Wednesday 28 January 2015

Typical Converstion

In the past it has been like this.

Someone Else: So how far have you ridden?
M: 40,000 km? ish? I think?
SE: Wow. Any problems with the bike?
M: No, nothing to speak of.

Of course, that may or may not be entirely true.

So far it has been mostly true. Apart from the general service things there haven't really been many problems. But all good things must come to an end.

There are so many things wrong with the Tranny at the moment I don't really know where to begin.

The light stuff. The vaguely comical stuff. Like the indicator which keeps falling off.


Or the way the windscreen is held on.


Actually, same goes for all the fairings. There are only 2 or 3 screws left in it


And then there is the part of the wiring loom sat in my tank bag rather than plugged in to whatever it's meant to be plugged in to.

Or the speedo, fixed in Bangkok and lasted for a whole 48 hours before breaking again. It has sort of come back to life now but stubbornly refuses to admit that speeds greater than 4mph actually exist.

And the alarm which seems to go off out of loneliness.

Then there are the things which are a more of a big deal, perhaps a slightly bigger job, but not the end of the world (yet).

Like the rear tyre. Quite apart from it being second hand and ignoring the fact that I know absolutely nothing about who had it before me it has been doing ok. Except it doesn't match the front tyre. And slightly more serious is that it is completely the wrong size. It really has no business being anywhere near that wheel.

The rear cylinder is running very lean, quite possibly due to the worn inlet rubbers. But it may also be a carb problem. Not really sure.


And the clutch is on the way out. Not sure how long it is going to last.

And finally there are the problems which actually are a big deal.

Like this.


First thought is that it's petrol. But it doesn't look or feel like petrol. It's oil. And I have no idea where it's coming from. Christmas day was spent taking everything apart in a futile attempt to find the source. If anyone can tell me how oil can leak out of a carb I would love to know.

And yesterday I found this.


That's not meant to be there. Thankfully it's in the rear section of the exhaust but, well, the exhaust is made entirely of rust. I don't really want to take it apart. I think there is another hole somewhere around the front downpipe clamp but not really sure right now.

Staying with the exhaust the bolt which holds the rear section on to the subframe has vanished somewhere along the way. But I can't replace it because the exhaust has now collapsed and deformed under its own weight and heat.


Also, I'm not entirely sure but I think the rear suspension is leaking.

I've spent the last couple of days back in Sunny cycles doing a big service. Mostly general stuff. We replaced some rubber things which may or may not have been causing that oil leak.


And we macGyvered the front exhaust clamp (turned out it was rotten all the way through). Haven't done anything about the hole in the rear section.


But the really bad discovery was that there is some fairly significant wear to the counter shaft, not really visible in the picture.


The counter shaft is the bit of the gearbox which sticks out through the engine casing and attaches to the front sprocket. It's not a massively expensive part to replace but it is the first thing to go into the engine during construction therefore it is the last thing to come out. The only way to replace it is to completely strip down the engine and gearbox.

SE: So how far have you ridden?
M: About 40,000km.
SE: And no major problems with the bike?
M: Uhhhh......