What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Greybeard]

No rain today! A cold but sunny afternoon. I just had to get my modern Bantam on the road. I chilly 40 mile ride followed by a rinse off to remove the damp road filth.

The bike is lovely. My only complaint is a rubbing sound from the back brake when I'm going slowly. I'm wondering about chamfering the pads - I'm sure we used to do that on car brake pads to stop funny noises.

I really like having a gear indicator. I often feel that I need another gear when I'm in top - on the Bantam I can see when I'm in 6th

This was my first ride since having a new right knee installed 6 weeks ago👌

[chaterlea25]

Well done GB. 

John

[Catz]

So, back to the leaking fork oil seal situation.
Came up with this idea first which was to wrap PTFE tap around the top of the top brass bush but that creased up when put in place in the slider and decided against that and so then i thought i'll use some Yamabond or Threebond on the bush. Wiped any excess off after fitting the circlip, screwed down the seal holder, with an o ring at the top to take up any gap and make the seal sit a bit tighter against the slider, then wrapped some PTFE tape around the slider betwee the seal holder and tightened down with a strap wrench.
I'll give it a day or two for the Yamabond to semi-harden before filling with oil and hoping for the best. What a crap design, arrggh. I'll say it again, no wonder the Japanese beat us Brits at our own game.

[berger]

my take on that is the japanese improved the things the brits had been doing for years .

[RichardL]

Excellent news, GB. Glad you able to and, in fact, enjoying your new ride.

Richard L.

[Catz]

my take on that is the japanese improved the things the brits had been doing for years .

Aye, that's one way of putting it.

[Colsbeeza]

Not doin' Nuthin on the bikes today. 40degC. Watered the vegies this morning and that's all folks. Will be 41 on Sundey.
Col

[CheeserBeezer]

I've had quite a productive few days on the 2026 project. The front end of the electrics are now wired up and working. I've made my own loom. Both wheels are built and ready for truing. I've got magneto jobs in the workshop today and for the next couple of days so work on the project will be paused until after next week's festivities.

[Greybeard]

Cornish: Proper job

[RDfella]

Happiness is A10 shaped - well, the frames anyway.
Put a new battery in the big vee and it's starting great again. Also wired 12V to the 6V coils from the starter circuit and moved the start button from by the headstock to beside the twist grip. Been meaning to do those jobs for a while. That way I can give a fraction throttle it sometimes (rarely) needs on start-up. As expected, had to fit a diode in the circuit to prevent the coils back-feeding to the starter.

Only issue now is the silencer sounds more like a firing squad. Always has done. I presume it's carbs, but loathe to fiddle with them. I started out with 2 x new Mikunis but, after months of pain trying to jet them I gave up, slung them and bought new Amal Mk2's. The Mikunis plus jets etc lost me around £800. Can't recall the cost of the Amals, but at least they work. Trouble is, though, they work very similarly to the Mikunis whereby changing one jet affects the others. Hence my allergy to fiddling with them.
I was of the opinion overrun back-firing was too rich a mixture, but if anything it's weak - have to leave the choke on for several minutes until the engine is warm. Just a wisp of throttle on the overrun cures most of it - can you get helmets with ear plugs??

[greybloke]

Only issue now is the silencer sounds more like a firing squad.

I was of the opinion overrun back-firing was too rich a mixture, but if anything it's weak -

You say that like it's a bad thing :-))

Yeah, that'll do it - but so will inlet manifold leak. Got a good seal with the carbs swapped out?

[Worty]

I find the overrun popping a tad confusing.  I never get any popping on the GF, despite it probably not having the best seal between carb and manifold.  However, the Kwaka pops like an explosion in a soft drink factory at decel.  The only way to mitigate it is to keep the throttle slightly open on long descents and manipulate the gears a bit to keep the engine speed a little higher.  Not sure if the aftermarket Dunstall replicas are partially to blame, and the lack of balance pipe (which the original had).  My model also used to have an emissions control gizmo that was supposed to allow unburnt fuel into the pipes to be burnt.  This has now been bypassed and deactivated by the PO, so not sure whether there's an issue there.  Of course, it could also be a slight leak in the carb rubbers.

In any event, when I get it wrong, I do get the looks of disgust from ordinary, decent folk who regard 'our kind' as antisocial thugs - what a shame, eh?

[chaterlea25]

Hi RD and Worty
The usual cause for backfiring on the over run is an air leak on the exhaust system 
even the tiniest leak will suck in air which ignites fuel residue in the exhaust

John

[Worty]

Hi RD and Worty
The usual cause for backfiring on the over run is an air leak on the exhaust system 
even the tiniest leak will suck in air which ignites fuel residue in the exhaust

John

Cheers John.

The thing that confuses me is that I'm bound to have an exhaust leak on the GF, especially where the down pipes meet the silencer, but never any decel popping.  The Kwaka, on the other hand, is sealed up the best I can get it but still pops away.  Maybe this is the reason the W650, as stock, had a fully sealed, integrated exhaust with a clamp only on the balance pipe - to avoid leaks.

The bike has reasonably balanced carbs and a stock air filter.  It runs on the lean side, but I think most Japanese bikes do.  Popping is usually worse pottering through traffic/built up areas, or long descents.  A shut off after a prolonged, wide throttle opening ( ) is usually fine. 

[Greybeard]

My modern Bantam has nice pop-pop-pop on over-run