Series of Problems!

Timbone

Well-Known Member
Local time
4:49 AM
Joined
Apr 20, 2014
Messages
1,098
Location
Louisville, KY
The past 3 weeks has been a very frustrating time with me and my MB. It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I bet I am working 25 hours/week on this thing!

Yesterday was my 33rd commute to work on the motorbike. I built the thing to ride! 4 of these commutes ended with a major component failure. Unacceptable. First fail was the frame - luckily it happened just as I got to work. Had to call a brother to haul me and the bike home.

I welded the crack back but that didn't last long. That was a short drag home. A CDI fail in the rain left me with a 2 mile walk home. A broken rear axle not long after those fixes left me to walk the final 2 1/2 miles to work - was able to find a great coworker who drove me and the bike home.

My axle rebuild was done with stainless allthread rod and good quality sealed bearings. But I had to destroy my freehub so, until my new one arrives next week, I have no pedal chain. I've been Flintstoning it!

I had one of my jackshaft sprockets break my weld ( undercut and lacked good penetration) but I was able to insert a couple 1/4" bolts and it held for my trip home.

Yesterday was the worst: 2 miles into my trip home, my motor drive chain section came loose. Master link gave it up! Looked and looked, couldn't find a piece anywhere. No biggie: I carry one on me. I search and search my backpack - all I can find was the main masterlink section. No sideplate or lock pin. I was toast. I scooted home 10 miles (pushing, coasting, mostly straddling the bike and swinging the legs) took 2 1/2 hours. I just didn't want to ask for help.

Something strange about that section of motorchain and sprocket - it was grabby. Once home, I cut a new chain and I got out the dremel and ground some metal off and polished things up on the sprocket.

I went to the cool motorcycle shop in town and bought some 415 masterlinks. Everything is fixed up now. 2 masterlinks are now in the backpack in case of emergency.

My homemade expansion chamber killed my first two sets of hangers. That muffler bracket material stands no chance, even with 4 points of attachment.

I even cut my first weld on my pipe to examine it. Under a lot of pressure! Rewelded it using very high heat and mega serious penetration.

Intended to ride to get dinner tonight but, after a successful test spin, I made a correction to the chainline, taking enough time to let the engine cool off. It's getting harder and harder to start cold. I made several attempts a few hours ago but absolutely got nowhere. This is a recent occurance - have no idea what has changed!

I'll check everything electrical tomorrow and give it another go. I am killing myself over this thing. My hands are stained black and sore. May and most of June were easy, mostly just checking bolts and riding. But this is too much. This hobby is not for the weak!
 
The past 3 weeks has been a very frustrating time with me and my MB. It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I bet I am working 25 hours/week on this thing!

Yesterday was my 33rd commute to work on the motorbike. I built the thing to ride! 4 of these commutes ended with a major component failure. Unacceptable. First fail was the frame - luckily it happened just as I got to work. Had to call a brother to haul me and the bike home.

I welded the crack back but that didn't last long. That was a short drag home. A CDI fail in the rain left me with a 2 mile walk home. A broken rear axle not long after those fixes left me to walk the final 2 1/2 miles to work - was able to find a great coworker who drove me and the bike home.

My axle rebuild was done with stainless allthread rod and good quality sealed bearings. But I had to destroy my freehub so, until my new one arrives next week, I have no pedal chain. I've been Flintstoning it!

I had one of my jackshaft sprockets break my weld ( undercut and lacked good penetration) but I was able to insert a couple 1/4" bolts and it held for my trip home.

Yesterday was the worst: 2 miles into my trip home, my motor drive chain section came loose. Master link gave it up! Looked and looked, couldn't find a piece anywhere. No biggie: I carry one on me. I search and search my backpack - all I can find was the main masterlink section. No sideplate or lock pin. I was toast. I scooted home 10 miles (pushing, coasting, mostly straddling the bike and swinging the legs) took 2 1/2 hours. I just didn't want to ask for help.

Something strange about that section of motorchain and sprocket - it was grabby. Once home, I cut a new chain and I got out the dremel and ground some metal off and polished things up on the sprocket.

I went to the cool motorcycle shop in town and bought some 415 masterlinks. Everything is fixed up now. 2 masterlinks are now in the backpack in case of emergency.

My homemade expansion chamber killed my first two sets of hangers. That muffler bracket material stands no chance, even with 4 points of attachment.

I even cut my first weld on my pipe to examine it. Under a lot of pressure! Rewelded it using very high heat and mega serious penetration.

Intended to ride to get dinner tonight but, after a successful test spin, I made a correction to the chainline, taking enough time to let the engine cool off. It's getting harder and harder to start cold. I made several attempts a few hours ago but absolutely got nowhere. This is a recent occurance - have no idea what has changed!

I'll check everything electrical tomorrow and give it another go. I am killing myself over this thing. My hands are stained black and sore. May and most of June were easy, mostly just checking bolts and riding. But this is too much. This hobby is not for the weak!
Yes now that your running a tunned pipe it stresses things at a new level and re tests all your componants !
 
The past 3 weeks has been a very frustrating time with me and my MB. It seems like everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I bet I am working 25 hours/week on this thing!

Yesterday was my 33rd commute to work on the motorbike. I built the thing to ride! 4 of these commutes ended with a major component failure. Unacceptable. First fail was the frame - luckily it happened just as I got to work. Had to call a brother to haul me and the bike home.

I welded the crack back but that didn't last long. That was a short drag home. A CDI fail in the rain left me with a 2 mile walk home. A broken rear axle not long after those fixes left me to walk the final 2 1/2 miles to work - was able to find a great coworker who drove me and the bike home.

My axle rebuild was done with stainless allthread rod and good quality sealed bearings. But I had to destroy my freehub so, until my new one arrives next week, I have no pedal chain. I've been Flintstoning it!

I had one of my jackshaft sprockets break my weld ( undercut and lacked good penetration) but I was able to insert a couple 1/4" bolts and it held for my trip home.

Yesterday was the worst: 2 miles into my trip home, my motor drive chain section came loose. Master link gave it up! Looked and looked, couldn't find a piece anywhere. No biggie: I carry one on me. I search and search my backpack - all I can find was the main masterlink section. No sideplate or lock pin. I was toast. I scooted home 10 miles (pushing, coasting, mostly straddling the bike and swinging the legs) took 2 1/2 hours. I just didn't want to ask for help.

Something strange about that section of motorchain and sprocket - it was grabby. Once home, I cut a new chain and I got out the dremel and ground some metal off and polished things up on the sprocket.

I went to the cool motorcycle shop in town and bought some 415 masterlinks. Everything is fixed up now. 2 masterlinks are now in the backpack in case of emergency.

My homemade expansion chamber killed my first two sets of hangers. That muffler bracket material stands no chance, even with 4 points of attachment.

I even cut my first weld on my pipe to examine it. Under a lot of pressure! Rewelded it using very high heat and mega serious penetration.

Intended to ride to get dinner tonight but, after a successful test spin, I made a correction to the chainline, taking enough time to let the engine cool off. It's getting harder and harder to start cold. I made several attempts a few hours ago but absolutely got nowhere. This is a recent occurance - have no idea what has changed!

I'll check everything electrical tomorrow and give it another go. I am killing myself over this thing. My hands are stained black and sore. May and most of June were easy, mostly just checking bolts and riding. But this is too much. This hobby is not for the weak!

Get the bus then....
 
a lot of the repair work that comes into the shop is due to custom or non-standard parts - a cheap. heavy steel, bike with good brakes and gears and all standard kit parts is about the best way to get some reliability out of these - there will still be regular adjustments, cleaning, and inspection to do
 
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