another shitty day in paradise: July 2013

Wednesday, 24 July 2013

solo to so-low

Saturday to So-low Choppers near Bury St Edmunds

another 100 mile round trip

Made welcome by Mark as Clive the head honcho was off to pick up

an ebastard find.

I bumped into Steve who had been knocked off his bike by a post office van.

They were fixing it up for him, in their rather dusty workshop, the paint an prep area and engineering are in the same large warehouse.

Amazing damage at fifteen miles an hour, including that £2000 quid

Pageant paint OUCH!

AHEM

Christine has stopped puking!

The S&S Breather gear did the trick and later I swopped the feed and vent hoses on the oil tank, an inch and half can make difference! (they are together at the top right of the tank and have no tubes inside)

The new Mufflers required a jet change so now running 29.5 Intermediate which makes in run a lot smoother at low revs and no coughs at closed throttle from the carb. And as I had gone up two sizes, I've gone up one to 70 on the main jet, although she wasn't complaining the plugs are now the right colour. Amazing how drag pipes can cause a such rich condition.

Sunday, 21 July 2013

drool, drool, drool...

Andy Tiernans classic bike emporium in Framlinghm

I called in to buy some 50wt oil he sells for £16 quid,

that he had made up to his spec, strictly cash only...

and while there had a good nose around, meeting dave in the workshop.

I found this place about 17 years ago and went back a few times but could not locate it.

Turns out Andy rented the showroom out to a bed shop, so thats how we missed it.

Funny, I bought a victorian wrought iron and brass bed from Ben Goodfrey who owns the bed shop in 1990, but his premises then was an old barn!

small world...

Friday, 19 July 2013

lurking in deepest darkest suffolk...

in Andy Tiernans classic bike shop in Framlingham Suffolk

lurks a chopper from another time...

check out andys pics

back in the day
built by Gibert Sills of the Crettingham Crank Company

Monday, 15 July 2013

sunday lunch with NCC Suffolk

Jay, son of Mr So-Low Chopper's lovely 650 Yam

show winner...

loaded with extras...

a few triumph chops...

sunday lunch with the suffolk NCC...

nice...

early rider...

great country band with legs...

and found Ms Blue chilling on the grass

Her mum was at the Friston Classic Car and Bike Show...

a lovely laid back early evening event on the village green
that we went to on Thursday the 11th
full of gems that had seen some use.

(Pic nicked from Andy Tiernans Classic Bike)

why so many vids? - that is all my camera will take...

quiet you bitch part deux

finally they are on,

mrs arcadian thinks the bitch is louder!

certainly feels smoother

got to get used to the funny little snuffly sounds they make on overrun

and Rob, I know they worked for you but she didn't start any easier!

Sunday, 14 July 2013

How to spend two and a half days fitting two mufflers...

for those of us without a lathe and an out door workshop, dont waste time (hours) filing your spacer to fit (cut from the old exhaust)..

cut the spacer in half...

looking goooood, now thats one done,

one to go but a bit quicker next time....

find somewhere to locate the bracket and cut and drill to size...

then discover the mufflers are not a push fit

and need spacers and a clamp which will need to be ordered...

used a bit of silicone plastic tube as a cut guide and a saw to finish the cut...

but now the front pipe has no tab or bracket to fix it...

my spacer solution came from a piston ring compressor tool...

and my bracket for the front pipe made from a bit of daggy old angle iron, note the allen bolt drilled and tapped to stop the bracket moving on the original frame tab, fucking neat heh...

so that then had to be painted and as you may have noticed the camera has decided to fuck its self...

so dear reader part deux to come...

Monday, 8 July 2013

Krazy...

45 mile ride on sunday to...

the behemoth that is Krazy Horse Customs...

new premises...

where I met Liz again, who reminded me we met at Linkerts...

and showed me their workshop full of secret stuff except Pauls (Mr Beamish is the owner) bike

- I have loved since seeing it on the cover of BSH Magazine may years ago

so had a coffee, perused their showroom bikes, some for sale and of course bought the T-shirt

and the bitch didn't puke...

Sunday, 7 July 2013

How to stop the bitch puking...

Ordered an S&S steel breather gear

Baz (he of best chop fame and owned for forty years) suggested I try a new crankcase breather gear to resolve my puking problem first. Its done it since the rebuild, I've tried reseating the pump check valve, removing the oil cooler (the oil could be backing up in the lines) but it still does it, usually after a few miles at a gas station when kickstarting.

looks like someone has enlarged the breather hole

and replaced the plastic OEM with a steel breather!

the £112 S&S model seems to be timed to open earlier

Not sure this rather expensive fix is going to sort the problem

Baz said it could be Oil blow by caused by pistons not sealing, but she has done this from the get go so I don't think thats the cause

Just got Donny Petersens Shovelhead Part Two

and oil blow by is caused by a lot of factors that HD tried to redress

Some light relief

I met 'Chopper' (steve) 'Magneto Zoo' (Paulie) and 'Jamesville' James on my linkert travels

NB
The new breather gear seems to fix the problem

Thursday, 4 July 2013

there and back again, part deux...

missed breaky, gotta hit the road, its after 8am, we got 360 miles to go now

we stop for refreshment when the tanks empty or every 80 to a 100 miles , depending on the motorway services availability...
Ha, I like chancing it, we'd just done eighty odd miles, the signs on the M4 said services 7m, we should have pulled in but then we went on the M25 and it became another 24m...

phew, south mimms services, potters bar, one o'clock, 104 miles, tank empty
well not as empty as I thought - more mpg now!
she's pulling like a train, its almost visceral at 70 plus
that big gearing really works