MoT success - and an update.
Posted: 09 Mar 2017 10:11
I thought I'd post a quick update on my 500 Strada restoration. The big news is that it passed the MoT on Tuesday and a bunch of papers have now gone off to the DVLA for UK registration. That usually seems to take about 2 weeks these days - the days are gone when you took the stuff to your local office and the nice lady did it on the spot, that's progress for you!
I go to an MoT station about 10 miles away because it gives me an opportunity to ride the bike and it's really the first chance to see how it's going. I did notice that if I brake hard, the front brake is slow to release. Thankfully it didn't show up on the test but I need to sort that. I serviced the calipers and cleaned all the pipes, but I didn't have a service kit for the master cylinder, so I didn't touch that. Anyone seen this problem before (it's a new one on me)? I've got a master cylinder service kit now, so I'll do that anyway, but any bright ideas gratefully received.
On the charging front, I had to re-wind two of the alternator coils and that worked fine. However the regulator isn't working properly and the battery voltage just keeps on rising - on test I chickened out at about 15.8v - that's enough to damage the battery and keep blowing bulbs. I took the stator off yet again and re-configured the coils by paralleling the two windings. This involves splitting it at the red wire centre tap to get the two halves in phase. I then used a normal single phase rec/reg (A-REG 1 from Paul Goff) and it is working really well. This is a fairly cheap and easy modification and a good solution if you have a faulty voltage regulator. Hopefully this saga is now ended!
I enjoyed riding the bike, it's certainly more grunty than the 350. I doubt if it's much faster, but I felt more confident overtaking and it certainly gets away more smartly when the lights change. As usual, I think I have some minor fuelling issues, so I feel a bit of fiddling coming on. There is a slight flat spot in the lower mid-range and higher in the range it feels a bit rich to me - I'll need to ride it more to home in on that, but I'd be most interested to know what jets other people are using. My line-up is:
Carb type - PHBH26BS
Pilot - 52
Main - 125
Atomiser - 262T
Slide - 40
Starter - 48
I couldn't see the marking on the needles.
One thing I like is that it idles cold after just 30 seconds or so, but when hot it isn't racing like I find with my 350 K2. On the K2 I can have good cold idling or good hot idling, but not both!
So, I'm happy so far! I'll let you now when I get the registration through.
Regards to all,
Joe.
I go to an MoT station about 10 miles away because it gives me an opportunity to ride the bike and it's really the first chance to see how it's going. I did notice that if I brake hard, the front brake is slow to release. Thankfully it didn't show up on the test but I need to sort that. I serviced the calipers and cleaned all the pipes, but I didn't have a service kit for the master cylinder, so I didn't touch that. Anyone seen this problem before (it's a new one on me)? I've got a master cylinder service kit now, so I'll do that anyway, but any bright ideas gratefully received.
On the charging front, I had to re-wind two of the alternator coils and that worked fine. However the regulator isn't working properly and the battery voltage just keeps on rising - on test I chickened out at about 15.8v - that's enough to damage the battery and keep blowing bulbs. I took the stator off yet again and re-configured the coils by paralleling the two windings. This involves splitting it at the red wire centre tap to get the two halves in phase. I then used a normal single phase rec/reg (A-REG 1 from Paul Goff) and it is working really well. This is a fairly cheap and easy modification and a good solution if you have a faulty voltage regulator. Hopefully this saga is now ended!
I enjoyed riding the bike, it's certainly more grunty than the 350. I doubt if it's much faster, but I felt more confident overtaking and it certainly gets away more smartly when the lights change. As usual, I think I have some minor fuelling issues, so I feel a bit of fiddling coming on. There is a slight flat spot in the lower mid-range and higher in the range it feels a bit rich to me - I'll need to ride it more to home in on that, but I'd be most interested to know what jets other people are using. My line-up is:
Carb type - PHBH26BS
Pilot - 52
Main - 125
Atomiser - 262T
Slide - 40
Starter - 48
I couldn't see the marking on the needles.
One thing I like is that it idles cold after just 30 seconds or so, but when hot it isn't racing like I find with my 350 K2. On the K2 I can have good cold idling or good hot idling, but not both!
So, I'm happy so far! I'll let you now when I get the registration through.
Regards to all,
Joe.