baby lady velocette

[groily]

So do I Neil!
Fingers crossed she doesn't eat anything else.
Must have been 'me' though - only reasonable explanation is I must have failed to get the friction plates 100% perfectly aligned last time, and the outer basket attached to the gearbox must have graunched a misaligned one on assembly, weakening it so it fell to bits progressively over time. You can't really see how assembly is going as you shove the engine onto the 6 long studs plus several dowels that hold things together. That's my excuse anyway - and I should make a proper alignment tool.

I also took Rog's point above about clutch cable replacement hassle to heart (hadn't thought of it, but 'tis true, it's a total no go with the bike assembled) - and fitted new. Surprisingly heavy duty - which is just as well. So now it's 'just' putting back on her clothes, the exhaust, the waterworks, wiring, footboards, levers etc. What could possibly go wrong?

[Joolstacho]

I do wonder if you're 'guilding the lily" a bit calling it her "clothes". Perhaps more accurate to say "replacing the ironmongery"?

[groily]

I do wonder if you're 'guilding the lily" a bit calling it her "clothes". Perhaps more accurate to say "replacing the ironmongery"?

*smile*More 'cheap tin trays' than proper ironmongery - but a step up from crinoline, yup. And surprisingly rigid 'cos there's quite a lot of it! I wish there were less of it - it'd be miles easier to get at stuff.

[RogerSB]

Hi Bill, I had a similar case with one fibre plate missing about half of the ears, in my case it was the top one next to driving fixed plate. The other two fibre plates were perfect and looked very new  .

I put it down to the p.o. bump starting almost every time and the shock of that plate whacking up against the clutch bell slots and taking chunks out of it and once it starts it's easier for it to get worse, but only a guess.

You didn't mention the two steel plates (cranked and flat) that go between the fibre plates?

I didn't have the time to be on here yesterday. Hope you've sorted it by now.

Edit: Yes, that one plate not lined up perfectly and the clutch bell taking a small chunk off each of the ears as the housings go together.  I'd bought a new clutch bell from Club Spares and used the old one to line up all the plates before fully tightening down the nuts, worked quite well.

Rog.

[groily]

Very interesting Rog, many thanks.
The plain plates look fine. The springs were well dead though. When dismantling, nothing launched itself anywhere at all - that's how tired it was. Huge contrast with new bits. The basket is tidy too. 
I've never had to push start this one as it's a first kicker every time (I know they don't like being bumped), and as the friction plates were new when I put it together last time, I think it's my own fault.

Hope to have her running pretty soon. Not that she goes anywhere much or far away (regular 10-15 mile jaunts round the villages are marathons at her average speed)  - but that's not what it's about. I look at her as a sort of geriatric insurance policy: should I ever  have to pack up playing with bigger toys (woe indeed),  I'd still have some easy old wheels to get out on (if I could remember the way back home!).

Full circle maybe - I started life on 2 wheels with one  . . .  there could be a certain symmetry.