Health Warning: This post will probably be of interest to those with a bent towards biking and bike repairs.
Thurs 18 July: I started this on the afternoon I arrived, Thursday. I started to remove only the essentials, but then decided that, in the long run, it would probably be quicker to remove all the paraphernalia and make access to the important areas easier. So I dismantled the front end completely.
Fri 19 – Sun 21 Jul
A rough check confirmed that there was no major bends or twists in the frame, so I removed the old head bearings – quite easily – and prepared to install the new ones. First problem: one of the bearings Mark had sent me was either damaged or poorly made. Either way it was not usable, so I had to order a new set. That put everything on hold as far as the front was concerned, but thankfully Amazon Prime promised a ‘next day’ delivery, so 🤞.
I spent the remainder of the day tidying a few things up, and then on Saturday did a major service, changing oil, checking plugs tappets, points and timing etc.
On Saturday afternoon, Bobbie & Terry were hosting a “southern boil-up” for some friends, which was an interesting exercise. It involves boiling a mélange of ingredients – potatoes, corn, sausage, prawns, mussels – in a huge pot seasoned with a local mix of herbs and spices. It results in a very filling meal, and was finished off with three different cakes for dessert.
In theory, installing the new bearings is a a fairly straightforward affair; install top and bottom bearing races, install the lower bearing on the stem and refit. Part one was easy, but the second not so and required leaving the stem in the freezer for several hours to try to shrink it slightly and make installation of the bearing easier.
In the interlude, I helped Terry re-wire his project bike, a 1974 Honda CB350F. This necessitated placing some of the connectors, which in turn required a crimping too. The first one we got, from Advance Auto, was useless, so it was returned and the second one, from Auto Zone, was not much better. However, I managed to complete the job and also replace some connectors on my own bike; the tool is, still, going back as it is next to useless.
The rewiring was completed, but Terry now has to re-order a handlebar switch unit as one switch on the one he previously bought was not working and defied all efforts to make it do so; I’m not the only one struggling with parts.
Talking of which, while dismantling my front brake I had noticed some damage to one of the pads and then forgot about it. When I examined the pads removed from the caliper, I was surprised to see that there was virtually no pad material on one side of the pad. I immediately ordered new pads, and on Terry’s suggestion new rear shoes too. I thought there were OK when I replaced the rear tyre, but couldn’t be sure, so decided I should check them and didn’t want to end up in the position of then having to order new ones, with the consequent further delay threat would entrail.
I guess this turn of events shouldn’t have surprised me, since these were the pads, and shoes, that I fitted 6 years and some 40 000 kilometres ago.
Mon 22 – Fri 26 Jul
This was a busy and not too productive time. While waiting on bits I did some not-strictly-necessary things like washing the lining of my helmet and fitting the a new visor to place the one scratched in the accident. I refitted the handlebar switched and installed the bars. I discovered that the front brake switch, the horn and headlight flasher weren’t working .
I refitted the forks and the mudguard only to find that with the mudguard fitted the forks were not aligned and the front axle wouldn’t seat properly. Everything went together without the mudguard bolted in place, so the cause was self evident. Using Mr G, I found a bike shop, Blacks Kustom Cycles and Fabrication in Fairfield, PA and the owner, Eric agreed to have a look at it, being fairly sure he could help me.
I fitted the front brake using the old pads whilst waiting for the new ones. With all the essential wiring connected, I tried starting engine, with no success. This was when I noticed a massive oil leak on the floor. Either I hadn’t tightened a bolt sufficiently of an o-ring was twisted, but oil was flowing from the oil filter housing. This took a considerable time to mop up. I have now left Terry an unforgettable memory of my stay on his workshop floor.
Once that was done we headed off to Blacks, where Eric had offered to have a look at my mudguard. Unfortunately, the damage was such that he couldn’t confidently repair it without having the bike also. So we had to leave and return the next day.
Good as his word, the next day, within a couple of hours, Eric had the damage repaired and the mudguard fitted to the bike. He also provided me with some oil to replace what was now preserving Terry’s workshop floor. The charge was, to put it mildly, considerably more than reasonable; basically for nothing, so a big thank you to Eric.
That afternoon the fault in the switch wiring was traced and rectified. That evening I was invited to dinner by some friends of Bobbie and Terry, Carol and Tobias. Tobias was an old riding buddy of Terry’s, but at 75, he had decided to give up riding. He now spends his time doing things like learning to play the guitar, and making knives. He gave me a gift on one of his knives, which I have already made good use of.
Then it was back to porridge. I found a disconnected wire from the points, explaining the failure to start. This was reconnected and the bike started, but it sounded awful and No 1 cylinder was missing badly and putting out grey smoke. This turned out to be a defective plug, so all plugs were changed, which made an instantaneous improvement.
I fitted the new brake pads which had finally arrived and then drilled holes to mount my new windscreen which I had bought, having decided that the botch-up I was using was not only ugly, but also wasn’t very effective.
A test ride showed that hand tightening the steering head bearings wasn’t sufficient, so this was fixed and a second run was good. A bit tight now, but this will probably loosen up a bit.
With the fairing fitted, there was only one thing left; should I replace the rear brake shoes and tempt fate, or go with what I was fairly sure were acceptable shoes. In the end I decided to replace them, only because carrying the new ones around with me would be a pain in the proverbial. As expected, the shoes were only partially worn and probably good for another 5 000 kms at least, but they were replaced anyway.
So that was it; I was finally ready to go. I packed my bags and marvelled at the fact that in spite of my weeding out everything I considered to be superfluous, I still had a lot of baggage. To be fair, the main bulk was my cold weather riding gear, without which my seat bag would be half empty and about a third the weight.
Belfast-2-Belfast-By-Bike 