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

It's all too easy to ground the primary chain adjuster lock nut, and the sidestand seems to sit a lot lower than the nut so I would recommend being careful on left handers until you ascertain if/when it decks out.
 
2volts said:
Rob,

It's a fine line between patina and scruffy.
I was happy riding an original but lots of patina bike for a while but ultimately I got sick of riding a scruffy bike.

Then there were things I wanted to do to it that required engine out and a bare frame and I only wanted to do that once.

pete
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Hi Pete, shiny is good. Come for a ride down when you get it back on the road. Also Northcliffe end of March
 
I treated the Mighty Mirage to fresh brake fluid today.  Where we live, Winter has seemingly decided to skip us this year.  In a hand full of weeks I'll be riding again.  :D
 
Heads up Pete, from my own experience, that side stand bracket on your 3c is going to be very limiting in left-handers. Many years ago I had a very similar set-up, a royal PIA ditched it and made do with the center-stand for 20+ years until I got the Bushman's set up (perfect).
Just saying, Dave.
 
Good point Dave. At least it'll protect the primary adjuster nut from being torn out therefor not leaving a trail of oil for me to loose the front end under brakes slowing for the car park of the Mundaring Weir Pub :D Lucky for you that left hander wasn't too far from the pub otherwise you'd be replacing more than just the primary cover :o
 
motoddrob, hey mate at least we made it to the Weir pub for the last call, your arrival was memorable spectacular, Cheers. The scariest part of the evening was the drive from the Weir to home in Lesmurdie with Jim (local Kalamunda hoon) thoroughly intoxicated driving his Holden ute with my 3C in the back and Jim doing his best Jim Fitzpatrick impersonation (Bathurst 500 winner)Still we made it to the Parky- Weir run the next weekend, deadication eh! 
 
motoddrob said:
Good point Dave. At least it'll protect the primary adjuster nut from being torn out therefor not leaving a trail of oil for me to loose the front end under brakes slowing for the car park of the Mundaring Weir Pub :D Lucky for you that left hander wasn't too far from the pub otherwise you'd be replacing more than just the primary cover :o
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Never heard about that one, Rob. Sounds ... innaresting! Plenty of bumps on that road to test the ground clearance!
 
A float needle/seat was leaking on one of the Mikunis.  I pulled the drain plug on the offending carb float bowl and fired a few bursts of 90 psi air through the fuel line.  Apparently that did the trick; no sign of fuel in the overflow tube now.  Plug back in, turn on the taps and she fired up at the touch of the button!
At this point I need to fit some mirrors on the old girl, fill the tank, then we're ready for a new riding season.  :)
 
lawrence said:
A float needle/seat was leaking on one of the Mikunis.  I pulled the drain plug on the offending carb float bowl and fired a few bursts of 90 psi air through the fuel line.  Apparently that did the trick; no sign of fuel in the overflow tube now.  Plug back in, turn on the taps and she fired up at the touch of the button!
At this point I need to fit some mirrors on the old girl, fill the tank, then we're ready for a new riding season.  :)
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So the air went up the line via the valve seat? After the float and needle were removed? And the gunk went back into the tank?
 
I interpreted Lawrence's post the other way. I assumed that he disconnected the fuel line from the tap on the tank and blew air in that way. With the float bowl, float and needle valve removed, it would blow any crud out the bottom of the carburettor.
 
Actually, it was far simpler than that.  I closed the petcock on the right side, pulled the fuel line off the left.  I removed the large drain plug on the float bowl.  With the float now at max. drop (it's not floating!) the needle was pulled away from the seat.  I then blew air into the fuel line on the left side of the tank.  It resulted in a blast of fuel and (presumably debris) coming down and out of the open drain hole in the float bowl.  I was very happy to have avoided pulling the bank of Mikunis off the engine, as I am not good at adjusting those #%*!:* push/pull cables.
 
That might fix it but bear in mind I recently helped with a set of Miks which had (after quite some mileage) damaged the tips of the float valves enough that they would pee themselves.  Unlike a Dellorto with the somewhat more forgiving rubber tip, the Miks have a metal tip on the float valve.  The metal tips had a tiny line of damage (just enough to get a fingernail to snag on) around them which seems to have been enough to make them leak and overflow sometimes.  Whether this was from vibration during riding or the bike's long transport journey is unclear. 
 
breganzane said:
That might fix it but bear in mind I recently helped with a set of Miks which had (after quite some mileage) damaged the tips of the float valves enough that they would pee themselves.  Unlike a Dellorto with the somewhat more forgiving rubber tip, the Miks have a metal tip on the float valve.  The metal tips had a tiny line of damage (just enough to get a fingernail to snag on) around them which seems to have been enough to make them leak and overflow sometimes.  Whether this was from vibration during riding or the bike's long transport journey is unclear.
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It may have been the result of extended wide open throttles with fuel roaring past the needle and seat whilst in pursuit of the mighty flying Kangaroo  :D :D :D :D
 
breganzane said:
That might fix it but bear in mind I recently helped with a set of Miks which had (after quite some mileage) damaged the tips of the float valves enough that they would pee themselves.  Unlike a Dellorto with the somewhat more forgiving rubber tip, the Miks have a metal tip on the float valve.  The metal tips had a tiny line of damage (just enough to get a fingernail to snag on) around them which seems to have been enough to make them leak and overflow sometimes.  Whether this was from vibration during riding or the bike's long transport journey is unclear.
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The worn ring around the needle from contact with the seat was very common when I was in workshops, and I have seen a few classic racing people who have had to replace needles and seats in CR racing carbs for the same reason. Nothing to do with dissolving seats though, wear and tear.
 
breganzane said:
Whether this was from vibration during riding or the bike's long transport journey is unclear.
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Wear from rattling about during transport is unlikely, especially if the float bowls are empty and the needles are off their seats. I reckon it's down to not using enough throttle. The fuel flow isn't enough to drop the floats sufficiently to give a bit of needle/seat clearance  ;)

I remember "refreshing" the tapered point on Mikuni float valve needles back in my impecunious student days. Shove the back end of the valve needle into a piece of vacuum hose (or wrap a few turns of electrical tape around it) then jam that into the plastic outer tube from a ball-point pen. Twiddle it around in your fingers while gently rubbing the tip at the correct angle on a piece of fine emery cloth.

This is typical of the stuff we used to do to avoid spending a couple of bucks on parts. A new set of float valves were probably the equivalent cost of a meal or a couple of beers. I also rode around for months on my Honda 750-4 with a makeshift master cylinder reservoir cap (a piece of plastic bag held on with a rubber band) because some arsehole nicked the original screw-on cap. A reservoir cap and rubber bellows was a significant outlay that needed saving up for!

 
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