What have you done with your bike/s today?

[berger]

today betsy beezer told me she was fed up wanted a run out over the hills so off we went and explored , the exploring got very interesting when my mate told me that i had been on a dogging track me and betsy just thought we were off roading , anyway we got through that bit of a hiccup because nobody else was there i met my mate in Matlock bath where we had food and i showed him the photo , that was when he told me dpggers use it, i didn't ask him how he knew but changed the subject to the ducati 803cc he bought yesterday 

[Swarfcut]

  A Google search of "dogging" in an urban slang dictionary will reveal the true context of the idiom expressed in the previous post.
 Teabagging is another otherwise innocent pastime which intrigued me after a view of comedian Micky Flanagan's " Live at the Apollo" show. Call it a sheltered life....

 Moderators may feel fit to delete this post ...that's fine by me.

 Swarfy.

[Greybeard]

https://youtu.be/sSaV3YUGiM8

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
A new left switch block arrived for the XT500. The old (only 1 year old) one's horn button packed up a while ago and was replaced with the kill button off the Cafe. Last week the blinkers packed up as well.
Now she's got a bit of a unique wiring system straight from the factory, then "modified" by the previous owner to just run the head & tail lights AC. I also modified to run total loss 12v DC blinkers, horn, instrument lights.
I carefully noted the colour and position of the wires from the old switch block. Cut off the unwanted wires off the new one and plugged it all in. Replaced the fuse in the line, all good. Horn & instrument lights worked. Flicked the right blinker all good, flicked the left blinker, nothing. Then I saw it, that bl@@dy Lucas smoke.  Melted the contacts in the NEW switch block.
Found the problem. Two wires in the new one were different colours to the old one (bought from the same shop and brand). Bl@@dy cheap Asian knock offs.
So $50 down the drain and another $50 for another one. This time I'll check the colour connections in the switch block first.
Cheers

[berger]

Musky no good asking me i am colour blind , i get confused with old wiring i have to scrape the ageing from red and brown and still ask someone if that is red or brown, traffic lights are not a problem because when the bottom one goes white off i go

[Worty]

Musky no good asking me i am colour blind , i get confused with old wiring i have to scrape the ageing from red and brown and still ask someone if that is red or brown, traffic lights are not a problem because when the bottom one goes white off i go

So Bergs, in the Highway Code you read, top white is 'watch out for coppers', middle white is 'get the wheel spinning', and bottom white is 'drop the clutch and point the front wheel skywards' - just asking

[Angus]

Well I have finally found a job that makes putting on an A10 rocker box a walk in the park, unless someone here know otherwise. Has anyone tried to put a new kick start spring on a Norton Laydown gearbox. It is just not possible, one end of the spring goes into the shaft, the other is meant to sit in one of the groves in the outer cover, all this then held together by a short tube. Springs don’t sit in groves they spring out. 5 hours and lots of google searches for ways to do it and its now ‘in’ but not as tight on the return as it should be as there was not a cat in hells chance of getting it to stay in the next grove around.

[Worty]

Well I have finally found a job that makes putting on an A10 rocker box a walk in the park, unless someone here know otherwise. Has anyone tried to put a new kick start spring on a Norton Laydown gearbox. It is just not possible, one end of the spring goes into the shaft, the other is meant to sit in one of the groves in the outer cover, all this then held together by a short tube. Springs don’t sit in groves they spring out. 5 hours and lots of google searches for ways to do it and its now ‘in’ but not as tight on the return as it should be as there was not a cat in hells chance of getting it to stay in the next grove around.

Well done for getting close Sir.  I don't know the job, but have found plenty more relatively impossible tasks when they seem easy to some.  I eventually found a way of getting the fork circlip on without ending up in A&E, but that pales into insignificance with your conundrum.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Just not my week.
The new Goodridge banjo bot with brake light switch for the HD arrived. Had a dickens of a job to find one with 7/16 UNF thread. Great, take my mind off electrickal stuff for a while.
The new master cylinder has no provision for a switch so this is a "quick" and "easy" way around that. It replaces the banjo bolt that connects the brake line to the master or caliper then wire in to the original wires. It would look ugly sticking out of the master so I wanted to put it on the caliper and run the wire up the brake line. Now I know the new master and old caliper are 7/16 so quickly pulled the banjo out of the caliper and the new banjo wouldn't fit through the line fitting. Quick measurement of the removed banjo showed 3/8 UNF and threw it back in. BUGGA.
New 3/8 bolt will be here Monday/Tuesday. Back to the wiring.
Cheers

[Worty]

Jeez Musky, you're having a stinker.

For me, I think I found the source of my 'oil leak'.  I put a load of old gearbox oil on the chain prior to the last run.  I reckon the excess oil is running off the cases where the g'box sprocket is, down the centrestand leg and onto my garage floor.  There is a weep from the g'box and sump plate (despite new gaskets), but not enough for the small 'puddle'.  Also, oil levels remain fine.  Still, does seem to be a lot of oil??  Oh, and nothing coming off the rear of the inner primary cover.

I'm sure my 'new' fork oil seal is not sealing, so that'll be off before long.  Hope to get out for a longish ride tomorrow in the nice sunshine - will see how she holds up with a bit of 'spirited' riding.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Getting out of the shed today. Need some R&R.
I sold a A65 project for a mate on FB Market place. Listed it at $1000 ono and got $2000. So today I take it down to it's new custodian in Canberra. Also a good excuse to have a few beers with my Best Man while I'm down there.
Cheers

[Worty]

G'day Fellas.
Getting out of the shed today. Need some R&R.
I sold a A65 project for a mate on FB Market place. Listed it at $1000 ono and got $2000. So today I take it down to it's new custodian in Canberra. Also a good excuse to have a few beers with my Best Man while I'm down there.
Cheers

The extra dosh will pay for those recent disasters mate!

[CheeserBeezer]

Went out last night on the recently purchased Super Rocket after making it (just about) roadworthy. The run was successful in that it pointed out a few more jobs which needed to be done. The head gasket started blowing and the back brake is useless! I tackled the head gasket today and, in the process found that the carb is incorrect. It is fitted with a 376 (1.062") and the head venturi measures 1.125" so I dragged a 389 out of the bits box and fitted it after completing the head gasket job. I've sacked the air filter so gone straight up to a 400 main jet. The bike has an SRM engine but it whines a bit, maybe from the timing gears. I bought the bike from an old guy who hasn't used it for a long time and we both knew that a lot of recommissioning was required. I've decided to resist the temptation of restoring it and to leave it with its 60+ year old patina and battle scars. Work undertaken so far: rebuilt gearbox and replace sleeve gear/mainshaft bushes, swap 6 spring for 4 spring clutch, weld kick lever on centre stand, fix oil tank connectors, replace cylinder head gasket, remove crash bars and rear rack, fit 389 carb, two new tyres, new primary and secondary chains, rebuild dynamo and fit DVR2 (still 6v), fit ATD whilst retaining the manual advance/retard (makes starting easier and eliminates ankle-breaking kick back!), change all oils, replace rocker feed pipe, fit bigger front sprocket, repair casting flaw on inner chaincase to stop it leaking (success!), remove siamese exhaust system and replace with twin pipes (a bit scruffy but suits the bike!), fit new batteries and battery box, tighten swinging arm pivot (I will replace the silentblocs with a bush kit at a later date). After replacing the head gasket and carb today I started it up in the garage and it sounded pretty good so I'll be taking it out on a short run tomorrow and will report back. Photo shows bike 'as found'.

[Joolstacho]

Well done. Lotsa useful work done there. I like the idea to leave it as-is with regard to 'cosmetic restoration' too.
Interesting that you've used the ATD, but retained the Manual A/R (I'd assumed they were mutually exclusive).

[CheeserBeezer]

Well done. Lotsa useful work done there. I like the idea to leave it as-is with regard to 'cosmetic restoration' too.
Interesting that you've used the ATD, but retained the Manual A/R (I'd assumed they were mutually exclusive).

When fitting an ATD to a manual magneto just leave the advance and retard lever in the full advance position, wedge the ATD open into its full advance position (as you would normally) and fit. This gives you the best of both worlds. When riding, if the bike pinks a bit under load, you can use the A/R lever to retard it a bit. When starting the bike leave the lever in the full advance position and the ATD takes care of the retarding. The problem with manual magnetos is that, as you retard the lever, you're also making the points open late relative to the optimum flux position. If you try to start on full retard you've probably killed the spark altogether so you need to experiment with the A/R lever to find a position where the bike will start but not kick you back. Consequently you will get kicked back occasionally. The ATD should eliminate all this fiddling about. I find that, after fitting and ATD, I never need to touch the A/R lever.