The Helios Project (Aprilia RS 125 Rotax 122 Biaggi Race Replica)

[Calum]

@oldman I look forward to it

[oldman]

@calum hope you are wearing cotton gloves

[Calum]

Got the crank back this week. Boys over at PJME sorted it out, unfortunately got delayed with the snow but it's all done now.

Managed to get some heel plates to finish off my rear sets.

Lucky me, managed to find a genuine, new in box, Aprilia RS 125 Seat in Spain.

To be honest with you, with postage, was actually cheaper than used ones in the UK and new condition.

I am wanting to build the engine, so that I can roll the chassis. Unfortunately PJME are out of Clutches, so I have to wait till the middle of next month before they get new ones in!!!

As the bike stands, I got a clutch perch, genuine handlebar grips, ordered some aluminium levers and a quick action throttle for it. Also managed to find a genuine Aprilia Lap Timer for this bike as well. Plugs straight into the loom...bargain!

[Irongamer727]

@calum what did they do with the crank? What did it cost?

[Calum]

@irongamer727 Oh, I had it rebuilt lol. The connecting rod snapped on the last one. It was £110 I think. My local engineers do it for £30, but they said they don't have the tools appropriate for Rotax engines. That included the connecting rod, two thrust washers, big end bearing and little end bearing plus labour.

[Irongamer727]

@calum so special tools are always required?

[terry.tz]

@calum this is going to be a very nice rs

[Calum]

@irongamer727 To rebuild the crank? In their case their press simply wouldn't do the job. But yes, you need to accurately re-balance the crank.

@terry-tz With a bit of luck, I hope to have it done for the summer so I can take some photos of it outside in the sunshine!

[terry.tz]

@Calum really your thinking about the photo's that's not what would be on my mind, to be honest don't think I would get off it long enough to take a photo lol

[Calum]

@terry-tz I guess that's where you and I just differ. It's all about the build, I'm not that interested in actually riding it to be quite honest with you.

[Calum]

Slowly but surely.

Went to fit the freshly rebuilt selector drum last weekend, ran out of Titanium bolts to fasten the whole engine.

So will order some more but for now I'll just do what I can.

PJME still don't have a clutch in for this engine either, told it won't be until at least the end of next month which is a real shame. But again I will just have to do what I can. Should be able to fit the clutch with the engine in the frame so won't be the end of the world.

And I've gone ahead and done the Titanium Stud Conversion for this engine as well.

[oldman]

That looks good Calum, like the engine case finish, keep the pics coming

[NINJA]

@calum Your pics are not showing up for me,

All I see is a no access symbol, is it my settings which need changing or summat else???

[Calum]

@ninja No mate, I hosting images with Google just seems to be aright pain in the arse!

[Calum]

@ninja How about now bud.

I do try to view them in private browser mode before posting them.

I will finish off this project using Google to host the images, on my next project I'll revert to Imgur.

It's after the PhotoBucket Scenario, I've lost countless images, and the ones I do have are lossy.

So I've uploaded them to Google at maximum resolution, but they're not great for hosting images...apparently.

[declan]

@calum they were working for me but now I can’t see anything at all

[NINJA]

@calum Yep loadsa mega shiny bits to view thanks, the build looks awesome and will surely be a mint bike once finished. :clapping_hands:

[Calum]

@ninja I've got some awesome plans for this.

Ducati 996...and I shall say no more

Also been digging through Aprilia's Grand Prix catalogue for this bike. Ordered a piece to merely test the water. I don't believe you can actually get their Sports Production gear for these bikes anymore, hopefully I am proven wrong.

[NINJA]

@calum That sounds expensive, but for 'uniqueness' it would surely add extra to the build for-sure.

[Calum]

@ninja The SP parts are expensive, the ducati parts, well it's more custom that expensive. It was something fitted to most ducatis and parts can be found cheap. But I won't know until I investigate further. Needless to say, it's a pretty sweet way to upgrade these bikes.