Atlas Questions

I drained the fuel tank again cleaned and dryer the outlets and slathered them with the Aircraft Grade Loctite petrol-resistant gasket goo, it comes with a built-in paint brush and looks like really sticky melted lickerish, added new O rings and coated what threads I can and will leave it for a day or so and add 5 litres of fuel and see if they weep again. I would love to go straight to its 25-litre capacity head but it is such a pain to drain all that if it doesn't work again. It's painful enough to do 3 times already. BTW I couldn't use really big washers under the spigot, not enough room for them.
 
When I drain the tank I just turn it up side down and pour the contents into a container via a large funnel. Doesn’t take very long.
admittedly, it takes a lot longer to get the tank off…
 
I just add a longer hose to one tap at a time turn it to reserve and drain it into a Jerry Can. More fuel for the mower. If the weeping is fixed and the tank bag turns up early next week I will attempt a longer test ride up The Old Rd midweek. I have gone and done it now.
 
Vince said:
I just add a longer hose to one tap at a time turn it to reserve and drain it into a Jerry Can. More fuel for the mower. If the weeping is fixed and the tank bag turns up early next week I will attempt a longer test ride up The Old Rd midweek. I have gone and done it now.
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Why not syphon the majority out before draining the last bit from the taps? Surely that‘s much quicker? I use one of the giggle type syphons these days, works quite well for me.
 
Mainly because since this tap weeping started happening I have refrained from filling it beyond 5 litres. I only have 2 x 20-litre Jerry cans to drain it into, one unmarked and the other with a big blue x painted on it for 2 stroke premix for my old Husky 2-banger. Both are now full of possibly contaminated Atlas fuel, remember the blocked tiny idle jets. I have a very clean 5-litre fuel container that gets fresh fuel every time I drain the Atlas tank. So much mower fuel and so much grass I better get at it. I am still adding that snake oil fuel system cleaner to the new fuel in the tank, the bike starts great and runs clean, and with the new tank bag getting here next week I am hopeful of a good 100k test ride on the local best bike ride road. That road has a link up for another 100k with a good section of fairly rough gravel. For the locals that's Old Rd to Wolombi, the back way to Spencer, the gravel starts west side of The Hawksberry past Wisemans to St Aubans, past the pub and The Common and back to Jerrys Cafe and home via the Pie in the sky. All up probably 200ks with a good 70 of pretty easy corrugated gravel, done it on my 3c. That's the next test track. it would be a great bit of suspension testing
 
Close but no cigar. The tank bag turned up but the thermos doesn't fit, The major selling point is the raised section in the base where it clears the fuel cap and hose but takes up enough space inside that my thermos won't fit, it misses by approx 20mm. So much for my scaled drawing, I didn't allow for that cavity to take up space inside the bag. I will just have to buy a 1.5-litre one for the Atlas and used the 2-litre one in my 3c. Other than that it fits the bike's fuel tank and looks great. Plenty of clearance to move my body about without snagging it. Good gadget, plus it will take my Phone GPS till the back-ordered and paid-for Mini Nav Tower turns up. This is where I want to get to.
 
Sounds like progress Vince. BTW, the cables are made I just need to get my hands on them and work out a cost for postage. The set of three cables is costing approx £45.
 
Vince said:
The tank bag turned up but the thermos doesn't fit ...
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I could say I told you so, but I'm not that mean. ;)
But I'm glad you're pleased with the bag apart from that one little hiccup.

I actually did a back of envelope sketch myself when you gave the dimensions of your thermos, and figured the only way it would fit would be if you stomped your thermos flat, folded it over and stomped on it again. :)

A smaller thermos shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience. On most rides around NSW, there should be plenty of opportunities to top it up during the day. At fuel stops for example. I know you like your water cold, but tap water is usually cooler than the ambient air temperature. At least it won't be warm, and it'll keep you hydrated.

I'd have thought 2 litres of water to be overkill anyway, unless you're pouring it over your head to cool off. I didn't know you could get thermos flasks that big until now.
 
On typical club rides on a long day, we do 200ks between fuel stops and rarely any other pull-ups. That's ok in normal weather, eg under 30c. When it's well over 30c that isn't enough stops to hydrate for me anyway. On hard-working trail rides, everybody uses a Camelback but I have gotten out of that habit. I did use one on that failed Atlas ride as I didn't have a tank bag then. I forgot how heavy 3 litres, I have the biggest water bladder you can get, of water on your back is. What I try and do is drink 2 cups of water out of the Thermus every chance I get, the very rare piss stops or even rarer regroups at intersections. Seems I always end up riding with head-down bum-up types who don't like stopping. BTW that Thermus actually went inside the tank bag but I couldn't zip it up without too much pressure on the zip, curved corners and that tank cap divit JUST took too much real estate.
 
They made a movie about it. You need to be a high-powered alpha to become an Astronaut but those types don't take rejection or failure well. So much for Physic evaluations, she obviously passed them right up to the Murder plot.
 
The tank bag is on, it took way longer than you might think. First go took up to much seat-fitting space, that Flippen seat has 2mm clearance in all its mounts. Loose that 2mm anywhere and it just won't fit or worst it looks mounted but isn't. That was the easy way to fit the 2 rear straps and that failed, an hour later they were done the hard way. Snaking those straps past the airbox was a pain. Fits really well you hardly notice it's there plus it allows really easy assess to the fuel cap.
 
Blimey, I didn't hear about that astronaut story. At least I don't remember it.

I don't have a lot of faith in psych evaluations. I had to do a psych test the first time I went to Antarctica. They don't want nutcases stuck on the Antarctic bases with no way to get rid of them until the next ship arrives. The psych test is supposed to weed them out, but a few fruitcakes still got through onto the Australian bases. I won't go into any individual details, but alcoholism was more common than you might expect, as were mental breakdowns. Threats of violence or murder were not unknown, and I'm aware of one suicide.

The psych test was conducted by the Australian Army and consisted of a written exam of about 200 questions with multiple choice answers, followed by an interview with a shrink. I remember that one of the questions on the exam paper struck me as funny and made me laugh. I don't remember what the question was about, but I think it was one of the multiple-choice answers that seemed hilarious to me at the time. Have you ever tried to supress a laugh in a quiet examination room with 100 other candidates wondering what the fuck you're sniggering at? The more you try to supress the laugh, the funnier the whole thing gets. It was a classic case of the giggle loop. The other candidates probably thought I was one of the looneys they were trying to exclude.
 
I made an attempt at a job down there as a Chippy, sometime in the late 1980s. They had a big development year. I baled halfway through the process. It would have been a life-changing gig. You save close to a full year's pay in one hit if you winter plus seeing stuff most never see.
 
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