now that i have fitted a main stand and its working i can get on and put things back together;
i have made a cover for the 'toolbox' and have an oil tank thats been painted
i wanted the main stand there as i dont like leaving bikes on under frame lifts. no reason just dont.
the rear wheel needs to come out along with the muddie to swap the oil tank. the one that came with it left a little to be desired. be able to fit the 'toolbox' at the same time.
i've made a tiddly cover for the battery side. it will mount just behind the battery - a 12 volt thingy to go with the new (not to me) boyer.
got another carb guaranteed to be the dogs danglies and a 3" turn out silencer .
then its that dreaded start. the guy that i got it off regularly (apparently) rode it round his yard. why should i disbelieve him?
started it this mornibg. tank and 'toolbox' all put on. what a faff. dismantle half the bike just to swap the tank. worth it though.
will fiddle with the exhaust and silencer tomoeeow lf i get over today
well after the unresolved issue with the wheel from yesterday i set about the exhaust today.
having taken advice from on here i have bought some clear silicone.
took exhaust off easily.
cleaned up all the joints. lot of carbon in the head but 2 jaycloths later it was good as new. slipped the roses on and reassemblrd.
had a 3" turn out silencer that looked and fitteb quite nicely. hung it from the pillion footrest hole.
have made a stainless heat shield but not fitted it as i thought i had jubilee clips of that size but they weren't.
put the battery carrier and bits on this morning. so thats that. havent connected the battery as i have one or to or more issues with the wiring
Hi Bob,
I like the individuality of your bike.
Dave.
that is basically how i bought it. really its just standard with no side panels
Looks nice, bob. I don't like those original sidepanels even. I threw them off 30 year's ago.
Bike looks nice
the side panels make it look like a ballerina in swan lake with hobnail boots and an overcoat on. in my humble opinion
;D ;D ;D That's for sure....
swapped the headlight shrouds (god i didnt like them) for a set of stainless norton dominator ones. look far less cumbersome (to me) and fitted the shortened front brake cable too. all in all a good morning was had by all
Hik,
I notice quite a convoluted route for the clutch cable. How does it feel at the lever?
Dave.
thats how it came to me. how would you route it? i am always open in improvements
might have been done for looks. i think the bike was a half hearted attempt at a bobber that failed;
it go along the top tube then drops down behind the air filter. its a little heavy but not having much experience of them and being used to ironhead sportsters its not that bad.
i've had sportsters with clutches that needed 4 shreaded wheat for brekkie.
i've just googled some pic of these bikes and i see how the cable usually routes.. or flops into its own comfort zone.
it wouldn't have been done because of the crossover exhausts on mine?
just squinting at the pics and how the cable lies in them i'm guessing cable and left exhaust pipe are going to squabble for the same space at some point without a restaining order on the cable
opinions and ideas gladly recieved
Hi Bob,
Try taking the cable from under the tank and let it run down the left side of the cylinders in a natural curve to the back of timing cover. This should give the smoothest line and easiest pull. Obviously it must not touch the exhaust pipe so check on full lock in both directions. Cable tidies can be used to help get the best run and not have it flapping about.
A10s have a similar cable run. Pic. shows my wife's plunger A10 with a cable tidy loop on one of the cylinder base studs and the clutch is very easy to pull.
Dave.
yes, thats how i saw it when i googled it. i am sure the left hand pipe will cross over and join up with the right pipe right in that area.
i will give it a go and see just how close it falls to the left pipe but i think its gonna be close especially when turning to the left but maybe it wont.
i have lubed all the cables with that extra slippy molybneninimiummy stuff
i have a gentlrman coming over on saturday that has way more knowledge than me of the a65 genre. he may have a answer... or not
ok so i re routed (?) the clutch cable like we said.
to me as, it hangs, its way too close to that exhaust pipe. especially as its swinging free when braking and turning.
i suppose it could be bracketed to hold it in place but it might end up a dogs dinner knowing my adeptness with a big hammer
another optino is a longer cable if thet're availible but that is just bodging.
what i have done is, instead of it turning down behind the air filter. it now curves down from where the rocker cover ends and runs past the carb before turning under the carb.
that has taken the more acute bends in the cable. they are now smooooth parabolas.
i'll let it run and see what happens but i wouldnt be able to sleep at night with it that close to the exhaust
Hi Bob,
Try running it behind the yolk and loosely hold it with some wire/cable tie to one of the cylinder base studs and see how that sits.
Dave.
my adjustments have resulted in a much easier action.
whilst i understand why your way is the most ideal way there is still going to be a bend whether its in front of or behind the yoke.
as i have set it now i dont think theres much diference in how the cable is lying on the bike. 'my way' is just 'your way' but at 90 degrees to each other.
i will take a photo of how it now runs from top tube to clutch. instead of it running along the top of the crankcase and curving in toward the clutch it just runs down in a gentle curve and then curves off to the clutch,
the only tight (ish curve is up at the yokes just one curves down and one curves into the tank tunnel.
i am in the process of thinking about this. it might take me a while but things are whirring
so heres the pics.
thinking about it. i need to try another clutch on another bike. when i did the swap round i tried it and noticed no appreciable difference with the action to what i've done now.
there seems to be a few schools of thought about routing the clutch cable according to those i've asked,
still inquiring
just a quickie. tidied up the bare forks left by taking off the shrouds and putting on the dominator b rackets. it left it a tad untidy so did these spacers out of a bit of tubing i had lying around. luckily it was 38mm same as the bracket body
That's a good one bob, this looks beter if you don't use the shrouds. Good idea. 8)
Gr gup
behind an ugly duckling theres always a swan
Did your pipes fit well. I bought some recently and they were a struggle to fit, the only bracket was miles out from the frame bracket and so I cable tied it on as a test. First kick and the compression pushed the pipes strait out of the head. I've gone back to my high level pipes.
the pipes were 'on' when i got the bike . they were loose jn the head. i had the off to put the roses on. bit of a faff getting them back on with only two hands. the mounting is a little way back but lined up quite nicely.
i did put a bit of a twist in the bracket to get a bit of backward push in the manifolds but didnt have any real trouble. bit fiddly getting the shorty left side in and seating properly. i loosely fitted the right side in the manifolld along with the left in to its mount.
then got my long suffering missus to hold it there as i pushed in and aligned the mid bracket and slipped in the bolt. didnt tighten it up too much.
then i got the front 3 in situ and tightened the front joint.
it was then just doing up the mid bracket bolt to hold it all in place.
i did find if everything at the front wasnt lined up right there was a bit of tension at that mid bracket. a few taps with a rubber hammer and it all went perfick
when i was a little biddy boy
my grandad had a great big toy
its funny how you remember things from way back when.
one of my first memories of motorcycles was when i was about six. my grandad would take me out round the lanes where we lived. there weren't ant cars only an occasional tractor and two horses constituted a traffic jam.
i think he forgot i was there sometimes. the hedges were a blur and the noisey exhaust was deafening but bloody good fun.
there wasnt much room on the back and he'd tied a bit of that orange bailer twine to the back for me to hang on to..and hang on i did.
anyway as time went by and i looked at other bikes i saw an amazing thing. a loop of shiney metal on the back for the poor sod on the back to grag on to
my thoughts often went back to that white bsa and the twine that saved my life. breaking out in a cold sweat i vfowed that if i ever owned a bsa i would put a grab rail on it and guess what? yep thats what ive done.
its a modern triumph t120 grabby mounted on the seat loop with norton (commando i think) grab rail clips holding a bit of stainless with strategically placed holes.
i was surprised that the modern rail was as close as damn it the same width of the loop on the frame. think i used 2 thin washers on each mounting bolt just to take up what slack there was.
think i might might do a bracket across the the mudguard mountings just to be belt and braces. luckily i had the forethought to align the back holes of the grab rail so its a straight line with those muddle brackets . that should make it easy
couldn't get my head round that bakelite (?) steering damper knob. it had to go or at least a makeover.
so having a bit of nice billet lying around i set to work
et voila. hopefully blends in with everything and made from offcuts
Looks great, specially on your bike. Far better than the original one.
anything was better than the original one. i'd like to meet the person that designed some of this stuff
I think a very old man with a cup of tea, designed on Friday 16:30, just for the weekend ;D 8)
he probably did it to see if he get it done before the kettle boiled.
its not just bsa that has this design vacuum to my mind. i think the mantra was 'cheaper and nastier means a bonus'.
just haven't been able to live with the untidiness of the battery area.
i could have gone with a smaller new fangled agm thingy in cannery yeller but no, i didnt like that..call me old fashioned
so after many sleepless night, prescription tranquilisers and empty vimto bottles it was decided.....side panels were the way to go
i didnt want them but couldn't think of a viable alternative (DONT suggest anything, they are already made so its too late)
a lot of banging and crashing was to be heard and finally i became a father of two lovely twins. just got to get matching rompers and we're away
Nice job!
its amazing what a pair of pliars and a hammer (BIG) can do isn't it
side panels are ready. just waiting for the nylon inner spacers. i have attempted to make them look a bit worn but not too raggedy. i hate putting bright and shiny on an old bike. stands out like i sore thumb. a few flaws gives it character. the decal (oops i mean transfer) on the battery side looks like its had one too many creme de menthes but when mounted its straight uppy downy. my frame has a couple of nafarious lumps of weld so i had to do a bit of artistic licence just in case it was there for a reason. hopefully this will put my ocd to rest with the sticky outy battery.
you will also note the first fitting of the rubber grommet for the oil tank filler, gives it a bit of a finished look
here, ladies and gentlemen, we have a 'you plonker rodney (read bob)' whatta mistaka ta maka.
somewhere between the bike marking up the vertical and the shed i got my marks mixed up. i had put centre marks on the tapes to give me the general area then did another two marks when i offered it up on the bike.
i should have and normally would have indicated the two marks i was going to go by....but i didnt.
so back in the shed in a chemical induced state i must have mixed up my marks. measure twice apply once i ignored.
so decal (oops!! transfer) applied and tack ragged down i proceeded to put on the top coat. didnt notice error
left it for 8 hours,wet n dried it and cut it with Tcut professional. looked nice. didnt notice error
took piccys and put them up on here but again didnt notice error
this morning went out and offered it up to the mountings. NOTICED THE ERROR...DAMN FLIP AND OOPS!! (or similar words)
so please ignore the above piccy of battery side.
i have just finished whipping myself with stinging nettles and am preparing a re appraisal of the
decal (oops! transfer) positioning/
will be measuring twice, maybe three, times this morning
watch this space DOH!! (as homer, my hero, would say)
lets try that again shall we?
heres the battery side panel
theres a lesson to be learnt here but i with i knew what it was.
the marks were only about 3mm apart but by mixing them up it completely threw it right out of killick
oh well alls well that ends well
got the side panels fitted. bit scary but they went on with no fettling (no hammer needed). both sides are done but could only take a photo of one side as it was too close to the wall to allow my artistic impressionism to show through...either that or i was too tired to move the bike.
i think they look good
just started on the last thing i'm going to do.
i've started making some stainless shrouds to replace those gawd aweful gaiter things.
have used a set of used original (?) shrouds. cut them down and inserted them into some stainless tubes.
bit of a faff getting them in but after a bit of fettling and the use of the oven and deep freezer the almost went in a treat. the stainless was heated to 240 degrees and the originals were chilled to flippin' cold.
then with my trusty hammer and a bit of 3x2 pine it went in with minimal persuasion.
i am relying on the fact that global warming wont get up to 240 degrees otherwise they'll come apart
missus wasnt too happy about the use of the oven but i made her a cuppa and distracted her with some
interesting chat of what i did in the summer holidays. she was sweet.
sorry the pic is poor but it really is dark at dinner time here