Inaugral run of the 550

[spyug]

Well after redoing the brakes, changing the carbs and fresh oil and filter I was able to get the Silver Bullet out for its around the neighbourhood inauguration. I'm going to like this bike........once I get her sorted

The front brakes are crap. I spent several hours on them and can't for the life of me get a firm lever. They do stop the bike but not nearly quick enough. I bled them over and over and I'm sure there is no air in the lines but the lines are rubber and likely original so there is "give" to them. I didn't put rebuild kits in as the seals all seemed good but I guess you never know. I don't see any leakage yet. In addition, the small lines to the anti dive mechs are still attached. I did bleed them there too but I think I'll disconnect them and see if there is any improvement. SS lines might be the only solution.

The bike ran well enough and shifted up and down through all gears with no issues. There was a bit of involuntary revving so I'm going to need to play with the carbs somemore.

The oddest thing occured toward the end of the 5 minute ride when the side stand light and oil light came on and stayed on together. Likely just a wire or connector issue.

The bike smokes a lot around the engine but I think that's down to some Marvel Mystery oil that slopped around the head as I tried to get some down the cylinders prior to original start up 2 weeks back.

Overall, I'm a happy camper. It seems like it will be a nippy little machine when properly sorted. I can feel it being lighter and nimbler than the 750 so it might be the replacement I need.

Well now that I know it runs, I'll start zeroing in on the issues starting with those dang brakes.

Cheers all,
Spyug

 

[Guest]

Nice one Spyug, glad to hear she's running

Did you try tieing the brake lever back to the bar overnight? That's what did the trick with mine when I couldn't get it quite right initially.

 

[SVSooke]

The 83 has the opposed piston front brakes?Friend of mine has an 84 with them and he says he can stopy it,with stock line no less.Getting the calipers for Yeller when(if)he does his planned mods.

 

[D-Mac]

Nice one Spyug, glad to hear she's running

Did you try tieing the brake lever back to the bar overnight? That's what did the trick with mine when I couldn't get it quite right initially.

Yup. The manual "pump and hold" bleeding method often leaves just a little air bubble in there - especially in a manifold or a spot with a tight kink. On some brakes it can be VERY frustrating. The overnight "gravity bleed" (suggested above) often works well in these cases. You could also try removing the reservoir/manifold so that the hose is more straight up and down.

Failing that, you can do a "reverse bleed" where you push fluid up from the caliper to the reservoir. A good "vacuum bleed" with a professional-style unit works well too as a last resort.

 

[ndaugbjerg]

Spyug,
Congrats. I can't wait to fire mine up. Been w/o a ride for over two yrs. Get it sorted out and enjoy it.
Niels

 

[tkent02]

The oddest thing occured toward the end of the 5 minute ride when the side stand light and oil light came on and stayed on together. Likely just a wire or connector issue.

This could also be a lack of oil pressure once the oil warmed up.
It's worth checking into.

 

[spyug]

Well I bled the brakes again and it got a tad better but its definitely not stoppie capable yet. On the second run this afternoon things actually took a bit of a turn for the not so good as she started running a tad rough and began ****ing gas out of the carb overflows.

These carbs came off the "parts bike" and I cleaned and rebuilt them last year but I think I must have introduced some gunk from my " I/V" bottle when I was tuning them last week. While I use a funnel with a mesh screen when I fill the I/V or the tanks, there was a lot of gunge in my"jerry can" that got past it:

So the carbs needed to be pulled and cleaned again it appears:

So they're all apart and in the dunk tanks once again. I'll get them back on tomorrow and this time I'll put a filter in the line. I've cleaned out the jerry can and I've put a finer filter in the funnel so I'm hoping no more gunge will get by. Can't be cleaning carbs every few weeks.

Thanks for the kind words.

Cheers,
Spyug

 

[Flyboy]

Yeee ha, good one Spyug, nice to hear you got some time in the saddle.
Now where are the pictures, you know we like pictures.