W/E 19th April 2015

Two of a kind

She passed – just! Swopped a few things over from Atlas #1 and dropped it off on Thursday morning and caught the train to work 😦 Failed on stop lights that didn’t come on immediately, indicators that indicated too fast and a bit of brake fluid round the rear calipher.

Tightened up the banjo to the calipher, bled the back brake to get it working okay but not perfect (it’ll need some road miles to achieve this) and put some contact cleaner on the front micro switch which sorted that.

We’ve all had a bike with an awful Wagner USA flasher unit..

The big find was the indicators. Atlas #2 came with one of those horrid flasher units which I think are designed for mini – indicators and I agree they flash too fast. Anyways I’d negotiated that if I removed the indicators and taped over the switch gear it would be judged without. However I got thinking and dug out the correct unit for an RGS. Now this comes with three as opposed to two connections so I guessed which two to use and bingo – it indicated at the right rate 🙂

Sailed through on Friday but my ride suggested that the handlebars are crooked and I know that the nearside rear wheel bearing is a bit rough…so okay for now but a pile of work waiting around the corner. Atlas #2 is now waiting for the registration to come through – can’t believe how close I am to having a Laverda backup bike!

The instructions for the Welsh National Rally came through during the week so now I have to focus on getting Atlas #1 ready…

First challenge is to get the front brake working. The standard disc feels warped and I gave this some thought and came to the conclusion that perhaps the disc has been messed up by sticking pistons in the calipher. Sure enough a strip down showed that the inside two pistons hadn’t moved. It also showed how the outer two pistons had been trying to push on the disc which had caused the calipher body to ‘kiss’ the wheel spokes! I dug out a fresh second-hand calipher but unexpectedly this leaked fluid out of the joint seam. I couldn’t tighten the joint and it seems to confirm my suspicion that the slightly odd calipher fitted to the Atlas is ‘tamper’ proofed. Went back to the old calipher and spent an hour with releasing fluid and seem to have freed it up. I have not fitted the big Yamaha disc because I want to see if the calipher is working before risking a fresh disc – let’s try and sort one problem at a time.

Second challenge was to get the rear brake working – grrrrrrrrrrrr! First step was to totally strip and clean the calipher.

Note the big(ish) hammer

Gloopy brake fluid

Splitting the calipher revealed some nasty stuff sitting behind the pistons – looks like water contamination. Anyhow everything cleaned up but then the challenge came when the master cylinder appeared knackered. I decided I must have a spare amongst all these used parts – the one of the spare Atlas is shot seemingly but I got life out of one off the RGA. Guess I’d replace it when that is eventually ready to roll – or at least I can worry about it later.

A very frustrating weekend which seemed to involve a lot of work just to stand still. I know I now have Atlas #2 almost available but Atlas #1 just seems to have cost me a day of my life to be no different!

Nick 🙂