KTT 305: The Dry Build – Part 2 - Completion

There were still a few little jobs before the dry build was complete.

The head-steady stays (FK75 and FK75/2) were missing and the pair were fabricated from ½” diameter steel tube.

An original (from one of the other bikes) is in the upper part of the picture and a part-formed new one in the middle. In the lower part of the picture is the press tool that I made some time ago for forming the ends of mudguard stays and has come in handy more than once.

The steering damper was not yet connected to the petrol tank and a slotted connecting piece was made.

The bike, having been raced in vintage club events some 40 years ago, had long since lost its number plate and a new one was marked out using my standard cardboard template,

cut out with a disk cutter, bent to shape

and fixed to the rear mudguard.

2x long ¼” BSCY adjusters were made for the rear wheel

Up to now, there had been no means of attaching the filler cap to the petrol tank. The reason for this was that when I had the tanks made in India (10+ years ago - see here) I had no idea what filler caps I would be using. I have one original KTT cap but that belongs to KTT 55. I managed to get another one from Pete’s Bikes and that is now fitted to KTT 305.

The fitting to the tank is a bit fiddly to make.

Attached with silver solder,

it worked out well.

I found that the “swivel joint for the cam lever” – W-26 on the front brake that I had made was fine when installed

but was not looking so good after a few pulls on the front brake lever.

The reason is clear: the cable does not run parallel to the fork tubes because of the offset of the cam lever and so pulls the swivel joint to one side. Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing?

Unfortunately, I had already made 3 of these – one for each of the project bikes so these went in the scrap bin and 3 new ones were made, this time with a small flange to prevent it being pulled over.

The last detail to attend to was the bum pad; I bought a number of these some years ago – beautifully made, stitched leather etc and I have fitted these to a number of my bikes. However, these are too long to fit over the loop of the ½” diameter steel tubing mudguard stay and would spoil the flowing lines if fitted.

I therefore asked Mark Barker if he would make a shorter one – which he has and I have just fitted to the bike. As with the tool boxes, it is superbly crafted and completes the dry build.