Ivy Shakedown #7: Legion of Honor

Nice run up to the Legion of Honor.  Sunny, bit windy, though.  Clean ride.

Run Ivy Run: Sunday Odd Jobs

• No joy hooking up the engine guard.  It hits the exhaust and so doesn't line up with the bolt holes.
• Switched the gas cap gasket to the new one, even though the old one looked just fine.  Will see if we get any more spills.
• Stole the right hand bag from Roxy.  Bolted it up pretty much the same way but added an extra keeper bolt in the middle.
• Added gas.
• Lubed the chain.

Run Ivy Run: Honk, Honk!

Wired up the horn.  Added a 3-way splitter to the power wire, but did a stand-alone ground wire for now.

Also used the new 30mm socket to torque the stem nut to 58 ft-lb, which was hard!  Really thought something was wrong because it seemed to take forever.

Run Ivy Run: Horn and Torque

My plan was to actually run the horn off 4xAA batteries housed in the headlight bucket.  Had wired the entire thing up but when I hit the button, the horn briefly sounded then wouldn't come on again.  Checked all the wires, continuity and voltage and it was all fine.

Then tested against the SLA battery instead and found that it worked perfectly.

Would have maybe put more time into troubleshooting the 4xAA solution, but housing the battery box in the headlight seemed clunky.  Probably better off just doing up the loom with all the splits.

Got a few bags of connectors anyway, so I've got everything I need now.  To be continued...


Then set about torquing everything I could on the frame.  Went well with 3 exceptions:

• The steering stem nut I'm using for Ivy is 30mm and the big socket I have is only 29mm.  Other stem nuts are 29mm so I must have only used it for those.  
• The right side top fork bolt is spinning.
• One of the rear flange bolts is spinning (marked it with red X)

Aside from that, here are the torque specs, which I also created a half-sheet file for:

• Steering Head
• Front axle nut (17mm) = 22
• Handlebar lower bolts = 17-22 (didn't do these)
• torque in this order
•  Lower fork bolts (14mm) = 13-18
• Top fork bolts (23mm) = 25-33 (only left was torqued)
• Steering stem (29 or 30mm) = 58
• Rear Suspension
• Swing arm (17mm) = 22-25
• Rear axle nut (17mm) = 22-29
• Rear sleeve nut (23mm) = 29-36
• Rear flange bolts (14mm) = 14-18
• Rear cushions (14mm) = 18-25

Ivy Shakedown #6: Another Lesson Learned

As I was rolling the bike to door, I hear a scraping sound every time the wheel made a full rotation.  Upon closer inspection, realized the flange bolts were totally loose and hitting the back of the chain cover bolt!  They'd been heavily scored!

Another lesson learned.  Not only did I never lock down the keepers, the bolts were not even tightened down!

Tightened them up (but didn't torque).


On the plus side, had a perfect clean ride for Shakedown #6.

Run Ivy Run: New Clutch & Shakedown #5

As expected, there was significant wear damage to the inside of the clutch cover.  The band of metal that holds the arm in place was very worn down.  Any further and it would have hit the arm itself.  Lesson Learned!

Went on to install the new (correct) pin-type clutch.  There was zero tension on the cable, which made it a breeze to install, but had a worrying moment when I thought there was too much slack to even engage the clutch at all.

Then realized that I could also use the extender in the middle of the cable (which had been hidden behind the tank).  With that adjusted, the take up and engagement was perfect.

Added 500mL at first.


Shakedown Rd #5

Good, clean laps.  Got her up to 3rd.  Shifting was smooth and deliberate. 

Came back to the box, found the oil level wasn't even registering, so added another 100mL.

Shakedown #4 & Demolished Clutch

Hectic testing session...


Started with a normal garage session.

First, checked the valve clearances.  They were closer to .07 than the .05 they should have been, but I was only checking to make sure they were not less than that.  Figured I would not adjust them yet.

Then tested idle using the battery from yesterday without charging it first.  She started and ran a solid idle for 10 straight minutes.

Would have swapped the carb but only now realized that the gas line is not only on the left, but angles DOWNWARD!  Would make for a very awkward fuel line.


Decided to just take it on a run.  Immediately got the slippage issue.  Did two laps that way and then boxed.


Changed and went back down for garage session #2.  Started off by draining the oil, then removed the exhaust and foot pegs to get the clutch cover off.

Found that the oil filter was almost clogged by a combination of gunk and also metal shavings!

Had intended to just swap that clutch for the one from the model engine, but ran out of time, so just brought them back up for inspection.  Good thing, too...


Took the clutch apart upstairs and it was DEMOLISHED!  The friction plates were fragments.  So mystery solved.

More concerning was that the clutch outer cover was very badly scored.  That could have explained the noise I'd been hearing at first (which disappeared once it was worn down.)  Also explains all the shavings.  That can't be good...  Hope the filter caught them all.

Took apart the pin-type clutch from the model engine to double check it.  Friction plates were 2.5mm and looked in good nick.  All the big springs were exactly 26mm as they were supposed to be.  Stole the little outer springs from the new eBay auto clutch.  Should be good to go.

Need to check what it was that scored the clutch outer cover and if it caused any damage internally.

Also, don't forget to add OIL!!

Ivy Shakedown #3: Quick Run

Went out for laps.  First few laps were fine, but the got the clutch slippage again.

Came into the box briefly, went back out and same issue.

Also wouldn't seem to hold idle.

Run Ivy Run: Clutch Adjustments, Odd Jobs

Attacked the clutch issue with a clear head and no rush to ride.

Decided to measure how much the clutch adjust affected the travel at the engine.

• At rest, the clutch arm is 41mm from the holder.
• With adjuster fully in (as close to switch as possible), travel = 35mm
• With adjuster 5mm from switch, travel = 32mm

The problem is that even at full in, there's zero slack, so I can't prove that the arm is completely disengaged.  But I didn't feel like removing the clutch cable to find out.

But with a fully charged battery (#2 batt @ 6.43V), decided to run the test.

With adjusters FULL IN, she held a clean idle and didn't feel any clutch slippage in 1st.  Will need to do a few shakedown laps to set this as baseline.

Odd jobs:

• adjusted clutch 
• re-routed the brake light wire through the ignition hole (and was able to run the brake switch cable up through the battery door)
• changed the angle on the shift pedal (and felt much better)
• tightened up the rear brake (and felt much better)
• tightened up the brake switch to match
• new 8mm bolt and spring washer on the exhaust!

Ivy Shakedown #2: Mirror and Fenders

Added the new Dime City mirrors (same ones that Roxy runs).

Got a very shiny, aftermarket fender for $75 (but still made in Japan).  Looks great.


Shakedown Round #2

• Warm day, not ideal for slow runs
• Ran a few good laps, very clean shifts to 2nd
• Felt like there was no slack at clutch, so box to tighten adjusters
• Then felt like clutch was slipping, so box again to loosen 
• Noticed the kickstart was not clearing the exhaust, didn't fix right away, only to realize later the nut had vibrated off!
• Engine also started to stall out even with clutch engaged.  Could have been clutch or maybe battery dying. 

Ivy Shakedown #1: Maiden Run!

Big Day.

The key to rigging up the tailight was to split the "accessory" wire coming off the switch: one to the coil and one to the light.

Got that working and added the license.  Realized the horn would be a lot more work and said hell with it.

Got geared up and went for a RIDE!!

Did some 1st gear runs around the block and realized both levers were sticking because I'd over-tightened the bolts.  Came into the box to fix that.

Then another big test: into 2nd gear.  Shifted ok!  For awhile... then seemed to "lock up" to where the pedal refused to budge.

The engine also started to stall even with the clutch fully engaged.

Box to mess with the clutch adjuster (tightened it).

Then back out for more 1st gear runs.  Decided to stop while I was ahead and didn't risk any more gear changes.

• Also, oil level ok after the runs.  
• Front brake was like an anchor.
• Battery down to 6.15 after the runs (forgot to time it)
• Lots of white smoke from exhaust (that doesn't happen when only idling)

Run Ivy Run: Brake Light and Horn Test

Tested the tail light and horn.

Tail light is in good shape and both running light and brake light are working.

Horn works, too, but the wires are perished.  Will basically need to cut them at the source and replace with connectors.

Ivy Runs!

First gear runs up and down the garage and sidewalk.  Hurrah!

Hooked up the battery and the big red switch.  Luckily had just enough of all the right connectors and that went quick.

With that sorted, added the gold RK chain, which again went ultra smooth and probably took all of five minutes.

Put her up with the rear wheel off the ground and dropped it into first and she ran like a champ.


Realizing that I could actually ride her today, I added about 125mL of fork oil and air to the tires.

Finally, moment of truth...  Drove her the length of the garage.  As good as the first flight at Kitty Hawk.

Only issue was sometimes the engine would die as I came to a stop.  I increased the throttle screw very slightly and that seemed to help.

Big day.  Milestone day.

Run Ivy Run: Petcock Leak Fixed

So I ran the petcock without the bowl, and could see the leak was clearly coming from down the screw hole.  Cut two "fabric washers" from the carb gasket material and presto, leak gone.

With that done, hooked up the carb directly to the tank.  There's a pretty wicked kink between the filter and the tank.  At first nothing was flowing and I thought it was the kink, but it was just a trapped air bubble.  As I started to remove the fuel line to check it, I must have dislodged the bubble and suddenly everything started to flow.

Took measurements of the battery compartment.