[ace.cafe]

Man, the bike is a total dog with the 21 tooth front sprocket.       I retarded the timing a couple of degrees and played with the carb a bit and this is the best I could do.  The clutch works greats but I'm not happy with the gearing.  Maybe I just need more HP. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_uuqVotj7Q
Scottie J

Do you have a tach on that bike?
Sounds to me like you are shifting at midrange rpms.

[High On Octane]

The tach doesn't function.  It's there, but there's no gearbox or cable for it.  I know it sounds like I'm shifting at mid RPMs, but it seriously doesn't have much steam above where I shift.

Perhaps I should install something like this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-For-Motorcycle-Universal-Mechanica-13000RPM-Scooter-Analog-Tachometer-Gauge-/400503135824?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d3fd8de50&vxp=mtr

Scottie J

[azcatfan]

I wish there were an inexpensive Tach for the singles.  I understand that if I switched to an electronic ignition that I could find one, but noone as is...

[caricabasso]

I have a very basic TIG welder and found it extremely difficult to use. For the contruction of stainless steel side carriers for saddle bags I reverted to MIG welding. The stainless steel is 2mm thick x 20 mm wide and I welded these into an angel frame (lengthwise - next time I buy angles). Easier, but still difficult as the stainless tends to wrap very easily when heated. Always good to clamp everything down very sturdy and spot weld all around before finishing the long welds.

If you want to put photographs of how to proceed wing spot welding, so you understand what I mean.
Right now I'm building the rear crash bar to protect the bags of aluminum and myself.
I'll show you the technique and the finished product is amazing.
However, I repeat again, it is important to use very small electrodes (1.6 mm.)
If you look at the fish-tail silencer that I costruto entirely in stainless steel, you'll realize that you can build anything as long as desired.

[mattsz]

Rode it again - 45℉ this afternoon.  It's strange to ride by the lakes and ponds and see them still white and frozen.

I'm pretty sure my bike is still pinging - rode it for a stretch of gentle uphill at about 55mph (about 20 minutes into my ride), my little digital tach showing about 3100 rpm, and didn't it rattle for a good bit of the climb!  If I roll on the throttle a bit, the bike won't really accelerate, but I can certainly increase the noise.  And, it doesn't happen every time.

It's weird.  Sometimes, it just won't accelerate on the hills, but it stays quiet.  Other times, it pings.  Is it odd that in similar conditions it would ping intermittently?

[High On Octane]

If the bike is pinging under load you should downshift into 4th so the bike isn't working so hard.  Either that or hit the bottom of the hill at a faster speed in 5th.

Scottie J

[ace.cafe]

Rode it again - 45℉ this afternoon.  It's strange to ride by the lakes and ponds and see them still white and frozen.

I'm pretty sure my bike is still pinging - rode it for a stretch of gentle uphill at about 55mph (about 20 minutes into my ride), my little digital tach showing about 3100 rpm, and didn't it rattle for a good bit of the climb!  If I roll on the throttle a bit, the bike won't really accelerate, but I can certainly increase the noise.  And, it doesn't happen every time.

It's weird.  Sometimes, it just won't accelerate on the hills, but it stays quiet.  Other times, it pings.  Is it odd that in similar conditions it would ping intermittently?

Could be bad gas.
But if it's pinging, do what Scottie says and get the revs up above the torque peak where the engine wants full advance and is less likely to ping. And/or roll off the throttle till it stops. Don't mess around with ping! It can kill the engine very quickly, and it wouldn't surprise me to find that is what killed that bike in Italy that has its own "serious damage" thread going.
Pinging on an uphill grade, below torque peak with a bigger throttle opening than usual, can cause that very kind of incident where the owner thinks everything is fine, and he's gently cruising, and all of a sudden the engine comes apart. The pinging overheats the piston, which then expands more than the clearance can withstand, and it seizes hard and snaps the con-rod and the broken end of the rod blows out the engine case.
This has been the demise of quite a few Iron Barrel engines.

We know that this  hasn't been typically seen in UCE bikes, but that doesn't mean it's impossible, so we don't want to tempt fate with pinging.

[sixtysix]

My sister came to visit from England so before she came I ordered some bar end mirrors for the GT and she brought them over. Once I got the end caps off, I couldn't get them back on (the long bolt wouldn't capture the internal nut?) The kit had no directions but I used the included end caps, this I what I came up with. Looks odd to me.

[Royal Stargazer]

Today I threw the cover over her because sleet. I hate you, Minnesota...

[High On Octane]

I forgot to post this earlier.  When I did my timing adjustment yesterday I decided to go ahead and inspect the plugs while I was at it.  They actually look pretty good, not quite as black as I'd like to see them.  I think I might go to a bigger needle jet.    Who am I kidding?  I just need to go to a dual flat side set up. 



Speaking of tachs again.....  I remember someone posting a small LED tach designed for single cylinder small engines that was battery operated and had a single wire lead that wrapped around the high tension lead.  Does anyone remember what that thing was called?

Scottie J

[azcatfan]

It's called the Tiny Tach, or some version of that.  I use to use them on lawn equipment when I was working landscaping back in high school.  They aren't very accurate from what I remember and have a significant delay...

ETA:  Here it is  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usfmhpF6QB0  about 3 min in on the video.

[ace.cafe]

Yes, it's called the Tiny Tach. It is very slow updating rpm and is always behind what you are actually doing. It's really only good for steady state riding. It sucks for monitoring acceleration.
You can get a decent chinese made tach on a handlebar mount for a Harley or cruiser twin on Ebay for probably 70 bucks.

BTW, your spark plugs tell me that you can advance your ignition timing a bit. Maybe that will help out your top end power.

[High On Octane]

Yes, it's called the Tiny Tach. It is very slow updating rpm and is always behind what you are actually doing. It's really only good for steady state riding. It sucks for monitoring acceleration.
You can get a decent chinese made tach on a handlebar mount for a Harley or cruiser twin on Ebay for probably 70 bucks.

BTW, your spark plugs tell me that you can advance your ignition timing a bit. Maybe that will help out your top end power.

Well hell!  The Chinese have everything for cheap!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-For-Motorcycle-Universal-Mechanica-13000RPM-Scooter-Analog-Tachometer-Gauge-/400503135824?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5d3fd8de50&vxp=mtr

Thanks Tom.  Maybe I can grab the timing light from Tony's and pick up a degree wheel and see where exactly it is at.  I think 32* full advance is what was determined on the vintage page not too long ago?

Scottie J

EDIT:

On 2nd thought, I really like this one!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-light-Two-Color-Universal-13000-RPM-Scooter-Analog-Tachometer-for-Motorcycle-/221375175553?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item338afd1b81&vxp=mtr

[mattsz]

RE. pinging: Thanks Scottie and Ace.  I'm prepared to move this to another thread if need be, but... Ace, when you say "get the revs up above torque peak", do you have any specifiics?  I know there's always talk about HP and torque around here, but I guess I need some advice about how to apply it to my actual riding.

Scottie, I bought a tach of the wire-wrap-around-the-plug-wire type made by Hardline.  It refreshes about once every second.  Fine for checking the idle speed and for seeing what rpm my bike pings at, but probably not much use for what you're doing.  I like it because it's easy on when I wanna see the rpm, and easy off for when I don't need to see it, which is most of the time...

[High On Octane]

ACTUALLY I found this one too that is the same as the last but slightly larger diameter, 67mm which is 2 5/8".   I think I could make this mount right inside of the instrument panel and replace the mechanical tach.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171224623375?_trksid=p2055120.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Also this one has the wires labeled as how to hook them up.

Scottie J