« On the Lift Again | Main | Brakes »
February 22, 2009
F1: Stretching Our Wings
My goal for the weekend was to get the idle set on the F1, a task which takes but minutes on other motorcycles. However, the body work is so snug that in order to get a screw driver on the air screw, the body work has to come off. Further complicating the procedure is that in order to set the idle, the bike needs to be thoroughly warmed up.
Careful readers of this blog will note that as of last weekend the bike was not starting. This continued even after the needles were returned to their middle position. Then it occurred to me that I had not tried the "Italian Tune-Up" ie changing the spark plugs. The P.O. had supplied the bike with new Iridium plugs, but I ordered some regular NGK's just in case. I gapped them per the manual's instructions, installed them, and the bike fired right up. In fact the motor was racing. So I checked the opening of the carbs and after some fettling I discovered that the forward carb's cable was not properly connected to the throttle slide. Once that small detail was addressed, I was able to get the carbs opening and closing in sync.
I took the freeway to Tramway, trying to set the idle lower at each stop. Fortunately, there were not that many between Dawn's and the freeway. Whilst at Dawn's, we motorcyclists ogled a 1952 Bentley (basically a 20's replica built with 50's running gear), with a beautiful straight-8 engine and giant vented drum brakes. After a couple of conversations about the F1 with some fellow bikers (one of whom had had an 86 way back when), I was off to return home to set the idle.
Once the bodywork came off, the bike refused to start, a fault soon traced to a wire coming loose from the jury rigged ignition switch. Once that detail was attended to, the bike fired right up and I was able to set the idle to a reasonable rpm. While the bodywork was off, I checked the color of the plugs just to check that the carbs are not running too rich. Indeed, the plugs looked nicely tan and so I think I shall leave the needles in the middle position for the time being.
The next ride will probably be a Madrid Loop, but that will have to wait until I return from another trip east. Hopefully there will not be too many of these trips this spring, as there are many roads I wish to explore on the F1.
Posted by Underblog at February 22, 2009 4:20 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://blog.mayoreric.com/blog/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/2167