W/E 15th August 2022

Chris takes it away…again

So the Jota has gone back to Scotland for fixing…again. I tried all kinds of trouble shooting to try and find the source of the noise. I disabled the clutch pushrod then disengaged the gearbox by removing the primary chains. I bump started it without the alternator and sprag, replaced the cam chain blade and finally took out the outrigger bearing behind the ignition. The whir is still there so the conclusion is either it’s coming from the oil pump or the crank itself! I could’ve taken the oil pump apart except this involved undoing the big nut on the end of the crank (the ‘Jesus’ nut). I decided this was asking for trouble so sent it to the expert.

I’m pretty dis-heartened as you might imagine. I was so made up when I first rode the bike home but now with every problem my enthusiasm wanes. The summer is almost done, if I’m lucky it might be ready for the Scottish and Belgian rallies in the first and third weekends of September.

Idle hands make the devils work…

So with no enthusiasm to poke around with the Atlas still on the bike lift my attention turned to the RGA. The engine is built and under the bench. The swinging arm was in need of paint as was the frame so with all this hot weather I thought a ‘rattle can’ session was in order.

I’ve got a couple of swinging arms for the RGA as I bent one when the chain snapped many years ago and replaced it when parts weren’t so expensive. When I had the Jota rear wheel straightened I also got the swinging arm fixed. This arm is the replacement and has suffered through the many years of winter salt.

Better but could be improved…

Digging through my stash of rattle cans I found some acrylic primer and gloss black. Not sure why I had this paint though clearly I’d used it on the RGA brackets as when I applied a coat the finish didn’t crinkle (see later). The primer and paint went on well and initially looked good…however having looked at it this morning I can see that really I should have rubbed it down between coats as the ‘rust rash’ is pretty bad…

That’s better

The frame had been blasted, primed and painted with silk black many years ago. I thought the silk finish would look better but changed thinking ‘gloss’ might lift the black parts. So I started off with a good base and subsequently screwed this up by applying acrylic gloss which promptly crinkled up. I wondered if the silk was acrylic but of course didn’t do the sensible thing of trying it out on a part of the frame that is rarely seen…Still with the weather so hot it was off to Halfords for a can of ‘normal’ paint. By the time I got back some light work with emery paper and I got a couple of coats on. Looks okay I think.

So there we are – Turismo running good. Jota back at the mender, Atlas alone on the lift and yet another project re-ignited. Shambles….

Nick 🙂

W/E 26th June 2022

LCF at Les Vosges

This is where I should be…but I’m sat at home watching Moto2 on the TV 😦

The Jota engine has been doing quite a bit of traveling since my last post.

Fiat Panda to the rescue

I wanted the motor fixed as soon as possible so came up with the solution to pull the engine, dump it in the Panda and drive to Scotland. Cheapest option and it gave me and Mrs A a couple of days in a shepherd’s hut near Dumfries 🙂 The engine was checked over but aside from a slightly tight exhaust valve clearance was given a clean bill of health. Compression was consistent across the engine (checked via jump leads on the starter) and the absence of oil around the head gasket suggested it was okay.

The engine was put back in the bike and started…https://youtu.be/2nlO3oPlU2g ….well that didn’t go well did it! I fell into deep depression and had to be coached into a more positive frame of mind by the Scottish ace mechanic. In fairness it’s difficult to fix something when you don’t see the engine run – I should’ve coughed up the money to ship the bike back first time round.

The bike was duly collected and via a free ‘pity’ pass taken to Scotland. News from Scotland is positive so I should be picking the Jota back up this Wednesday…

Let there be light

In the meantime preparations for the forthcoming National Road Rally (NRR) were underway with the Turismo. I spent a bit of time on the electrics which first of all meant fitting a bicycle lamp to augment the lights. The bicycle lamp is a lot brighter and combined with an existing auxiliary rear lamp I should be seen.

Modern tech

To restore the rear brake light I upgraded the battery that powers it. These days the front lamp is a 6 volt item intended for a VW. The problem is that this bulb draws too much so if you activate the brake light the weedy fly wheel magneto dims the front light! I’d hidden a big torch battery in the tool box and this was now finished. So a modern rechargeable AGM battery for a fiver seemed like a good way forward 🙂

Positive

The tool box lid is normally held in place by the original button at the base and I suspect by a little screw in the top. I’d been running it without the screw and bound with red electrical tape (yes I know but better this than lose the tool box cap)! Modern wire is thinner at 1mm and this would sneak through the hole for the screw and onto the positive terminal. The negative terminal goes to earth on a mounting bolt in the tool box. It works 🙂

Insulating washer

I’d learned from previous rides out on the Turismo that a perennial problem is the rear tank fixing point. I’d planned to fix this by putting a nylon shoulder washer on either end of the mounting bar.

Insulated

I took off the seat and retaining nuts only to find I’d already fixed the problem by putting petrol pipe over the end of the frame support. It looks like a good job (surely I didn’t do this) so I’ve left well alone!

Plug

I cleaned and adjusted the points but I still wasn’t happy with the ‘cheesey’ feel of the plug when I put it in. I’d pulled out a B6S and wondered if this was too hard. I’d remembered maybe a B8? Consultation suggested this change might make it easier to start so I ordered up a B7S and B8S. It did start and run okay but I had a niggling doubt about the thread despite not seeing any evidence of cross threading. The answer seems to be that the ‘S’ plug is too short. So we’ll have this fixed for Sunday and the quest for a Bronze award in the NRR. What could possibly go wrong…

Nick 🙂

W/E 11 July 2021

A long time since anything was posted. A long time since I did any work on the Laverdas 😦 Still I was shocked out of my inactivity by the arrival of the ACU National Road Rally (NRR). With only the Turismo close to running order it was time to get it out of the back of the shed and get it ready.

As I’d last ridden the bike properly at last year’s NRR it ought to be ‘roadworthy’…and so it proved to be…kind of. Preparation was helped in that I had to at least clean it for a magazine article I was asked to write. It started okay and the main lights worked. The brake light didn’t and nor did the horn but I wasn’t about to fix these items. The only work I decided to do was sort out the messy electrical tape I’d covered the wiring in. You can see at the front of the engine I’d left a plate off and just taped the wires because the ignition was shorting onto the cover. I’d also wrapped the same tape round a large block connector in the main wiring. It was simple to sort this out – infact I didn’t see any use in the block connector so just removed it and taped up the end of the errant wire. Job done once I’d put in maybe a quarter of a litre of straight 30 oil and tightened the screws holding the clutch nipple in place.

All this massive preparatory work paid off and the rally went without issue until the final 20 miles when the tank started to vibrate on its mountings. I just pressed on as I was so close to finishing but this has been a perennial problem that I’d failed to address for many years.

The problem is that the tank was missing grommets where it fixed to the frame. I also think the hard metal locating lug is a problem as it will eventually whittle its way through tank grommets. So first off I installed some grommets. I then shrank some petrol pipe over the locating lug to add more insulation. So far it’s working well.

Next tweak was to look at the wiring behind the engine cover properly. There are three wires behind the engine cover so I trimmed them to the right length twisted them together added a new connector to the end and covered the handiwork in heat-shrink. It all looks very neat and gets round the issue of the wires shorting on the engine cover. However when I attempted to start the bike it was not having it…hmmm.

I hadn’t realised but I was close to breaking down on the NRR. The sprung steel blade that runs from the ignition wire to the points had become dislodged. It was connected but just hanging on. The brass bolt connecting it all had half its head missing but in the absence of a replacement that was ‘good enough’.

So the obvious thing to check while I was poking about was the points themselves…

Not the best so a happy hour spent with a wet-stone dressing these and also cleaning the rather mucky plug!

I’d carried a couple of spare plugs on the NRR but not needed to use them. I thought I’d whack a new one in by way of celebration but luckly compared them first – they are both new plugs for the Atlas! If they’d gone in the piston would’ve hit them with a mighty thump!!! So wire brush the plug, set the points gap and second kick she’s back running.

There’s still the back brake light and horn to sort out but aside from these ‘luxury’ items the tiddler is running rather sweetly. If only I’d made similar progress on the Jota…

Nick 🙂

W/E 7th July 2019

This week saw me cobble the Turismo together and take on the 2019 National Road Rally. Full report can be found over in the ‘Trips’ section.

Nick 🙂

W/E 3rd July 2019

So as I write this folk are converging on Breganze from all over the world to celebrate 70 years of Laverda. From what I’ve read seems to be a great adventure can’t wait to hear all the tales 🙂

Back at ‘Bent Screwdrivers’ HQ work is underway for the National Road Rally. The Atlas is still not fixed so I’ve had to fall back on the Turismo. So far so good with the bike starting and running well. Even the lights work so not too much to do – oil and a new battery to hide in the tool box to run the brake light.

One problem that I had to sort was knackered rubber engine mounts (yes the 120 range of triples isn’t the only rubber mounted Laverda). I’d tried to get some replacements before without success so a trip to ebay and some ATV steering bushes for under a tenner provided the solution. I had to cut them down with a hacksaw and trim the edges with nail scissors and now the engine doesn’t move sideways when I pull in the clutch.

The plan is to go for a Bronze award which means 300 miles in 20 hours. In the past the Turismo has achieved a Special Gold (540 miles) but with a family crisis still roaring my low personal reserves mean I’m going to cut myself some slack. One difference however is that unlike previous National Rallies on the 100 this time I’m using maps not a satnav. I know that nothing could possibly go wrong but just in case there is the fallback ‘Daytime Chrome’ award requiring just 125 miles that I’ve put behind my ear.

I’ve also taken advantage of the hot weather and gone back to the triple frames that need painting. The RGA frame was already black but I wanted a better finish so I took it back down and reapplied the paint. The RGS frame needed another coat of priming before I apply its top coat. It would be nice to have a triple for the Scottish in September…

Nick 🙂

W/E 3rd June 2019

Happy New Year! Long time since I posted and to be fair not a lot has changed – same old broken and bodged collection of bikes. The only reliable bike has been the little 100 which has been running around local roads quite happily 🙂

However the little 100 isn’t going to be any use for two up touring duties so it was time to re-commission the trusty Atlas. I’d messed about trying to get the cam cover off but one allen bolt wouldn’t shift and became increasingly mangled so I decided to carry on regardless and just put it all back together!

The poor starting turned out to be mainly a poor battery but of course in taking it apart I’d created more issues…The main issue was with the carb which had an idle jet that wouldn’t screw out fully. As I have a few carbs (along with a few Atlas’) I thought I’d rob Peter to pay Paul and duly filched one off Atlas #1.

I installed new ‘long’ pilot jets that Jean-Pierre sent from France and decided a complete gasket overhaul would be in order. This proved more difficult than expected and a month went by before they arrived. Despite the DHLA being primarily a car carb’ spares are drying up – a predictable consequence of the carb being 25+ years old and also the move to fuel injection bought on by emissions legislation (incidentally the Atlas would now attract an emission charge if I was to ride it in to central London).

With the fresh battery the Atlas fired into life – although as you will see from the Trips section it didn’t run so well on account of me leaving out a spring behind the diaphram…(oops)

There should be a spring in there…

Still on the plus side what a cracking carb that will still run despite my best efforts (drank a lot of fuel mind).

Still the destruction didn’t end with the bike as I decided to boil the chain to repack it with grease. The tin of boiling chain wax slipped as I lifted it off the gas and bingo molten skin! Yes that hurt.

Still with the Atlas running it was time to get it through its roadworthiness (MOT) test. I’d not bothered with a working speedo for a few years but having got a new sensor cable for a unit I’d previously used on Atlas #1 I decided to ‘go legal’. The unit fired up once I’d wired it to a live ignition wire and bodged up an earth to the headlight metalwork. The trouble was that I couldn’t be bothered to wire up the various dash lights and find a sturdy mounting point. So I left the original clocks on because they contain the indicator, neutral and high beam ‘idiot lights’ and cable tied the actual speedo to the handlebars – job done!

The MOT was a bit ‘disappointing’ – okay I knew the rear brake was a bit ‘soft’ but I hadn’t clocked the problems with the suspension (brake light was probably just a connection issue). Still I had an afternoon to fix things up so it was off home to get the spanners out and find the various bits and pieces.

I had a few suspension linkages to choose from but found two out of the three had a loose bush so I made do with the least worn. A newly refurbished shock (courtesy of Falcon) was hiding in a box and the suspension was sorted in under two hours. The bigger pain was getting the rear brake to work but eventually having replaced a pad (as in one of the two pads as I only had one spare) and bending the retaining plate to stop the pin falling out we had a bit more ‘bite’. The next day saw me rock up at 8:30 much to the surprise of the garage and by 10:00 I was heading home to pack for the Welsh rally.

The MOT man had commented on the dragging clutch – I had made the cable as firm as possible but it still wasn’t clean. I have though now measured an original (but broken) cable and found the ‘temporary’ generic inner replacement I’d fitted back in July is only 1.4 instead of the standard 1.7 diameter. I’ve ordered a heavy duty Lambretta inner for under two quid which I’m hoping might give a better pull – watch this space!

Finally I have to mention the ‘B’ word – yes Brexit, it’s everywhere isn’t it! So it turns out that my little trip to France in December driving the little Fiat to the motorcycle show in Paris attracted the attention of Le Flic! Now how do you ride/drive at 80 kph over any distance? Beats me! So in April Mrs A gets a couple of French speeding tickets (her name on the log book y’see). Turns out that had we left the EU on the 29th March these wouldn’t have been issued but with all the ‘are we in, are we out’ and resultant extension means we’re in and I’m about £130 poorer! Still wish we weren’t leaving but maybe £130 would have sugared the pill.

TTFN

Nick 🙂

W/E 22nd October 2017

A chat with Dean inspired me to take the Turismo out for a 20 mile spin 🙂

I tried to use the Turismo a month or so back and it wouldn’t start but this time it fired up easily. I was feeling relaxed and maybe the positive vibe transferred to the tiddler and off we went. The Turismo is running well and makes we wonder if another trip to Italy could one day be on the cards…

I was premature thinking a fresh plug had sorted the Atlas. It did fire on two but because it was raining and I couldn’t be arsed to get kitted up I didn’t take it for a test ride and saved that ’til 6 am on Monday. Needless to say it only ran on one so it was back to the shed.

The good news was that swapping over the HT leads had moved the problem from the offside to nearside cylinder so I knew it was probably coil related. All the connections were fine so attention turned to the coil itself. I rummaged around and came up with a replacement and bingo (The bolts holding the coils to the frame turned out to be 8mm)! Riding the bike without the HT lead connected, following my rear-ending had burned out the coil.

Atlas #3 now has the Sachse ignition fitted. It’s noticeable how much easier it makes starting the bike and also on the road the engine feels more responsive with the more sophisticated ignition curve – if you’re still running the original ignition upgrading to Sachse will make a noticeable difference.

Nick 🙂

W/E 23rd April 2017

Out with the old and in with the not so old…

Spent the week getting the old engine out and inserting the old engine I’d abandoned in Scotland in. Mrs A helped crane the motors in and out which wasn’t so bad – if you’re interested we took the engine out via the primary side. Keep an eye out for the engine shims that go in on the top and bottom engine mounts – presumably with out them in there is a bit more wriggle room and then with them in the frame doesn’t get squeezed too much when the mounting bolts are nipped up.

Inspecting the ‘new’ engine showed it has a few issues – most obvious being this crack in the top offside rear engine mount. Time is tight so I ignored this and pressed on! Could this be the cause of the ‘roughness’ I felt last time we had this motor going?

Once the engine was in it was a matter of reassembly of the bits either side of the main cases. I had to complete this work after work and tired eyes made for a few mistakes – for instance all the clutch was on before I noticed I’d left the change mechanism ‘stop’ bolt out…that involved dismantling all the work and starting again 😦

I kept pushing on until by Sunday all was ready to go – the starter solenoid ‘clicked’ but the starter wasn’t spinning? A morning was spent swapping solenoids and starters off Atlas #1 but all to no avail. Finally the daughters boyfriend and Mrs A shoved me down the road and it was running. Elation soon turned to disappointment as it became apparent that the rough running I’d had in Scotland hadn’t miraculously fixed itself  by sitting unloved for 18 months and that if anything the noises coming out of the motor were worse! This motor is sick…

Saturday however was a day off the Atlas debacle with a visit on the Turismo to Bristol Auto-Italia. It took a five hour round trip to Bristol to cover the 160 miles but the sun shone and the tiddler ran pretty well and got lots of attention presumably from those bored at looking at acres of Ducati Panigales.

The street show of Italian bikes and cars threw up the usual mix including these two rare beauties:

Bimota Tesi

Vignale – only one in the UK and one of only 27 right-hand drive edition

So a happy few hours talking nonsense to Laverdisti and then home to Sunday misery.

So the ‘what next’ is to return to Atlas #3 and get it ready for its roadworthiness test on Friday (eek)! To pass the test I think it mainly needs the rear shock replaced and some fresh tyres – nothing too onerous but it does mean more nights in the garage and another week commuting to London in the car…

Nick 🙂

W/E 31st December 2016

 

Done some cleaning over the Christmas period as a consequence of working on my daughter’s Ducati ready for the winter road salt. I set about degreasing the bikes and putting on some wax and anti corrosion coating. Atlas #2 had been sitting in the back of the garage waiting for 2017 and being pushed back in to service. Cleaning it down with paraffin showed salt damage to the front engine plates so these were removed and put on a grinding wheel to smarten them up. I have the same problem with the rear brake anchor on Atlas #1 with chunks of powdered alloy falling off it – the road salt seems to be more aggressive these days!

Getting underneath Atlas #2 to remove the engine plates also showed me that the bracket holding the oil cooler on the right hand side got bent in the April crash – all these little things just prove the point that even a slow accident can result in quite a repair bill especially on a new bike where you’d be less inclined to bend stuff back and put on some fresh paint. Atlas #2 also needs the front exhausts spraying to ward off rust…

I got chatting to the guy who sold me my winter cleaning products ( http://www.hybridx.co.uk/motorbike_products.html . I’m just giving his ‘Spotless’, ‘Winterit’ and ‘Ultima’ suite a try out on the Atlas) who gave me some interesting advice:

1. ACF 50 is a great product but before you spray it on your bike put the can in bucket of boiling hot water – the fluid needs to be hot so the oil thins before application.

2. Always wash your bike in cold water – hot water dissolves the road salt and spreads into all the little nooks and crannies you don’t clean! This is even more of an issue now that UK road salt contains molasses http://www.driving.co.uk/news/news-councils-to-spread-treacle-on-winter-roads-to-combat-ice/
3. If you have exposed alloy then the best protection (aside from his products of course) is Vaseline or diesel (tip #2 applies particularly to exposed alloy).
I’ve not connection with this company (I paid the full price for his products) other than the chap was decent enough to help out a stranded biker.

Atlas #3 has been cleaned down ready for January and maybe unsurprisingly as it is in constant use is the least affected by road salt. To further help the bikes I’ve also ordered up an 8 litre £10 weed killer sprayer so that I can easily hose the bike down with cold water when I get in each evening.

I robbed Atlas #1 of its chain and sprockets to keep Atlas #3 on the road. I’d been ignoring the baggy chain for some time but I couldn’t ignore it when it started to jump the rear sprocket which had lost most of the profile off its teeth. I’m a bit ashamed to have allowed things to get so bad but then on the other hand I sure got value for money out of the running gear. I didn’t replace with a new set as at this time of the year putting on a fresh chain and sprockets would’ve just given them a reduced life span. I’m hoping to get through to spring with this set. While I was about it I also robbed the back wheel and fresher tyre out of Atlas maybe if I’m lucky I can a couple more months without a new tyre.

Staying with Atlas #3 it now has another set of plugs (btw I put an article on the ‘Misc’ page about buying plugs if you’re interested) following another failure to start on a cold morning. I needed the bike for a short journey first thing so before getting a coffee I went down to the garage and checked it would start – no problem. A coffee or two later there I am and it’s not starting despite the battery being in good condition. I can only think that starting and not running it for long enough blackened the plugs…as before I wheeled out the 100 which started second kick…It actually ended up being a good morning as I decided to carry on from my morning appointment in Wantage and head into Oxford to finish off the Christmas shopping. Perfect choice for riding around the Dreaming Spires and ended up having a good natter with a chap who wanted to tell me all about a Royal Enfield he is restoring – you meet the nicest people on a Laverda hey?

More bright work back from the chromers – hurrah! This time I had a small amount of chrome left to do but there were a few nuts bolts and spindles to tidy up.

I’d thought I had saved the chrome bands for the headlamp holder but two of them lost their ends in the chroming process. I now have to decide whether to try and put new ends on using epoxy or whether to just create complete new bands. It shouldn’t be hard to do the latter as they are just straight strips of metal – let’s see we have a way to go before I have to decide.

The wheel spindles have had their ends plated for show and then Bright zinc plate (BZP)on their length. Looking at it now I think the spindles just had the ends chromed and no other plating.

The BZP on the various nuts and bolts is okay though you can still see pitting albeit under the plate. It makes the point that you really need to do a hell of a lot of work to get a great finish.

So with the exception of the repair to the headlamp bands all the plating work is complete. The next step is to go through all the painted cycle parts. The frame still needs finishing but from a distance is done. I still want to do a bit more work on minor pitting not picked up first time round.

The top yoke and other steering brackets are blasted so need primer and top coat. The swinging arm needs a complete strip down but that shouldn’t be too difficult, though it is a pain that I will be needing to replace the bearings.

The main area of concern with the cycle parts is the battery box which is rotted so will need complete replacement. It’s maybe not such a bad thing because I should aim to construct something that will house a smaller modern gel battery + a set of relays with which I aim to rewire the bike. Good design at this stage will mean easier roadside repairs in the future.

So there it is another year over and a new one just (about) to begun. Hope 2016 has been a good year for you and yours and here’s hoping that 2017 brings us all everything we desire.

Nick 🙂

W/E 6th November 2016

Had to get back on the RGA rebuild so sent off some bits for re-chroming. There isn’t much chrome on an RGA. I put together the top yoke nut, foot controls, rear brake spindle and plate and the chain adjusters to gauge the chromer’s quality – if he’s good then I’ll dig out the brake line guides off the forks and the headlamp brackets, the headlamp rim seems to be okay.

The challenge is going to be how well the chromer can polish out the rust on the foot controls – he seemed confident. I pressed out the plain bearings from the controls using a 10 mm socket as a drift. I’m not sure if I will use the same split bush that Laverda did. I’m tempted to get a solid bush pressed and reamed to fit. You can also see in the picture that one of the rose joint bearings had worn to the point that the ball is out of the socket and the other thing I spotted was that one of the washers that sit either side of the foot control had disappeared and the remaining three were all wafer thin – all to be expected in 130,000 miles of use and shows how you get used to riding with worn out control levers – you probably wear at a similar rate!

It was a bit of a wake up call as to how things can rust being left around as I noticed the  new springs Falcon shocks that grace the Jota are pitted from just sitting in a garage that I guess gets damp. I’ve sprayed the Jota with ACF50 but fear it might be too late…and there are other things lurking in the garage that might similarly be affected!

Two cross head screws hold the brake nipple in place – easy to adjust and just as easy for them to ‘fail’ if you brake very hard…

I managed to combine the trip to the chromer with a wobble on the 100 Turismo. I remembered the front brake needed to be adjusted and once done we were away. The Turismo ran great although the rubber engine mounts need attention as I saw the engine move when the clutch was pulled in!

South Stoke by the Thames

It’s some time since I rode the 100 and I did wonder at first how I managed to ride this all the way to Breganze in 2009 with Cor, Dean and Gido. A few miles in though and it all came together, I’m sure I could still ride this to Italy, the main adjustment would be getting used to being constantly overtaken.

To carry out the oil change last week I visited a new supplier of Morris’s 20/50, Royal Enfield Oxfordshire. Typically they were hidden in an obscure unit behind a farm (just like the chromer) and keep hours to suit themselves – a trait that to some is irritating but I find quite enduring. So while there I got to talking Royal Enfield sprag clutches as many years back I tried out a Howdi clutch on my triples with disastrous consequences when the sprag bearing failed at just over 15,000 miles. At the time I researched the topic and found that Enfield 500’s with electric start had the same problem which they cured by putting a 1 second delay in the ignition – this meant the engine was properly spinning before the sparks arrived meaning that if it misfired the tendency for the engine to kick back was reduced and hence the sprag stayed intact. So £20 got me a second-hand piece of electrickery to try when the time finally comes to fire one of the engines up…the only thing I need to find out is the bearing size (from memory is comes from an America auto transmission).

I returned to Atlas #2 and finished off the repair to the handlebar fairing. The filling is not of the highest order but good enough and consistent with the condition of the rest of the bike. The Fiat white paint is a good enough match and once the bike has a few miles on the clock it’ll be hard to spot the repair.

Stud came out with the nut…a job that is going to need patience

I also started the process of replacing the original collector with a replica from Malcolm Cox. The original pipes are rusting out but still serviceable. I don’t see any point putting on a new set of brilliant black chrome replica’s just in time for all the winter weather so want to just install the collector as this is leaking meaning my riding kit stinks of exhaust fumes. I don’t need this done ’til the start of December which is just as well because the exhaust nuts are seized on their studs. I think the nuts are original brass so I’m surprised these have seized. I don’t want the hassle of a snapped stud so I’ve been busy applying heat and WD40 in the hope that it will all shift over the next week or so.

Nick 🙂