What have you done with your bike/s today?

[RDfella]

Yes John, old Lucas as used on lots of british cars of the era. Had a couple kicking about. Was never keen on gear reduction starters. Had a pile of grief with them on diesel Volvos years ago - very good at shattering their gears to the extent I wouldn't use them. Maybe today's ones are more reliable. I agree diesel starters would have more grunt (ones on my boat achieve 12 - 15bhp) but most are pre-engage and have a nose to them, making it very difficult to drive anything other than a flywheel. Plus they're heavy and need a 30kg battery costing £150+ making carting that lot about unfunny. I do have a similar starter with traditional bendix (no nose) on a Perkins diesel, but they're rare as hen's teeth. Shudder to think what one would cost (no longer available new). Surprised a 9" angle grinder has the power - would only be around 1bhp whereas a car starter should be around 4 - 5. And of course it's non-portable, whereas the reason behind mine was to have a means of starting a dope engine at the end of a sprint to get back to the pits.

[Joolstacho]

Interesting. My 'scheme' involves using one CX500 starter motor on each roller, direct drive.
Should be dead simple, but I haven't figured out the revs/ratios yet.
No doubt someone will point out the potential flaws!

[RDfella]

Jools – can't see direct drive working. I started out by using car installations as a guide, where starter to engine ratio is around 12:1. As my rollers are 4” dia and a rear wheel is approx 25” OD (giving c. 6:1 redn) I figured I’d only need 2:1 or thereabouts between starter and rollers - forgetting, of course, that on a motorcycle the engine turns faster than the rear wheel, therefore making a nonsense of my guesswork calculations. Hence the later addition of a layshaft to introduce a further reduction of around 7:1.  Roughly speaking, the roller / tyre reduction is cancelled out by the wheel / engine overdrive. In which case I’d suggest your bike starter / roller reduction should be similar to the starter / engine reduction found on a bike.
In conclusion, I appreciate my setup is a tad agricultural but hey, I wanted light, cheap and portable.

[Worty]

Felt well enough to venture to the garage today.   Used bench grinder to grind down some rivets (M5x25mm) to fit the ATD I'm refurbing - successful.  The shaft diameter is perfect but I had to grind down the thickness and diameter of the head.  Only question is they are slightly longer than the originals so I'm debating how much to trim them down (4mm perhaps to 21mm).  Feel good that I've been a bit useful today after 3 weeks of bed rest and feeling properly ill.  Will probably be knackered by 7.00pm tonight.

[Black Sheep]

Decided to free the clutch on the A10 as it hasn't been out since October. Kicked it over and it started. Must still have been some pertol in the carb. Trying to tell me something I suspect. All that sunshine out there...

[chaterlea25]

Hi All,
Today is the 18th birthday of my Super Rockets rebirth (1st road ride)
With the lock down in place here, there are travel restrictions and quite a prominent police presence enforcing it 
Anyway I had to mark the occasion so got the SR out checked the tyre pressures and fired it up
I rode around the local roads in circles in a bid to keep me inside the "zone" and passed away a very pleasant 1/2 hour 

I took my daughter pillion on that first trip on her 12th Birthday, Its hard to believe She is 30 today 
I had bought the project the week she was born, but it was quite a few years before I got into it seriously

John

[Guy Wilson]

Here's a light quiz.. I moved two of my bikes today that have been parked up for about a month or so.... attached are two photographs of the empty spaces where the bikes were parked.. Both bikes had the full measure of oil when parked.. can you name the bikes?  prize includes a cup of tea/coffee, beer etc and depending on how far you've traveled a nights accommodation.
Guy

[muskrat]

G'day Guy.
Top = BSA A10
Bottom = Trihard model H
Cheers

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Thought I'd give the old girl (51 A7) a oil change, and thought after 39 years of me flogging her I'd finally put a gauze filter in the tank, never had one  I didn't have to drain the oil tank as it was all in the sump  Any how the sump plug felt a bit stiff in coming out bringing the helicoil with it  That cancels tomorrows ride. Bugga, I used to have a full kit of helicoils  Off to the parts shop again .
Cheers

[Guy Wilson]

G'day Guy.
Top = BSA A10
Bottom = Trihard model H
Cheers

I admire your confidence in the oil tight integrity of the A10.... but not correct..
Guy

[RDfella]

Helicoils unwinding are a real pain. When istalling them I always add a drop of locktite. Don't put the bolt in too soon though, or it might end up fastened to the helicoil!

[muskrat]

G'day RD.
Yes mate same here, the red permanent one. Probably done about 300 in and outs in it's life.
Cheers

[bsa-bill]

When installing them I always add a drop of Loctite.

A nice tip I had ever thought of that but will in future, hopefully, the PO of my RGF did not know about it either as  a few of the holes in the barrel for the head studs have been helicoiled, not a problem they are holding fine but two are definitely not square, the head goes on with a bit of wiggling but did worry about it affecting torque settings.
When I get around to putting the cast head back on I was thinking of getting them repaired ( we have a couple of good shops near) I'm not sure how they will do it, presumable fill the holes up and then rethread them

[Butch (cb)]

It's just about OK going in forwards but I really struggle with backing my bigger bikes up the ramp and onto the lifting table and with the rear wheel aligning with the clamp. Always feels like I'm one move away from a wrecked back or a dropped bike. Just about managed it with Jug my Loop frame Guzzi on Saturday night - I want to pull and inspect the front TLS brake as it doesn't work worth a damn.

So I ordered the lightest, cheapest 240v hoist I could, which arrived today. The vice on my bench at the back of the garage just about lines up with the table so I reckon I can just clamp it in there when I need to do this. I'll be experimenting tonight.   

[Worty]

Here's a light quiz.. I moved two of my bikes today that have been parked up for about a month or so.... attached are two photographs of the empty spaces where the bikes were parked.. Both bikes had the full measure of oil when parked.. can you name the bikes?  prize includes a cup of tea/coffee, beer etc and depending on how far you've traveled a nights accommodation.
Guy

Top - any japanese bike
Bottom - any British bike