Atlas Questions

Magnets can help if it's steel. BTW every suburb has an Optometrist and they have slit lamps and love doing this stuff as well. Guess how many times I have had shit in the eye in the building game. And that's always using eye protection, you would be nuts not to.
 
I have had more metal in my eyes over the years (pipewelder) than you could scoop up from the floor with a 2 litre dustpan, once was a surgery job under anaesthetic,(that eye is still affected) but mostly a bit of dye and pain killer if you are lucky, and fish it out, once was at the now closed eye hospital in maidstone (great shame) and I was duly waiting amongst others for regular clinic appointments, when this great big old matron lady comes out at the front of some 40 people (maybe) and calls "Mr Clemans" and I stand up and walk, she waits until I am clearly in view and then in a very loud voice says "this..... ladies and gentlemen is the welder who was not wearing safety goggles" oh the shame! no point in me stating that (this time) I was wearing the goggles and the frag got in through the anti mist air vent mushroom on the side! longest ten yard walk of my life
CLEM
 
I had a similar incident when using a die grinder: a particle bounced off my cheek, hit the inside of the face shield and ricocheted through the vent holes of my goggles and imbedded in my eye. So much for double protection! Actually it was triple, since I was also wearing safety glasses although they did not have the side shields on them.
 
I had a similar incident when using a die grinder: a particle bounced off my cheek, hit the inside of the face shield and ricocheted through the vent holes of my goggles and imbedded in my eye. So much for double protection! Actually it was triple, since I was also wearing safety glasses although they did not have the side shields on them.
If it hadn't done the roundabout path of ricochets it probably would have destroyed your eye.
The only night I have ever spent in hospital (since the birth bit) was after getting my eyes full of cubes of glass from a smashed safety-glass windscreen. Blindfolded all night so I wouldn't move my eyes. A thorough check at Perth hospital showed that the local doc at Busselton WA hospital had got it all out, even the bits almost behind my eyeball. Kangaroo at dusk.
An important thing learnt at fist aid courses is that if someone has a nasty item imbedded in one eye, they should be blindfolded and led to the clinic, because they use their good eye to see with and as both eyes move together (for most of us), the item in the other eye can do a lot of damage.
 
I have had more metal in my eyes over the years (pipewelder) than you could scoop up from the floor with a 2 litre dustpan, once was a surgery job under anaesthetic,(that eye is still affected) but mostly a bit of dye and pain killer if you are lucky, and fish it out, once was at the now closed eye hospital in maidstone (great shame) and I was duly waiting amongst others for regular clinic appointments, when this great big old matron lady comes out at the front of some 40 people (maybe) and calls "Mr Clemans" and I stand up and walk, she waits until I am clearly in view and then in a very loud voice says "this..... ladies and gentlemen is the welder who was not wearing safety goggles" oh the shame! no point in me stating that (this time) I was wearing the goggles and the frag got in through the anti mist air vent mushroom on the side! longest ten yard walk of my life
CLEM

Ha ha. I had a similar incident when I was a young bloke and had a urinary tract infection. The doc took a swab, put me on antibiotics, then said to come back in a couple of days to make sure I was on the right antibiotic for the particular bug I'd contracted. When I went back to the clinic, a loud-mouthed nurse yelled out across the room full of waiting patients, "Yes Mr Douglas, you're on the correct antibiotic. It was gonorrhoea."
 
Ha ha. I had a similar incident when I was a young bloke and had a urinary tract infection. The doc took a swab, put me on antibiotics, then said to come back in a couple of days to make sure I was on the right antibiotic for the particular bug I'd contracted. When I went back to the clinic, a loud-mouthed nurse yelled out across the room full of waiting patients, "Yes Mr Douglas, you're on the correct antibiotic. It was gonorrhoea."

I was in a sales meeting, sitting next to a colleague, Allan, that batted for the other side.

My boss got up in front of everyone to go through the monthly sales figures.

Before he started his garble, I said to Allan “Oh, this’ll be good, get me some tissues”

That’s when the boss looked over his glasses at me and said “ What did you say Chris?”

What could I do?

I replied “I said, No Allan I will not have sex with you after the meeting”
 
Just got back from by far the longest most successful test ride yet. The bike generally went great, with a few small issues. There is a big gruch when hitting speed bumps, the rear tyre is hitting the muffler. I don't think I can move the muffler over but will try so it might need a narrower rear tyre or muffler panel beating. And it pulls the throttle on a bit at full lock and when it's good and hot it idles at 1600 and needs a pull on the cable to come back to contact the idle adjuster. So it's binding on the throttle cable somewhere and that needs urgent attention. The floating single front brake is fantastic. It gets all gears even with some clutch drag, it steers pretty quickly and the riding position is like a comfy lounge chair, you could easily do big ks on this thing. It will need maybe 20mm bar risers as it's too low for comfortable riding while standing and that will affect the clutch and throttle cable lengths. I am really enjoying this gadget, better not start neglecting my 3c. It badly needs some carrying capacity, none of my Magnetic tank bags will work and I have no way to mount my phone GPS let alone charge it. I also want to add a slightly bigger windscreen and was thinking that will need some bracing and then I saw this, all my questions answered in one reasonably cheap gadget.
 
There is a vid halfway through that thread where the bloke adds a different screen to the pretty horrible solid ones that mini tower comes with. Happily, they sell them with and without their solid screen. I am hoping Hand Made Fiberglass bloke can make me a similar simple clear screen to suit. I am halfway through packing the muffler clear of the tyre. I just need a 10mm longer exhaust mount bolt to suit. I am also happy I added a whole bunch of stick-on heat protection tiles to the back of the plastic side cover as its now 10mm closer and touching in some spots the muffler. Easy fix. And Go Toby in The Dakar, it would be great to finish his career with a win and swap to a car next year.
 
I worked out what the issue is with the throttle cable. Routed perfectly it's exactly the right length, run past the speedo cable the wrong way takes up just enough length to pull the throttle cable 5mm and have the engine increase revs to a bit under 2k, not what you want doing a full lock turn into a tricky shed door. It's a typical throttle, you need to find the correct assembly progression to get enough cable play, mid assembly and I hear the dreaded TINK TINK. Dropped a tiny I think 4mm connection bolt that apparently disappeared into a crack in this reality never to be seen again. So it's another hour's drive tomorrow to the nuts and bolt shop, I am sweating its not some oddball thread type, eg Metric Fine. I need a bunch more Muffler spacing washers as well, 6mm wasn't enough but it's heading in the right direction. It's getting close to Ball pein hammer time.
 
I was shitting myself that the missing throttle connection bolt was Metric Fine which is very hard to get, Thankfully it is just a typical M4. Back to finalising the bike for a club ride tomorrow.
 
Well, that wasn't fun. I just spent 4hrs in my sweatbox trying to find out why I have a hanging throttle cable AGAIN. It was hanging up at full lock on the oil cool hoses so I rerooted it and lost a bolt 2 days ago. Got a replacement bolt and put it back together in a shorter way to the carb and got a much worse condition. Now its holding open way worse just like when I first got it. So I pulled the twist grip to bits and tried again still bad so with every small variation I could think of it came apart and back together about 50 times for 4 hours with no change. Start the bike and it reves to hell. There is a click happening as I loosen the switch block that holds the throttle tube and it returns to the idle stop, something is binding it open about 5mm and I cannot see where. There is a white plastic guide insert where the cable turns 90deg and I bet it's something there. Too bloody hot now so back at it tomorrow.
 
There is no such thing as a coincidence. The bike is doing exactly what it did when I first tried starting it, revving its arse off but I found that issue and fixed it then. The throttle cable stop at the carb had moved forward pulling the cable on a bit, so I undid the bolt and put it right and wrote at the time this is dangerous and needs watching and promptly forgot it. So it must be something I just did or so I thought and that's why I was concentrating on the throttle assembly. But having a hard think in the middle of the night why is this being repeated? I bet my left nut I know why. The throttle cable is stupidly short, it must be perfectly routed or on full lock turns it pulls the throttle on slightly, the clearance between the inner and outer is also stupidly tight, so tight the only way to fit the cable requires it to be attached both ends without the upper adjuster fitted and then you pull on the cable to full throttle get some slack up top and fit the slotted adjuster. And here is the issue and I bet Andy did the same thing, pulling on the cable also pulls on that cable stop that's bolted to the carb mount. That thing is bolted at 90 degrees and is 30mm long and with that leverage can and will move forward under the action of pulling the throttle if it's loose or snags on something or you pull hard enough from the correct cable length and holds the throttle on allowing the engine to rev out uncontrollably that's what I bet both me and Andy did fitting the cable. So if that bolt comes lose the same thing can happen all by itself, the choke cable on the other side of the carb has a similar connection But it has a pin as well as a bolt stopping any possible rotation on the mount. This throttle cable mount is beyond dumb and needs a fix before it bites me in a worse way. BTW this is a guess so I will check it tomorrow but it's way too similar to what happened before so I will see. With some more thought, just pulling on the twist grip won't cause this extra movement and uncontrolled over-rev, it needs the cable outer to be pulled HARD moving the bolt on cable stop, eg snagged as you turn the bars to full lock so it's not as dangerous while just riding about thankfully. But it's happened twice while doing carby work so it's worth knowing about.
 
Last edited:
Bought a car once, the first time I gave it some serious herbs, the bloody thing wouldn’t slow down. Luckily it was in first gear and managed to turn the ignition off.

The carby return spring was mounted in such a way that at almost full throttle the lever would go overcentre and lock carby fully open.

Fucken dangerous set up!
 
Sounds like you could do with a slightly longer throttle cable Vince. I'm guessing it's not the double-action type (erroneously called pull-push).

I used to make up my own cables but haven't done it for a number of years because it was getting harder to buy the cable inner and outer by the metre. But now there are places selling "make your own" cable kits, like this mob.

I6 metres of cable will be enough to make a heap of throttle cables. So you can afford to bugger it up a few times before you get it right. :)
I've got all the tools if you want to borrow them. Solder pot, cable cutters, birdcaging tool, etc.

If you don't like the idea of cutting and soldering your own cables, maybe scout around a few Japanese bikes with a measuring tape next time you're at an event where a lot of bikes are parked.
 
Last edited:
The previous owner who now has another Atlas Andy is getting a full set of cables made for me 40mm longer as I am getting some bar risers. Soldering isn't my thing. Thanks anyway.
 
I just found out why I cannot get consistent throttle cable adjustment. There is a metal bracket that bolts to the carb mount that acts as a cable stop and I keep finding it has moved forward about 4 or 5mm allowing the butterfly to also move and have the bike rev really high at idle. Its a 3mm piece of bent sheet steel with a captured nut welded to it. Because of the shape of the carb it will only take a 35mm M8 alan bolt and it felt fine when tightening it but the slightest push will pivot it and the first half of the nut is pretty close to stripped so you cannot really give it much welly. Its not exactly shaped like new either, hope I can find a replacement or maybe get it welded up and redrill and tap the hole.
 
Last edited:
I just found out why I cannot get consistent throttle cable adjustment. There is a metal bracket that bolts to the carb mount that acts as a cable stop and I keep finding it has moved forward about 4 or 5mm allowing the butterfly to also move and have the bike rev really high at idle. Its a 3mm piece of bent sheet steel with a captured nut welded to it. Because of the shape of the carb it will only take a 35mm M8 alan bolt and it felt fine when tightening it but the slightest push will pivot it and the first half of the nut is pretty close to stripped so you cannot really give it much welly. Its not exactly shaped like new either, hope I can find a replacement or maybe get it welded up and redrill and tap the hole.
Why not post a photo, you'll get ten million opinions on how to fix it!

cheers,

bazzee
 
I had a visit from a Motorcycle collector today, he dabbles in Engineering Complete Analog manufacture of assembly mechanisms. Very clever boy. This pain in the arse gadget has a bracing leg off the carby that stops it rotating one way and said bloke is adding another bracing leg to stop it rotating on its fixing bolt the other way plus repairing the flogged-out thread. And hopefully, that will end this painful design flaw and give me precise throttle control far into the future. I hope he and his partner in collecting have a pleasant 1500k return trip on Sunday picking up another project for his collection.
 
So it’s as likely as not that the ‘over-revving’ Clem and I experienced was down to the throttle cable issue more than a sucking in air issue from the old inlet manifolds. Hopefully the issue will shortly be fully resolved and the bike will behave itself in the future. However, your analysis of the issue is without doubt of assistance to other Atlas owners suffering issues with the set up of the ‘car carb’ on their bike.
 
Back
Top