4 & 2 stroke British, European & Japanese bikes at mono motorcycles
Motorcycles. 4 stroke, 2 stroke, British, European & Japanese. The mono motorcycles line up this week has been a varied collection from the cool classic of the Yamaha RD125 to the mighty endurance of the KTM1290 Super Adventure.
We began our week with a BMW R1100S in her ‘Mandarin’ livery. Her owner had only been able to bump start her, as she wouldn’t crank on ignition. He suspected the started motor was failing & under investigation by Daniel, he corroborated this.
Once we had ordered & fitted the new starter motor, she sparked into life. As the BMW was running a little erratically, Daniel also balanced the throttle bodies & the throttle potentiometer. She now runs remarkably smoother than she did when she came to us.
Daniel got a little sentimental on Monday when we welcomed the first of our two KTM’s this week, the KTM690 SMCR Supermoto.
The SMCR joined us for some wiring upgrades, chain adjustment & a road safety check.
We welcomed one of our regular customers motorcycles, the bright orange Kawasaki Z1000 to the workshop on Tuesday.
The Z1000 joined as a non start, after she had broken down. A leading break down organisation had told our customer it was the ECU which was causing the issue.
Following an investigation, the Kawasaki Z1000 had failed due to corrosion! The fuse has been replaced & now the Z1000 is running as she should.
The blue hue of the Yamaha R1 we welcomed to the workshop on Tuesday, contrasted against the yellow & orange already at the workshop.
The R1 joins us for a suite of tasks including, carburettor strip & rebuild, a major service, security upgrades & a full detail.
Daniel began the process with removing & stripping the carbs, to ensure we were able to get ahead of the game if we needed to order parts. Once the carbs were apart, cleaned, ultrasonically cleaned, the jets soaked in 44K fuel cleaner & blown out with an air hose; Daniel assessed the parts in detail. The rubber seals had begun to deteriorate & therefore we have ordered carburettor repair kits for all four carbs.
The mighty KTM1290 Super Adventure joined us on Wednesday for a Major Service in advance of a European trip.
Daniel began the task of dismantling the KTM the night before, as with most adventure motorcycles, removal of the panels & the tank is a relatively time precious exercise. Therefore, by the time Daniel had removed the panels, tank, airbox, air filter, rear rocker cover, radiator & front rocker cover; 2 ½ hours had already passed.
As the KTM was in for a Major Service & valve clearance check, the next phase was to check & see if the valves were in tolerance. In this case they were. If shims are needed to be replaced, this is when additional time is needed on servicing, as the camshafts have to be removed to undertake this process.
Once the rest of the service was completed, a full diagnostic sweep undertaken & the KTM rebuilt; a full 8 hours had passed from start to finish.
The cool classic of the Yamaha RD125 brought an edge of nostalgia to the workshop on Thursday.
The RD was brought to us for a tune up. The customer had had the engine rebuilt last year & ever since, he has had running issues.
Daniel fired her up & took her for a spin around the farm. She ran, but she was running on one cylinder , unless the throttle was held wide open for a long period of time. Therefore, Daniel set about removing the carburettors to adjust the throttle.
Normally you can see the needles through a viewing window in the side of the carbs. However, with it being an ageing motorcycle, the viewing window had got contaminated over time & could not been looked through. It was while he had the carbs off the Yamaha, that he noted that when he opened the throttle position, the throttle slides were opening at a different rate to each other.
Daniel also found that the spark plugs were different makes & values. With the plugs now matching, Daniel has a little more fine tuning to do, as one cylinder still goes out while riding.
Another regular customer brought his Yamaha R1 to us on Thursday for new chain & sprockets. We have worked quite extensively on this R1 over the past year, servicing & replacing a coil which was causing a misfire.
The final service of the week, is for cool grey Triumph Sprint ST 1050. We welcomed the Triumph for a Major Service, to fit a new clutch & rear disc.
The first task was to remove all of the panels, the oil was run out & then the clutch was replaced. The Triumph then had her air box & air filter removed, exposing the throttle bodies.
Once Daniel had undertaken the valve clearance check, in this case all were in tolerance, he then set about completing the rest of the service. As part of the service process, the Triumph underwent a full diagnostic sweep & service light reset.
Daniel then set about fitting the new rear disc. After dropping the wheel out & rebuilding the rear hub, with the new disc in place, he was then able to begin rebuilding the Triumph.
As the weather begins to warm & the nights are getting lighter, we are all able to hopefully spend more time with our motorcycles. The regular ‘Bike Nights’ have begun & so too had the mono motorcycles Breakfast Club, with the first one of the year being Sunday 28th April. We look forward to seeing many of you then.