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The bike is too tall for my buddy, he did not take it out for a good thrashing.
The bike is being plagued by weak spark and I’ve grown tired of charging the battery, so we ordered a new one online, and a set of ‘carb sync gauges’. Both will arrive early June, so it’s more waiting now.
Hooray for new tools, now please hurry CBS border people. There was a similar gauge set for sale in Ontario, but for $20 more I got an extra dozen adapters and a molded plastic case. An easy upsell.
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Yea, the kit looks decent. Hoping to make a lil cash off this tool once it arrives.
Today in the shop, the Katana again until the new battery arrives.
I also pulled Redee out, but not for exercise, just to rearrange some stored stuff and sweep the floor. Real exciting stuff today.
Today in The Shop, Redee got an oil change! I did my best to recall just when the last oil change was, and after 30 mins I decided it had been “too long”. Although I’ve only put about 5,000km on Redee since Road Legal in May ’19, but that oil is at least from Sept ’18. The Fumitomo valve made quick work of draining (once I re-remembered how to open it) and the old filter spun off with ease.
Next week the Katana will get some more attention as the Amazon people say the battery should arrive on Monday.
Yesterday (or the day before) my parents visited and my Dad caught sight of the Katana in The Shop. Over the course of the next half hour, he proceeded to convince himself that the physical size and displacement is just what he was looking for, and suggested I call him for a test ride when the battery arrives. My Dad is not new to Katana’s, in 2003 he bought an ’89 Katana 1100 to reduce his commuting costs (and time) between Brampton and Toronto. That bike was only around for a season or two, cause he replaced it with a Harley Davidson FLHT (Electra Glide Ultra) FireFighter edition. That was a sweet bike, think he put 70,000km on it in a couple years between commuting and adventuring for a few days at a time. Then, 2 kids in University and a third to start soon put an end to bikes. Fast forward 10-years, Mom and Dad are both retired, downsized their house, and enjoying Grand-parenthood and golfing. Time for another bike!!
I wish I had a picture of the HD, the colour was an awesome “Fire Engine Red”, and I don’t ever recall seeing it dusty, or water spotted, let along dirty. A far cry from my Red beast haha.
I tend not to clean my bikes until I’m trying to sell….
Almost killed myself on a Suzi GS1100. Speed wobble doing 220 on the KW Expressway. Thought I was done for, but lived to tell.
Yea I don’t clean my toys much either. Takes time away from playing with them.
Today in The Shop, my new-to-me 50-year CCM Elan bicycle gets some adjustments. I’ve just inherited this awesome bike from Sam’s late great uncle. It’s in fantastic shape, and rides so smooth. Tire tubes even hold air pressure. Gonna have fun touring town on this machine.
I own about 5 or 6 bicycles, and they all serve a purpose. This one, is all about looking cool.
Today in The Shop, Redee lost 150 pounds when I took her top off, and put the CanBack on.
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Sweet old school bike!
Redee looks good with the soft topper.
What’s the tape on the hood for? Gonna put a blower on her? 😛Tape is the first pre-cut for heat escapes. I put some time in looking last night, but aftermarket hoods aren’t around. I attached an image of some $200 pop-rivet louvers.
Damn near boiled her over last night, temps got up around 240F, when I hit a bunch of traffic lights in Alliston. Was pretty worried, took a good 10 mins to come below 215F, and bottomed at 210F by the time I got home. Under hood temps were up to 175F, and intake temp was pretty steady at 125F.
I found a guy on kijiji selling about 50ft of exhaust wrap for $20, hope to grab it tonight.
Hopefully the header wrap will take some heat out of the engine bay without having to cut the bonnet. Perhaps I’ll shim the cowling edge of the hood up a bit too.
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Today in The Shop, the Katana got an hour of attention. I pulled the tank in anticipation for the new battery which should be here today. With the extra access I cleaned the top end of the carbs, adjusted the throttle linkage, adjusted the TPS sensor and determined the clutch safety switch (starter interlock) has been bypassed cause it’s broken. I ordered a replacement for $20 off ebay, save my Dad (or the next buyer) some cash cause they’re $80 everywhere else I looked.
C’mon Amazon man, bring us a battery!
Last night in The Shop, I scattered 1,000,000 itchy fiberglass fibres all over while heat wrapping Redee’s headers.
Perhaps I’ll shim the back edge during the day today, pretty sure I could find a pint-sized volunteer to help.
Built in volunteers always helpful!
Could you use a hood scoop to pull cool air into the engine bay? Not really the proper function for a scoop, but it could pull cool air into the compartment.
Yesterday in The Shop, new toys! As my in-laws continue sorting through their uncles estate, I am approached with “would you like….?” I have a hard time turning down free stuff, so I came home with yet another bicycle, a sweet axe, two coleman camp stoves and lantern, hip waiters, and some very old hand drills, and a RF Generator.
Last night I rigged up a lock bolt for the folding bicycle. Other than the 1 missing piece, its brand new with plastic wrap on parts.
A few things to keep me busy.
Recently in The Shop, a few little fixes while I (STILL 🤬🤬) wait on Canada Post to deliver a battery for the Katana.
I put some sweat equity into removing 50-years of cooking grease from a Coleman 421C camp stove circa 1972. Once it was mostly clean, I turned my attention to the fuel tank as it was not keeping pressure. I replaced the air pump diaphragm with a new $7 piece and it would build pressure, only to leak out fuel cap. So I dug out the old cracked seal, and rigged up a new one from a rubber bulkhead plug. I gave the generator a quick clean, and the stove fired up perfectly on the first match! Not bad for almost 50 years old, and tucked in the original box for at least the last 15 years.
Can see little blue ring of flame in the burners. Love this old Coleman stuff, so tough and reliable.On Monday my buddy Ratul rode over on his Yamaha Virago, I’ve been offering tele-carb tuning advice for a couple weeks. I invited him over so I could practice using my new Carb Sync tools (which arrived from California faster than our battery from Vancouver) before I use them on the Katana. Figure two carbs easier to sync than 4 carbs….gotta crawl before walk. In no time at all, we got the airflow sync’d between the carbs, but Ratul said the bike was riding worse than before. We pulled the plugs again and confirmed the condition to be too lean in one cylinder. When Ratul was about to depart, I gave him some homework.
1: inspect valve clearance (I had suspicion front cylinder intake valve may be too tight, and the valve not fully closing)
2: pilot air screw adj on the front carb to match the rear carb, about 2.5 turns.
Ratul rode home for an hour, let the bike cool, and got to work. An hour later he called me to say his bike is running the best it ever has, tons of power, no backfiring on deceleration. He can roll onto 5th gear at 40km/h and it’ll pull way past highway speeds. Perfect!
A picture of his plugs before we started sync and tune efforts. (Rear was rich, front was lean).Yesterday I curb picked a couple air compressors & tanks from a neighbour. I’m thinking to mount the 2-gallon tank in Redee as an expansion tank for tire fills. But I gotta cut some crap off of it first, and piece the plumbing together.
Might use the larger tank as an expansion tank for my little air compressor here in the shop.
Despite the lack of updates, The Shop gas been busy.
1: The Katana. Canada Post delivered our battery, the day after Amazon issued us a refund! So my youngest daughter helped me put it all together, and The Katana is curbside ready for sale. Yesterday, an interested buyer asked to take a test ride, to which we obliged. This kind fellow happily beat on our bike, blew all the crap out of it, and she starts and idles much better now. He was impressed with the power, ripped her up to 200km/h and said she’s got lots of life left. Thanks kind stranger! Here’s to hoping he calls back with an offer to but it.
2: Yamaha BigBear 350. My new boss (Brian @ Lake Side Auto in Wasaga) gave me some homework. Reassemble the too end, and set timing on an atv motor that’s been kicking around his shop for a year.
I made quick work of that motor, but I’ve been waiting for 1 CRUSH WASHER for 10 days now, so I can set final torque and bring it back to Wasaga.3: Matt’s 4th Gen 4Runner. About a week ago I performed some overdue mods to Matt’s truck, installing “Anytime VSC Off” using and OEM button, and an “Anytime kill ABS/Traction/Stability” button. Both these mods have been planned for months, but the OEM button took a long time to come in the mail.
4: Suzuki ATV. Again with help from my youngest, we got the ATV 90% ready for a first start. Together we drained the gas tank, cleaned the carb, drained the oil, freed up the rear brakes, and drove about 500 imaginary kms. Before we can do our first test fire, I need the new OEM drain plug to arrive at the dealer. Again, a long wait already for something so small. New drain plug, add 3.5L of oil, and take her for a spin.
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