Hi from Vermont!

[Zachary]

So, on the way home I noticed a distinctive electrical buzzing sound. Suspecting it was the connection to the spark plug, I looked at home and noticed there was a brass connector with clip in the spark plug boot, just like was attached to the stock spark plug, so I was stacking a brass connector on a brass connector ontop of the spark plug.

Sadly, my gas tank apparently developed a crack today, too. Back in a week or so...

 

[Imthegrt1]

So on rear wheel have you check make sure it's not warp?
Also have u reback the bearings?
Look at the rear and have the back tire off the ground to let it spin at idle
Make sure wheel straight.
Just a few things for your vibration problem.

 

[Zachary]

I suppose now is a good time to work on the rear wheel while I wait for the new tank.

Sheldon Brown's website describes my wheel perfectly:

If the bike is ridden without the reaction arm properly secured, the arm will rotate downward, effectively loosening the left cone. The result will be a shaky wheel, and an increase in the amount of reverse pedal travel required to activate the brake.

If you loosen both axle nuts, and stick a cone wrench onto the right side cone, or its locknut, you can turn the whole axle, Since the left cone is immobilized by the reaction arm, turning the axle will adjust the cone.

If you get it too tight, the wheel will tend to bind up. Too loose, and the wheel will shake from side to side, and the brake will require a lot of pedal movement to engage.

http://sheldonbrown.com/coaster-brakes.html

Time to get a cone wrench! I think the cranbrook wants a 15mm.

I will add that on the ride home yesterday I managed a new top speed, even with the (what I suspect was) bad electrical connections - 35.5mph! Before, even going downhill, the engine would stop me from going any faster. I could have kept accelerating yesterday. There is MUCH less vibration above 30 with the new CDI... because of better spark timings, I assume. It's very tempting to make a "temporary" fuel tank to keep experimenting...

 

[Fabian]

Time to get a cone wrench! I think the cranbrook wants a 15mm.

A cone wrench is an absolutely essential item to have in your tool kit.

the engine would stop me from going any faster. I could have kept accelerating yesterday.

kept accelerating into the arms of injury?

 

[Zachary]

kept accelerating into the arms of injury?

For full disclosure, I forgot my helmet at work for that ride. Bad bad bad naughty. Didn't even occur to me that I hadn't worn it until I couldn't find it this morning.

 

[Zachary]

This worked great getting me to work today. The tube coming out the muffler is high temperature silicone. I am not sure what it's doing to the engine power-wise but is super quiet. I am seeing a lot less hesitation in the upper 20mph range with the spark plug properly connected now. It's still there but maybe 20% of what it was before the change. I'm interested in what is different at around 3/4 throttle (where it hits the "hesitation" speed range). I imagine that's right around the transition between the needle in the carb controlling how much fuel and the main jet taking over completely. It seemed like being very gradual about increasing throttle at those speeds alleviated the problem... too much fuel? It's running slightly rich at that throttle position? Once I hit 30+, the bike takes off smooth up to 35. I may try moving the clip on the carb needle up a space to see if that makes a difference.

 

[Fabian]

From about half throttle position, the needle has minimal effect on the fuel delivery coming from the main jet. At 3/4 throttle, the needle virtually no effect on fuel delivery, regardless of where you place the e-clip on the needle.

I am sure the reduced exhaust noise afforded by the silicone hose is music to your ears, and to everyone else.

 

[Zachary]

Half a beersworth of gas is only enough to get me the 5ish miles uphill to work, with none left to ride around the parking lot at lunch

 

[Zachary]

Hmmmm his crud seems to be coming out from a round the spark plug...

 

[Zachary]

It did a wheelie today. I was starting it on a mild downhill and gave it some gas and bam front wheel off the ground on engine power. Since last posting I've flipped the dishing on the rear sprocket, installed front breaks, broken a muffler, made a fankenstein muffler from parts, broke a clutch cable while riding(!), made a better temporary fuel tank, found loose head bolts, and fixed the coster brake/rear wheel wobble problem.


New top speed 36.8mph. There is now hardly any hesitation around he 28mph range like I was seeing before these changes