What have you done with your bike/s today?

[CheeserBeezer]

Just returned from a 350 mile round trip to the North York Moors. Fabulous roads, not great weather. There were 6 A10's on the trip and we never had to get the spanners out!

Was that in one day CB, or did you break it up a bit?

We rode up on Monday, from Cheshire, stayed at the Golden Lion in Northallerton, had a day out to Hawes, then another day out to York, and rode home on Thursday.

[Worty]

Yes Bergs, 4 spring.  I did change the springs and nuts some years ago, but the plates are minimum 23 years old (although 10 years of that were sitting in the bike doing nothing).

The bike was a pig to start this time (which is odd), so I put it into 4th and tried a bump start (engine barely turned over), so I'm guessing this is another indicator of clutch slip.  Oil level is correct - I used the engine oil for the Kwaka in the primary.

After getting into a sweat with all my gear on kicking it over, I took all the gear off and it started first kick - b*****d

What are the normal spring lengths and is there a wear limit thickness on the plates??

[Joolstacho]

Beware that Kwaka engine oil in the primary Worty. Our old clutches don't like the additives in modern oils as I'm sure you know.

[Worty]

Beware that Kwaka engine oil in the primary Worty. Our old clutches don't like the additives in modern oils as I'm sure you know.

Cheers Jools, but I thought it was ok because of the Kwaka running with a wet clutch.  I've run the bike for 500 miles with no issues, but I can change it to see if it makes a difference.  I know some of the guys use ATF (which is probably different), but I can go back to the 20/50 mineral quite easily (I think that was the original oil for the primary).

[berger]

worty there is a plate thickness on the forum , clutch plate thickness, take yours out and clean with petrol, as for the springs when i put two clutches together i had a box of mixed springs and all i can say is i had to buy new springs for the clutches after looking up the spring lengths , some of mine were too short out of the box of stuff.

[Joolstacho]

Worty, I'm no expert, but over many years there's been plenty of expert advice against using modern oils that contain 'friction additives' in PCs - products like Castrol GTX, probably most modern car oils.

[Black Sheep]

Tractor universal 10w-30 has no anti-slip additives, being suitable for oil-immersed brakes as well as turbocharged engines and hydraulics. It works for me.

[RichardL]

I rode it to Thai food for dinner. Does that count?

[CheeserBeezer]

I rode it to Thai food for dinner. Does that count?

of course!

[Catz]

I rode it to Thai food for dinner. Does that count?

of course!

OK then, put the front mudguard back on and topped up the gearbox with oil and discovered it was virtually dry 
so a job for the winter is to find and fix the oil leak.

[Worty]

Made a temporary 'adjustment' to the gearbox clutch lever.  The cable seems to have stretched out a bit since my nipple soldering excercise, so I've put another 'nipple' behind the original one to take up some play - has worked very well.  I've also tightened the clutch nuts two full turns each to see if it'll stop the clutch slip.  Clutch is still pretty light and gears engage well (centrestand test).  I always get a bit of a clunk on occasions - this bike likes the revs to be EXACTLY right otherwise it throws a hissy fit.  How far down do people screw the clutch nuts?  Even after a couple more turns in there seems to be a long way to go to the stud?

I also cleaned the plugs up and it fired up first kick - maybe a bit of stale petrol in the carb?

Straightened out the gear lever on the Kwaka after my 'incident' - all good.  I did wonder if a bash like that could damage the selectors in the gearbox.  It may be me but my brain is telling me that second is a little clunkier to select than before (although it was fine on my 100m run after the event).

Kwaka MoT tomorrow, no issues expected.  Paid the VED today at £121 - a friend of ours has a 2 litre diesel car at £30/year - there are some proper b*****ds in government.

[Worty]

Worty, I'm no expert, but over many years there's been plenty of expert advice against using modern oils that contain 'friction additives' in PCs - products like Castrol GTX, probably most modern car oils.

Cheers Jules, but there are no friction additives in this oil.  It's JASO MA2 formulated to run in bikes with wet clutches, so it should be fine.  Of course, normal car engine oil is a big no-no in the primary or wet clutch engines due to the anti-friction additives.

[berger]

panic panic o no urma yonda was a swine to start and a geeza is coming on saturday to take her off my hands  , after lots of try's she fired on a couple then all 4 . once warmed up and ticking over at about 1000rpm i had a thought    and sprayed wd 40 around the carb boots that i fitted new a few years ago. the tickover changed note and i found two boots pulling in air, once tightened up i let her go cold and tried again and she fired up easily. then i got the helmet on and pressed the starter and she was dead, i mean proper DEAD! i don't need this i shouted while the girly looked on. after a couple of minutes i found she was in first gear so tried again and she fired up. i got about 100yards and she was acting up and i had to pull in and she died, she wouldn't start and then loon here realised i hadn't turned the petrol back on    . i had a ride / thrash round and returned home just in time for the heavens to open up.after a sarnie and cupatee i started making brackets for betsy 2's indicators , because you know the yoooff of today don't know about us old geezas sticking an arm out to turn. thankyou for listening have a nice day bar is now open

[muskrat]

panic panic o no urma yonda was a swine to start and a geeza is coming on saturday to take her off my hands  , after lots of try's she fired on a couple then all 4 .

G'day Bergs.
"they all do that sir"
My 1100 doesn't like sitting unused for too long. Just like yours when she finally fires it's only on two cylinders for 10-15 seconds then cleans out. If she's been sitting for a month I pull the side cover off the airbox and give her a squirt of "Start Ya Bastard". Fires straight up on all four.
I put a Yamahahaha R6 starter clutch in her. No more whizzzz clunk when I hit the button.
Cheers

[berger]

musky the 1983 model i had in the 90's loved it's choke in cold weather but i'm glad i found the problem boots , a couple of winters ago i had the hair dryer firing into the air box and never gave the boots i fitted a second thought, but i must admit mine starts better if i run it a least once a week.