Knocked off a little early today to play with the bike. Added some new problems to my mix. Drained a bit of the gas to take off the tank. Traced the wires and found the neutral switch wiring strapped to the frame and disconnected. Jumped the connection and the neutral light worked. Yeah! Ordered a new switch.
Looked closely at the back of the transmission and saw that the clutch "rod" or whatever was loose. (Remember I said I hated the feel of the lever?) I could spin it by hand. (photo as found below). So rather than read the nice directions you all posted, I just spun it in a little and worked the lever. Felt better.
Decided a unlicensed, unregistered bike with ancient tires is ripe for a test ride around the hood. Now it won't start. It made no sense. Figuring the only thing I'd touched was that clutch rod*, I backed it back out again and hit the stater. Joy. It worked. So, to press my luck, I spun it back in again and kept hitting the starter. Kept starting. Took it for a quick ride. It (clutch) felt better (aside from farting like mad just under 3000). I hit the turn signals. Now they don't work.
Bring it back in the garage and it's smoking a little either from the plug whole or from the gap by the valve cover. And then a little sizzle like when it's been run after a bath. But it had no bath. So is that oil burning off? If from the plug, OK, there was a little there. But from under the valve cover? I'm waiting for my tune up parts to arrive before I do a valve adjustment and all that.
*OK I took a plug wire off and it seems to be missing the cap. That seems odd, but normal? A different plug with a cap on it didn't fit in the wire....but I didn't force it either.
Oh and went to test the fork compression again (ordered oil) and find the handlebars would spin a little!. Yikes.
Steve's expanded project list:
- Tighten bars
- Figure out turn signals (I'm wondering if the clutch level switch is wonky and now so is the turn signal switch....the rod on the transmission shouldn't affect any of the latter, right?? It's just a mechanical thing, right?).
- What's smoking?
Looked closely at the back of the transmission and saw that the clutch "rod" or whatever was loose. (Remember I said I hated the feel of the lever?) I could spin it by hand. (photo as found below). So rather than read the nice directions you all posted, I just spun it in a little and worked the lever. Felt better.
Decided a unlicensed, unregistered bike with ancient tires is ripe for a test ride around the hood. Now it won't start. It made no sense. Figuring the only thing I'd touched was that clutch rod*, I backed it back out again and hit the stater. Joy. It worked. So, to press my luck, I spun it back in again and kept hitting the starter. Kept starting. Took it for a quick ride. It (clutch) felt better (aside from farting like mad just under 3000). I hit the turn signals. Now they don't work.
Bring it back in the garage and it's smoking a little either from the plug whole or from the gap by the valve cover. And then a little sizzle like when it's been run after a bath. But it had no bath. So is that oil burning off? If from the plug, OK, there was a little there. But from under the valve cover? I'm waiting for my tune up parts to arrive before I do a valve adjustment and all that.
*OK I took a plug wire off and it seems to be missing the cap. That seems odd, but normal? A different plug with a cap on it didn't fit in the wire....but I didn't force it either.
Oh and went to test the fork compression again (ordered oil) and find the handlebars would spin a little!. Yikes.
Steve's expanded project list:
- Tighten bars
- Figure out turn signals (I'm wondering if the clutch level switch is wonky and now so is the turn signal switch....the rod on the transmission shouldn't affect any of the latter, right?? It's just a mechanical thing, right?).
- What's smoking?
