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What did you do in the garage today?

I took a spin on my SD 990 and another on my 690 SMC-R. Weather was perfect, roads had a bit of sand on them, kept me interested. Was a great ride, I think I even enjoyed it without wheelies. Last ride was earlier in late Jan or early Feb, not sure which. I usually ride all 4 weekly to keep from having gas issues.
 
I took a spin on my SD 990 and another on my 690 SMC-R. ...I think I even enjoyed it without wheelies.
HA HA HA HA!!!!

From about 1972 till about 2010, something was stuck in my brain.

WHICHEVER BIKE I was riding (I've owned MANY bikes, all kinds), WHEREVER I was riding, I simply HAD to pop wheelies. Not one wheelie, but one wheelie at almost every take-off during the ride.

I couldn't help myself.

Not sure why it subsided, but maybe because I'm on deferred adjudication for the first ticket I've gotten since that time...

Oh, yeah, on the ZRX, I used to LOVE to just hammer it wide open in 2nd gear up to red line; I would start getting tunnel vision from the blood rushing to the back of my brain, REALLY! I had to back off, or wake up dead. Something about that, I did it a lot...
 
WHICHEVER BIKE I was riding (I've owned MANY bikes, all kinds), WHEREVER I was riding, I simply HAD to pop wheelies.

LoL!

My first motorcycle was an old DT80 I had to repair myself when I was 13, about 1986. The day I got it running correctly (some doof had put a Briggs & Stratton foam air filter in it!) I instantly whipped a wheelie that put me on my back. My 2nd motorcycle I ever owned is my GS500, it will make a wheelie if you really try. I think my Bonneville might wheelie if I really wanted to but I'm not sure. It's close.

BUT having done a TON of mountain biking in my time, I was out practicing wheelies one day some 25 years ago or so and wound up on my back and broke my sacrum. Boy, that was terrifying. Maybe that is the experience that keeps me from seeking wheelies on motos, although I use them frequently on my mountain bike.
 
HA HA HA HA!!!!

From about 1972 till about 2010, something was stuck in my brain.

WHICHEVER BIKE I was riding (I've owned MANY bikes, all kinds), WHEREVER I was riding, I simply HAD to pop wheelies. Not one wheelie, but one wheelie at almost every take-off during the ride.

I couldn't help myself.

Not sure why it subsided, but maybe because I'm on deferred adjudication for the first ticket I've gotten since that time...

Oh, yeah, on the ZRX, I used to LOVE to just hammer it wide open in 2nd gear up to red line; I would start getting tunnel vision from the blood rushing to the back of my brain, REALLY! I had to back off, or wake up dead. Something about that, I did it a lot...
I never understood why they handed out exhibition of acceleration tickets for that. Riding the back wheel down a street or highway at the posted speed is not exactly exhibition of acceleration. I did fight one in Longview back in 1981 and got it thrown out with an lecture from the judge.
 
WHICHEVER BIKE I was riding (I've owned MANY bikes, all kinds), WHEREVER I was riding, I simply HAD to pop wheelies. Not one wheelie, but one wheelie at almost every take-off during the ride.

You remind me of the 70's, and I had an RD250 Yammie, maybe it was just an R250, I can't recall.
But I do recall you pretty much had to try and NOT wheelie the thing on take off's when you hit the power band.
Just another stupid fast bike back in the days I'm fortunate I didn't break my neck on.
 
Well test ride on the old GS500 and it's back to no-idle days, with a side order of bad battery. Batt is like 3 years old but only maybe 1-2K miles on the bike since I got the battery and it has been stored indoors. Rats. So I will be back to the drawing board once I can jump start the bike and get it into the garage.

But I did go visit Grandpaul in his garage! So good to meet one of our forum members in person. I rode the Triumph and managed to keep the shiny side facing skyward even on his slightly slick dirt/mud/clay taxi area.

--EDIT: jump starting didn't work. Smoke coming from the wiring was a dead giveaway this wasn't just a low battery. Looks like a short between pads on the commutator in the starter. Pushing it a few feet in 2nd gear turned it enough to get to a good spot on the starter, then it started right up. So I rode it into the garage and that's what I did in the garage today :)
 
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I never understood why they handed out exhibition of acceleration tickets for that. Riding the back wheel down a street or highway at the posted speed is not exactly exhibition of acceleration. I did fight one in Longview back in 1981 and got it thrown out with an lecture from the judge.
I got one once for "failure to maintain control of a motor vehicle".

The judge asked what I did to lose control and I told him I did a wheelie at a stop light. He let me off.
 
Another one leaves the lineup...

Installed the new battery, cleaned the carbs as best as I could with spray can of Berryman's, and VROOM! (but wouldn't stay running, so they need to be SOAKED in warm Berryman's Chem Dip, or sonically cleaned).
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My nephew showed up in his pickup then promptly backed up to the wrong spot...
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The mighty Hoyt-Clagwell pulled him out like nuthin'

After they left, I got to the damaged footpeg & brake m/c of the trike. It's going to need a new plastic fitting...
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Well, today I got the bad news and the good news on the 880 Norton custom that I sold and have yet to deliver due to a rattling sound it had. I took my endoscope to the shop, set it up, and ran it down the left side spark plug hole to look inside the bore.

Good news: I found the problem!

Bad news: piston has lots of nicks and scratches where it was chewing on something.

So, the head had to come off (no small feat). Pretty obvious where the rattling sound came from...

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I've got to carefully dress all those pock marks to relieve any sharp edges that can contribute to pre-ignition / pinging.

These were the pieces that the bike hadn't spat out the exhaust, (altogether about the size of a large fingernail), but I couldn't think of what might have fallen into the spark plug hole...

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As soon as I started examining the head, I looked inside the intake port first, and there it was...

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One side of the nose of the intake valve was broken off. I'm really scratching my brain trying to figure out what could have caused that.

Anyway, new guides on order...
 
No, that's just residue as normally found in intake tract.

The fresh, bare material where it broke off is clean...
 
Well, today I got the bad news and the good news on the 880 Norton custom that I sold and have yet to deliver due to a rattling sound it had. I took my endoscope to the shop, set it up, and ran it down the left side spark plug hole to look inside the bore.

Good news: I found the problem!
Endoscope! Awesome!

Bad news: piston has lots of nicks and scratches where it was chewing on something.

So, the head had to come off (no small feat). Pretty obvious where the rattling sound came from...
OUCH! I would have a hard time not thinking this would be cause for a replacement piston. I guess the damage is primarily cosmetic and nobody ever sees the piston. Assuming there's no scoring of the bore.

I've got to carefully dress all those pock marks to relieve any sharp edges that can contribute to pre-ignition / pinging.
I wonder if a touch of that aluminum "brazing" couldn't fill in some of the deeper ones. Or maybe just give another little teeny piece of metal to break off some time down the road... at least that'd be small enough to burn up and go out the exhaust.

These were the pieces that the bike hadn't spat out the exhaust, (altogether about the size of a large fingernail), but I couldn't think of what might have fallen into the spark plug hole...

It occurs to me that you probably could have fished this out the spark plug hole with a neo magnet on a wire. But then you wouldn't have a head start on reconditioning the piston and cc if there was any damage. What does the inside of the head look like?

I'm really scratching my brain trying to figure out what could have caused that.

It's a vintage British motorcycle. Maybe that rattling is the 60s version of a check engine light. :) You passed the valve adjustment interval, this is your reminder to give it a look.

Joking aside, I think this does fit neatly into the category of damage we all were told could be caused by preignition. Intake valve not completely closed, preignition pulse hits the face of the valve like a ball peen hammer, using the valve stem like a punch against that part.
 
Endoscope! Awesome!

OUCH! I would have a hard time not thinking this would be cause for a replacement piston. I guess the damage is primarily cosmetic and nobody ever sees the piston. Assuming there's no scoring of the bore.

I wonder if a touch of that aluminum "brazing" couldn't fill in some of the deeper ones. Or maybe just give another little teeny piece of metal to break off some time down the road... at least that'd be small enough to burn up and go out the exhaust.

It occurs to me that you probably could have fished this out the spark plug hole with a neo magnet on a wire. But then you wouldn't have a head start on reconditioning the piston and cc if there was any damage. What does the inside of the head look like?

It's a vintage British motorcycle. Maybe that rattling is the 60s version of a check engine light. You passed the valve adjustment interval, this is your reminder to give it a look.

Joking aside, I think this does fit neatly into the category of damage we all were told could be caused by preignition. Intake valve not completely closed, preignition pulse hits the face of the valve like a ball peen hammer, using the valve stem like a punch against that part.
$25 on e-bay WiFi endoscope, works great.

The pock marks won't hurt, as long as there are no sharp edges. It will be less efficient than the right side, but not by enough to notice.

Anything you could braze into the pock marks, combustion could "un-braze".

Inside of the head looks similar to the piston top...
IMG_8273.JPG

It will also get cleaned up, and I'll carefully inspect the valve faces and seats for any nicks.

The engine only has a couple of hours running time since I built it, this NEVER should have happened. It wasn't pre-ignition, it was running beautifully.

Chalk it up to experience. 47 years of experience for this lump...
 
$25 on e-bay WiFi endoscope, works great.

The pock marks won't hurt, as long as there are no sharp edges. It will be less efficient than the right side, but not by enough to notice.

Anything you could braze into the pock marks, combustion could "un-braze".

Inside of the head looks similar to the piston top...
View attachment 286708
It will also get cleaned up, and I'll carefully inspect the valve faces and seats for any nicks.

The engine only has a couple of hours running time since I built it, this NEVER should have happened. It wasn't pre-ignition, it was running beautifully.

Chalk it up to experience. 47 years of experience for this lump...
An abrasive disk will buff out the edges of those pock marks nicely.
My consern would be for the bearings that were being hammered and also if any of those deep ones are near the edge of the piston it can crim the top ring in its groove. I dont think id be putting that one back together with out bearings on that rod and checking to be sure the ring is free.
 
An abrasive disk will buff out the edges of those pock marks nicely.
My consern would be for the bearings that were being hammered and also if any of those deep ones are near the edge of the piston it can crim the top ring in its groove. I dont think id be putting that one back together with out bearings on that rod and checking to be sure the ring is free.
I'm going to pull the jug (to check the rings), but the rod bearings won't have suffered (I don't believe).
 
Put a fresh battery in the K1300s last night - surprisingly easy procedure for a BMW full fairing bike.

Verified my new key worked. Now have to return key to Wild West so they can match the lock cylinders to some bags I bought.
 
Yesterday, I fired up the wyfe's 2000 Triumph Legend 900 triple, and my '01/03 Kawasaki ZRX1200R for the first time since late September. Triumph was just a bit reluctant till I shot a squirt of Starter Spray at the airbox, ZRX spun up almost instantly. Ran them both up and down the street and realized I have no business riding the Legend yet, my right foot can't flex enough to brake properly; the ZRX was fine. Of course then the drizzle started.

Today was rather productive; I went out to the shop and messed with the '68 BSA Lightning that had not run since 2017, it also got a bit of damage in the move from Laredo. So, I swapped the handlebars, straightened the bent footpeg and muffler mount, swapped the battery, and knocked the crud off the entire bike (cases looked chalky, tiny surface rust spots on the fenders and mufflers, general dust and dirt, etc). I took a couple of stabs at trying to kickstart it with my left leg, but that's a non-starter (no pun intended). Still have to land on my bad leg, so not yet. Replacement rubber fork gaiters on on their way.

Took a good half hour to sort thru my entire box of keys, and match them back up to the bikes they go with; that got me interested in firing up the '03 Honda VTX1800 MotorTrike for the first time since the accident in November. Cranked twice and fired right up. Took the opportunity to back it out of the boat spot, turn it around, and do the runway triangle in 1st and 2nd (no back brake pedal). Sure sounds mean with those mufflers. Put it away in a bit better spot where it will be more out of the weather, and called it a day.

Only pictures for the day - the BSA...
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