Fixing bikes: highs and lows

I decided that because the weather looked ok I'd try and catch up on a
few of those niggling little jobs I've known I needed to do but have
been putting off for ages. Some went well and others were a bit
frustrating iykwim.

I started with the easy one which was helicoiling two of the exhaust
stud threads on Adies LC. Drop the right hand exhaust off, root around
for a 7.9mm drill, drill out the tired old threads and tap the hole
for the insert. This was the plan but being slightly stupid I'd
forgotten to bring a T type tap wrench home from work so I had to
hammer the helicoil tap into a 9mm socket and tap the bloody threads
with a 1/2" drive ratchet. Once that was done I fitted the inserts,
loosely fitted the exhaust, fitted the seal and tightened it all up.
Great, no leaks, no rattles and Adie seemed happy with it after a test
ride.

Next mission was to free off the binding front brakes on the Tenere
which had objected to being coated in road salt on the trip to Germany
and being a bit idle I'd left to get worse. Off came the calipers,
emery all the corrosion off the back of the pads, clean the pistons
and caliper body, emery the rust off the pins and bung it back
together. I was on a roll at this point because the binding had
vanished and they worked as they should do again.

At this point I should have retired for the day but no, I went for the
big one which was to try and sort out the problem with the oil light
staying on when I started the 10R. This was a result of last years
highside in France and is apparently quite common because the filter
gets an air lock and all you need to do is undo it a couple of turns,
run the engine until it squirts oil out of the filter sealing face and
then tighten it up again...

The fucking oil filter refused to budge. I tried the 1/2" drive filter
'socket' and it turned on the filter rounding off the flats on the
filter. I tried to get the strap type filter removing tool on but it
fouled because of the full Akropovic exhaust I fitted in a moment of
madness. I then went a bit medieval and hammered a screwdriver through
the filter to try and crowbar it off. Nothing, still fucking solid.

At this point I realised that I needed to remove the end can, link
pipe and collector box from the exhaust and then remove the two left
hand down pipes so I could get the strap wrench on it. It came off in
the end but what a fucking performance.

I'll refit the exhaust tomorrow, fill it with oil and then start it to
see if the oil light goes off. Am I confident? Of course I am.

 

<snip>

I took the opportunity to clean the K, whch hasn't seen a rag for
several months.

And as soon as I'd finished, it started raining....

 

I pulled the engine out of a Bandit 1200, I'll stick a new one in
tomorrow.

 

I got *a* Fournales shock halfway onto the Wing. I fear the rear wheel
might have to come out as it's impossible to lift the swinging arm
one-handed with fifteen stone of rear wheel in it.

 

I had intended to clean the thou last weekend, having not washed it
since the Alps run. And then I got sidetracked.

Glad I didn't bother - it got coated in shit again riding home on
Thursday.

Laziness wins, every time..

 

Look, in my book a "highside in France" demands more of a mention than
resulting in a fucking air lock.

Like, did you cry?


--
R100RT
Aprilia Pegaso 650 IE "The Flying Mythos"
Formerly: James Captain, A10, C15, B25, Dnepr M16 solo, R80/7, R100RT
(green!)
www.davidhowardjeweller.co.uk

 

What!? That's over half the total weight of my ZX10!

Anyway - top tip: use length of wood under the wheel as a lever.

 

Why would anyone cry about a bike?

 

Andy didn't. Many of us did, but we had the good grace to do it behind
his back. Mostly.

We cried more when we heard that the Tenere had broken down.

 

exaggerate: verb (exaggerated, exaggerating)
1 tr & intr to regard or describe something as being greater or better
than it really is.
2 to emphasize something or make it more noticeable.
3 to do something in an excessive or affected way.

Another top tip would be to remove the other Progressive 416 airshock
first.

 

alternatively (and I'm thinking of adding this to Agent as a macro):

you need a skip[1]

[1] albeit in this case at least a midi-skip, rather than a mini

 

snip

Well done that man !

I plugged my bike into the optimate yesterday.

Might fire it up today and give it a once over. I've been suffering from
lazybastarditis and let the MOT expire so it's currently SORNED.

 

Ha! I've re-fitted the exhaust system, thrown some oil in it and it
now runs without that worrying red light glaring in my eyes.

All it needs now is a new right hand mirror, a bracket making for the
front brake master cylinder (1) and a soft link in the chain, throw
the plastics on it and it's ready to go.

Adie picked me up a spotless titanium end can (2) to replace the
slightly tatty carbon one so there's nothing left to replace. I'll
wait until I've banged in a few weekends at work (3) and get it
sprayed then avoid French car parks for the rest of my life.

(1) The original one bolts to the standard clip ons and I've replaced
them with Harris ones.

(2) Ebay. I couldn't think of anything I wanted for my birthday so she
scoured Ebay for a replacement can.

(3) Yeah, it's that time of the year when I spend money on bikes but
don't have time to ride them.

 

I replaced the cable choke on the Armstrong with a manual one.

Doesn't the fucker now just start second kick.

I knew that choke was dicky.

It's still fuelling badly though, time to swap on the new carb now I
know it's the carb that's fucking the thing up.

Paul.

 

His bottom lip wobbled a bit.

 

You promised to keep that quiet, I'll never trust you again.

Btw, are you coming on holiday with Alex, myself and Burnt (1) next
year? We're planning a couple of weeks of trail riding and generally
acting the **** which qualifies it as the sort of jolly you'd enjoy.
Look on it as a chance to pick up tickets in new countries and have
some fun with your mates.

(1) There'll probably be one or two others but we're the only ones
who've said we're keen so far.

 

If you're going to lay bait like that it'd be honourable to name the
countries and hint at the time of year.

For Champ's sake, anyway. I'm well out of it.

 

Well, they're on now. It was easier with the wheel out.

Next step was to fir the TorqMonsters, but of course it was never
going to be easy.

They're on now, but tricky to do up the clamps to the headers, as,
being a yank product, the nuts are 17/64ths or something equally
pointless. 10mm and 12mm spanners don't work, and I can't find my
little 11mm one anywhere. Cue crappy small adjustable which is worse
than useless.

Still, plenty of time to go. The new speakers, and FM modulator are
already in place.

 

Ok, we're going to Scandinavia before it gets crowded with Russian
tourists.

That's because you prefer to use your holidays going to places like
Glastonbury.

 

We could be up for Scandanavia. but not trail-riding.