ahell Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 I've acquired an Aprilia Climber. It's a 280, a 1993 model. Tommy Ahvala won the world title in 1992. So this is the replica, celebrating the Italian manufacturer's world championship victory. I fitted a Paioli RSD fork while waiting for the original Foral to be restored. It looks really nice. I spent a lot of time on the Foral fork. Bertrand Quartier had warned me about the rather poor quality of this component. Indeed, it's not great. Furthermore, a previous disassembly by someone less experienced had damaged the hydraulic system. I repaired it to get it working again. The fork was binding badly. The friction bushings were completely worn out, and the oil... well, it was like crude oil. I found a complete new internal assembly for the hydraulic arm. If my repairs restored functionality, the whole assembly would have been deformed. The poor guidance would have quickly damaged the untreated shaft. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahell Posted Tuesday at 12:32 PM Author Share Posted Tuesday at 12:32 PM The fork is finally finished! I replaced the hydraulic part, which was completely wrecked. You can see the heat marks I made trying to reshape it... but the shaft and its guide bushing were shot. So, I found a suitable part from an earlier model year. There are a few differences, including the end stop, but that's actually a good thing because this assembly avoids a worn-out foam buffer in favor of a more durable rubber one. I adapted a brake hose guide. It's clean and doesn't rub anywhere. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahell Posted Wednesday at 10:53 AM Author Share Posted Wednesday at 10:53 AM I remade the end piece for the swingarm pivot. It was fitted with an M14x1.50 thread and glued loctite 638. The original one was cracked. I had no experience with threading and tapping on a lathe. The result is perfect. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahell Posted Wednesday at 05:30 PM Author Share Posted Wednesday at 05:30 PM (edited) I treated myself by buying all the hydraulic clutch control parts for the '94 model (the last Climber). Complete cover, hose, master cylinder. A modification that was on Tommy's official bike in '93. I was missing the gasket. That's been taken care of with a bit of gasket paper and 15 minutes! Edited Wednesday at 05:36 PM by ahell 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahell Posted yesterday at 08:13 AM Author Share Posted yesterday at 08:13 AM (edited) Edited 23 hours ago by ahell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahell Posted 1 hour ago Author Share Posted 1 hour ago The hydraulic clutch looks very nice and soft. New ignition cover and cables heat protector. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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