)This is the first bike I have ridden with manual advance and retard but I soon got the hang of retarding a bit as I came up to junctions and temporary stops in traffic and then advancing as I pulled away.
I was impressed with the action of the girder forks. The spring stiffness appears just right, and to tell the truth I never really gave them much notice. The seat was nice and bouncy, and I certainly need to tone my butt cheeks up after the winter layoff.
Brakes...well they were relined by Villers with their woven linings 'designed for classic bikes' and were centered when installed... following the advice given on the forum. At first they did do something, in that I could stop at a junction, but most of that was engine braking. After twenty odd miles they are getting better, but I think a session of fettling of the trailing shoe length is needed. They just feel very wooden, with no real increase in retardation no matter how hard you pull/press the lever.
Gearbox was lovely, smooth changes and no crunching as long as you took a bit of time to make the changes. Box has a 50/50 mixture of SAE50 and normal lithium grease. Clutch was smooth and light (club linings, Drags plain plates and a nylon lined cable).
As it has a new piston / rebore (+40), new crankpin and mains I am at the running in stage (SAE30 oil). But the old girl just wants to go. I have not been above 1/4 throttle (honestly
) but there is so much torque she pulls like a train. And the sound through the Armours high level pipes is a joy, I am sure the shoppers on our sleepy high street were well impressed... well they all looked as I thudded by on half retard.Oil pressure on the gauge is about 7 psi when warm and at travelling speeds, so maybe needs to be adjusted up a bit (Waller says 10 to 15 psi).
having got back I noticed only one real oil drip (result
) from the banjo where the oil pipe for the rockers comes off the stud on the front of the timing case. I tried to nip it up but something was clearly wrong...the thread has stripped inside the timing case...bugger.... Please have a look at my post in the four stroke section to see the problem, and hopefully with the forums help, the solution. (see this post http://forum.arielownersmcc.com/viewt ... 236#p63317Here are a few photos taken today
Cheers
Alan
