So Close!...
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Just a question mainly directed to some of the older peeps! (Tho not exclusively) Did road salt during the ‘winter’ used to be so prolific and so much of a problem? I don’t remember it ever being an issue 25 years ago! Maybe it was youthful ignorance but I don’t remember any rust damage from road salt back then? Then again, the country never ground to a halt because of six inches of snow back then, did it?…
The last two’winters’ (I want to call them wet seasons!
) have done quite a number to my little old bike 
I’ve really noticed it since given it a clean up… -
@SpookDog Well, if you had a Lancia it was rusting even in the hot climates.
I certainly think they are salting more now than ever. But whenever I use my bikes in the winter the one thing I do as soon as I get in is PTFE the exhaust and clean it off.
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Damn! I keep on having troubles getting my headstock bearings right! . The smallest adjustment means the steering is ‘wobbly’ unless I go through the whole resettling process. I’m starting to wonder if my headstock & bottom yoke are true or not…
I really need a half decent bike stand that’ll let me remove the front end, or the rear swing arm, without having to order from Germany and pay import dues cause it’s over £130 odd!
Any recommendations that are based on personal usage would be appreciated…I was trying to find this in the UK
But not having any luck
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@SpookDog Easiest way is a MX bike stand which are also pretty excellent for chain adjustment, gearbox oil level, tyre changes etc. I always use this, then put a car axle stand underneath the boat anchor stock exhaust header pipe to raise the front but with your RH pipe you might prefer to get an assistant to push down on the seat whilst you adjust the headstock bearings:
Only thing you might want to do is cover where the bike sits with something to avoid trashing the frame tubes. I used old tyres on mine chopped up and pop riveted on, the carcass is pretty tough and what's left of the tread blocks grips the frame quite well even during one of my full scrub with degreaser/wallow in WD40 episodes.
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If you say that they’re usable for removing either the rear or front wheels, then that’s good enough for me
I can’t keep on balancing it on a bucket of old cement and bricks while ‘fine tuning’ it with a trolley jack (to stop it sliding off!)
It looks like I could fit some threaded J hook/bolts to clamp onto the foot pegs and hold it steady…Cheers bud!…
PS do you know of a motorcycle engineer locally that can check the true of a crank? Also TIG welding ally casings would be nice
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@SpookDog No worries
Not sure about crankcase repairs locally but Badfoot Customs on Mark PastyfacedlittleFuckerbergbook do some good work, I've seen them make good some vintage Maico cases which have been badly repaired previously and stuff like that.G. Arnold Motorcycles in Khyber Road in Poole have a good reputation, he does wheelbuilding and two-stroke rebores so probably has the equipment to check a crankshaft although I've never used him myself. 01202 747405. Failing that PJME or Grampian Motors in Liverpool, not local but they've been at it for years
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Cheers! It’s a shame that there are no reputable-prominent workshops within screaming distance! 🥴
I’m getting kinda tired of living in a world that is in a state of constant decline.
It’s scary, all the insects have nearly disappeared already, ladybugs, ants, grasshoppers, wood bugs! Not to mention the pollinators! Bees, butterflies,ect…
It’s like the planet died and no-one told me!
Oh well. Keep Calm, ect
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Does anyone else have dodgy speed cameras near you? I have 2 villages near me that have ‘flashy signs’ that say I’m doing 31-32mph, when my speedo says I’m doing 40! If I carry on down the road for a few hundred metres at the same speed I get a speeding ticket for doing 37mph! WTF?
Which speed camera do you trust? The one you can see, or the one that bills you?!…Not only that (where I live) they’ve started putting mobile speed traps just between leaving the 30mph zone and the point 100-150metres down the road where it changes to 40mph! (This is 3-400metresfrom an existing camera!!!) Just where you’d speed up. It’s a money trap! So fukin wrong. I’m not pissed cause I got my third ticket for doing 36mph. I’m pissed off because it’s so obviously a money maker they’ve done it twice in the last week!
If it was an accident spot or a speeding problem I’d at least try to understand, but it so isn’t!…Is this happening everywhere else in the uk?…
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@SpookDog Sorry this has happened to you buddy, Dorset Police are notorious for mobile greed cameras and have been in the national press due to some of their locations actually putting the operators' lives at risk (would you want to spend an 8 hour shift sat in a van on a busy flyover?).
There's been a lot of activity on the Badbury Rings road lately, 2 short signposts installed under the trees and currently covered with bin bags. Lots of people speculating whether they're new cameras, speed limit repeater signs (possibly reducing the limit between Tarrant Keyneston and Kingston Lacy) etc.
Also Tarrant Keyneston is where that person put a sign outside their house saying "your speeding is your intention to murder" or some such twaddle. Certain types of people might be tempted to floor it past his house repeatedly, meaning he could end up being indirectly responsible for the death of one of his neighbours. It's not there any more, hope the police made him take it down. Civilian Gestapo can be very immature, the man obviously has a need to give everyone around him a state-sponsored kick in the bollocks.
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I was wondering what the two posts were for. There’s already a box on a post that I’ve no clue about, what’s another two?!
I got my work stand today, it works perfectly for my needs, both wheels off the ground, cheers geezer! … -
My front end still has a wobble/weeve at between 20-30mph. It’s very noticeable and only been happening since I adjusted the headstock bearings to eliminate the ‘click’ (dropping off curbs-forks free-falling, extending) that I always thought was caused by the old forks and worn bottom bushes. The click has gone but the weave has started. It feels like it used to when I had a badly notched top bearing/race. I guess I’m gonna have to strip it down again and check the top tapered bearing and race that I replaced the old worn one with…
Oh well 🥴 -
I actually think I’m gonna go back to round bearings on the top race. The only reason I changed to tapered was because the original was shot. I think the round ones might be easier to adjust to a finer degree than the tapered ones…
If anyone has any kind of definitive opinion, please feel free to chime in … -
Turns out it’s the bottom bearing that’s notchy. I don’t have a seal under the bearings. Anyone know the dimensions?
As it turns out I ordered a new bearing a couple days ago but didn’t know the size of the bottom seal!…Trials and tribulations! (whatever they are!)…
EDIT Don’t matter, 35 x 55 taper bearing seal…
I never realised how impossible it is to set the headstock bearings when there is weight on them. With the bike off the ground and the forks removed I can really tell how much difference just tightening the top nut does to compress the bearings! I think I’ve got them set ok now, at least till the new bottom taper bearings and seal turns up!…
Wish me luck, please!… -
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I’m going to be doing electrolysis on my petrol tank in the very near future. Just wondering if anyone has done it before? Should be fun
wondering if I can put POR15 straight onto the metal after, or whether it’ll still need to be ‘etched’I’m guessing that surface area will be king when it comes to the sacrificial anode? Any ideas what to use? Those old steel combs?…
A length of old shock spring?
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I’m gonna give this electrolysis thing a good go on other parts as well. Old nuts & bolts, engine mount plates, gear lever, clutch cable mount, ect. Then try blueing them myself after to rust proof them. I don’t know why I’ve never though of it before. I did blueing at school but can’t remember if you need special oil…
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