That’s a real dog leg!
Damn me if I don’t get home on Thursday flick down the sidestand, lean the bike to take the strain and down we all go – sidestand broke off completely!
Busted!
Must’ve been cracked for sometime and Thursday was the day it decided to cry ‘enough’. Had to leave the bike on its side and go get Mrs A to help me haul the heavy bugger upright. Aside from the sidestand the only other damage was the bent lever and I think the clutch master cylinder now sits at a slightly different level. I have a spare sidestand so fitted it that night and was back in business.
I meant to fix the clutch lever and investigate the master cylinder but got stuck in to the other problem which is the lower than standard rear end. I had a spare shock already waiting to go in so set to and got the fancy ‘White Power’ unit. I understand this was put on by the previous owner but at the recent Atlas rally I was told that some Mk 3’s had them fitted as standard.
WP in blue
I’d been thinking there might be a problem with the shock but it turned out not to be so. You can see that the WP unit is about 50mm shorter than the stocker but my suspension is at least 2 inches down. The plain bearings and bolts showed some signs of seizure or least the bolts had rust on them and were also a bit dry – however nothing that would account for 2 inches. The problem revealed itself when I went to refit all the linkages with the stock shock and noticed the swinging arm held it’s position despite not being supported. The swinging arm bearings are seized! By the time I got to this I had other things to do and had to press on with re-assembly so for now a liberal dose of WD40 will have to do. I have already seen some improvement so fingers crossed a week’s commute might see the WD work its way in and sort the problem.
The other issue that I never got round to was to look again at the front brake. Over the past week the brake has once again started to pulse and snatch like the second disc has warped. I’m not convinced this has happened a second time round and suspect the brake pad material might not be compatible with the disc. I’m running kevlar mix pads so will have a root around for some old standard compound jobbies. I remember once fitting double H’s to my Jota and getting a similar snatch.
What seems to be working is the custom sprocket and lightweight chain. I am expecting 5 more of these custom sprockets in the next week so have enough to fit out all three Atlas’s. This second batch have proper case hardening so should last well.
Nick 🙂
Bent screwdrivers, big hammers and old Laverdas 