Idiot v. Motorbikes, Rounds 3, 4, and 5

[melville]

So now I know what state the last valve adjustment was in when it was interrupted in 1985. PO had de-torqued the left cylinder head.

Two of the nuts moved at 10 ft-lbs and they all moved at 20 ft-lbs. The valves needed readjusting, of course, and I checked the other side where all the nuts were tight, thankfully. Both valves on the right side had tightened up a tiny bit in the 3 minutes it's been running but no big deal.

I cleaned up the oily spots and will be watching for further trouble.

[melville]

OK, here's the 20 mile report:

OMG! I like this thing! Power power power smooth smooth smooth comfortable comfortable comfortable

I had my younger son follow along on Edgar in case there was a massive failure out there. His SV650 is not suitable for a grown man to pillion on.

Getting ready:



At a roadworks, he pulled alongside and said, "Something round fell off back there." Took us a second:



I think the oil leak is solved. My son says there's some smoke out the left pipe. I was running it up and down the rev range in 2nd and 3rd gear for the most part. Lots of pull. There will be some more test 'n' tune and a ride to DMV to get proper Oregon title and registration in the next couple weeks.

It most certainly needs more than a single 38mm ATE disc up front! But even this ad hoc setup is stronger than the 40mm setup on Edgar, so I should probably spend some time fettling that, too.

My head is in the air, but it's clean air. Quieter than the Lufty on Edgar. There will be some time getting used to how this one moves underneath me, but I think we're starting to gel.

[melville]

OK, today is the 50 mile report. Out 'n' about on mostly backroads but with five miles on I-5 included where I was ein Linksfahrer winding it out a bit. This RS is a calm happy thing in the left lane on the slab!

Running well and when I got back home I did a carb sync. Idle was right-dominant and off idle was left-dominant. Corrected.

Then I pulled the plugs and carbs and did a compression check. 140 psi on the left eventually rising to 145. 145 psi on the right eventually rising to 150. I'm downright tickled.

There was a little oil on my left boot after the first ride but that may have been the stuff I couldn't clean off. There doesn't appear to be any new oil on my boot today. Regardless, I'm not wearing my nice boots until I'm sure.

[SteveD]

...
My head is in the air, but it's clean air. Quieter than the Lufty on Edgar.

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That's good. It makes all the difference.

[melville]

Another 50 miles today, after a quick valve clearance check. One exhaust had tightened up to .007"

Ergonomics need some fine tuning. I got some of it handled by resetting the pillion pegs further away from the pilot pegs. Things were particularly tight on the right side. I'm generally on the balls of my feet when I ride. It's the comfortable spot on a bicycle, too.

I also want to pivot the hand controls down a bit, but they're bumping into something. I can get the movement I want by moving the whole bar just a tad and will do that the next time I have the tank off. The issue here is I'm moving my wrist just a bit to operate the clutch lever. Again, a bicycle thing--I always set up hand controls on a mountain bike to work without having to reposition the hand(s).

In other news the mirrors adjust easily and when I'm wearing my slim Alpinestars jacket more than half the mirror shows the road behind. This may not be the case with the Aerostich.

No new oil on my boot. With the recent carb sync, it pulls smoothly from 2K rpm in every gear. Still needs that second disc up front!

I expect to ride Elsa another tank and 1/2 and then she comes apart for chassis beautification, brake and fork rebuilds, and maybe another vintage chassis mod or two.

[melville]

My pillion and I found a lot of wind noise coming off the top of the windshield. I found that if I scootched down a little, I'd be in a dead quiet spot. Nothing I could hold for any time without giving myself sore shoulders or back, but clearly things weren't far off. I asked Craig Hansen if there was any trick from BITD to make the Luftmeister quiet, like a bolt-on lip or something. He couldn't think of anything, but said, "There's a place in Florida, Gustafsson Plastics, that makes new shields. They probably don't cover this model, but it's worth a shot." I looked them up and not only did they cover the model, but they listed the shields in many heights. They're not in stock, but they can make them in about a week + shipping. I ordered the tallest one figuring I could cut it down if it was too much. It arrived today:





The shield comes undrilled. They include a special drill bit and a sample piece to test it on. I worked out the speed and feed pretty quick. Slow drill speed and just a bit of pressure gets you a beautiful hole. I marked the first hole (the center one) and drilled it off the bike. I installed the screen loosely with that screw and then worked my way out, actually drilling mounted up, and installing screws loosely until all were drilled and screwed. Then I tightened things down. The end result:



That's not a crack above and to the right of the headlight, but a break in the foam gasket 'twixt screen and fairing. Road test to come this weekend.

The windscreen has proved to be an ongoing folly. Soon after I installed the 26" windscreen I took a ride to the top of Siskiyou Summit and there was such a backdraft behind the screen that this poor little guy got trapped in the center of the fairing on the shelf below the screen:



In trying to get him out so he could fly free I managed to drop Edgar on his right side (GRRRR) and then picking the bike up managed to put a crack in the screen (double GRRRR). The crack started from the top right screw and was progressing down and toward the middle. I thought it would be a good idea to do a stop-drilling and put the bit at the end of the crack, but the crack went all the way down before I was even done drilling the hole (triple GRRRR):



Yes, I also see now that I probably overtightened the screws on that install. I have a 'don't like stuff to fall off' bias in my wrenching. Oh, the flutterby did survive, so all that was not for nothing.

So I reinstalled the OG 22" screen and lived with noisy air at the helmet all summer and fall. After a 1000 mile weekend including an Airheads campout in NorCal I levered Edgar onto his centerstand in the garage without making adequate allowance for the bicycle hanging from the ceiling and just snapped the screen right off:



Quadruple GRRRR! So with the benefit of some time behind that 26" screen where I learned it was too high for me anyway as I was looking through it and not over it I ordered a 24" unit from Gustafsson and installed it:



Here's a closer shot of the nylon fender washers I used:



I'm hopeful this one works. A quick test sit and I'm mostly looking over it but may end up trimming it 1/2" or so. It may be a bit before I get out to see how it fares as there's a buncha weather coming this next week or so. But it is time to get back to Pillion Auditions!

[melville]

Oh, it's been a bit! We actually had a bit of a winter this year. In fact, there was fresh snow at 5000' last night so I'm not riding in the mountains quite yet. But I am getting to finishing the current pillion audition--I quite like the gal and my spare gear almost fits her. We'll get out soon to see if she should be getting her own gear. So far, we've just bimbled in first gear around her farm on Edgar.

Waiting six months to work on Elsa meant a fresh battery to replace the nine-year old one that had done time on both Ernst and Edgar. It seems that even if the RS clock isn't moving, it's still draining the battery. I figured it was also time to change the break-in oil to the regular stuff and for new gear oil in all the places gear oil goes. I got out for 20ish smooth and happy RS miles to get things up to temperature for the draining.

First, my parking plinth is telling me a story:



It may be the rear main seal, possibly a pushrod seal or two, or even the pan gasket. I'll be retorquing the pan when it cools down. The others can wait for the full disassembly and bling-a-thon.

The fluids came out without drama. The trans oil looked pretty good for 35 years of moist storage:



There's also a leaking fork seal, so I'll be doing that more sooner than later. RS tubes are exposed to grit and stuff and living on the coast all her life didn't help:



I do have some extra fork stanchions to go in. I'm curious about the Sport Pac settings and will try to carry them over with the rebuild. I will also probably use full gaiters as I've yet to see any damage like this on a gaitered bike.

[Airbear]

... But I am getting to finishing the current pillion audition--I quite like the gal and my spare gear almost fits her.
...

It is Spring in the "Up Over" hemisphere, when a young man's fancy turns to auditioning a new pillion. So romantic - well done, Mel.

[melville]

I got fresh Michelins for Edgar as I'm taking him to Montana in June and with 5K miles on them, last year's Michelins wouldn't have made it there and back. But they definitely have enough life left in them to go on Elsa once the wheels are ready (Elsa is borrowing the /6 spoked wheels from Ernst presently) so I had the tire people (Hansen's) take the 1983 tires off Elsa's wheels. Today I started the wheel bling-a-thon with some disassembly. And we're off!

Ugh. Grubby!



Craig Hansen says this disc is done. The groove on the inner diameter of the friction surface is on both sides. You can feel the taper as you run your fingers over it. I'm curious and a little fearful about the caliper:



The fronts look good and I'll be reusing those.

After dealing with hubs that needed heat to disassemble and assemble on Ernst and Edgar it was kinda relaxing to just set up the puller and pull stuff (steel sleeve on both wheels):



I'm a little concerned about how little grease there was in there, both on the OG rear wheel and the recall front wheel. The internals have had just a wipedown with a paper towel. No solvent yet:



But it looks like 15K miles isn't enough to hurt things. I'll get a better look after I really clean things, but I think I can reuse all the bearings:



I'm kinda seeing some witness marks and kinda not. We'll see what's there after a proper solvent cleaning.

Next steps are to de-crustify the wheels and get them to the powdercoat people.

[melville]

... But I am getting to finishing the current pillion audition--I quite like the gal and my spare gear almost fits her.
...

It is Spring in the "Up Over" hemisphere, when a young man's fancy turns to auditioning a new pillion. So romantic - well done, Mel.

I like this one. She's nervous about getting on the bike but seems reassured by all the gear that I have for her. BITD, her father took her all over Los Angeles with a helmet and little else for gear.