More progress on the Ducati

Well, it was one of "those" days again.

The plan was to go and re-check the valve clearances on my CRX as
that's gone a bit tappety again. But there was the Ducati battery
sitting on the workbench, right in the middle of the way so I decided
that maybe it would be a good idea to get the battery out of the way
and put it back into the frame.

Much swearing later - the Darmah frame is built around the battery much
in the same way as BMW Airheads are built around theirs - the battery
was sitting pretty in the frame again and had sprouted an Optimate
connector as well. The Optimate connector had been the main reason for
taking the battery out as the negative terminal is well hidden under a
frame tube and you can't get at it without taking the battery out. Of
course this makes it extra-interesting to put the battery back in as
you're connecting the positive terminal with the negative one already
connected. The chance of fireworks tends to concentrate the mind a
little...

While I was there I figure I may as well have a quick look at the swing
arm - the bike had failed its MOT because the tester had noticed that
there was some play in the swing arm - he could move the swingarm back
and forth a little but was adamant that there was no sideways play. Of
course with him being a professional and me being a code monkey I
didn't believe him, did I?

And I was right, there is sideways play in the swingarm as well .
Bugger. I figured I'll quickly prise of the dust cap and have a look
inside, maybe the bearings just need adjusting. Off comes the cap,
plenty of grease in there that looks so old that it had probably been
residing there since the bike was build. Not to mention that it had all
the lubrication ability of Bluetak. After cleaning it up a little the
chain adjuster saw the light of day again[1] but as it looked like
another item of Pointless Overcomplex Engineering Requiring Lots Of
Special Tools, I quickly put the cap back on and decided to get a man
in...

But nevermind, there were a couple more jobettes left. Item number one
on the list were the lhs indicators that were flashing more rapidly
than a horny bunny on speed. Quickly traced this to a 6V bulb in the
indicator, a quick rummage around the depths of the workbench produced
a correct 12V bulb. Great, now both sides are doing the same thing with
the engine off - they light up and stay lit. Grrr. But at least it's
consistent, and I think the battery is past its best.

Fiddling with the indicators reminded me of another pet hate about this
bike - the ignition switch had been lose since I got it. I decided that
while I was there I might as well disassemble the console and see what
I could do about it. Of course it took longer to disassemble the
console than to fix the problem - the plastic collar around the lock
had caught slightly, once I took the lock off and put it back on,
everything was fine. Result.

About halfway through the lock operation I finally got fed up with the
mirror being in the way all the time. The mirrors were useless anyway
(plus the MOT guy complained that they were too lose) so I had a look
if they were OEM Italian or not. Well, they weren't - they're some UK
aftermarket brand called "Stadium", which I found particularly apt
given their performance. Probably very expensive and you still would've
been better off watching the whole thing on the telly. On the ebay pile
it went.

So all that's left to do (hah!) is to touch up the paint where it's
come off the plastic, and sorting out the slightly wobbly headlight,
provided that the rubbers that hold it in the frame are still available
somewhere. I've got some paint in the garage for it but I have no idea
how good that is as it's a few years old. Guess I'll try it and if it's
no good I'll get some more from RS.

Oh, and replace the manky foam grips with original, uncomfortable
grips. Which is were these things come in:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280066761039

Oh, and the valves on the CRX still need checking as by the time I had
done all the above and started Autosol'ing the Contis, it was getting
dark...

[1] Those bikes have Seeley-type excentric adjusters for the chain...

 

Used to be based in Enfield. Well, they still are, but they don't do
bike stuff any more. Did screens, mirrors, their own helmet brand, and
more.

 

The Older Gentleman says...

Most of it of reasonable quality for the time and price.

 

Oh you silly person

 

My mum had a Stadium piss-pot lid with one of those press-stud on
'bubble' visors back in the 80s. It's still kicking around her garage
somewhere.

 

Eh?

 

I doubt that those mirrors still qualify after 25 years but *someone*
on fleabay is likely to buy them then...

 

Ahh... Didn't spot that first time around.

--
Ivan Reid, School of Engineering & Design, _____________ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. Ivan.Reid@[brunel.ac.uk|cern.ch] Room 40-1-B12, CERN
GSX600F, RG250WD "You Porsche. Me pass!" DoD #484 JKLO#003, 005
WP7# 3000 LC Unit #2368 (tinlc) UKMC#00009 BOTAFOT#16 UKRMMA#7 (Hon)
KotPT -- "for stupidity above and beyond the call of duty".

 

Could connect the negative lead to any point on the chassis Timo

 

Well yes, but OTOH it's still a crap arrangement if/when you have to
take out the battery.

But then again, you have to remove the rear airbox just to get the
battery out, so what did I expect?

 

My point was just that you needn't have removed the battery at all

 

Well I had to take it out as I had to top up the battery acid, but yes,
I seen your point.

 

Out of idle interest, where do you get old Ducati service bits (shims,
gaskets etc) from these days?

 

Depends - I'm buying bits & pieces on ebay but they're not service
parts (I got a brand-new dipstick and the grips on ebay).

Quite a lot of the parts are supposedly still available from Ducati
themselves (oil filters, I think), plus there's Mdina Italia and Tony
Brancato for old Beveldrive Ducatis. And the Bevelheads mailing list at
micapeak is very useful, too - there are also a couple of
vendors/specialists on there.

 

Thanks, I'll go look. More out of nostalgia than any other reason. Good
to see that the Sicilian Bastard is still going.

 

Thus spake The Older Gentleman () unto the assembled multitudes:

Ah yes, I remember my mate's Stadium full-face lid, with a visor that if
not fastened down with press-studs, could be flipped up and over behind,
either by hand or by the airstream, and then look like some weird spoiler
fixed to the back of the helmet.