C72 from France

[Tim Allman]

That is very true. :-) Another member here, GMan, did a great write-up on rebuilding the front and rear shocks and listed seals etc that are required. This may help you.

I miss his contributions. Here's a link to his Flicker site. You'll have to scroll down to find pictures of rebuilding shock absorbers but you'll enjoy the trip.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63154743@N00/page1

[sky.fred]

I received my parts and it's back under the cat's control.



I had ordered breaker contact and discovered that there were two assemblies: Daiichi and Nippon Denson.
I never win the lottery, and this time I got the wrong contact.....and they are not compatible

I also worked up a sweat fitting the new tires. I don't mind fitting enduro tires, but the C72's small wheel size means there's not much elasticity to fit them, and it's not very easy.

[sky.fred]

As I reassembled, I discovered that my bike is a bitza.
C72 engine and frame, C71 swingarm, seat and fork.
The rest seems to be a mixture of parts from different origins, which doesn't make reassembly any easier, because although many parts look the same, they're not always identical.

[sky.fred]

it's coming along, now I'll take care of the electrical wiring....

[sky.fred]

I've just finished reassembling the electrical circuit. It took me a while, as I had to identify a number of wires whose colors were no longer the original ones.
I checked all the connections and put in a new ground braid.
I also took the opportunity to fit an electronically assisted ignition. The Contact point breaker are retained, but without condenser, as they only act as triggers, and the high current no longer passes through them.
I installé the same ignition to my 1000 GL. The advantage is that there's no more wear on the contacts, which means that the settings hardly ever go out of adjustment, and the spark is of better quality.

[sky.fred]

The bike is almost finished,
I took the liberty of making a few modifications to the original bike (shocks, mirrors, BTR bolts), but the aim is not to make it a museum piece and I'm still waiting for a few parts, notably the copies of the original exhaust pipe.
It starts and the engine runs well .... but I can't drive it at the moment.
I have to modify the new clutch cable I bought, as the end is too big and doesn't fit into the "clutch seal".
But above all, the fuel tap is a real fountain leaking everywhere.
The alternator works perfectly but I have the impression that the regulator regulates too much because I don't have more than 12.6 V maximum at the battery. It's not a disaster, but it seems a bit too low for driving with the headlight on.

[Geoff Hastings]

The fuel tap seal kits are available but here in the uk the Ethanol in the fuel caused the new kit I fitted to swell and jam the tap within two weeks. I ended up fitting a cheap Chinese tap with an adaptor that works fine.