What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Worty]

Got to the garage today to get on with the ATD.  Started with the bobweights and found that the worn posts punched out from the bottom.  Made new posts and heated bobweights but couldn't get the posts in - slightly too thick.  Then realised that I could just turn the old posts round.  Easier to get in because the worn part formed a decent 'taper' to get them back in.  Then started on the riveting for the fibre wheel - turned out to be a right b*****d due to the all the holes being slightly out to receive the rivets (fibre wheel I reckon).  Had to slightly enlarge all the holes by 0.5mm and taper the rivets to get them all through - all done now!!

Just need to make some new spring levers and I've got pretty much a new spare.  Oh, just need some finishing on the rivets to make them flush.

[Greybeard]

Blimey RD, you are a clever bugger! 

[Angus]

Last August I purchased a nice looking new front brake cable for the 1960 A10 as the one fitted was a bit of a home made job and a number of people have pointed it out as a bit of a bodge. So removal of cable that has been on the bike since I got it over 5 years ago took a bit of doing and it was very dirty. Put new one into handle bars and find the outer (and thus overall cable) is about 2 inches to long, it will not fit AND the boss that the adjuster screws into on the hub does not have a thread (the 1961 A7 does). Glad I did not cut the old cable off, it maybe a bodge but it has worked fine for 5 years. I checked the other spare cables purchased at the same time and they all seam fine. Then I checked the nice shiny new stainless brake arm on a spare brake hub and that does not fit. I think I will just stop buying new parts or maybe stop working on old bikes. It would not be so bad if I could take one for a ride 

[Greybeard]

Put new one into handle bars and find the outer (and thus overall cable) is about 2 inches to long, it will not fit

I don't quite get this.  With this type of cable, the whole assembly needs to be able to get from A to B following a smooth route but the important thing is the travel of the inner cable. That can be increased by shortening the outer or reduced by adding spacers to the outer.

[RDfella]

Neil - no, not that clever, just a reasonable machinist who enjoys a bit of designing (currently re-designing a distributor to replace the project's KVF as it's a bugger to start).  There's guys on this forum with more skill / patience than I've got.

[Angus]

Hi Neil, Sorry my english is worse them most other contributors. The new front brake cable goes from the brake lever on the handlebars in towards the headstock behind the yokes then down the .fork leg to the adjuster point on the brake drum. As the cable is to long it ends up with (at best) a big loop outwards from the fork leg.

[berger]

angus you need some of those wild handlebars that are really high for your new cable

[Greybeard]

Hi Neil, Sorry my english is worse them most other contributors. The new front brake cable goes from the brake lever on the handlebars in towards the headstock behind the yokes then down the .fork leg to the adjuster point on the brake drum. As the cable is to long it ends up with (at best) a big loop outwards from the fork leg.

Ah, OK, functional but ugly?

[Worty]

angus you need some of those wild handlebars that are really high for your new cable

Apehangers on a standard A10 - you'd be front page feature on Back Street Heroes Angus 

[mikeb]

I've often found adjusting the a10 (swing-arm) rear chain tension strangely annoying, especially having significant tight spots on the current sprockets/setup. I've tried various tricks - pull-downs (from swing-arm sides across the seat) and heavy people sitting on the bike while i crawl along the floor measuring. no fun.
so today i made another fairly unnecessary innovation to pull the swing arm up / compress the shocks while the bike is on the stand. see the pics - minimal work and fairly obvious construction with some felt, heat shrink and tape to protect the painted surfaces. on first use its really easy - fit and tighten in about 2 minutes making it easy to find and adjust for tight spots. the only thing I'd do differently is try 12mm threaded-rod/turnbuckle as the 10mm top 'hook' (for over the shock mount spacer) looks like it might open up eventually.
turns out i needed near 2" chain slack at the loose spots to get 3/4" slack at the tight spots, so maybe some new sprockets in the nearish future.

[Worty]

Yea, got to the garage today and finished off making the spring levers for my ATD - and they actually fit and work    Drilled the spring hole by hand with a 1mm drill and rounded the ends of the lever to ensure free movement.  The holes for the post and 'actuating' mechanism were done by placing the original on the new item and centre punching through - drilled with a 4.8mm drill.  Seemed a little odd that the distances between the holes were about 1mm different between the levers, and I was worried they may not fit, but they slotted straight in.

The bar I used is about 1.5mm wider than the original items and a about 0.5mm thicker, but the tolerances are definitely not exact on these units.  On one side, the post sits about 1mm from flush with the top of the lever, but the other side is fine.  There is a very thin washer that sits at the base of both posts, but I can't really see a need to include them other than for allowing freer pivoting.  Last thing will be to clean the whole unit, assemble with new springs, and pop the collar on (leaving a small gap and centre punching for extra security).

Well on the road to recovery, by the way, and feeling very pleased with myself.  Will post some piccies if I can. 

Cheers all - back on the bike from Wednesday to 'travel to a place for exercise'

[Butch (cb)]

No A10 activity for me, it wants for nothing unless I look very hard ... like a better clutch or fork action.

Put a new fan belt and rear brake shoes in my old Guzzi loop frame. For the second time recently (can't remember which of the other bikes the other issue was with), I found that with the new shoes the brake plate wouldn't fit back into the drum. Ended up carefully taking show material off with a power file until it dropped in.

What's that all about? 

[Worty]

Some piccies of the ATD and spring levers I made.  Put the collet on today and its now sitting in a bath of oil.

[muskrat]

G'day wortluck.
Top job mate.
Cheers

[RDfella]

Neat job. Without one on the bench in front of me, I'm trying to figure the point those bobweights swivel as it can't be either of the spring locating points or there'd be no tension to pull them back in.