It’s been a busy time since I last posted with a test day at Darley Moor and a visit to the 24 Heures du Mans (look into the Trips post 2023 for the ride report). The weather remains wet but there are blue skies beginning to emerge.
The bottom sprocket has the correct recess on the back
The trip to Le Mans meant I fitted a new chain and rear sprocket. I had two engine sprockets on the shelf but neither would fit because the back of the sprocket wasn’t dished. This leaves the sprocket in the wrong position to allow the lock washer to be used. Neither supplier knew the correct fitment but eventually AFAM provided the serial # (94803-19 h) for the correct item off ebay (listed incorrectly for an SFC1000. So go by the serial # not the description). It’s frustrating but then Laverda haven’t made anything for 40 years so I guess it’s to be expected if you don’t use specialist suppliers.!
Neat upgraded master cylinders that don’t look too out of place (note rack and headlamp sticker from Le Mans)
The big revelation was fitting new coffin style master cylinders. I did this primarily to get more feel on the front brake and the 15mm unit has done just that! I suspect the old master cylinder wasn’t operating properly because in addition to much improved feel (travel at the lever) the front brakes no longer judder. I’d expected the clutch to be lighter and the 13mm unit delivered – taken together and the fact everything is new it’s almost like riding a modern bike!
The last thing to fix on the bike is the oil consumption which stubbornly refuses to drop below at a litre every 1,000 miles. I’m heading up to Scotland soon to see if this can be fixed.
Andy fully focused!Tony on song
The day at Darley Moor was for Andy Bartlett to give his TTF1 replica a test in advance of the first race at Paul Ricard. Andy got everyone together and he and Tony Jiminez took the beast out for a few shakedown laps. The ‘beast’ actually sounds very smooth, the exhaust is probably road legal.
Andy and Paul ‘fix’ the weeping oil seal
The bike arrived on a trailer and tying it down had forced a bit of oil past the nearside fork seal. It took some brake cleaner and a rag to clear scrutineering but the track time showed once clean the problem didn’t exist.
Andy has done quite a bit of work over the winter including a trip to Scotland to sort the head and cylinders along with a dyno session. This work along with bits and bats across the cycle parts has produced a sweet bike. Both Andy and Tony were happy.
The next few weeks should be busy with the aforemented dash to Scotland to try and fix the oil consumption followed almost immediately with a ride down to the Circuit Paul Ricard to help out with Andy Bartlett’s first race of the season. What could possibly go wrong…
Happy New Year! Damn I just checked the blog and this is the first post since November!!! Well the loctite fixed the footpeg, the RGS footrest hanger is back in a box somewhere and Mrs A has got over her Awards Evening big night out so into 2024…
The headlight angle is wrong…irratating…
It’s just been so damned grey and wet for months! It’s not been particularly cold and the Jota has been covered in ACF50 – could go for a ride. Stuff however has got in the way along with a broken spring and plunger in the sprag.
Expensive at £33 but works a treat
It only took a couple of laboured cold starts for me to twig the sprag needed repair. Repairing the sprag was straightforward – springs from Motalia (the only Laverda parts seller left in the UK?) and a used plunger from a bag of sprag odds and sods. Assembly was straightforward aside from the need to hold the alternator to tighten the crank nut. I tried to find an appropriate peg spanner but settled on an HGV oil filter strap. Worked a treat!
While I had the alternator cover off I took the opportunity to hunt down the oil leak behind the cylinder barrel. As I suspected the gasket behind the starter motor wasn’t holding and with no easy (or cheap) way to get a new gasket in the UK I resorted to silicone… It seems to be working.
Unlike Silkolene or Morris you get a full 5 litres
Time for oil. I’d run a cycle of the Halfords 20/50 Classic in an attempt to sort out the oil consumption – idea being to ‘rough up the rings’ for improved seal. Putting this stupidity to one side what I noticed was how bad the engine oil smelt! It reminded me of years ago when a mechanic smelt my dismantled A65 and guessed I’d run it on Castrol GTX because of the smell! So think this is the last time I’ll use Halfords oil which isn’t noticeably cheaper than Morris or Silkolene. However for the first time ever I’m going fully synthetic! A bit of research came up with fully synth’ 20/50 at a better price than quality mineral oil. Decided to give this a go to see if oil consumption will go down + in the summer maybe fully synth’ will help the engine stay cooler (not something I can test in February…)?
Someone who knows what they’re doing!
Before getting going I was visited by Andy Bartlett and his compression tester. Cylinder 1 and 2 gave 180 psi cold but #3 delivered a disappointing 165! I was counselled not to arrange head removal before trying a ‘warm’ test and hey ho they all hit 180 second time round (although #3 could still be described as ‘lazy’). #3 has a ‘bruised’ piston according to the SLS which explains the variance (which is within the 10% variance across the cylinders rule). However can’t lie – I don’t like it. Still it’s only £30 for a compression tester so I’ll get one of these and do periodic checks.
Finally having checked out the plug caps for resistance Andy also noticed the offside horn rattled. I found another in another odds and sods box – couldn’t be bothered to see if it works, it just doesn’t rattle!
First proper ride was for coffee at the Black Dog cafe, Devizes. The wet weather meant many of the back roads are flooded so it had to be mainly dual carriageway and motorway but I did manage to ride past the standing stones in Avebury.
Despite intermittent heavy rain it was great to be back on the Jota with the engine pushing me forward with that glorious growl. You could see people wondering why this classic bike was out in the shitty weather but it’s covered in ACF50 so what the hell! A quick chat with another ‘baby boomer’ about his GSXR and how he wished he’d bought an RGS before it was time to turn round and head for home. Must do that more regularly.
So first proper frost of the winter on Saturday. I did have to run an errand on Thursday however and found winter problems had already arrived when I found the gear change bush seized in its housing. Gearchanging was like getting your wellies stuck in clay but loosening off the footpeg meant I could ride home.
Rather grotty gearchange lever with bush being tapped out
Sun catches the corrosion instead the steel bush housing
This situation was a consequence of the weekend camp in Wales. I’d noticed road salt on the exhaust clamps the day after and had washed the bike down with car shampoo and oddles of cold water. Thought all was good but a week later there we are with a seized brass bush. A simple fix – tap the bush out and clean both the bush and steel housing, liberal coating of grease and good to go.
I had sprayed water under the tank when cleaning the Jota but as a precaution it was tank off time as I didn’t want the flatslide linkages going rusty. The good news was that there wasn’t any significant corrosion so I went through it firstly putting light oil on the linkages followed by a coating of ACF50. After many years winter riding I won’t be ruining a Jota to make some kind of ‘well hard’ point but hopefully it’ll get the occasional run out. Even with the seized gearchange lever I still found myself smiling at my good fortune to be riding a Jota and revelling not only in the engine but also the surprisingly taut handling.
Old and new bolt (installed)
Talking of fixing things Andy Bartlett fixed a seized bolt in my RGS footrest hanger. The allen bolt head was mangled (not by me surprisingly) and I thought the steel head had welded itself to the alloy hanger. Turned out it was the thread that had seized although Andy only found this out once he’d welded a bolt to the mangled head to break the corrosion. Once again I congratulated myself on realising my limitations and handing things over to an expert before the ‘big hammers’ came out and something bad happened.
Tony (wearing his EEC medal) and Andy discuss tactics for 2024.
Finally Saturday saw the British Historic Racing awards evening at Daventry. Tony Jiminez was there to collect his trophy for winning his ‘BEARS’ class on his YB6 Bimota. The Laverda F1 team turned out to celebrate with him. It was a double celebration for Tony has Andy handed over his EEC Winners medal too
Mrs A was away so decided to go camping. I try to camp once a month and decided to combine camping with motorcycling. It’s been very wet lately so firstly I checked to see if there was any dry areas and hit upon Wales. Dry on the Saturday but wet Sunday – you can’t have everything so they say!
First off I was looking at Cardigan then Aberdovey but finally settled on Crossgates near Llandudno Wells. We’d used Crossgates for the Welsh National Rally this year (go to ‘Trips 2023 on’ section as I’ve added National Rally reports). I wanted to visit Machynlleth so figured I could pitch at Crossgates and ride over in the afternoon.
As usual packing was a bit last minute and included fantasy items like a chair – as if I’m going to sat around in a field on my own looking into a gas burner…Anyways as a creature of habit I took my normal route over via Worcester, Leominster and the A44.
It was good to be out on the Jota. It had sat idle for more than a couple of weeks. I’d forgotten I’d left it on reserve so had the ‘ball ache’ of fuelling before I could go. It was a bit precarious getting on and off with a tall tank bag and roll on the pillion and despite an old guy commenting ‘nice bike’ at the petrol station I wasn’t really feeling it. Through Leominster and continue on the A44. I’m familiar with these roads but they were cold and damp in places. There was no reason not to get scratching but somehow they didn’t seem inviting. Missed a turn and ended up with a 10 mile detour which wasn’t welcome.
Tent pitched and it was off to Machynlleth – onto the renowned A483 toward Newtown – 25 miles of bends! The road was still cold and damp so I took my time slowly getting into the groove. A BMW RT pulled onto the road ahead of me. The textile suit wasn’t fooling me as I suspected he had more than his share of ‘local knowledge’ and so it proved. Nothing dramatic just smooth lines with no sudden braking. I was happy to follow. We both took the A470 wherein he waved me past probably knowing he’d made his point and where was the challenge on this fast flowing road.
Disappointingly the road to Machynlleth was closed so having ridden 30 miles out I had little choice but to turn round and head back to the campsite. A day that had promised so much but in truth delivered little.
Sunday arrived and with it the rain. It wasn’t a hard rain just persistent. Packing up in the rain is a chore and despite my best intentions the load seemed bigger than the day before. It was wet but not really cold. I had 145 miles before I’d hit reserve so with luck I’d not have to stop.
I chose a return leg of Bulith Wells, Brecon, Abergavenny, Gloucester, Cirencester. However by the time I got to the A40 at Abergavenny I bottled it and headed for Newport and the M4. The wet ride was somehow more enjoyable than the dry outward leg. The Jota didn’t miss a beat and concentrating on flowing lines and gentle braking focused the mind. The only drama was a large diesel spill on the M4 spur road. You smell it first and then there was a particularly thick ‘rainbow of woe’ all across both carriageways. I dodged it and kept off the brakes much to the bemusement of the car drivers who insulated from the elements wondered why I was suddenly being so cautious!
I wish I’d paid more attention to my luggage. I could see it had slipped but decided to press on rather than stop. This and the realisation that I’d hit reserve sometime before home meant I held back on the M4. When you can’t press on you have to dig deep to stay positive but I defy anyone not to let their mind wander to cold hands and aching limbs.
Just over 3 hours and 150 miles the Jota rolls into the drive. It would be ready to do it all again but the rider just wants coffee and a hot bath….
The Jota has been sitting in the garage waiting for the rain to pass. Nothing compelling to make me take the Jota out but it seems bad to waste these last days before the inevitable arrival of road salt! In fairness to me there’s been a lot of work going on in the new HQ. This work will mean space to work when I decide which is the next project (currently leaning towards an Atlas revival).
So with nothing to report I’ve posted my report of the Laverda Club de France rally in Clecy of June this year. Go to the 2023 on Posts section.
The Jota continues to run well as autumn is upon us. I intend to keep riding the Jota until road salt brings the season to an end. I’ve got a Honda to ruin in the road salt – it’s just not worth it to ruin a Laverda in such conditions.
The the end of summer means there’s less to go out and about to see. I regret not going to the traditional season finale in Belgium but building work at the new HQ intervened. I did tho’ get away the same weekend for my first ever visit to Mallory Park (sadly not on the Jota but in a van). Tony Jiminez (Andy Bartlett’s Laverda co-pilot) had to ride his Bimota to secure his solo championship. Mallory is a small but demanding circuit and once again a Monty was in action.
This time the Monty belongs to Dave Fritzpatrick. He’d spent much time searching for power using longer than standard bellmouths and fitted a full fairing to cheat the wind. Looks better than a Formula IMHO.
What I took from the weekend tho’ was how good these ‘classic’ weekends are. Cheap as chips to watch, everyone camps together and walking about the tents revealed many interesting machines and a good sense of cameraderie – I shall check out dates for 2024.
Unfortunately Dean wasn’t interested in fettling the Jota…
I did get up to the Stafford Classic Bike Show on the Jota. I met Dean Young who was showing his 100 Sport and stowed my camping gear in his car.
The 120 mile ride up was going well with 20 miles to go and then the rain hammered down. Still once the Jota had been leant against a tree and camp set a good weekend followed.
Nice Motodd RGS – note the clever gear lever adjuster
Apologies I didn’t get the owners details. Note ‘four pots’ mounted behind the forks – that’ll screw it’s classic racing eligibility!
ILOC are celebrating their 50th Anniversary and have produced a splendid book full of members stories and pictures. It’s £30 to non-members. As usual the ILOC stand was rammed full of exceptional bikes – a rare Mk 2 Monty, an immaculate series 2 Jota, drummer and RGS Executive. There were 4 Laverda in the Bonhams auction with only the American Eagle selling (£4,300). It seemed to me that there’s a gap between the sellers and buyers expectations. I think prices are going down so those who bought a Laverda may have caught a cold…
The ride home was dry but temperatures had plummeted by the time I rolled into my drive. The other thing I noticed was signs the sprag clutch may need ‘refreshing’ – not ideal but it’s lasted 16,000 miles so I’m not going to complain.
Graham Rose – RGA Jota sidecar pilot sent news that he’d got to the Sahara on his Guzzi…and I thought going to Spain was a big deal!
Finally I managed to write up watching the Laverda endurance races in Paul Ricard and Brands Hatch. Go to the Trips 2023 section.
A long time since my last post but it’s for a good reason…I’ve been riding the Jota! Still there’s a bit of catching up to do and I’ll post updates on Spain, France, Brands Hatch and two National Road Rallies over the coming weeks.
The Jota has turned into my daily ride. I’ve now covered 15,000 miles since May ‘22. Back in the 80’s the Jota was my only ride and I never thought anything of it. Keep an eye on oil consumption and away you go. The Honda has been taken off the road (SORN’ed) to deny me the temptation of head grips, 70 mpg and brakes that work in the rain! Using the Jota regularly has been a joy – every ride results in a smile! It goes great, sounds great and parked up looks great. You’re never short of someone who wants to reminisce. Petrol won’t get cheaper, I won’t get stronger so it’s time to get the miles on and not worry about an ‘investment’.
The Jota costs a bit to run as I always use E5 fuel (I paid £1.72 a litre recently) and change the oil at 1,000 mile intervals. The rear tyre lasts around 4,000 miles (tho’ the front is still fine at 14,000) and a chain goes for 8,000 miles. However if you compare this to the ubiquitous GS and dealer servicing I think I’m ahead + who ever bothers to talk to a GS rider..?
Machynlleth
I’ve been out with Andy Bartlett on his unrestored 1200 Mirage. We met up near Worcester and had a ride out to Aberdovey – covered 400 miles in the day. The weather was humid but the roads free of traffic and dry. It was great again to get out on the Jota and hear two 180’s thunder through the valleys 🙂
This wasn’t my first ride with Andy as he’d invited me along to watch Rob Burrows do a track day on his Monty. This ride was the first time I’d ridden with another ‘well used’ triple and it was interesting to get Andy’s feedback. He thought the Jota accelerated off the throttle better probably due to its recent rebuild but also maybe down to the Mikuni flatslides.
Castle Combe pits
The track day was a good day out. Rob’s Monty ran well tho’ suffered a bent gearchange lever due to oil on the track!
There were lots of interesting bikes being taken out including an ex-GP MBA 125 which was thrashed mercilessly and was only ‘bested’ by competent riders on much bigger bikes!
My personal favourite was a BSA A65 chop. It was built in the late 70s and the current owner seemed intent keeping the vibe – adding BSA pillion pegs as decoration along with a plastic skull’s head to go on top of the hand gear-change.
Bilbao
May saw the Jota set sail for Santander and a subsequent tour across The Pyrennes to Marsaille to watch round 1 of the EEC. The Jota was wearing a fresh head gasket which I was testing on behalf of the Scottish Laverda specialist (SLS).
Note areas where oil has crept along gasket and breached flame ring
Removal the old item showed that the SLS had correctly predicted failure of the old item. Failure is caused by a poor flame ring and thin gasket material. Oil travels across the gasket and into the poorly sealed combustion chamber.
New triple gasket. Flame ring to gasket body ratio optimised. Copper crush rings replace rubber o rings
The SLS gasket has the correct height/thickness for both flame ring and gasket along with integral copper crush rings to replace the rubber o rings on the studs. Indications were promising in that after 50 miles the head tightened by just one nut flat. A further 500 miles required no further tightening so the new gasket proved itself less prone to movement.
Jota at LCF rally – Clecy
Oil consumption dropped but with 3,500 miles up was creeping back. A week in boiling hot Normandy showed smoke on the overrun and at tick over so a trip back to Scotland was arranged. Head off revealed the gasket had sealed perfectly. Oil consumption was put down to barrels scored by carbon deposits and contaminated piston rings.
The pistons were okay so a set of barrels were bored and new rings fitted. 600 miles on and the bike is performing well – I’d go so far as to say it has more punch than ever. A frustration however is that moving towards Autumn I won’t know for sure if the oil consumption issue is cured until next spring when I’ll start racking up miles again.
As a bonus the suspension on the Jota has also been overhauled. The SLS replaced the fork seals which has improved damping especially reducing judder when braking at a junction.
At the same time I was visiting Scotland Falcon Suspension reconditioned the leaking rear shocks. This meant I dug the original silver Marzochi shocks out of the garage. I seemed to remember they leaked 30 years ago but not so anymore…guess the oil is long gone! They were adequate for solo work albeit perhaps lacking a bit of damping. Back to the Falcons one unit was found to have a stone chip on the damping rod. A new, larger bump stop was installed and my hope is that I can now run standard 100 Ilbs springs two up without grounding the tyre into the mudguard. Mrs A and I are carrying a few more pounds than in our 20’s but even so not enough to cause this issue. Hopefully the refurb’ will solve a problem that Falcon had never encountered before.
Route avoids a lot of motorway + integrates stop at cafe in Ayr
I’ve enjoyed ‘commuting’ up to Scotland. It’s around 450 miles so can be done in a day. The Jota sits very happily at 80/90 mph and despite what folk might think the riding position is very comfortable. A Jota isn’t cramped and the forward lean means weight isn’t transmitted to the lower back. I also find the Jota bars fine,,,especially at high speeds. I’m now 8 miles west of the original HQ so changed from the M40/M6 to riding cross country to Worcester and then the M5/M6. The ride over to Worcester breaks the monotony of the motorway and it seems quicker to make the M6. For the last ride back I mixed it up with a lunch stop in Ayr, over to Dumfries and the M6 to Sandbach from where I headed past Shrewsbury over to Leominster, Tewkesbury, Stow and home.
Camped down at Leyland Day Care Centre!
I did however get caught out riding back to England – running late and impending thunder storm meant I needed to find a campsite at short notice. A Day Care Centre in Leyland provided the perfect solution – a wide porch provided cover for me to sleep next to the Jota listening to the heavy rain beating down and the disco beat pulsing from the nearby High Street. Perfect open campsite!
The little Turismo had been ridden the 8 miles to the new HQ and then stubbornly refused to restart. Good fortune intervened however with a visit from Dean Young who was lured in by the promise that we could ride the two British LaverdaforHealth bikes to the big Willersey meeting if only mine would run…(shameful manipulation by yours truly). My ploy worked and Dean’s expertise soon had the Turismo singing. First off he tested the ignition coil by turning the engine which showed a spark – not at the HT lead but from the ignition coil wire in the flywheel magneto. This meant the lack of sparks was probably points related (a new plug already in place so that was discounted).
A common problem is the points sprung steel blades shorting on the backplate through oil contamination. Dean addressed this with a small run of heat shrink, adjusted the points and bingo!
The two British ‘LaverdaforHealth’ bikes reunited
The pub meet in Wellesey had been built by Malcolm Cox and featured Andy Bartlett and his race winning RGS, Phil Todd, Alan Bell, Richard Slater as well as Pete PK Davies and his errr endurance racing Norton (ahem…). Laverdisti glitterati for sure. There was a dizzing and dazzling display of Laverda – lots of orange and silvers, 120 triples, a few 1200’s, couple of Zane’s and just a smattering of SF twins (including one SFC). Apparently there were 86 Laverdas across the day which most likely made it the biggest UK Laverda meeting in 2023. Plans are already being laid for 2024 and the 75th Anniversary (which weirdly makes me think of the 1200 30th Anniversary model…where did 45 years go)!
The 80 mile round trip was perfect for the Turismo. Bowling along the open road reminded me of the ride to Italy in 2009. The little bike rolled happily along only requiring occasional abuse in 2nd gear on hills. The little 100cc engine responds well to revs and the tall top gear ratio means it is difficult to abuse it for long periods. Would I ever repeat the ride to Breganze? Never say never and on this evidence it seems that it would be able to repeat the feat!
The three amigos
Tony Winterton joined us for breakfast on his ‘twisted twin’. He’s put some baffles in the silencers and added period crash bars. The 88° twin still roars but isn’t so aggressive. The crash bars are kinda cool and will look really period with the planned addition of some spot lights. Tony followed the little singles until we got onto open road out of Burford and was away.
Owned this since 1978…yes the mat is to catch oil
While all this Laverda stuff has being going on I’ve slowly got my 1965 BSA Lightning back on its wheels. The BSA was mothballed when I got the Jota in ‘87 and has sat collecting dust and rust for near on 40 years. Comparison with Laverda is inevitable although not entirely fair. The Laverda is just more robust, modern and usable…however the BSA does have some plus points. Parts availability in the UK is excellent and parts are cheap too (£200 gets a good cylinder head). Performance wise the BSA is sufficient to have fun on and makes a great noise. The BSA benefits from modern electrics, starts easily and its small size a bonus. If I was thinking of getting a classic bike now I have to say something like a Triumph T140 or Mk 111 Commando would be tempting. Having time and money to rectify the flaws inherent in British motorcycles means that they can be turned into practical daily riders – especially if that amounts to less than 5000 miles a year.
There is still a lot of work to be done in the Laverda garage. It seems that the Jota and Turismo are cured for now. The question is what will be the next Laverda project? Maybe an Atlas or maybe a 120° triple…
All ready to sail to Santander with Mrs A 🙂 The Jota has been running great still but with 7,000 post rebuild miles there was a bit of work to do.
The rear tyre needed replacement, there was still thread left but there was a non Avon furrow where we’d bottomed out in Scotland. As you’ll know getting a tyre fitted to a Laverda without rim damage is difficult so after consultation it was off to Mike Surman, Aylesbury. Jeremy is a factory trained mechanic and has a lovely 3c so we had a good natter. Not cheap but the rim is unscathed.
A new set of 110Ilbs weight springs came up from Falcon Suspension – 10Ilbs up on stock (must stop eating pies). While this was being done I also changed the orientation of the 8mm earth bolt so it is head down giving a few more millimetres of clearance. The picture also shows the old rack which with a few spacers fits fine…tho’ now the seat won’t open…
The Speedo stopped working which thankfully turned out to be the wheel worm gear spinning. Some Loctite 270 plus a new, cubed cable saw it working fine. I see this gear alone is €300 so I’ve included regular inspection and greasing to the service schedule!
Loctite 270 was also used on the outboard crush bearing which was spinning in the housing. Fresh rear sprocket (I passed on the drive sprocket for fear I’d bugger something up so close to departure), chain and clean oil joined the fray.
so the plan is Santander over to Paul Ricard to watch Andy Bartlett race his RGS and then back up through France to home. About 1200 miles in all…what could possibly go wrong!
Kept meaning to post but not a lot has happened – the Jota has kept rolling along 🙂 Since I the trip to the Belgian rally in September 2022 and having the oil cooler welded there’s been no issues. I’ve been using the Jota as my daily rider and aside from continued oil consumption at a litre every thousand miles it runs great. With regards the oil I’m assured it’s a known head gasket issue and that a replacement will be available by the end of April. It’s not ideal but I can live with the consumption for now.
The Jota is turning out to be more fun than I could have thought. It’s a ponderous thing to wheel about but once it’s moving all that weight goes away. The handling is tight and the engine pulls well. The more I ride it the more I use the performance. The Mikuni flatslides were a great choice as the bike idles and is smooth from very low revs with no snatching. I’m getting high 40’s mpg so my tank only needs filling every 200 miles which is so much better than the 125 miles it gave on Dellortos. The good running may also be down to the Ignitech ignition which must contribute to the smooth running and excellent starting 🙂
Preparations are underway to take the boat to Santander and from there ride over to Paul Ricard to watch Andy Bartlett race. Before we go it needs an oil change, back tyre, rack fitting and 2 litres of oil for the panniers! What could possibly go wrong…
A long time since the last update. So for these past couple of months I’ve had the luxury of really just riding the Jota! This picture was taken today after a 50 mile blast to take advantage of the incredibly mild weather. The roads were a bit damp and with the rear tyre getting low I didn’t ‘test’ the handling.
There was however a purpose behind the gentle morning bimble. I rode with a friend the other day who reported some smoke out of the right hand silencer when pulling away or overtaking. No smoke on a stable throttle. Pulling the plugs confirmed this as the primary side was perfect but things got worse as we moved to the alternator. I cleaned the plugs and then took it for a bit of a blast deliberately going on the local dual carriageway so I could rev up to 7,000 rpm. The bike ran really well and inspection of the plugs seemed to say all was well. Sometime this week I’ll pull the plugs again to see if a gentle bimble brings problems – though when I pulled into the drive and revved the bike it didn’t seem to smoke.
I have a few thoughts if it is burning some oil. First off the top of the pistons are a bit wet. This was something the engine man pointed out when the twisted crank was fixed. A different set of oil rings was put into the motor and initially oil consumption seemed negligible. I’ve noticed however that now oil consumption is somewhere around a litre per 1,000 miles. Are the rings still not sealing properly? To test this I’m going to change over to Kendal oil as run in Harleys. I used to run this back in the day and the motor seemed to be happy. I’m currently running Silkolene V twin 20/50 which to my eye seems quite thin. I know it can’t be but maybe a very traditional oil might be better? I’ve also considered 500 miles on a sump of Halford’s Classic 20/50. This cheap oil is used to break in engines and maybe I need to roughen up the bores and then go back to the expensive stuff? Could all be nonsense as discussions on ‘what oil should I use’ are normally silly. When I first got the Jota in ’87 I ran Duckhams Q and it was fine…
My second thought is petrol. The smoking happened after I filled up in an Esso station I’d never used. The petrol was E5 but now I’m back to Shell Super E5 I wonder if this will make any difference? I know this is petrol and not oil but might be something in it..?
Finally have I got the beginnings of a blowing head gasket. I hope not is all I can say to this. The bike has done 3,000 miles since the twisted crank was fixed.
So putting aside oil how’s it going? It runs great and everytime I go out on it I smile. It’s a glorious thing to be out on, the noise, the power the taut handling and of course the admiring looks.
It’s heavy to wheel around and I wonder if a side stand might be a good addition. The centre stand is very easy to use but I wonder if I am going to drop it sometime as I roll it off the stand?
The Mikuni carbs’ are excellent – no snatching at any revs and at least 30% better fuel economy. The throttle still retains the original annoying ‘one and a half’ turn to get fully open. This more than anything restricts how hard you spin the bike up. I’m only running one throttle cable on the ‘push/pull’ system but I am going to see what dual cables feels like. When I first used both cables the throttle was too heavy but that might have been a routing problem. What I notice is that sometimes the throttle doesn’t fully close. It may be me being slack shutting off but let’s see. The only downside is I just have to ensure I don’t leave them on for fear of another hydraulic lock. I did leave the petrol on for 3 hours the other day and before starting removed the plugs just to be sure (petrol hadn’t leaked past). It’s inevitable this will happen sometime in the future so always pack a plug spanner hey!
The brakes and suspension are heavy and hard. With the former you have to pull the lever but they work okay despite the bike’s weight. I’m impressed that the rear works as it never did back in the day. An upgrade would be a 14mm master cylinder on the front.
The front forks are spindly things that do judder a bit at slow speed. I might have slightly warped discs but there’s no pulsing at the lever so I think it’s the forks. A winter overhaul may bring benefits. The rear Falcon shocks are excellent – tho’ I might go for stronger springs for pillion and camping duties. Overall the handling is best described as ‘taut’ but also classy. It doesn’t feel like cheap suspension even tho’ it’s dated. It’s not harsh tho’ it is firm. I prefer this to the softly sprung Honda NC I own. The thin tyres and taut handling combine to reward committed riding – lots of counter-steering and rising revs out of corners brings a lot of rewards. I’m also exploring the impact of shifting body weight and this helps. With regards tyres I’m finding the rear wears quite quickly. With 3,000 miles on the back the tread is noticeably lower and this contributes to high speed head shakes. It might make 5,000 legally but I’ll put a fresh rear on in the spring. The front goes twice as long as the rear.
So I hope I can start planning for a full 2023 of Jota adventures. I can’t see any reason why the Jota can’t be a daily rider and frankly as the curtain appears to be coming down on petrol now is the time to be riding rather than polishing these ‘classic’ bikes!
Bent screwdrivers, big hammers and old Laverdas 