Jobs Day

You know there are some days when you just know you’re onto a loser when it comes to riding? Well, today was one of them. It tipped it down all night, thundering onto the tin roof and then cascading onto the tarmac. I knew it was bad when I opened the door to see that the locals were already prepared.

But luckily, it was another day for jobs.Firstly, Nadine and Gordon needed new rear tyres, their knobblies now being pretty knackered. We’ve done quite a bit of dirt and gravel so far, but also much tarmac. My tyres are OK though, but they are deep profile road versions  so I wouldn’t expect them to be so worn down. There are a good few hundred kilometres more left in them, and they should get me back to Sydney OK.

But because of the rain, we decided to let the garage which had ordered them, fit them, which they did. Easy.

However, next on the list was the fuel starvation problem on my bike. We already knew from the bloke in Devonport who had checked the valves, that the carb was fitted with a non standard jet. Whilst the bike runs quite well, it does splutter at times and doesn’t accelerate well, although it will build up to a fair lick. It feels like it is being pulled back, and there is a vacuum in the pipes, which is different from fuel not getting through and it just conking out but reigniting with the spark.

We had already gone through the ‘suck, squeeze, bang, blow’ mantra and had eliminated spark or valve problems, and knew that the carb and electrics were OK as we had done some tinkering with them last week. So it had to be a problem in the fuel system - but where? The fuel was flowing well, so it can't have been that, nor was there any problem with the needle or jet, and the valve had now been put back to standard.

Fortunately with three bikes, we have the ability to compare, so just to be sure, with the mechanics, we went over all of the problems we had already eliminated, just in case we had missed something, swapping bits from Nadine’s bike to mine to compare how it ran. The carb came initially came under suspicion once again, but we re-eliminated that too, as Nadine’s carb which ran well on her bike, still caused my bike to fart and jump like a kangaroo.

Honda was no help at all, but Wayne and Griff (the two mechanics) and the three of us were all on a mission now to get to the bottom of the problem. Then Gordon questioned whether the air intake could be at fault, so we took the airbox to pieces and discovered that the foam filter was so thick with oil that it dripped.

But just when we thought we were finally there, we tested my now clean air filter on Nadine’s bike - and it farted and jumped again. The same thing happened when we put her airbox on my bike. So, WTF? There was nothing in it to cause any problem.

An external air filter would have done the job, but they are not great in the wet, either weatherwise or when crossing rivers, so that idea was shelved as a last resort only.

Then I had a sudden recall of basic school physics. What if the air intake was too quick or the intake pressure exceeded the engine’s ability to deal with it, thereby making the mixture too lean and not giving the spark anything to ignite? Wouldn’t a build up of mixture then suddenly ignite, causing an explosion in the piston and thus the jumping effect?  I got a funny look for that idea but guess what? When we restricted the inlet port (located under the rear rack) and so controlled the air intake, it worked fine. And when the build up of crap around it was cleared we saw that the inlet port had been drilled and that a restrictor plate which should have been present, was missing, as was one of the foam baffles in the airbox. Thus the air intake was too much and although the engine was firing, it was too forceful to mix correctly, and so not enabling the engine to run smoothly. 

The mechanics reckoned that the bike had been running roughly, so somebody had fitted the larger jet, but when that didn't work, had mucked about with air box. It still ran OK but not perfectly, so they then left it.

But of course, the required parts were not to hand, so a bodge was required. How about the over soaked oil filter foam, wedged into the air intake connecting tube? Cut a bit off, make it big enough so it doesn’t get sucked into the airbox, and it should work. And did it do the trick? Yes of course it did! Hurrah. All those years of tortuous double physics lessons on a Monday morning before break, were not a waste of time after all. Fan- bloody -tastic!

So Wayne and Griff are now our favourite mechanic people for being so patient and willing to try our odd sounding ideas! Thanks guys.

Griff

Wayne

Next on the agenda were my pannier racks. Unlike Nadine and Gordon’s which come off, these do not, and stick out horizontally like spikes on Boudicca’s chariot. So off to Donald the welder we went, left them with him and his mate, had some lunch, and then went back to a mod which makes riding around unladen far less dodgy.

While Nadine and I headed back for a tea and a cider, Gordon went for a haircut. He usually shaves what is left of it but after gouging his scalp a couple of weeks ago, he had to wait for it to heal and scab. That has all gone now but with locks at least a centimetre long, he felt he needed to be shorn professionally. He’s back to normal now, apart from his ridiculous Movember ‘tashe.

And guess what? Its is still raining.........