A Lesson Learnt

[Colin SS90]

At a loose end I thought I'd check the valve clearances on my B40 as I'd not done them for a while. So off with the tank, top off carb and slide out for clearance to get inlet valve cover off, exhaust valve cover off. Up to TDC, inlet correct, exhaust a bit loose so adjusted. Put it all back together, put cover back over bike and wandered off to find something else to do.
A few weeks later needed to make a trip to see son, it was a decent day so I thought I'd use the B40. Tried to start it, not a splutter. Short of time so I took the Ducati, which started no problem.
The next day the investigation into the non starting B40 began. Decent spark, fuel flowed out when tickled, good compression, so should start, but wouldn't. All it did was to fire a couple of times then die. So suspected a carb blockage, carb off and the cause of non starting was evident, the needle had dropped out of the clip and had dropped into main jet cutting off the fuel. I then remembered my valve clearance checking and that I never started the bike after I put it back together, I must have dislodged the needle when reassembling the slide into the carb.
So the lesson to be learnt is - if it runs before you take it apart, check that it runs after you put it back together.