I am seriously thinking that I should fit that seat bolts from the inside, just above the rear wheel. That has a lot of advantages. It will only need to screw in about 1/3 of its length, staying in that position will still allow the seat to lift off and that will require a washer and nylon on the outside. That might be helpful, maybe.
Atlas Questions
- Thread starter Vince
- Start date
I am all set for a test ride to see if the rear tyre clears the new rear mudguard and muffler, the speedo is fixed and the cardboard wind deflector duct taped to the windscreen reduces wind noise over 80kph, but I might avoid Saturday. The predicted weather is hot westerly winds and 44c, even on the coast of Sydney. No good riding weather.
This wind deflector and the harder 3C Nitron Shock spring turned up today and I fitted the Wind Deflector. Even with this Vidio, assembly was not simple. It's really well made, I hope it removes the wind sound over 80KPH. BTW why would you call a part Mushroom shaped, all 6 of the bits in the bag are Mushroom-shaped, so why not just say PART NUMBER 3? It took some head-scratching but it finally made sense.
Well, I braved the heat and finally did a 30-minute test ride up the local expressway. I usually don't pull the waterproof liner out of my mesh jacket as it's a complicated pain to refit it, I usually unzip it and fold it back but we have a bit of predicted HOT weather till Christmas so better out than in so to speak. So the Speedo finally works, I am still getting tyre contact with either the muffler or rear guard but that's with fully loaded panniers and jumping huge speed bumps at a bit over 60kph, I can live with that. And the new wind defector on the headlight screen works pretty well. Not exactly mouse quiet but considerably better than without it. A couple of new issues occurred, in the Lane Cove tunnel I turned the headlight on and it has a 10mm gap at its top that reflects light back towards me blinding my ability to see the speedo. It had duct tape but it was tatty so I pulled it, replacement is an easy fix Helpful to see the speedo as all the tunnels here have speed cameras, the result of Fuckwits trying to do 200 kph through the tunnel under Sydney Harbour when it first opened. The other issue is either a bog or flat spot in the carb just off idle mainly noticeable in the lower gears, you need to feather the clutch more than I like to get a smooth clean move-off from stopped, its either carb or chain snatch, it's hard to tell between both or either. And the usual getting neutral at traffic lights, I went through 13 sets of traffic lights and only managed to get neutral without stopping the engine ONCE and that caught me by surprise. It was such a shock and so easy I nearly stalled the bike. I am pretty happy with the result, it's becoming a comfy reliable cruiser that I really like riding.
So 2 easy tests to try in eliminating this Bog or flat spot off idle are trying a little choke to see if it's running lean and after that winding off the actuator for the Accelerator Pump to zero squrt. Not a real fan of this has proved a bust on other dirt bikes, Neutering the bike with a big fist full of Throttle. It's really easy to do or undo and from Piet's mate who has tuned a lot of Atlas,s it's a good idea to improve its running. Plus it might improve the MPG as well. I did a completely bodgy MPG test on the full day's ride I did a couple of months back in September that showed pretty excessive fuel consumption, the Speedo had died so I estimated the range off Google Maps. Not too accurate for sure. Just checked my suck it and see incredibly inaccurate MPG from back in September at 43mpg. Closer to 50 would be nice.
a14rgs
Hero member
- Location
- Wiltshire, UK
Vince, FWIW, my Series 3 Atlas would consistently do 400km on a full tank before it hit Reserve - this might be a handy comparison for you.
hooksey
Hero member
- Location
- Vic , Australia
Time to add an Auxillary tank Vince........
Not a chance there is an easy fix other than those stackable red ones like Marty used on his round Oz ride. Years ago there was nothing made but every buggar and their uncle now make multiple-sized soft fuel bladers, they even hold a funnel for filling. My arse hurts just thinking about that.
Andy
Hero member
- Location
- Auckland, roughly
You might be doing it wrong
Reunited Chris
Senior member
- Location
- Sydney
Try using it in the tank Vince, you can't fill your bladder from your arse, it's exhaust only.
No actual bike news but an addition to Technical. I acquired a new phone and as I use it for GPS and Music I was excited to see how it would go mounted on the bars of my 3c and Atlas. It's considerably bigger than my old Dinasaus and will need a 90-degree charging connection to fit in its mounting box. But there is one major issue, some time back the geniuses decided to delete 3.5mm headphone plugs from newer phones so that was a spanner in the works as I use Silicon moulded earbuds with audio speakers built in to reduce wind noise and hear the audio. It took some thinking but I have a cunning plan and for a change it might actually work, I found a gadget that will connect via Bluetooth to take audio from the phone, this gadget has 3.5mm plug for the earbuds, so I will put this gadget in my jacket pocket and plug into it. Hopefully, it's stereo and has good sound quality. A lot of early Bluetooth was pretty horrible sound-wise. This gadget only costs $19 including postage. Add in a plastic bag for waterproofing and I think it's a goer.
I deactivated the accelerator pump today. It has an adjuster bolt under the carb that has a 6mm nylon that's really easy to get at, 90 seconds to do this and reversible if not good, half a dozen turns and it's not squirting. The bike still starts on choke really easily and after warming up revs cleanly from idle. Now the odd bit, I tried to get neutral with the engine running and it happened really easily and 6 or 7 times in a row. I did turn the idle up a touch to stop it from stalling after adjusting the carb pump to not work, why that has made getting neutral better makes no sense. So hopefully getting neutral is better when stopped at traffic lights and the slight bog off idle has gone as well, and I won't need to dip the clutch when using 1st gear constantly.
chrisk
Hero member
- Location
- Brisbane, Australia
Funny thing Chris, a mate was telling me that he was caught by his wife, wanking at the vinegar stroke. He got such a shock, he swore everything went backwards for a while.
Tippie
Hero member
- Location
- Dr?bak, Norway
Modern cars get en electronic fault the computer cannot fix = car into crusher. Boat techo said it is a nightmare now with everything digital in marine environment. Bikes in their outdoor environment?
Besides that, I am super happy to have these old bikes without this sent from heaven tech.
Besides that, I am super happy to have these old bikes without this sent from heaven tech.
The Sock
Hero member
- Location
- London, England
With you, on that, Tippie!
How many of the components used on Bret's "Safe bike" are subject to failure. How safe is the bike when they do fail?
I'm not saying they're not useful to some but, to me, they're closing on sitting in a booth "virtually" riding your bike.
That, like computer games, has absolutely no appeal, for me.
I'll keep on keeping it real, which my Laverda has allowed me to for 69% of my life, so far.
It's the visceral thrill, which it provides in spades, that keeps me riding it.
"Rider Aids", like kicky-ball, religion and golf, are not for me.
How many of the components used on Bret's "Safe bike" are subject to failure. How safe is the bike when they do fail?
I'm not saying they're not useful to some but, to me, they're closing on sitting in a booth "virtually" riding your bike.
That, like computer games, has absolutely no appeal, for me.
I'll keep on keeping it real, which my Laverda has allowed me to for 69% of my life, so far.
It's the visceral thrill, which it provides in spades, that keeps me riding it.
"Rider Aids", like kicky-ball, religion and golf, are not for me.
Apparently it saves you from crashing, so if that's the case you need to override modern bikes well past the safe zone and use the tech to keep you upright. He actually says in the vid when he trains riders it's with the tech turned off to evaluate their ability. That must mean there are a lot of new Ham-Fisted riders who didn't need to learn where their limits are and are constantly being saved by the tech. A mate was telling me about his group's yearly ride to Mt Pina- something or other in the Victorian Alps, a remote spot that took a fuel dump to ride to. One of the hill climbs has I forget what model but some modern bike failing after multiple tries with multiple riders, I have ridden with some and they are pretty good riders, way better than me. The issue was they would get to a point and Traction Control would cut in and neuter the bike. And there was no manual override. I don't think I like the idea of being so far out there close to the limit I need tech intervention to save my arse. Seems a bit wing and a prayer to me.
Tippie
Hero member
- Location
- Dr?bak, Norway
When a trail bike has basically an over 200hp engine from it's road supersport cousin, they need all the help they can get. Even the supersport cousin needs it. Just gotta have it.