Bike sorted

Yesterday Mark suggested putting the original, shorter spring cups back in to increase the pressure on the clutch plates. I wasn't too keen because the experts I'd spoken to in the past seem to think that the shorter cups were the cause of the clutch lever being so heavy - see the earlier post on this matter.

However, Roger Taylor from RTS Racing called me back yesterday and said he had seen C15's with both longer and shorter cups in. I said that I had read on various forums that people claim that "all British bikes' clutches slipped when they were new or rebored" but to be honest, nobody would ever have bought a bike if they slipped like mine was yesterday 'cos you can't get the damn thing to start - and without bragging, I'm good at kickstarting difficult bikes.

Roger also pointed out that the same clutch is used in the B40 which is much more powerful than my bike, so Mark came round today to put the old cups back in. I say "give me a hand", but from my stool I watched him:

1. drain the oil from the primary chaincase;
2. remove the footpeg, remembering that it is a left-hand thread!
3. remove the primary cover;

At that point, he kicked the bike over and we could see that while the chain was turning, the clutch wasn't. As Roger said, there's a good chance that with the longer cups in the clutch was maybe only gripping on the first plate.

I then watched him:

1. remove the four screws, springs, longer cups and pressure plate;
2. put the shorter cups in;
3. replace springs, screws and pressure plate;
4. adjust the screws so that the pressure plate was spinning evenly;
5. kickstart it over first time without the clutch slipping - huzzah!

Interestingly, the clutch lever is still lovely and light...

All that was left was for him to put it all back together and put my tools away while I put the kettle on.

Replacing the distributor clamp

As usual, click any image to zoom in.

	These photos are actually from a while ago but I've only just found them on my pinhole camera obscura.
	Mike Kilvert (the seller of Mark's bike) came up with his Dad, Rich (that's what he told us, anyway) a few days after selling it to try to sort out why Mark's bike wouldn't start when cold.
	At the time we thought the clamp holding the distributor was moving so we bought a replacement and fitted it with their help.
	We haven't got a fancy stand to lift the bike into the air so we just rested it on Mike's knee and the foot peg!
One neat trick was using a screwdriver to pull the kickstart spring out of the way so that they could remove the inner cover.		We had trouble getting the inner cover back on though. Turned out that the shaft between the kickstart and the gear lever was coming under a hydraulic effect so we had to use a syringe to remove oil from the hole it sits in.

Fantastically jolly jape

Mark waited until I was just about to kickstart his bike before pulling the clutch lever in.

My knee rebounded faster than Jordan and I'm still limping three days later.

Tweaks to Mark's C15

We've been busy this week adding bits and bobs to Mark's C15. So far we have:

• replaced the cracked silencer 

• added a gear lever rubber

• replaced the kickstart rubber

• added petrol tank rubber

• replaced a sticky rear brake light switch

Mark's now got a 1959 C15!

As usual, click any image to zoom in.

Mike & Annie Kilvert came round this morning to drop Mark's bike off and came in for a couple of hours for a brew and a chat!



After they'd left to visit friends in the local area, Mark and I set off to BSA Lightning Spares to see Brian for a few new parts (silencer, gear lever rubber, kickstart rubber, handlebar rubbers) before setting off on an odyssey. Didn't get home 'til dark!






Mark seems to have got the hang of a kickstart after years on Japanese bikes - turns out a bit of throttle while kickstarting means your knee doesn't get rubbed raw like this...