Atlas Questions

If you haven't made that pushrod adjustment and tried to get the angle of swing right (as I describe earlier) it would explain a lot, Vince. Loosen the clutch cable right off and use that adjustment to get max travel from your pushrod.

Re your chain, I'd be very wary of adjusting a chain on a long travel swingarm (or any swingarm fo that matter) without checking to see where the tight spot in the swing is and adjusting freeplay at full extension to compensate. You were probably putting a lot of strain on your chain and output gearbox shaft by having it too tight. I'd suggest using a tie down to pull the suspenders to the point where the chain run is longest (ie all three pivots lined up - rear axle, swingarm pivot and output shaft). Then work out how much freeplay you need at full extension and never adjust under that.
 
The chain and countershaft haven't been stressed, all the riding I have done is with the tyre hitting the muffler well before the chain got tight. It's only recently since I successfully shimmed the muffler clear and the wheel had full movement. I lived through the long travel era in the 1970s and all its issues. That Montesa I mentioned with the insanely hard clutch had another issue. When long rear travel first started, that's rear suspension movement over 130mm manufacturers didn't allow for huge changes in chain tension. They had swingarm pivots huge distances away from countershafts and that resulted in chain tensions changing from 20mm to 100mm during suspension movements. That Montesa was constantly losing its chain and knowing nothing back then we kept tightening it to try and stop that. It then on a ride hit a big bump and smashed its countershaft bearing right out of the crankcase. Just after that, they could buy an accessory spring-loaded chain tensioner that took all that movement away. That's why it took me 3 goes to adjust the Atlas chain, I am well aware of how much damage a tight chain can do. Once was enough to learn that lesson.
 
I tried that lower adjuster as it was, it took approx 1/5th of a turn to remove any play no effect, still cannot get neutral, then I backed off the bar adjuster and wound in the lower adjuster 2 or 4 turns to take up any play and again no effect, still cannot get neutral. So then I thought maybe it's binding on the pushrods after sitting around for ages so I tried some lube in a can on the end hoping it might wick in. That's where it's at for now. It's on its side stand so that slope might help wick some lube down those rods and ball bearings, I will check it in a few hours. BTW It's been ok when I first rode it getting neutral okish, somethings changed since it's done a few ks. The really odd thing is it worked great 2 days ago, but now it's gone bad again.
 
Well, I am getting neutral again, but it took a fair bit of tension on the bar adjuster, more than I like. A lot more than I like. Anyway, I give it a try for a while and see what happens. We have 3 or 4 days of predicted rain and after that, I really want to do a good solid test ride. My plan is out the back way to St Alban's pub via Spencer and back via The St Arbans Common and Wadigan Rd and The Old Rd Home. All up probably 200ks That has approx 50 or 60ks of very bad corrugated dirt so it should be a great test.
 
The sag measuring gadget turned up today and confirmed the bike has way too much sag. I measured it ages ago and found it had 16mm too much sag, not horrible as at least the seat was lower. That was because the wheel was being stopped by hitting the muffler, now with that clear the new sag is 90mm, it should be 67mm at 1/3 of the 200mm of full rear travel. That's close to half its travel has gone just with me sitting on it. So it's time to wind on more preload and that ain't happening just yet. So what do I discover, the preload adjusters are at the top of the shock. That's pretty unusual and to add to that there also very hard to get at. You might get 30 degrees of rotation if you're lucky avoiding the impossible to remove the airbox and crankcase breather. But the real pain in the arse is these adjustings Hex head 24mm nuts. I had nothing that fitted So I bought a $40 spanner, I got both nuts undone a bit but the spanner is too thick to turn one of these thin nuts alone. So tomorrow I will be grinding this spanner down so it's thin enough to work on one nut at a time. I wonder why Laverda decided Castilated Nuts used by every shock builder known to man wouldn't help. It would be heaps easier using a punch and hammer but that's a bit hard on a hex nut. BTW I rang 10 local pushbike shops and they have 17mm as their biggest thin spanner, even though I have bought a 32mm before. Nothing is ever easy.
 
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After some spanner surgery, it's going to be doable. It's going to take a little more trimming to get a 30-degree turn on the spanner but turning it over to use its 15-degree jaw offset won't allow the spanner to come out. 2 minutes more grinding and it's a goer. Now for some controversy and an oil comment. I was chatting to a firm advocate of Full Synthetic oil, been down that path before with my 3c with no issues but I have used Mineral Penrite MC4 20w50 in both my 3c after a full engine rebuild a while ago and I used the same in a very recent change in the Atlas. I didn't have any clutch slip issues when using Full Synthetic in my 3c, but I thought I would try it in the Atlas and see what effect it might have with that Cluch Drag and difficulty getting neutral. So I bought 4 litres of Full Synthetic Penrite MC4 20w50 and will see how it goes. The mineral was $65 from Repco and the Synthetic was $104, I better feel some effect at that cost increase.
 
32mm would have been a threaded bicycle headset spanner, Vince. have you considered that you could well need a stronger rear spring? Just the amount of sag you're getting indicates that a heavier one is on the cards. No way I'm starting an oil thread but Lee and I have run Mobil One in our SFs for yonks with zero pitfalls or clutch probs. Everything inside the motor looked pristine and lee reported the same in his road SF and his racer. I'm running the SFQ in on Penrite 20/50 mineral (fukn expensive!!) but I've already got two oil changes worth of Mobil One V-twin ready to go in.
 
It's more than likely it will need a stronger spring. That indication will be done by comparing free sag to loaded sag, after setting loaded sag you measure how much the bike settles just on its own weight and that should be around 25 to 30mm, a smaller number means the spring is too stiff a bigger number means its too soft. That will happen tomorrow, to be honest, I don't really want to go the full correct sag as that will result in a very high seat height so I need a compromise between seat height and no bottoming, BTW this hasn't included adding luggage load at all yet so that's another compromise. I know it sounds crazy but if full synthetic makes the clutch slipperier, eg reduced drag that could be a good thing, MAYBE. It's an experiment in Chemical Engineering. I love a good experiment.
 
Done but not fun, didnt matter what I ground off the spanner it would only come off on one side, filling it over to use its offset. The shock has a metal frame plate covering both sides and the airbox covering the back. So 1/4 of a turn with the spanner and then 1/4 of a turn with the mini needle nose vice-grips, 5000 turns later it's now close to max preload and that resulted in 72mm of loaded sag, it started at 90mm, the ideal is 67mm so it's pretty close now. Unladen sag is 20mm so that indicates the spring could be on the stiffer side of things, that looks pretty good. It's nicely balanced, pushing down on the footpeg has both ends moving at similar rates. It needs a test ride after I get some new glasses probably.
 
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Time for a slight modification, I have one of these BOLTED into the navigation tower, notice I wrote bolted.
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SW-Motech Phone / GPS Case Large

The weather proof GPS-Phone bag comes with a touch sensitive, transparent screen cover and an all around sealed zipper prevents moisture entry. $12 shipping.
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Thats a complicated double plate thing that makes it permanently installed and that's a bit of a pain as it also has the ability to use their T Lock mount, that's a 1/4 turn snap-in like a Phone mount Quad lock so it can then be removed and get its GPS phone programmed inside my house in comfort instead of standing beside the bike. Setting it up and plugging in the charging and ear plug cables can be a bit fiddly at 6am in the dark before a ride. I think it will work on my 3c as well, So with its built-in sun shade and waterproofness it's a great little gadget that's easy to plug into the big battery in the tank bages and charging plug on both bikes.
 
So after 30mm of rear ride height adjustment on the Atlas, up on the rear to set the sag and my nightmare ride up The Oxley on my 3c in the pitch dark with a very badly adjusted headlight I need to check the Atlas headlight alinement, never going through that shitfight again. Next Friday is the New Moon phase so that's going to happen in as dark a night as it gets.
 
It's going to be interesting to see, it's pretty bright in my shed. 55w60 according to the book. It has an easy access adjusting screw to it SHOULD be easy to do. With the Navigation tower bolted to the headlight surround windscreen changing the headlight angle, and the change in rear sag height plus I will load up the panniers as typically we only ride at night if stuff goes wrong on a big ride, Add all that in and I have no idea were that now has the headlight aimed.
 
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The alternative is to buy some of those lights that cyclists/mountain bikers now use that burn you eyeballs out when they ride towards you on the road.
 
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