Re: What did you do to or for or with your Laverda today?

Grant said:
Should have lubed it with hydraulic fluid, in a hydraulic hose...  8)

And eventually not getting where I intended to go.
No way.

Hydraulic clutches and electronic ignitions feed the bank accounts of psychiatrists but dont do much for motorcyling.

Paul
 
Have to disagree with you, just for a change.
Neither hydraulic clutch or electronic ignition have ever stranded me, but a few snapped clutch cables tried their best.
 
Had a fine run out on the SF. Lovely weather in Derbyshire. Matlock (home town) is heaving with bikes of course. No Laverdas though.

Got home and decided to rearrange bikes as I've decided to give my blue SF1 a rest this summer (got 3 bikes to ride....enough for one summer..)

Whilst doing so, I noticed a crack developing in it's RHS "Jota" style silencer.

Soooooooo anyone got a useable RHS "Jota" silencer lying around? Doesn't have to be immaculate, can even have the odd dent (the current one does). But must be sensible price / cheap.

I'm quite happy to get it welded....let's put it that way :-)

PM me please?

Will also post this is the "Wanted" section.



 
Started her up.  Didn't want Mrs 3cl driving off to the frozen north with my tools leaving me with a dead bike- the RGS has Sat for some 12 weeks unused, doubt if the engine turned over twice before bursting into life :D
 
Went for a ride this morning in dreary rainy (unseasonal - even put the leather coat on instead of synthetic) windy conditions. Of course this means the wildlife will be out in force particularly on the back roads I usually start on.......... So first flock of Plovers I come to one commits hari kari and veers straight back in front of me hitting the fairing just beside the headlight. As I keep going I can see daylight through a small hole in the fairing >:D A bit later a Pee wee does the same but just misses. 2 minutes on and a roo jumps across the road in front of me (near miss) and a bit further on a roo is lying on the road looks to have been freshly hit by a car. Things just started to not feel right so thought, bugger this, off home..........To top it off coming around the road is wet and some bastard has slashed the grass on a decent corner and wet grass was all over the road >:D 
Anyway up shot is a couple of cracks at the front of the fairing and looks like the jolt has caused a major crack between one wing and top part. The Fairing did need some work anyway but still.........gives me the shits.
Cracks are longer than the pics show and top scar has a hole right through.
Fairing%20Cracks.jpg

Fairing%20cracks%202.jpg
 
Seemed to have solved the popping and spitting on the race bike.
After double checking that I had a decent earth to the frame and starting the bike a couple of times, I noticed that one cyclinder was nearly cold explaining the popping and flames from the exhaust.

Before getting complicated, I changed the plugs, first on the cold cylinder. Problem apprently gone.
I did finish my last outing on one cylinder.
The plugs in the head were the ones put in by Gijs van Dijk when he rebuilt the engine. Champion 4 grade. I replaced them with a pair of NGK Iridium 8 grade.
Looking it up on the net, I was very surprised to find that the equivalent of Champion 4 is NGK 7. Seems very warm to me for such a highly strung engine.

Will try and do the parade lap at Francorchamps on Saturday evening before taking the machine out in earnest at the Trofeo Rosso mid July.

Paul
 
Did a rally yesterday with a local classic and vintage bike club. A rally in honour of Vespasian who invented the urinal, very useful to motorcyclists and unfortunately disapearing from french scenery!

An enjoyable ride on the SF2 through french and belgian Flanders with a very pleasant lunch to cap it.

A few pics of notable bikes on the outing, particularly french machines. Don't forget that France was the worlds n?1 bike manufacturer until the brits took over in the 20s.

The most beautiful machine for me was the Puch enduro. A look at details reveal a true competition machine. It was ridden by a spritely 83 year old. A charming man who must have an impressive collection of motorcycles in his cellar.
The works double OHC 250 Mondial in Sammy Millers museum comes from his cellar.

Ciao
Paul
 

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Rode the RGS1200 up to Inverness from the Borders today, a total of 280km.  Blimey it's fast.  And small.  Well, compared to a fully loaded 1100GS anyhow.  ::) Stoating run through Glenshee and over the Lecht road to the Spey valley in glorious sunshine. The colours in the scenery and the sky were almost tropical in their intensity.  Marvellous.  :D
 
Reggie3cl said:
Rode the RGS1200 up to Inverness from the Borders today, a total of 280km.  Blimey it's fast.  And small.  Well, compared to a fully loaded 1100GS anyhow.  ::) Stoating run through Glenshee and over the Lecht road to the Spey valley in glorious sunshine. The colours in the scenery and the sky were almost tropical in their intensity.  Marvellous.  :D

Scotland in midsummer :-) Is there anywhere better in the whole wide world?

Mind you, Derbyshire & the Peak are pretty nice tonight.

Shooting today. Wifey bloody beat me!!

She did win the whole shoot though.

H.
 
That reminds me!

'Mummy mummy, why is daddy zig zagging across the lawn'?
'Shut up and keep pulling the trigger'.

When a certain member of a shooting club died his buddies at the club had this inscribed on his headstone:
Sadly missed
 
Ha ha, yes, well it is a bit dull today, but there is work to be done, so no problem.  And Laverdakeith will be here this evening so it'll be ale, pies and a dram this evening to look forward to. :D
 
Went out for the first run on the newly built 76 Jota !! It all went well loved every minute of it, out again tomorrow I hope. :)
 
Just retightened the exhaust system (again). It must be retightened for every 1000kms. Even bolts won't get hot has thread locker glue on them but still it happens.

I also retightened the rear swing arm and rear shocks, about 1000kms ago I changed the rear swing arm bearings and Marzocchi Strada shocks. I think SFC 1000 needs those bearings greased at least every year or even several times a year if rided more than just a littlebit. The swing arm axle needs to be loosened when greasing. It has a nipple for greasing.
 
Did nothing with any Laverda, but I fired up my new shed heating appliance so I can work on Laverdas during the depths of winter. Yes - transparent attempt to stay on topic.

First effort resulted in a shed full of foul-smelling smoke because I hadn't cleaned the paint off the old gas cylinder that forms the heat exchanger part, which is most of the surface area of the thing. That's when Russ turned up, just as I was choking on burning paint fumes. He reckoned he could smell it before he arrived and thought there was something wrong with his vehicle  :D

I let it cool down, scrubbed off the remaining paint with a sanding disk, then fired it up again. The dome of the (freshly cleaned of paint) gas cylinder started to turn blue and I thought "ooh, it's getting warm". 5 minutes later the whole thing had turned blue. 15 minutes after that the dome of the gas cylinder started glowing red. By that time the thermometer in the shed was nudging 31?C and I had to retreat from the shed and find somewhere cooler. It was about 10?C outside at the time, which was a welcome relief.

I can't take credit for the basic design. The "rocket wood stove" is well established (google it if you're interested), but I've supercharged it with the addition of a feed pipe that drip-feeds old sump oil to the hottest part of the combustion chamber. When I open the oil valve it really starts cranking out the BTUs. It's still a bit of an experimental contraption, and I need to refine the oil feed control, but it certainly has potential and is more than enough to heat my (un-insulated) tin 54m2 shed.

I've attached a few photos. I didn't take a photo when the dome was glowing red. I was busy trying to escape the heat!
 

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