Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Companies or individuals that provide parts/accessories/services for our CBXs.

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CopperCollar
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by CopperCollar »

As some may know it seems waif CBX's tend to find a home with me. I currently am working on one and have three more to go. Each one true street urchins looking for some TLC.

The current one is the 80. I pulled the carbs and put them up. Well it was time to get those done while I waited for other unobtanium parts to turn up from Pandora.

These carbs look like they had been in a fire and coated with fire retardant that corroded the aluminum. Aside from busted idle screw boss, broken float posts, 5 of six idle mixture screws busted off, needles from who knows where and other maladies I chose to chuck them into a parts bin. I did get a set of VB62 carbs from Louis for a fair deal. They were kinda like getting a basket case but Louis told me that when he offered them to me.

Anyway; I spent a week in Nils shop and learned a great deal about vapor blasting and some proprietary insider secrets in regards to getting the most out of the process. I saw some phenomenal nasty stuff cleaned up by Nils.

Once I got home I looked at the VB62 carb bodies and sent them to Nils. What I got back was awesome, enough that I am considering building them as a backup set.

Before:
7264
7261

After:
7262

Mike
When given the choice between being right or being kind; choose kindness. W. Dyer

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NobleHops
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by NobleHops »

Hey everyone,

Haven't posted much recently, have been up to my ears in some exciting stuff this summer.

The vapor blast work has been great - we got a little slower in May when everyone put down their wrenches and pulled on their helmets. But even so, we are steady this year where we were very quiet in years past during these months, and that is WITHOUT me doing much in the way of marketing because...

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Holy smokes we bought a building. Yes we did :-) That's 7,500 square feet of industrial-zoned goodness, in three suites. RestoCycle is in the last suite to the far left. We rent the other two.

This is about 5 miles from the old location, which made moving a little bit easier than it could have been, but even so, it's been a busy 6 weeks while we shifted all of our gear and our operations over to the new space, and renovated it as we did.

The building was solid but tired.

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In the past 6 weeks we've painted it, installed new floors, a ton of electrical service upgrades, fixed the swamp coolers and some leaky plumbing, replaced the air conditioners, installed LED lighting, pallet racks, caught-up on 15 years of neglected landscaping, and so much more.

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(CopperCollar!)
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We took the opportunity to upgrade our compressor as we did, which allowed us to limit our downtime on the vapor blast work to just a few days. Once the new compressor was installed, we picked up the vapor blaster, slung it in a trailer, and 3 days later everything was setup and operational, good to go.

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The new space is great. We have roughly double the square footage, plus a back yard and three grade-level roll-up doors. We have a kitchen and break room, a deck off the back door that is as good for eating lunch and drinking beer (at the end of the day!) as it is for washing a bike. With the addition of the pallet rack and a forklift we can now store our parts and motorcycles and work on them without a 5-step choreography having to take place first. We're also very close to several of our main collaborators, and that has already made that work easier and better.


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So there's your update from RestoCycle. We have several bikes on the lifts again, more projects queued up, and more we plan to do as we settle into our new digs, but things are great.

Thank you as always for your support of our business.

Nils Menten
RestoCycle LLC

New Address!

RestoCycle LLC
3476 S Dodge Blvd., Suite 3
Tucson, AZ 85713
(520) 308-3705
http://www.restocycle.com
http://www.ikonshocksusa.com
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

steve murdoch icoa #5322
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

Fantastic, Nils!
Biness be good!

Mike does look like a pirate. Seems appropriate for the builder of The Black Pearl. haha.

Larry Zimmer
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by Larry Zimmer »

GOOOOD for you, Nils. Nothing beats doing business/working at what you enjoy. Shop, et al looks great. Carry on :P
Larry Zimmer
cbxlarry@sbcglobal.net

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NobleHops
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by NobleHops »

Thank you lads, very much. It's been a wild ride so far and I think the best is yet to come :-).
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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Mike Nixon
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by Mike Nixon »

Nils, sorry for the late response. I am amazed, envious and also happy for you. Glad to know and work with you!

sed213rr@gmail.com
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by sed213rr@gmail.com »

Do you know of a proper engine paint for the 1979 CBx ?

I've owned mine since new.

Thanks,

Pete

EMS
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by EMS »

There are quite a few. I have been using Evinrude Engine Silver, which is a high temp marine engine paint and a great match of the Honda color.

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NobleHops
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by NobleHops »

UPDATE JANUARY 2021

RestoCycle is now closed. Thank you all for the support, it was a fantastic 6 year adventure.

Nils Menten
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

Larry Zimmer
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Re: Vapor Blasting of Aluminum Parts

Post by Larry Zimmer »

Sad day for many of us! Best of everything for the road ahead, Nils. We certainly appreciate having you 'riding' with us!
Larry Zimmer
cbxlarry@sbcglobal.net

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