Fixes and more fixes
Well after the disaster of the MOT test I had lots to deal with. Most of it was minor, but some required thought and planning. The key issues are as follows:
1. The Rear shock linkage is terrible and needs doing correctly
2. The shock itself is old and knackered
3. The front mudguard is not one for this bike and isn’t secured correctly.
4. The rear light is playing up.
5. The brake torque arm is attached by a bolt not giving it movement
6. Footrest are insecure.
Just a few jobs then. I’ve got to work on these in turn.
1. The shock linkage was replaced at some point with sheet metal instead of the correct dogbones. I’ve got a second hand shock linkage from eBay which will need fitting. You can see the issue below. I didn’t catch it as I didn’t look under the bike right there. It’s passed mot’s before which is worrying!
2. The shock is very old now and finding a better alternative was the best plan. I’ve search around to find a suitable second hand alternative, without decent success. So I bit the bullet and ordered a new shock. Its a YSS one and was well priced. They are making it for me now. Once it’s arrived I can fit it and the dogbones.
3. The mudguard was easy. It can pass the mot without one. So I removed it. I’ve ordered a replacement from Skidmarx. That will arrive in a couple of weeks. In the meantime it looks much cooler without the mudguard!
4. The rear light was an odd one, I swore it was working, but I was wrong. It’s not lighting up properly. I tried loads of things, but I worked out in the end that the light had broken. Very annoying. I thought about getting a replacement, but my faith in that lasting wasn’t good. So I looked for alternatives. In the end I found a combined indicators/brake/rear light system that is in a tiny cnc strip.
The seller was in Australia and it arrived in less than a week! I was amazed. I started testing it to make sure it worked.
As this light sticks to the number plate I also needed a number plate light. I found a tiny cnc number plate light on ebay and had to have it.
With both of these changes I had to remake the number plate bracket. I’ve spent the last couple of days knocking this up, It needs the light mounting to the number plate, but it’s close to being done.
5. The bolt was a right bodge job and needed me to source the proper torque bushing. I managed to find a new one which was good. I need to fit it tomorrow.
6. The footrests were using too small a bolt as the eyes of my cnc footpegs were smaller than the originals. I drilled out the the holes and fixed a larger bolt in place. You can also see the new oil cap I found going cheap on ebay.
Rain rain stay away
Well the weather forecast was not good so I decided to take matters in to my own hands.
It was a great idea as it allowed me to work on the wiring in the dry all day.
I spent several hours rewiring the loom and putting new connectors on. It was a real pain to do, but quite rewarding.
There is still more sleeving to do, but I ran out of my loom harness tape. So it will need to be finished when the new order arrives.
I did get a chance to wire it all in and test things like the new speedo.
I also tested the new headlamp, but discovered a problem. The side light ring was working, but not the main or dipped beam arggggh!!! I was hoping what I had done already would have fixed that, but no.
I started attacking the loom with a multimeter to try trace the issue back to it’s source. I ended up back at the fuse box and this seemed to be where the issue was. However the fuse was fine which confused me. It took me a moment to work out that the issue was actually the connectors being old and rusty.
So I decided to replace the fuse box and see if that solved the issues.
That would be a big fat yes!
I was so relieved as I’ve been trying to sort that issue out for some time. I even considered getting someone else to look at it, but I was determined that I could find out the issue.
So there is not much more I need to do before getting it MOT’d and back on the road:
1. Finish the loom wiring
2. Setup the speedo and finish the wiring of that.
3. Get the tank back on and filled with fuel.
4. Get her started!
With some good weather and orders arriving swiftly I hope to get that done in the next week or two.
