« Maicoletta: June 2004 | Main | Maicoletta: June 2005 »
April 24, 2005
Foiled
I have now sat the engine in the frame and removed it often enough that I know exactly which bolts need and do not need to be on there to check whether it will shift through all four gears. It won't. For the time being, it shifts between first, neutral, and second all right, and that is about it. I have moved the shift arm one spline forward from perpindicular like Silver Grey does. I could not get the shift bar to fit properly even with all the adjustment in it taken up.
I think the next order of business is to remove the transmission from the spare motor and see if I can't make a go of that one in the 250. Like most things, mechanical chores get easier with repetition. At least that is the idea. Wish me luck.
Posted by Underblog at 2:54 PM | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Hard Starting
It seems that about one start in four, on average, Silver-Grey needs a bump-start. I suspect that the delicate three set of points arrangement may be at fault. There is a point on the crankshaft where the range of the "rock and roll" electric starter simply cannot get the sparkplug to fire.
In other news, the case is back on the 250, and the chain on. Now I need to see whether I can get up and down through the gears. I am running out of ideas on what may be causing the shifting problem, and I am open to suggestions.
Posted by Underblog at 7:26 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 18, 2005
We're Number One!
What you will see when searching for "Maicoletta" on Google. The fact that this search has found my site only a handful of times is telling.
Posted by Underblog at 7:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Wrenching the Bowels of a Maicoletta
All people should hope that the closest I will ever get to performing surgery on a person is performing surgery on a motorcycle. I was only ever truly qualified to be a Lambretta surgeon, having rebuilt or replaced every component on my SX200 over the course of the years that I owned it. I once ripped that bike down to the crankshaft seals three times in one day.
I have been engaged in Maicoletta surgery off and on for a couple of years now. The problem is the gearbox, which will shift up all right but downshift only with difficulty (originally), or not at all (most recently). Colleagues (though I am not quite competent to perform surgery, I will call for a consult at the drop of a spring) suggest that it may be a simple matter of adjustment. I swear that I have adjusted all there is to adjust: namely, the threaded adjustment at the foot gearshift and moving the lever on the spline of the shift-shaft.
The garage tends to get re-organized or moved between surgeries, so small parts are often lost between surgeries. My best case scenario is to have one of the Maicolettas sold by the time we move; at least, I hope to have them both complete and running. I would really hate to have dragged a carcass a fifth time. On this most recent plunge into the bowels of the Letta, a shim washer fell out of the case as I split them. I can find no shim washer on the relevant parts catalog pages. I will leave it out and hope that the bike does not seize up completely at some point down the road.
Regardless of the outcome of this present surgery, I will miss this garage: it has light, power, and windows. And room for a bench, a lift, a car, four bikes, a snowblower, and a Weber Bar B Kettle. If it had heat and water, I think I could live there.
Posted by Underblog at 6:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 8, 2005
Maicoletta Maintenance: Memo to Self
The next time I work on the Maicoletta, I must remember that if I tighten the screw under the right handlebar, the throttle will become very sticky, causing the engine to rev wildly before eventually settling down. This problem has more than once transformed an hour-long maintenance of the carburettor into a multiple hour carb tuning session. Getting at the carburettor is in itself enough of a chore, since there is just about no room at all between the what my statistics professor calls "gi-normous" air filter (which sensible folk replace with a UNI filter or K&N) and the frame of the motorcycle.
However, this incident is a useful reminder that I should find a shorter screw and see if that fixes the problem of the sticky throttle. Otherwise, the carb cleaning really seemed to get the Letta's juices flowing. Carb-tuning on single-cylinder bikes is a much simpler affair than for twins.
Posted by Underblog at 6:44 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 6, 2005
Weather Permitting
Now that spring has arrived, I find myself checking the weather incessantly. Can I take the scooter to school, can I, can I? Going to the grocery store at half past six in the morning is something of a treat when the bike runs as well as it does. I may give it a "2-stroke tune-up" by changing the spark plug and touching up its mysterious triple set of points with a small piece of sandpaper, but otherwise she is pretty fit.
I have a major hankering to do some major wrenching on Old Silver. Even better, I think I have a line on an instrument bracket for the Morini. I am tempted to take the old one and send it off to a friend to have a replicate made in stainless. I reckon the prototype would go on the 500, and additional copies would go on the Morini Parts Page.
Posted by Underblog at 6:41 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 5, 2005
Underblog Rides the Letta Again
At the end of the last riding season, everything was falling apart: the Morini's speedo bracket rusted through, and Sil-Grey began leaking fuel. Fortunately, I purchased (after some delay) two hi-flow fuel taps by which many Maicolettisti swear, so I had everything I needed to replace the tap altogether with a better one. Greg at Clausstudios was kind enough to graft on a reproduction tap handle onto one of the new taps, and so the bike is more stock than ever. The bike started right up with a short push down the alley, and the electric foot has functioned since. It looks quite classy with the Minnesota Classic Plate. In my younger days, I would have waited on putting the plate on until after the mechanical work had been sorted. Now I know better: do the clean work while your hands are still clean!
Aside from fixing the fuel leak, the bike runs much better now that it is not starved for fuel. If I could only find the other one for the 250. The fix was quick enough to do that I had time enough to put the bench back in place (it had been moved into a corner last fall while the garage was being insulated).
Next up, my personal Everest: getting Silver roadworthy so I can dispose of one of the Lettas.
Posted by Underblog at 10:30 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack