43 trouble free miles = solid build nice bike Dennis. I like your rear basket. Handy for quick trips to town.
Got in the shop after work Wednesday to split the fender strut mounting clamps using a .062" silting saw @ 325 RPM using some 60 yr. old 3in1 oil for lube. (Funny thing about 3in1 the can which I used is one my Father had for I don't how long. But it still does what is supposed to do one drop at a time. My electric fans get a annual drop on both bearings.) . Still have some mods to do to the clamps, the left hand one has to fit under the Sturmey Archer drum brake arm, and there is more than 3/8" clearance so a 3/8" web will do fine without compromising strength. I am hoping to start the mods Friday after work.
Tom
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[LONG REPLY!]
Tom, I like your setup you make me miss my Dad's shop with all of his metal working equipment and tools.
He made a lot of tools just to work on those Cummins diesel engines and trucks. He was from Germany
and the ole timers would rarely buy new tractors and equipment they just improvised and rebuilt equipment
to keep them running. There aren't many kids today that want to learn machining and I think it's because
they don't want to get their hands dirty. What's being lost is "Common-Sense" and logical problem solving.
I've seen that in college especially when it came to solving mechanical/electronic problems.
That rear basket is a pain when you have to get on the bike! The problem is, you have to tip the bike to make
sure you clear it when you swing your leg over it. The best solution I found was if you are in the city to pull up
lose to a curbing and get on the curb with the bike on the pavement and swing your leg over the basket that
works everytime! You just don't want to try to swing your leg over the top and hit the basket since the outcome
would throw you off balance and down you go! The basket needs to be 4" shorter in height or I need to be
6' 5". Tight bluejeans I would not try getting on it with and the ideal would be shorts but shorts and cutoffs are
a no no on bikes especially this one even with the double wrap of heat tape on the header pipe. That exhaust
is another thing I need to work on and the muffler is too restrictive for the engine. Even with a double wrap
of heat tape if you get your pants leg against the header wrap you will immediately no it! I've got about 270+
miles on the last mods and will be dumping the oil soon for fresh oil. The engine I estimate should be close
to full breakin since it's getting well over 800 miles. I pulled the GPS speedometer since I didn't want to lose
it and it's real easy for the bike to run past this speedometer at 60 Kmh into the mileage segments. The
speedometer is a bike speedometer and it isn't doesn't have a set of digits high enough to test. The one I
pulled off of the other bike is only temporary until I get the GPS speedometer mount. I do have the throttle
limited to how far I can rev the engine with a spring on the throttle cable. Once the spring is compressed the
engine can't go into red line. There's no speeding down hills I don't need to that problem. About 25-30 mph
cruise speed about 40 Kmh on this speedometer with the 32-tooth sprocket. Maybe a 28-tooth sprocket for
the country roads? I might have to keep an eye on the drive belt since there was slippage on the 20-tooth
under power acceleration. That kind of slippage on a toothed steel webbed belt would accelerate wear.
3-in-1 has been around a long time and it was used on sewing machines and about everything years ago
for lubrication. Keep us posted on what's happening...
Dennis