Atlas Questions

Lead from the top, sounds a bit like Moto Gp. It's getting a bit like Robot racing. Program versus Probram. Probably a bit unfair as I still love to watch it and their skill has a huge impact. From THAT video a few posts back on this probably deserves its own thread as it has a huge impact on all of Motorcycling from recent history onward. As John was saying future maintenance will be 100% problematic with chips controlling everything. To Andy's point, how often have you been absolutely blown away by someone on a modern bike and wondered how they do THAT? Some do ride like idiots, one memorable occasion had 2 of us on Laverdas and the car holding us up with this idiot on a modern 4-valve Ducati passed all of us, sure he has heaps of power to do it but around a blind 35k single lane corner. If that car wasn't there we could have gone faster but none of us had predictive X-ray vision or some kind of Radar that sees through rock or steel.
 
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Andy said:
I suppose it helps more riders to live and learn. I wonder if anyone I’ve lost would still be here if they had been able to ride (or drive) a modern machine. Or if they would have gone even faster!
Click to expand...

A very interesting point, but on contemplation, a lot of dead blokes I knew before their deaths, were riding, what were at the time, modern bikes.

I went across a bridge recently where a mate died on his near new Mach 4. I’ll never forget his mother’s outpouring of grief. Nor the awesome sound the Mach 4 made at full song. He was one crazy bugger!

RIP Pete.
 
When a bike does the 1/4 in 10s and hits 230kph in the process, there is still gonna be danger, with all the rider aids ever invented. Same as any big bike back in the day doing it in 13s at 170kph - every time you twist the throttle and loosen the reins, if something gets in your way all you can do is engage what you and the bike have to offer to keep yourself alive. Fast descending on a bicycle on a mountain road with drop-offs littered with big trees can be pretty fukn edgy too. It's all relative.
 
I finally managed to get a quick test ride around the block to see what effect removing all Accelerator pumps squirt had on the slight bog just off idle, just when you need smooth bike response it would hesitate just enough to think stall imminent, not fun on a very tall bike. Typically it's either too much or not enough, there are thousands of mods done to FCR Kehians on Dirtbikes to adjust this back before FI took over. Before I left there was one annoying problem I wanted to look at, quite a lot of drag coming from the problematic speedo drive, not good going forward but lots worse going backward. The bike is hard enough paddling around with the tall seat without it feeling like the brakes are part on. The only fix left as replacement isn't happening is a really good full pump of grease, that worked okish. It's better but it's still there more than I like. So back to the accelerator pump mod, its night and day better. Opening the throttle fast or slow, it doesn't matter. Just nice smooth acceleration and that = traction off-road. It's still a powder puff below 4k, it loves and needs revs to work well but it's a smooth powder puff that's much more pleasant to ride. Highly recommended modification as it's really easy to do or undo if you don't like the result. BTW without the loaded panniers, there was no tyre rub so that's also a win. One issue its having is the foam Grip Puppy on the Throttle side is slipping even with a couple of cable ties on it. It's such a pain in the arse as I love running them but slipping is a 100% deal breaker and this is the 3rd set I have tried, the first 2 ripped apart being fitted. This set are supposed to fit 25mm Harly Bars, 22mm ones are too tight and 25mm are too loose. The bike has a balance shaft so not much vibration, probably bin the idea.
 
I found the best way to fit them was with an airline and a narrow nozzled gun, Vince.
Gently work the nozzle round and round inside the 22mm Grip Puppy, while applying pressure to help it creep its way into place.

Grip Puppy Gun.jpg
 
Good tip, It's bloody odd as I have the exact same Oxford Heated grips and foam puppies on my 3c all to suit 22mm bars, not easy but nowhere as hard as this attempt and yet I am struggling to do the same on the Atlas. I hate failing at this stuff so I guess it's 4th time lucky with maybe some help with my compressor and airline, I have used Dishwashing liquid as well so I guess it's the kitchen sink and compressed air.
 
I finally managed to get a standard-sized, for 22mm bars Grip Puppy on over my Oxford Heated grips on the 3rd attempt without splitting them. A mate made a gadget, some shiny stainless tube with an external diameter of 32mm tapering to 37mm and a hollow end that fitted just over the end of the heated grips. I slid the Grip Puppy on using Dish Washing detergent and left it overnight to stretch, the next day it popped over the Oxford Grips nice and smoothly and now it is nice and spungy with zero slip.
 
I have a much nicer stronger tool bag I used on my modern Husky that I am trying to replace the pretty crapy one used on the Atlas. The RUB is it uses 4x 6mm bolts to hold it to the rear guard but here is THE RUB. It's mounted into a 50mm deep x 120 x120mm depression set into the rear guard, which allows a much bigger bag to fit under the luggage rack come plate gadget, the really dumb bit is there is no drain hole in this dog bowl-like depression so guess what 30 years of rain has those non-gal bolts plus it has the tool and bag sitting in 50mm of water as well. Cannot use heat and typically the bolts are 20mm too long so it has taken approximately 2 hours of pure grunt to undo the nuts. BTW the new bag is held on by a separate plastic plate you bolt on and together they connect with velcro allowing the bag and tools to move to the work spot. Thats going in with Stainless fixings and a drain hole. The new bag to twice as thick as the old bag plus it has a YKK zipper that is also 100% better.
 
No cigar, the better quality bag just doesn't fit. The original bag is 260 x 250, the better bag strangely enough measures 280mm and won't fit. Probably as most decent tools themselves measure 280mm or 10 inches. Anyway, I made a piece of 3mm aluminium to line the base and bolt through the rear guard and hopefully avoiding the bag ripping apart, one interesting discovery is the rear 2 tool bag fixing bolts also go through the lower steel brace that supports the rear mudguard overhang. I also bought some 4mm button-headed stainless bolts that will replace the who knows what as they rusted so bad you cannot tell what the fixings are that hold the mesh shroud to either side of the petrol tank.
 
Vince said:
No cigar, the better quality bag just doesn't fit. The original bag is 260 x 250, the better bag strangely enough measures 280mm and won't fit. Probably as most decent tools themselves measure 280mm or 10 inches. Anyway, I made a piece of 3mm aluminium to line the base and bolt through the rear guard and hopefully avoiding the bag ripping apart, one interesting discovery is the rear 2 tool bag fixing bolts also go through the lower steel brace that supports the rear mudguard overhang. I also bought some 4mm button-headed stainless bolts that will replace the who knows what as they rusted so bad you cannot tell what the fixings are that hold the mesh shroud to either side of the petrol tank.
Click to expand...

I moved a DR650 that had a Safari tank. It had brass M6 threads inlaid in the plastic for tank bags, crutch bag etc. Suitably impressed.
 
They do need extreme care, having one of these embedded nuts spin and leak is a giant pain. Guess how I know, It's best to leave the radiator shoulds permanently attached to the tank on my Husky. You can still pull the tank but it removes that leak risk if you don't touch the shrouds.
 
I tried to replace the rusty shroud mesh fixing with stainless button heads and nilocs today in situ, to lazy to spend the 4hrs to put the bodywork off to just do that. Managed to do 2 out of the 12 and gave up, any more intense wrist bending would impact my love life. The next time the fuel tank needs to come off I will do the rest of them. So I decided a little bondage might help. For months it's been taking 2 goes to get down to 1st gear on my 3c, When stopping at lights it won't get past 2nd gear without a tiny lifting of the gear lever and then going down to 1st. It's been like that for months since I broke the selector spring, and tried a few times to adjust the eccentric. My bet is the C needs to be raised a hair to engage with the pin on the gear selector. I think the adjustment is maxed out so I will try grinding a mil or 2 off the lip on the C so it slips past the pin easier. The bondage bit is the rope as a safety as there is a 20mm block under one centre stand leg so I don't lose all the oil doing this gear adjustment. Hope I finally fix it as it's been pissing me off for about 6 months.
 
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Well, that didnt go too well. Club ride to Eatern Creek for the Barry. Pull the Atlas out and zero interest in starting. So I bump start it down the big hill in front of my place and it fires, for 200m and dies again. So I try again for a bump and nada. I am geared up and it's pretty warm and humid. I notice as I turn to walk home to get the trailer that the parker light is on with the key out and the steering locked, why would it do that? So I put the key back in and wiggle it and it starts and idles fine. So I ride it home and it's perfectly ok. Mmm, give it another try, bike seems fine till I get midway through the Lane Cove Tunnel and it dies again. Fuck me not again in this tunnel. I make it to the brake-down area, notice the emergency phone ring and have a chat. Anyway, it starts again and I make it out of the tunnel and head home the long way, no more tunnels today. It stops a couple more times before getting it home. My take is an intermittent dead short in the keyed ignition switch, It's pretty loose and wiggly plus it's a known issue for Atlass. I just bought a replacement from a weaker in Queensland
Quote from the Owners Forum.

components​

  • Ignition switch​

    The original ignition switch could break down everywhere and every time, at rest at a petrol station, during a ride in the middle of african nowhere (all experienced) ...:
    ​
    • electric base plate falls off: switch breaks into parts.
    • If the upper plastic cylinder has some play, the screws holding together metal body and upper tube are already broken and the remaining 2 rivets will come loose soon: switch breaks into parts.
    • longitudinal crack in the upper plastic tube lets water, dust etc enter.
    Before breaking down on the road, you may replace the italian crap by a standard Yamaha ignition switch (used part, € 16,-).
    ​

    The Yamaha one can easily be fitted, has a full metall housing, is half the weight and length, and looks so much more discrete:
    • there are two versions: one with and one without steering lock. Get the one with the lock (e.g. Yamaha TZR 125 4DL/4FL or Yamaha XJ 900)
      ​
      ​
    • use only original Yamaha switches (2nd hand): cheap after-market switches are made from plastics
    • contrary to the original one, the Yamaha switch can be opened and cleaned
    • the Yamaha switch fits plug&play with both fixation holes made a little bit wider (hand drilling machine, see pictures on the right)
    • the four-wire electric cabeling corresponds to the Atlas:

      cable connection Laverda switch:
      keypositioncable 1cable 2
      parkredbrown (2x)
      lock--
      off--
      onredyellow-black
      yellowbrown (2x)
 
Vince said:
Well, that didnt go too well. Club ride to Eatern Creek for the Barry. Pull the Atlas out and zero interest in starting. So I bump start it down the big hill in front of my place and it fires, for 200m and dies again. So I try again for a bump and nada. I am geared up and it's pretty warm and humid. I notice as I turn to walk home to get the trailer that the parker light is on with the key out and the steering locked, why would it do that? So I put the key back in and wiggle it and it starts and idles fine. So I ride it home and it's perfectly ok. Mmm, give it another try, bike seems fine till I get midway through the Lane Cove Tunnel and it dies again. Fuck me not again in this tunnel. I make it to the brake-down area, notice the emergency phone ring and have a chat. Anyway, it starts again and I make it out of the tunnel and head home the long way, no more tunnels today. It stops a couple more times before getting it home. My take is an intermittent dead short in the keyed ignition switch, It's pretty loose and wiggly plus it's a known issue for Atlass. I just bought a replacement from a weaker in Queensland
Quote from the Owners Forum.

components​

  • Ignition switch​

    The original ignition switch could break down everywhere and every time, at rest at a petrol station, during a ride in the middle of african nowhere (all experienced) ...:
    ​
    • electric base plate falls off: switch breaks into parts.
    • If the upper plastic cylinder has some play, the screws holding together metal body and upper tube are already broken and the remaining 2 rivets will come loose soon: switch breaks into parts.
    • longitudinal crack in the upper plastic tube lets water, dust etc enter.
    Before breaking down on the road, you may replace the italian crap by a standard Yamaha ignition switch (used part, € 16,-).
    ​

    The Yamaha one can easily be fitted, has a full metall housing, is half the weight and length, and looks so much more discrete:
    • there are two versions: one with and one without steering lock. Get the one with the lock (e.g. Yamaha TZR 125 4DL/4FL or Yamaha XJ 900)
      ​
      ​
    • use only original Yamaha switches (2nd hand): cheap after-market switches are made from plastics
    • contrary to the original one, the Yamaha switch can be opened and cleaned
    • the Yamaha switch fits plug&play with both fixation holes made a little bit wider (hand drilling machine, see pictures on the right)
    • the four-wire electric cabeling corresponds to the Atlas:

      cable connection Laverda switch:
      keypositioncable 1cable 2
      parkredbrown (2x)
      lock--
      off--
      onredyellow-black
      yellowbrown (2x)
Click to expand...
All you need to do once you've diagnosed the fault is to pull the wires from the switch, put red and brown together and keep going.
Paul
 
Well access is very limited, they have the oil cooler mounted around there behind the headlight as well. I finally discovered you can unbolt the headlight, and take the nut off both blinkers and that allows the headlight shroud to be pulled out and down so you can get at this switch and the horn, these mounts hold multiple bits on with one fixing. The headlight shroud also covers the oil cooler. The original keyed switch is approx 50mm tall with its wiring down below that.
 
The XJ900 Yamaha Ignition switch I bought doesn't have a key with it. I bet it also doesn't have a visible number to order a key as well. I hear locksmiths can make one but it's a pain I could have done without. Found a local Locksmith who will cut a key for $27.50 for every 15 minutes of work, hopefully, it's a simple job as they have the blanks.
 
2nd hand from a wreaker in Queensland, they're all gone like the Do Do in Sydney. And I was happy to get it. It was the only original one for sale in Oz, plenty of new knockoffs of the same fitment from you know where but they are all plastic. The original ones are metal and you can pull them apart for cleaning. I just hope that the locksmith comes through for a cheap couple of keys and it fixes this intermittent fault.
 
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