Red: Horn Swap and Speedo On

Installed the new $3.79 thumb screw from Ace using a double nut to set the length.  One of those easy fixes that couldn't have worked out any better.  I like the look, too...

Then checked into the problem of the very low horn.  The odd thing is that it was low when you honked it from the button.  But if you hooked it up directly to the battery it sounded fine. 

Figured that somehow it wasn't getting the full 6V while on the bike, but tested the circuit and indeed the voltage was just fine.  So how could it betting getting full volts while on the bike but sounding very low, and then full volts directly to the battery but sounding fine?

Made no sense.  Finally just swapped Ivy's horn over as a test and it worked fine!  So just something a bit off with the aftermarket horn...  Have a new one on order anyway, so I'll just leave Ivy's on Red for now.

Speedo gear install was pretty straight-forward.  Used the new Husky ratcheting wrenches to good effect to remove the fender.  Almost made that job a pleasure versus doing it the old way.

Applied liberal amounts of moly-b to the gears.

Took it for a spin later that afternoon and it's working!

But based on that and a few subsequent rides, it looks like the ratio is going to be a bit off.  What the odometer displays is less than actual.  To get actual, multiply the displayed mileage by a factor of 1.4.

Ivy: Speedo Fix but Engine Dies

Went down for an early morning session to look at Ivy's speedo again.  Once I had the old gear out and was looking at it, it was painfully obvious that the tabs that are supposed to hold it in place on the hub were bent way out.  No wonder it would work intermittently then stop entirely.  A good lesson in taking time to investigate parts more closely once they're disassembled.

Went for a ride later that day and lo and behold - odo is ticking over nicely!  Speedo is working, too, though it's way off.  It reads at 50mph when I'm doing an actual 30mph. 

But if it's not one thing it's another.  During the ride, I felt the engine starting to bog, then eventually it just quit.  My first thought was battery so I swapped that.  It started up and I rode for a bit more, but then same thing happened again. 

Each time, it would restart after sitting for a bit, but wouldn't last long before dying again.

Made it home after a series of pit stops, but just barely.

I thought it was overheating as it was a slightly warm day (60 degrees) so later in the garage, I switched the needle to the second highest notch (it had been in the middle).

Air screw at 1 1/4 out.

Ivy: Speedo Gear and Front Brake

With a hard stop to the garage session, I wasn't sure how much I wanted to try to do.

Started out easy by testing out the new shift pedal (stock).  It was a much better fit but quickly realized it was bent a bit out of shape.  Fiddled a bit with how to hold it down to hammer it back.  Finally settled on putting a big bolt through the center then just stepping on it to hold it in place while I whacked the end with the deadblow hammer.  Really surprised that it worked, to be honest.

With the stock pedal mounted, shifting felt pretty close to Ivy and Roxy.  At least, having that slightly lower peg bars don't seem to be a deal-breaker anymore.  Good enough for test riding at least.

With that bit of "garage luck", decided to go for it with the Ivy front wheel.

This was the first test of the jack stands under each side of the pegs.  But I also added the wood stool under the engine.  Turns out that in terms of holding up the bike, the stool by itself worked absolutely fine.  Though it was nice having the jack stands as insurance.  But now it seems as though I should focus on customizing the stool to fit perfectly under the engine with the peg bars in place then continue to use the jack stands as backup (and they'll need some shims underneath to get them a little higher).

With all that in place, the only thing fiddly about removing the front wheel is getting the fender bolts off.  After that, it was easy to remove the bottoms of the axle holders, then just pull each shock up and over to remove the wheel. 

On to the speedo gear.  As soon as I touched it, it "popped" into place and I thought that it was just misaligned. 

But more surprising was that it didn't have the EBC grooved brake I thought it did.  Not sure where I'd gotten the idea that I'd upgraded them.  Grabbed one of the two EBCs in the bin and did the swap.

With that done, I reassembled everything.  With the wheel back in, I walked the bike around to make sure the speedo arm seemed to be turning - which it definitely was.

Note: you can't run the speedo/brake cables through the fender holder because the cables are too short.

June 17 update:  Unfortunately, no joy on the fix.  Within a few blocks, it was clear neither the speedo or odo were moving at all.

Came back to the garage and removed the cable from the speedo side and taped it to the brake cable so I could walk the bike and watch it.  The cable was definitely not moving anymore.

So thinking through this:

• The cable itself is working, which is an easy test to do.  Also easy to swap out to test another cable.
• The speedo is pretty sure to be working, since again, a pretty straight-forward test and also another easy one to swap.
• This is very similar to what happened before, where the speedo gear seemed to turn but then stopped after awhile.  It must be that it starts off working and in alignment, but something happens and it stops.
• The problem could be...
• Just the speedo gear itself, which would be the best case scenario.
• The brake, which would just mean swapping over to the newly purchased spare.
• Or, very worst case, it's something to do with the hub, in which case we're talking swapping to a new wheel entirely.

Ivy: Speedometer Fix

Brought Ivy's original speedo upstairs to see if I could figure out why the speedo needle wasn't moving.

It was a good thing that I had left the chrome ring "loose" when I had taken it apart last time to paint the face, so it was a breeze to pop off the top.  Three screws on the bottom released the speedo itself from the housing.

Played with it for quite awhile, testing it with the drill and just observing.  Finally realized that there's a little nub at the base of the needle that is supposed to hit a metal arm that acts as a stopper.  But the metal arm must have moved over time because instead of stopping it, the nub was actually locking itself up against it.  That was why the needle wouldn't move on its own.

Just had to bend the little arm back enough so that they didn't run together and then the needle worked a treat.

Also glued the green neutral light back to the underneath of the face where it's supposed to be.

Ivy: Speedo Troubleshooting

Taking a closer look at the speedo situation and realized that it's the front hub that's the issue, not the speedo.  The speedo works because I tested it with the drill.  The cable works because you can turn it at one end and see it move on the other end.

Disconnected the cable from the speedo and taped it to the bars, then ran the bike down the garage and could clearly see the cable wasn't turning. 

So the problem must be somewhere in the hub.

Unboxing: Speedometer

Unboxing the new spare speedometer to help with troubleshooting Ivy's.

Ivy: Odo Yes, Speedo No

Right out of the gate, saw the speedo was clearly not working.  At that point, I pretty much figured the entire gauge was dead.

It was only when I'd gotten home (from the usual ride to the Farmer's Market) that I realized the odometer had actually been clicking off.  But I'd thought the last digit was in tenths of a mile, but it's actually just the mile itself.  So it had just been going much slower than I'd expected.

Once home, I flipped on the GPS app on the phone and then went for another sip up to Cabrillo and back.  App read 1.44 mi and the odo was reading about the same (close enough anyway).

Would have been nice if the speedo had worked, too, but then again maybe it's not so bad that it doesn't, otherwise I feel like I'd always be trying to break personal top speed records.