carb tuning. PHBG is new to me. I also noticed that it shreds belts. I'll need to keep some spares or drop some cash on something super strong. The belt's also not variating out the entire way so I'll have to tinker with the weights. Either way I was loving it. I'm not as comfortable with fast bikes yet, so I'll blast to comfort for now.

Disc Brakes pt. 2: The Final Frontier

The final stages of my disc brake setup...I meant to take photos of the process, however for some reason I forgot. So this is what I have.

I used a hobbit variator plate to work as a brace. I had to use a dremel to widen the hole in the middle of the plate so that it would fit around the inner axel.











I then drilled 3 holes in the plate and 3 holes in the opposite side of the wheel. Then I bolted it all together nice and snug. Thus holds the disc on the wheel.

NOTE: Drilling holes in the super duper hard metal that makes up the hobbit variator plate was VERY unsuccessful at first. We went through many drill bits; crappy bargain supply ones first and then nicer ones. I had to go out and buy another set.






Thankfully mounting the calipers wasn't too difficult. There was an extra set off of a chinese scooter in a box that Ryan Nichols had in the garage that fit nicely. In order to get it to mount I had to turn the forks inside out for spacial reasons. Then thankfully there were already tabs on the forks that lined right up with the calipers. MOPED LUCK! One bolt, a spacer and a few washers later and it was ready to go...After going through the whole brake fluid bleeding process.








Things are coming along nicely.