| The Yamaha AT1MX Replica Project |
| Before... Challenged both cosmetically and in the suspension Department, this AT1 was a "put together" Dave Rymal had this bike sitting around. It is actually an AT1MX engine in an Enduro frame. The good news was it already had a magneto ignition and the right gear box ratios. There would be challenges to set the bike up for the Ahrma National in 3 weeks! |
| Late Sept 2008 Quickie Project |
| Dave wrote "Hannah-Rymal Rat Bike" as a sort of release of responsibility for this project. The Numbers on the case show it to be a 1971 AT1MX engine. |
| One of the situations you face when building an AT1 racer is, air filter clearance. Just under 3 inches is all you have to work with. Then there is the matter of the 18 inch front wheel. 18 inches ? I've seen pizzas bigger than that! It's like having two back wheels on the same bike. The thing that is most scary about this fire breathing trail bike racer are it's 30mm forks. |
| From all accounts these forks have dampening that is , shall we say, ABSENT? I'm going to have to make them work for the last two races of the season. After that I'll do some kind of conversion. The front wheel can't wait it will be 21inch first thing. |
| With a mere 30mm to work with, these forks just scream FLEX at you. So now what? Slight rust on sanctions,more work. |
| Goofy little stuff to deal with everywhere. Headlight ears, plastic clutch lever, bent bars, threadbare seat, return spring broken on foot pegs, worn out drive chain and sprockets, air filter missing, the back fender is worn through at it's outer edge from the over sized rear tires rubbing it raw underneath all these years. |
| Our Corgi, Happy, spends so much time with me, out in the garage, that when I asked him what the AT1 needed, and was there anything I could use laying around, he sniffed out this pair of used Works Performance shocks 13.5 inches eye to eye, and this used Yamaha 21inch CT1 front wheel. Good Boy, Happy! Scooby snacks all around! |
| Too bad Happy can't work a computer, he could have placed my bid on e-Bay for this AT1 fork brace keep your fingers crossed for me! The seat comes off, and goes down to my upholstery guy Efren Mena at La Guadaluana Upholstery in Napa Calif. 707-259-0710. He says somewhere between 50-65 bucks depending on how much he has to build up the old foam. He is going to use heavy duty naugahyde normally used for farm tractor seats. This makes the seat the first part of the bike to be removed. |
| After the seat, next I pull both wheels. While I have them off, it's time to service the brakes. If you've ever restored a "Barn find" to service you probably know this stuff. If not, the following is the absolute least that should be done, for your safety and the safety of your fellow competitors. Without servicing the brakes on a bike that has been mothballed for a while, you run the risk of 1. them not opperating and stopping you. or 2.Them staying on when you use them. The reason for this is the brake cam actuator shaft, if rusty can stick in the brake backing plate. While we're in here, we will scotchbrite the shaft and the passage in the backing plate where the shaft goes through. Clean and inspect the plate,shoes,springs plus scuff shoes and brake drums with sand paper. A light coat of grease on shaft upon reassembly. |