Bike Preparation
April 9, 2008 at 3:50 pm | Bike | 1 comment
Dominic Stubbs very kindly came round the past two weeks to help me with my bike.
As a result we managed to
Rebuild the front forks (new seals, 15W oil and proline neoprene gaiters)
Replace the rear brake pads
Replace the chain and both sprockets
Alex Long very kindly came round on Monday and with his help we were able to
Change the brake fluid
And so far we’ve tried to change my front tyre 3 times, failing by puncturing the inner tube each time.
… I’ll get the hang of it!
I’ve also replaced the air filter and made a start on fixing the headlight which was a complete cunt as one of the windscreen bolts rounded off and I had to slip a hacksaw between the windscreen and the console and move back and forth about half an inch for an hour at the expense of my skin!
I also tried to fit a cigarette adaptor I got from ebay, unfortunately the cable came loose from the battery connectors after about an 1/8th of a second so that was put to bed.
On the upside my pannier stickers arrived, yay!
Innumerable other things have arrived, air horn, gloves, oil, fiters, inner tubes, tyres, the list of stuff I’ve ordered is completely endless.
I was starting to get a bit worried about my pre-trip finances but I got a call from Centurion on Friday saying that the other party in my insurance claim has admitted liability! Which should provide me with a much needed cash boost.
To get the bike seaworthy all I need is to change the oil+filter, replace the front tyre (with a working inner tube this time!), and fix this problem with the windscreen/headlight.
Then to make it ready for the trip all I need to do is fit the panniers which is a half hour job I could do in my sleep!
Tyre fitted and overheating!
April 10, 2008 at 11:12 pm | Bike | No comment
I finally got that fucking bastard tyre fitted without pinching the inner tube.
The trick in the end was to go very very slowly, use talcam powder (man the difference that made!) and to never move the tyre lever past perpendicular to the rim.
Oh and to kneel and push the bead in to the well with your feet, using your feet like an extra tyre lever to keep it from peeling back while you’re doing the opposite side.
The wheel still needs balancing, but fuck it I can get a garage to do that, it’s not a skill I need.
I set off this evening to go and see Chris in Oxford (30 minute drive max) and got about 3 miles before my temperature warning light came on.
Pulled over and inspected the rad which was stone cold in contrast to the pipes feeding it which were boiling hot.
I’m assuming that there’s some kind of gunk inside the radiator blocking it and that I should really have flushed it through before installing it.
It took me about 2 hours to get home, finding somewhere to turn round on that particular stretch of the A34 takes ages, especially if you have to stop for half an hour every five minutes to let your engine cool.
Oh well, I’ll take it apart tomorrow and flush it out, see what kinda crap comes out, hopefully nothing’s come loose and flushed itself into the water-jacket…
Also I got to try out my new heated Gerbing Signature gloves for the first time.
Mmmm, tasty!
It wasn’t actually cold when I was trying them, but it felt really nice.
I rather like my bike naked… I could go for that as a look!
A bicycle, yes… a push bike sounds nice
April 14, 2008 at 4:37 pm | Bike | No comment
Two wheels, two pedals, a seat and handlebars.
Not a crank sensor to be found.
The overheating issue turned out to be simply air in the system and disappeared once I’d poured some more coolant in, so I was all ready for a big trip to test it out.
I was riding back from Brighton where Jenny (my dad’s girlfriend) had very kindly sorted out two fillings for me pro-bono and all of a sudden.
*Cough* *splutter* *surge* *death*
So I coast onto the soft verge inches away from cars doing 70+ on the A23, my dad who’s following behind in a car, stops and comes over.
“What happened”
“Just died, almost as if there’s no fuel”
“… There is fuel right?”
“Unless it’s suddenly halved its MPG and the fuel light’s stopped working”
So I try and start it, starter motor’s working quite happily but it’s just not firing.
A police car pulls up, “Oh great” I think to myself, but they turn out to be quite reasonable guys rather than the jobsworths I was expecting, and they give me a number to contact when I arrange for pick up of the bike so they can come back and close lane one for us (for anyone who was inconvenienced by this, I’m very sorry!
Fast forward eight hours and the garage has picked it up and diagnosed it as… Crank sensor…
That itty bitty little sensor that tells the ECU went to spray the petrol around, ignite the mix, etc etc.
£150
Plus some labour charges, and apparently the K&N washable filter I installed is suitable for catching things the size of small boulders and not much else according to this chap, which I’m not entirely surprised by actually…
That and my swingarm bearings have a bit too much play in them apparently, he suggests replacing them, but I can sort that myself.
Oh and he won’t work on the bike unless I let him replace the front brake lever (which is snapped, but perfectly workable).
£250 - £350 I expect the damage to be…
Thank **** my insurance claim was approved…
The sensor’s a mail order part obviously, which won’t be with them until Wednesday, but as they’re off on Thursday, if the part doesn’t come in first thing it’ll likely be Friday before it’s fixed.
Jenny has very generously invited me to stay until then, but it still leaves me with a whole tonne of stuff to do at the weekend with very little time.
I may have to postpone my ferry again..
NOOOOO!
Fixed! Bits are anyway….
April 16, 2008 at 8:56 pm | Bike | No comment
Well the very knowledgeable and helpful chap at Rens in Haywards Heath has sorted my cam sensor.
He also informed me that my K&N washable air filter was a pile of shit that would likely ruin my engine (I’m not surprised really) and replaced it with an OEM part.
He continued by telling me my swingarm bearings had a bit of play in them which would lead to their relatively imminnent destruction, my rear-wheel/sprocket rubber block thingies (known to realoem.com as “absorbers”) have way too much play in them and should be replaced, my alternator is about to die and I should keep an eye on my rear brake fluid level as it was bloody empty.
I’m also getting a squealing noise from the bike which worsens the harder I accelerate, I’m going to try and isolate that tomorrow as I haven’t the faintest what it could be (I had a brainwave earlier, AHAH! Alternator belt! Which was great, except my bike doesn’t have an alternator belt and probably no bike in the history of the world has either).
The total death toll for parts and labour came to £300, but I’m getting used to pushing £300s out left and right like confetti, this bike shit aint cheap.
I’ve rescheduled my ferry to the 27th of April to get all this stuff sorted out, I’ve also moved it to somewhere in Britanny rather than Santander as there were no spaces on any spanish ferries that didn’t require upgrading to a cabin.
So I’ve got an extra week tacked on in which I have a myriad of tasks, but still the trip trundles on!
Should be a good chance to get my hands dirty and restore my (somewhat shaken) faith in this bike.
Water pump
April 18, 2008 at 9:59 pm | Bike, Trip | No comment
I think the water pump is what’s squealing.
I’ve been having a worrying squealing sound coming from the bike ever since I got it back on the road and my theory is that the water pump got screwed when I had too little coolant in the bike.
Fortunately I have a full water-pump repair kit already so I’ll get that rebuilt tomorrow.
Ordered a new alternator which should arrive on Monday, get that fitted and hopefully it’ll all be hunky dorey!
James (my dad) asked me to do him a favour yesterday which turned out to be to let him pay for somebody to inspect my bike thoroughly for any potential issues and to have them repaired.
He was quite adamant about this, but appealing as it sounded I had to turn him down.
It’s hard to explain why I turned him down, I imagine some people will understand immediately while others will be perplexed by my decision.
Pride is the first reason I think, I don’t like taking handouts and in some insecure portion of my mind it feels as if accepting his offer would take something away from the acheivement of my goal (if and when!).
Secondly I want to do the repairs myself, I could look over some-ones shoulder to watch what they’re doing but it’s not the same.
I wonder whether it’s the right decision, I would sorely like to be in a position where my bike inspires confidence in its reliability, but somehow I can’t bring myself to…
Me and Alex went camping last night (at an actual campsite no less!)
It was a good chance to try out my tent before having to erect it in anger, and a damn good thing too!
It was a completely bemusing process putting it up, as you have to put up the poles, then attach the flysheet and then clip the actual tent to the inside of the flysheet.
However it does look very robust, for those that are interested it’s a Vaude De Hogan 2006 model that I got £60 off as it’s a display model.
The construction process is quite simple once you know what you’re doing and hopefully it’ll stand up to the wind, unlike the tent I went camping in in the south of France last year which had one of its poles snap (in admittedly VERY strong winds).
Cam Chain Tensioner?
April 19, 2008 at 10:25 pm | Bike, Trip | No comment
Far too many posts have been named after bits of my bike lately.
So I’ve removed my left hand engine cover (which I might add is a complete BITCH due to the oil return cable being A) positioned precisely in the way and B) inflexible) to repair the water pump, and I notice that the plastic guide for the internal chain (thought it was a drive chain at the time) is a bit chewed up, but thought nothing much of it at the time.
I took the waterpump bits into the house to clean up and replace and although the impeller-shaft is a bit scarred, I doubt that it’s that causing the squealing.
However since having a look on the internet, that chain turns out to be the timing chain (or cam chain) and having chewed up guides is symptomatic of either a very slack chain (virtually unheard of) or a failed chain tensioner.
Which… I can only assume is a pretty major job, as from my (admittedly limited) experience with timing chains/belts is that anything associated with them is usually a complete pita.
I’ve posted on The Chaingang and am awaiting their expert assessment of the situation.
Hopefully it’s something I can do myself, and hopefully it’s the cause of the squealing and not yet another problem with the bike.
Either way though, it doesn’t look likely that I’m going to be able to keep my ferry booking which is a week tomorrow.
Taking up my dad on his offer to get the bike overhauled is very tempting right now…
Clutch Basket Needle Bearing
April 23, 2008 at 1:47 pm | Bike | No comment
Wow, another post named after a bike part.
I checked out the chain tensioner, seems to be working fine, so I reckon that it probably failed previously but the lazy bastard that replaced it didn’t bother to replace the guides.
My current theory is the clutch-basket needle-bearings
I’ve taken the clutch cover off again (as I’d put it back while deciding what to do), which happily took only half an hour instead of the 3 hours it took the first time.
Taken the main clutch plate off and just need to get the basket off now (which requires a special tool).
Once I’ve done that I can inspect the needle bearings and see if they’re damaged (I’ve ordered the replacement parts anyway).
Then I can get it back together, put some oil in it and see if it’s actually cured the squeal.
Eta on the parts is tomorrow or the day after (same with the tool).
Hopefully it should be all sorted by the weekend!
But.. I’ve rebooked my ferry for the 4th of May anyway, as I have plenty of time and I really don’t want to leave in a rush.
When you rush, you make mistakes and I just can’t afford to at this point!
Parteo-Parteo, where for art thou Parteo?
April 26, 2008 at 10:08 pm | Bike, Philosophy, Trip | No comment
No prizes for guessing that my part hasn’t turned up.
The tool did however and I’ve been able to get my clutch basket off (incidentally, 140nm is a LOT when the nut has nothing to stop it turning other than a tool on your knee) and inspect the bearings.
They look fine to me…
This made me somewhat upset (to the tune of a gin and tonic or three), however I was heartened by Midge’s post as that “release bearing” is one of the parts I have on order!
After chasing Motorworks and asking them the eta on my new bearings (middle of next week) I nipped down to my local bearings shop (who’d have thought there was a shop that just sold bearings?) and they measured the perpetrators with a micrometre and ordered some new ones in to arrive on Monday (seeing as it was Friday!).
Time since then has been spent reassembling my alternator, rewiring the cable of said alternator, new sealent-grommet as to get the grommet that’s made for my alternator cover would cost £350 (as it only comes with a new alternator from BMW!) and trying to figure out why I wake up angry each morning (very counterproductive, takes me until 2pm before I can do any work without throwing the first object that annoys me across the room!)
I also got a reply from BMW’s marketing department regarding my request for sponsorship, which was… declined.
Primarily based upon the content of this site I believe…
I don’t blame them in the slightest, with this blog I don’t exactly cut a very presentable front, certainly not the sort that I dare say BMW would be keen to back.
As stupid as it sounds I only applied to BMW in a fit of desperation as I don’t really want sponsors.
Sponsors feel far too much like a commitment, cutting into my feeling of “ultimate freedom” which is what this trip is all about.
A blog post I saw a few months back (alas I forget the link) summed it up for me in a way.
It went on about how nobody was alllowed to have an adventure anymore if it wasn’t for charity.
You’re not allowed to be a brash young man in another country after stories to tell the grandkids, you have to be politely tiptoeing through they various PC minefields, manitaining a good standing for your country and most importantly doing it for lukemia research.
I don’t want to do that, half the point of this trip is to find out who I am, and I’m not going to start that off by constraining myself with a load of guidelines set out by my sponsors.
It may seem like I’m being a bit of a dickhead to some people, but maybe that’s the point as well, this idea we as a society seem to have at the moment that we absolutely must go through our lives without offending anyone else in the slightest at all costs… It’s mad, and I don’t buy into it.
My view of chavs (or various other ne’er-do-wellers) remains unchanged and while these seemingly opposing views may seem unreconcileable to some people, I point to my recurring theme (in thought if not necessarily in this blog) of Balance.
It seems a popular misconception that you have to be for or against virtually every concept or principle in the universe, whereas I’m generally of the opinion that just about every concept and principle in the universe has its place in all its extremes, whether or not it affects you negatively.
.. But maybe this is a thought for another time…
The revelation
April 29, 2008 at 10:14 am | Trip | No comment
“This Sunday. I HAVE DECIDED.” I screamed into my helmet as I whisked my way up the A34 from visiting Dom.
Much rejoicing followed the re-assembly of my bike, it WORKED, I managed to take it apart quite seriously and it WORKED when I put it back together, I was overjoyed!
But still the whistling/squealing/rubbing/rotating/irritating sound remained.
I came to realise though that many of my diagnostic assumptions were wrong.
The general consensus based on my previous claim that the noise went away with the clutch pulled in and having it only occur in 3rd/4th/5th was that if it wasn’t clutch bearings it was the gearbox.
I was wrong, it happens in all gears, and it doesn’t go away when you pull the clutch in, it’s just that the engine revs higher so I can’t hear it so well.
I think it’s something to do with the air intake, and really, I think it’s a normal sound.
My subconscious made me notice the noise, and presented it to me as an excuse not to go.
Time to ignore the voices of doubt.
Time to embrace the unknown.
It’s time, time to go.