W/E 26th November 2023

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

– a good night was had by all!

Nick 🙂

W/E 14th November 2023

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….

W/E 4th November 2024

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.

Nick 🙂

W/E 21st October 2023

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.

Nick 🙂

W/E 24th April 2023

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!

Nick 🙂

W/E 19th April 2020

Atlas #1 engine is almost back together!

I’ve installed the cams and cam bearings from Atlas #3. The set in Atlas #1 are damaged through wear and my incompetent assembly back in the day 😦 I’ve got a new set of cam bearings on their way from OCT but I’ll decide how to deploy them once I’ve had a look through all 4 engines.

I had to grind one inlet shim (inboard alternator side) and now have a row of 8’s and 10’s 🙂 The cams seem to be moving okay.

The squeeky bum moment was torquing down the cylinder head. I’d been advised to use 28 Nm so pulled it down firstly to 15 then 20, then 24 and finally to 28. The small M6 was tightened to 8 pounds. The nuts on the outer side of the cams are silver whereas the inner nuts black. The silver nuts torqued down okay but the black ones seemed ‘softer’ somehow. Anyway they’re all done now 🙂

Setting the valve timing proved to be a bit easier than I’d anticipated because back in the mists of time I’d scratched the primary cover to show TDC. The Mk 3 engines don’t have a timing mark like the earlier engines – you have to use the ignition backplate for reference. Got to TDC and with a bit of help from Mrs A holding the inlet cam in place the chain was joined and job done!

The cam-chain tensioner was wound into the engine using the cam-chain and then the tensioner blade was pushed to meet the retaining bolt.

The dreaded seized steel allen bolts in alloy cases has reared its head once again with four bolts currently stuck fast in the primary case. I don’t currently need access so this doesn’t have to slow things up but I’ve started to apply WD40 in the hope I can free them up.

So next stop is a carb’ clean, paint the engine cases and then the engine can go back in the frame.

Nick 🙂

W/E 17th June 2019

A week that ended in deep shame as I finally got caught out and had to ride the Honda to a Laverda event 😦

Family crisis intervened and I ran out of time to get the Atlas running properly. My own fault of course because these days I am mainly a ‘man of leisure’ but old habits seem to die hard and so as is my way I didn’t leave enough time to sort things out.

The Atlas running had been getting poorer over the week. It would not run on two cylinders at low revs and was now starting to misfire on the transition from closed to open throttle. It was also running poorly and irregularly on the open throttle. Time to rig up the aux’ fuel tank and do some carb’ balancing…

The problem is with the left hand cylinder so I went through various problem solving routines. I changed the pilot and main jet – the pilots were new long jets as originally fitted so I went back to the non-standard short jets which had seemed to serve me so well. Of course reflecting on this it was quite irrational because the right hand side was okay so was it going to be the jets? Still I pressed on with time counting down and finally decided on a carb’ change so robbed the unit off Atlas #3. If anything this made matters worse – it’s my optimistic and naive outlook that thinks the problem will be solved by  putting on a carb’ that’s been sat for maybe 2 years…It didn’t work. I played around with the pilot setting and noticed that whatever I did to the left hand carb’ made little difference so I turned my attention to the electrics.

I played about substituting coils and checking for spark – the spark on the left side was ‘iffy’ but in the end I just had to jump ship and prep’ the Honda. I was going to ride a Honda – what could possibly go wrong…

https://kojaycat.co.uk/S-Wiring-Loom-Connectors

On a more positive note I found electrical connectors to fit the Atlas wiring harness. The digital speedo I fitted works fine but I still need to plumb in the wiring to make the idiot lights work. I plan to make up a new sub-harness so needed a nine pin connector and found Kojaycat supply the parts or rather supply parts for old Suzuki’s which is what Laverda used. At the same time I also picked up some nice M6 brass connectors to wire in my satnav to the battery – shame I can’t find the satnav wire…

Nick 🙂

W/E 7th October 2018

Nothing new to add – very little has happened in the garage as I try to get Catherine’s Ducati running…

Still managed to update the trips section with the report on the Belgian rally so feel free to browse.

Here’s some more pictures of the bikes that showed up:

 

Nick 🙂

W/E 19th August 2018

Blimey where has all the time gone since my last post back in May?

In June I attended the Laverda Club de France rally near Bordeaux – I’ve posted a report in the Trip section. July saw me enter the National Rally – that report is still brewing but will be posted in the next week. Finally took the Atlas over to Northern Ireland with Mrs A and Catherine on her Ducati. I’ll get to that report soon as well 🙂

So been out and about on the Atlas but today finds me in a bit of funk as I’m up against it to have the damned thing ready for the final throw of the dice in 2018 namely the ILOC rally first week of September, Scottish rally second week finishing off with the Belgian rally the week after that. A trip out to London and then on to Seveonoaks saw me struggle with poor starting and yesterday Mrs A was out behind bump starting me away…The bike ran okay and got me to my destination but the battery seems not to have energised so I have to face up to finding out why such poor starting. Next week I provide an update.

Still let’s get to an old project on the Atlas that I’ve revised – the damn chocolate gearbox output shaft. Along with my other two Atlas’s, Atlas #3 has been whittling its output shaft away so time to find a fix. The picture at the start of the post is of a sprocket I had made up to provide a tighter fit on the output shaft and also increase the contact area. Well these sprockets had been poorly finished so I fished them out again and sent them off to a new engineer. John Hemming has re-cut the splines, blasted the finish and rehardened the job.

This is phase 2 of the project. If the principle can be proved then I intend to move on to phase 3 which will be to see if I can get some adapters made up that’ll add the shoulder to a standard sprocket. John tells me that getting my phase 2 sprockets refurbished by welding on replacement sprocket teeth is simple but I’m more inclined to see if I can develop a solution that uses off the shelf sprockets with no need for engineering intervention when new chain and sprockets time comes round.

If you have an Atlas check to see if your final drive sprocket wobbles on the output shaft – if it does then your output shaft is being damaged. If you’re in this situation or suspect you’re gonna need a solution to a problem that is going to happen (it will believe me [and replacement shafts are like hen’s teeth]) drop me an email as I’m considering having a batch of sprockets made up if there appears to be interest.

My focus however has got a bit wider than the Atlas. The hot weather has meant time in the garage has been limited but I am starting to look at the RGS and RGA I have in pieces. I read that you have to get the stands on the frame before installing the engine so pulled out the centre stands.

The centre stands have both been damaged through rubbing on the silencers (the rubber stop bungs were missing on both bikes) – you can see the primed RGA stand has worn all the way through!

The worn legs however are different to the main hassle with the stands which is they end up hanging down as wear occurs in the bushes and bolts. This means the tension goes out of the springs.

I’ve been told off for not regularly greasing the bush that goes in the eye of the stand. Well fair enough but does anyone really take the stand apart at regular intervals? To me the problem is that the metal bush is harder than the standard material – replacing a soft bronze bush would have been far simpler and I may sort this out for myself.

The other feature this picture shows is that the bolt that goes through the bush gets whittled away – why hasn’t it got a shank (maybe this is non standard)? Again I will upgrade once things are fixed.

Finally another project that I’m reviving is the ‘Howdi’ starter sprag clutch. I had this uprated sprag fitted to both the RGS and RGA. The bearing failed at 16,000 kms on both bikes. The subject came up again on Paul LeClair’s Forum so I’m now on the hunt of the correct ‘overruning’ bearing. I can get one from Australia for about £75 but want to see if one is available in the UK first.

Not sure of the wisdom of the Howdi clutch but as both my standard sprag clutches are worn out it might be that I just replace the errant bearing every 10,000 kms to work round the problem.

I can do this at the same time as I dismantle and grease up my centre stand bushes hey…

Nick 🙂

W/E 8th January 2017

All of a sudden it’s a new year – where did last year go?

2017 kicked off with a return to the daily commute in to London. Me and the Atlas seemed to be enjoying ourselves in the lighter than normal holiday traffic until the back light failed! To add to the nuisance the rear lens also cracked off one of the retaining lugs so once the bulb was restored the lens had to make the 50 miles home with just one retaining screw…

I’ve replaced the rear unit on Atlas #1 and 2 with an LED setup because the original fitment is cheap junk!!! The housing gets slack and the bulb moves – sometimes you have a light with no brake light or maybe no light at all. This is kinda dangerous in the rush hour.

As you can see I bodged the bulb by putting strips of masking tape on one side of the bulb to push it against the earth in the holder. I had another lens in the shed but to make sure it didn’t go AWOL I put some tape over the screw holes so the screws can’t jump ship. It’s all working so far but at the weekend I’ll rig up something more robust!

Nick 🙂