Motorcycles: all brands, all CC’s welcome at mono motorcycles
What an eclectic fortnight with motorcycles of all makes, models & CC’s joining us for another packed calendar of motorcycling service, repair & wiring at mono motorcycles.
12.08.19 – Monday the 12th Aug we welcomed ‘Spangle’ to the mono motorcycles workshop. The lovely metallic burnt orange Kawasaki Ninja 650 joined us for a new exhaust, side stand shortening, USB fitting & thorough check over.
13.08.19 – Big Z or ‘Betty’ as she is known by her devoted owner, came back to the mono motorcycles house for a valve clearance check.
This stunning ZZR1400 was the first motorcycle we worked on in the workshop at New Barn, Funtington & she has a very special place in the mono motorcycles story. In February last year, Daniel fitted a new engine in a very empty workshop, with only his tools & one ramp having been moved in.
Read the story of how Betty came to have a new heart & how Daniel & Betty’s owner collaboratively brought her back to life:
https://monomotorcycles.co.uk/kawasaki-zzr1400-rescue-rebu…/
13.08.19 – mono motorcycles prides itself on welcoming a vastly diverse collection of motorcycles to our workshop & today is no exception. A Mobylette Moped, MV August F4 & BMW C1. mono motorcycles; everyone is welcome!
13.08.19 – Big Z, ‘Betty’, having been dutifully stripped, was found to have most of her valve clearances out of spec. This meant that 14 of the 16 shims needed replacing & therefore the camshafts had to be removed. As some of the sizes were out of stock, we had to wait on a delivery of shims to arrive to complete the replacement & rebuild.
NB: It took Daniel 2 hours to dismantle Big Z to the point where he could even check the valve clearances. Checking the valve clearances, removing the camshafts, refitting when the shims arrived & rebuilding Big Z takes between 6.5-8 hours cumulatively.
14.08.19 – First up on the ramp on Wednesday, we welcomed back one of our regular guests, the gorgeous Suzuki GSXR1000 K9.
The K9 joined us for an interim service, coolant check & health check.
Our wonderful customer entrusted us last Autumn to give his beloved motorcycle an entirely new look, after sadly taking a tumble & damaging the original fairing. This body kit only took 3 weeks to reach us & has transformed the K9.
15.08.19 – In July we were asked to write a guest blog for one of our favourite eating destinations, Billy’s on the Road & Billy’s on the Beach.Two fantastic restaurants, welcoming biker destinations with great food, great staff, great atmosphere.
https://www.billysontheroad.co.uk/billingshurst-to-bracklesham-tour/
15.08.19 – Our 3rd Kawasaki on the bench last week, was the popping green Kawasaki Z1000SX.
The Z1000SX was recovered to mono motorcycles about 3 weeks ago with an intermittent cut out fault, that only manifested itself on full steering lock. Therefore, the SX joined us for a major service/valve clearance check, to isolate & fix the cut out fault & new chain & sprockets.
16.08.19 – On Friday Daniel’s focus was on the Kawasaki Z1000SX major service. Having found that all the exhaust & a few of the inlet valve clearances were extremely tight, these were all changed & adjustments made .
If the shims are not replaced, tight clearances can cause a motorcycle to back fire, run badly & end up burning the valves out. Valve clearance checks are a critical part of servicing.
During this Major Service, Daniel also found oil in the air box. When he drained the sump he found 5 litres of oil, when there should only be just over 3 litres. With new chain & sprockets having been fitted, the tank was then drained to have the fuel filter changed.
19.08.19 – On Monday we started a two day project on a Suzuki GSXF650F.
One of our regular customers exhaust sustained some damage & we were asked to fit a new one. However, whoever had fitted the previous exhaust had used low grade stainless steel bolts, which being put into the aluminum head, had all seized in place & snapped off when tried to be extracted. Therefore, Daniel had to drill out each stud. He hoped to avoid helicoil, by being patient & using the correct processes for drilling out. Once the studs were out, our customer had also instructed us to undertake a major service/valve clearance check, new chain & sprockets & new rear tyre.
21.08.19 – On Thursday our Italian guests were both on the ramp.
The Ducati ST2 was having her sensor fitted, but also needed her battery charging. Once the battery was charged, Daniel noted that the fuel pump had an intermittent fault. Daniel found that the earth pin inside the plug for the fuel tank, had got too hot & burnt the plug out. He then made a new plug, took the Ducati for a final test ride & this seems to have cured the fault.
Sometimes when a motorcycle is exhibiting one fault, it is often masking a secondary one, as is the case here.
The MV Augusta F4 which joined us as a cut out non start, had been found to have water in the tank. Upon further investigation, Daniel also found that the pipe from the fuel filter to the pump had popped off. Daniel feels this is most likely due to the fuel filter bring clogged. The filter has now been replaced, the tank drained & Daniel us now adding fresh fuel.
21.08.19 – One of our regular customers Honda CBR1000 Fireblade joined us on Wednesday for new discs & exhaust gaskets. In traditional style, one of the exhaust studs snapped off. You can see from the pictures where the gaskets had been leaking & the area around them had blackened.
As we head into the bank holiday weekend, we have a packed agenda ahead of us.
Saturday we are open as normal 9am-1pm. But on Sunday our August Breakfast Club lifts off at 8.30am. Once the Breakfast Club has finished, we are heading up to the P&D Custom Bike Show in Slinfold, which looks like a fantastic day out.
Monday Daniel & Katy are taking their promotional materials to The Emsworth Show, to be held this year at The New Life Church site, Southbourne. As keen supporters of local events, we feel this is a great opportunity to get ourselves out into our community & meet new people.