How was your Diesel Motorcycle weekend?

[mark_in_manchester]

Hey Stuart -

Think I might have found another Charade 993...from a boat! Funny that that's where they seem to be coming from these days. Going to be a couple of months before I can pick it up. Quite exciting. How're you getting on with yours?

[Stuart]

I have my bell housing section but the guy I wanted to take the outer edge (lip) of the flywheel down is dragging his feet. I will go elsewhere I think.
Both mine were saved for possible boat use but proved too heavy or just not really correct. Good for us tho

[sbrumby]

I have been buying things off ebay namely some panniers and a sleeping bag. My old sleeping bag which was down had had it, not done that bad for over forty years. So a couple of years ago bought a new bag, a good one but not down. Wasent that impressed when it got cold. So now bought another down bag and this one wont have to last 40 years.
The panniers are old but in good condition made by Rickman. No keys though so had to cut a key to fit which wasnt that hard. Now I have to mount the panniers on the bike, started makeing the brackets out of a tubular chair. So I hope nobody has Rickman brackets knocking about in their shed. Could only start today as the welder had gone up the spout. The wire drive PCB was faulty but managed to get one off a newer model as my welder was 20 years old. Now working again. Not haveing a welder for 3 weeks was like looseing a family member.

[alexanderfoti]

I rebuilt my box for the 3rd time. Broke a top gearbox bracket weld which has now been beefed up and also lost 4th gear at the same time? Very weird. Took the box apart but I had no broken bits or anything. Can only assume there was some grit in the shifter pawl. At least I know the bearings etc are in good shape! Took me most of Saturday to sort it though. Grr!

[albertaphil]

It actually happened this morning (Monday) but I am now fully insured and licensed! The open road awaits...

[albertaphil]

So I had been trying to pretend it wasn't there, but I just couldn't... I'd noticed a pretty substantial vibration through the footpegs. The handlebars are fine, but my feet would be sore after 5 minutes. I knew when I first put it together that the big sprocket I had gotten welded onto the steel gear on my clutch basket was not quite centered. It is a heavy enough piece and it is 9 inches in diameter, so 1mm off center was bound to produce a vibe. I figured this piece was the culprit but didn't want to face destroying my clutch basket to grind the welds off to remove the big sprocket to re-center and re-weld. However the thought of the vibration tearing apart my transmission didn't thrill me either.

Anyway, a cheap replacement clutch and transmission gears courtesy of fleabay and I had lost my excuse for procrastinating, so I set to work with the grinder and didn't do too much damage to the sprocket removing it. Then I anchored my spare transmission shaft vertically and spun the now-detached clutch and sprocket, measuring them against a spray can I had set up beside them to detect out-of-center, and used some plastic shims/spacers I cut out of a plant pot to keep the sprocket from shifting around too much. Once I had the sprocket centered as well as I could get it, I tacked the sprocket with super glue to prevent any shifting, and it was off to my welder friend, since he is better at welding oil-soaked castings than I am...the steel clutch gear was machined out of a piece of cast, apparently.

I just got the bike back together but I haven't run it yet because the RTV I use to seal the chaincase cover needs to dry first. I'm excited to ride...after I stopped being afraid of my bike blowing up on the first few rides, the vibration was starting to concern me more and more as a potential source of trouble. Hopefully this fixes it adequately.

Happy Fathers' Day!

[Stuart]

Doing essential work on the homemade Enfield clutch carrier assy. It finally needs sleeving after many trips to German rally

[sbrumby]

Last week went out to a bike meet, plenty interested in the diesel. I got talking to a guy who had a bandit, he had just paid £150 for a service, plugs filter oil etc. He asked how much it cost to service my bike. This I had too think about and after a bit of thought said less than £10 once a year if its lucky. Another guy in a bike club I belong to had just paid £150 for a rear belt for his Victory after 15000 miles. Service costs are a big factor for petrol bikers but almost none existant for diesels.

[Stuart]

Visited a local vehicle show on the Ruggerfield Sunday. Still spreading the word

[Stuart]

I've not had the Dieselbike out this weekend but am still hard at it on the project bike. Sometimes two steps forward & one step back but nothing that can't be overcome as yet. I'm also sorting T shirts design ahead of the rally and very grateful to others more talented than myself in the department for helping out. Ideas from Jeff again this year regarding design. Also tinkering with the website so it looks better on mobile devices (code!! Argh) and updating a bit of content. We get traffic but have a high bounce rate on the front page so layout may change in future.

[alexanderfoti]

Took the diesel bike out for errands last week. Lots of high traffic road situations. The gearbox was getting progressively harder to shift. Turns out there was no oil in it! All sorted and its running very well indeed, all ready for the big knock.

[BertTrack]

Went on a small ride with my g/f on the back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kCSRsBMFg8

[BertTrack]

Another ride

https://youtu.be/XdWMEzM2oN4

[BoxerOtto]

diesel trucks with over 1250hp and 2200ftlbs of torque.fun stuff

chataqua day in sexsmith town today.

[sbrumby]

Just returned from the "Farmyard Party" billed as the biggest rally in Europe. I went with a club I belong to, sixteen of us all together, all have big cruisers apart from me. Virtually all motorway and apart from the usual road works and speed restrictions most of the time between 65 and 75MPH,on about 3000 rpm there and back 317miles. Used 3.084 gallons so by my calculations that is 103MPG. This is the Honda ruggerini 950 towing a trailer. I remember when I built it many years ago I did a test MPG and got 150mpg but this would have been at a slower speed , not loaded up with camping gear and not towing a trailer. All the rest of the bikes had to fill up 3 times to my once.

[alexanderfoti]

That's pretty good! So far I'm averaging 85mpg on the d850. Will see what's what over the next few tank fulls

[Stuart]

Rode to Wemoto in Shoreham Friday to get a MotoBatt for the Tiger. I've taken out the Lithium jobby as it didn't like the cold. Fitted it & ride out to Chichester bikes show & two other events today.
Before I'd even got off the Tiger at Chichester a guy approached me & said he'd been to the rally a few times & had, the day before, scored a Kubota Z482 from the very college that was hosting the show today!

[Stuart]

Another MotoBatt ordered, this time for the Ruggerfield. She has had new fork seals fitted & a new seat is next.

[Stuart]

Took the diesel Tiger over to the Sevenoaks show where I met Paul who's working on a 3 cylinder Kubota build.

[alexanderfoti]

Stripped the secondary as the secondary drive cog slipped along the shaft and broke the taperlock bush, leaving me here:



New bits arrived today, and a slight design change on the secondary drive shaft to prevent the issue from re-occuring.

[Stuart]

Sunday: Had a chat with a Triumph twin owner at Rykas, Box Hill who knew both Alan Arnott & Eric Cheney. He talked about them helping Stuart McGuigan develop the Enfield based diesel prototype before the KLR came along. Said one of the first frames made had front suspension similar to rear but got so fed up with it he chucked it into a metal skip! It vanished over night and was later seen on a custom bike of some sort. I wonder if the present owner knows its heritage?!
The finished bike used far more traditional forks (see pic). Apparently he experimented with these odd forks to start with as maintenance would have been easier for the army.

[Stuart]

Fixing a broken nipple on the Ruggerfield front brake.

[Diesel Dave]

Oooh you don't want to be soldering nipples on with a flame........Tut Tut

[Stuart]

How else would I melt silver solder

[mark_in_manchester]

Well, blow me down. Tonight, the spare Charade engine I acquired (checks top of this page) two years ago... ...turns out to be a runner! 100 priming kicks and a knackered kickstart cotter later, it fired, ran, turbo span up, 'new' Dnepr gearbox appears to engage all gears! This puts considerable momentum into the task of returning it to the road, and even gives me more inclination to pull down the old engine and find out why it pressurises the water jacket.

[Stuart]

Good stuff Mark!
Took the Tiger down some c roads last weekend & this weekend I showed the new Track at a local meeting.


Stuart

[SPKR]

Just finished a 12 day ride on my turbo diesel AWD Kawabota 902. From Las Vegas, through the Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree on a mixture of dirt trails and bad pavement. Over the mountains to San Diego. Then up the Pacific coast region, taking some dirt alternative routes when possible. Stopped off at Motorcyclist Magazine office in Irvine, CA and showed then the bike. Continued up the coast into the Lost Coast region of northern CA. Eventually crossed through OR and WA only to run into some electrical problems right before the Canadian border. Had to call a flatbed truck to make the final distance to SWM Adventure Motorsports in Kelowna, BC. Dropped the Kawabota off with Kelly Flynn for some repairs and upgrades.

Video from Motorcyclist Magazine here:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/wild- ... motorcycle

John Spieker

[Diesel Dave]

Finally got around to fitting the trailer tow hitch on the Enfield, and yes it already has a dent in the lid...



Will be tested on the run to the French rally next month, but it's real test will be for Hamm as the missis will be on the pillion so all the camping gear will be in the trailer.

No idea what pressure to put in the tyre...

[Dan J]

I remain jealous of your Acadiane ownership! What a lovely car...

And on topic... 32 psi

Third wheel. Doesn't support you. Nothing other than a drag on the bike. 32 should be high enough to give minimal resistance with load but low enough to stop bouncing.

Maybe we should have a sweepstake on what you finally go with?

[Tetronator]

However much pressure you can muster with an hand pump.

Nice trailer, wont be breaking any speed records then, will you?