Abigails motor-a sad tale :-(

[squirrelciv]

Well I've stripped out all the bearings, cleaned them and checked them out to discover all (bar one needle bearing which only costs 3 quid so will get changed anyway) are shot :-( The head says I should buy Mixerman's dommie motor and start from scratch with that as a base (cheers for the very reasonable offer BTW matey) but the heart won out and I will rebuild her with her original engine. I've found a local supplier who stocks all bar one of the bearings which seem to be standard sizes. My next worry is the crank itself. I can't detect any untoward movement but can't help to worry about it with the evidence the bearings supply of a hard life. The parts lists show it as a complete component so I think I'll pop it down to Brian North's and ask him to cast an expert eye over it before it goes back in. Not that that will be any time soon as I have all the casings to paint/polish first and family commitments are draining away valuable shed time (sigh) Heyho, never did say a time scale for this project, so I'm not failing to meet it if you know what I mean :-)

[mav617]

Quite wise too - I similarly set myself low standards, and consistently fail to achieve them.....

[Steve H]

Do the main or gearbox bearings have circlip grooves to stop them moving laterally. If so check the offset, the XL500 series of engines have standard looking bearings but the circlip groove is about 1mm offest, so you have to buy genuine bearings

[squirrelciv]

Do the main or gearbox bearings have circlip grooves to stop them moving laterally. If so check the offset, the XL500 series of engines have standard looking bearings but the circlip groove is about 1mm offest, so you have to buy genuine bearings

Nope, they just drop into the casings. :-)

[squirrelciv]

More bad news (sigh) Barrel has a broken fin (funny how I hadn't noticed before??) and one of the bolts that hold the rockers in the cover has got a buggered allen key socket and isn't coming out by conventional means.

The problem is, the more I find wrong the more I want to fix her. Tragically sad I know, but I'm starting to feel sorry for the old girl. She has obviously been neglected by previous owners and I'm getting far too attached to her. Head knows she is just a machine, but the heart feels for her and senses a personality. Why do we get so attached to our bikes??

Anywho, more parts to sort out on the long and growing list :-)

[mini-thumper]

>>Why do we get so attached to our bikes??>>

I think me and thee have had this conversation before, and romantic anthropomorphism again springs to mind. But if it gets you through the day thats cool.

BB

[squirrelciv]

Not wrong matey :-) Been to see Jethro this afternoon (on the scrounge) and got a lecture about common sense regarding motorcycles. I couldn't come up with a single logical reason for what I was doing and relied on the " It's my hobby and I'll do it if I want too" adult arguement, but I don't think he was convinced. Gave me the same sort of look my dad used to when I tried to explain how I accidentally chopped down mum's Cherry tree :-(

BTW I haven't forgotten your carb, I will get it boxed up and sent off :-) unless your coming down to Pembrey that is.

[002]

You have The Sensible Way,The Difficult/Expensive Way and now we have The Patrick Way !

The Way that makes no Bloody Sense.....!      ;-)


Jethro

[MrFluffy]

You mean bikes are supposed to make sense???

For the allen bolt with a stripped inhex, I usually just knock them round with a tiny chisel, but ive also got a sunken awkward one out by banging in a oversized torx bit that I was ok with sacrificing to the job, and that and the banging in action did the trick...

[squirrelciv]

You mean bikes are supposed to make sense???

For the allen bolt with a stripped inhex, I usually just knock them round with a tiny chisel, but ive also got a sunken awkward one out by banging in a oversized torx bit that I was ok with sacrificing to the job, and that and the banging in action did the trick...

Good tip, but I've dropped it all off at my engineers. One more for him one less for me, he already had 6 sheered studs and a snapped sparkplug, so 1 more wont hurt :-)

[Steve H]

so 1 more wont hurt :-)

Apart from the wallet