1970 Rupp roadster matching numbers

markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
this is kinda cool, recently I traded another member bike for bike and got this 1970 Roadster. it is 98% original only thing incorrect was rear brake cable, throttle cable, and the grips/peg covers were either missing or severely trashed.

Of course about 2 weeks before we did this I had a perfect original brake cable with brake switch I sold and threw the last set of Rupp peg covers I had on another bike :doah:

I started to dissasemble, clean and go through what needs fixed etc..



Rest of it is all here in the box:


Dan also gave me the original packet that came with the bike when it was bought. I have had one of these packets before but I bought it off ebay, this one IS the one that came with this bike and the cool thing that I just noticed was the inspection card that was filled out and dated, with matching numbers to the frame and motor :thumbsup:



The most interesting thing for me is the date, because this frame has the extra neck support. My theory has always been that they found that the support was either not needed or just a way to save a little time/money on the assy line if they left them off (probably the latter more likely). and did away with them early on. this bike is built mid year and its still there.

It may also be that certain things were built early on in advance and then pulled form stock as needed so maybe it would pertain to maybe color of the frame. Kinda like the the spoke count debate pertaining to the '71 black widow bikes.

fate of this bike is unknown right now I have a few minor issues to repair but under the dirt and gunk it had on it its turning out to be a really nice survivor, of course once a bike gets into my garage, its survival chances are not good :laugh:
 
markus

markus

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
Still don't know if I will actually build this bike so I wont start a thread on it, but I'm really impressed with how its cleaning up!!!!

Most of the chrome is near perfect, I soaked most of this stuff for a few hours and then a little steel wool cleaning and everything came out really nice! the shocks and wheel bands for some reason did not fare so well, there is peeling and pitting on them unfortunately, but I will get them shined up as best I can.

drying in the sun:

Some issues with the bike were that someone had broken the mount from the tank, and then tried to fix it with JB weld. Not to mention that the tank itself felt an easy 3 LBS heavier than it should because of the molasses/carmel/rust mess inside. so for the last few days I had filled it with rust911 (I use it instead of evaporust) it broke alot of it free, but it was still pretty messy inside. Yesterday I used some POR15 prep clean in it along with some drywall screws and shock it around here and there throughout the day. its pretty dam close to spotless inside now:thumbsup:

I also cleaned off all the JB weld and used the pre-existing holes that are drilled in the mount to weld it back to the tank, I shot quick bead on the front edge as well:

I filled it with some of my parts washer solution and am leak testing so far its been about 2 hours and its dry so hopefully its all good to use:thumbsup:

This was another interesting thing I have never run across, I think the pipe got jammed or something through the years, it managed to I guess put pressure on the screw in header/outlet and it literally ate the threads right out of the block:doah: Luckily the threaded holes are still good, so i am just going to clean up that area and install a blackwidow style header/outlet that I had in my stash. it does fit tight where it slips in the original pipe though so I gotta do a little thinning on both pieces I think.



oh yea, I never took a pic of it together, but here's what it looked like when Dan picked it up off Craigslist:

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top