Well it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Hmmnnn, that sounds like there was something really bad, and unlike Charles Dickens' "A tale of two cities" from where I "borrowed" the quote, things were actually not too bad at all.
Yes dear reader, after a couple of false starts, on Monday, I finally got the big black mamba out on the road. I was dithering between spending 56 bux for an "Unregistered vehicle permit" which legally allows me to ride the bike on the road (within limits) and just putting a number plate off another bike on it and hoping that the cops don't pay too close attention to me. The older I get, the bigger chicken I've become so I paid the dough, but the other benefits are manifold, particularly if I'm involved in an accident.
OK, so document in hand, or at least in my pocket, I fired up the old monster and took off up the street. "Monster" is a good description, because, as much as I've "Streetified" it, it still has the heart of a drag bike, and is not happy unless the throttle is being held wide open. I don't mind that, I never wanted to turn it back into a stocker, but it made me nervous on my first ride, which involved significant traffic flow, being after work on a Monday afternoon.
A few observations: The front forks are horrible. I think I mentioned when I rebuilt the forks that the springs appeared to be "heavy duty", perhaps to stop them collapsing when the front wheel came down after a wheelie. They'll need to go, every speed bump was a "pile driver". Luckily the rear shocks were fine.
The rear brake doesn't work, at all. It felt fine when I first hooked everything up, but I'm guessing there was a massive air bubble inside the caliper or line. There are no leaks, just no brakes either. Luckily the front Brembo's are magnificent, accompanied by the used FJR1300 MC and chinese braided lines, they felt positive, powerful, and had plenty of feedback, so while I was juggling with no rear brakes and a dragging clutch (more on this later) in peak hour traffic with an engine that didn't want to just idle along merrily like a stocker, at least I could pull up quickly, and with those hard front springs, no notable fork dive if I had to grab a handfull. Oh, and the gearing is way too low, 60 MPH @ 6-7000 RPM in 5th gear (guesstimate, I just received my electronic tach from Nic today, so I'll install it on the weekend) is way too low. I've ordered a much smaller rear sprocket. I could have ordered a bigger front sprocket, but there's no spare chain, and even though I have some spare new 530 chain in my garage, I didn't want to install another joining link, one is enough.
Anyway, once I finally got past the traffic, I opened the taps, and it rocketed forward, woohoo! This thing has got some real grunt! Being that the gearing was so low I didn't dare take it past 80 MPH on the speedo. I'dd just overtaken a line off cars and was starting to feel pretty relaxed, when suddenly, the engine died. Fark........ As you all know the bike has no recharging system, so electrickery was my first concern, but no, all the lights and blinkers, horn etc seemed to work fine, just no power to the coils. Bugger.
Now a smart man would have taken tools, insulation tape, cable ties, a test light, etc, but no,remember this is me we're talking about, so all I had was a plug spanner and a pair of pliers in my jacket pocket, that have probably been there as long as I've had that jacket. After a long time (maybe an hour) I discovered frayed rear blinker and tail light wires, where the wires pass thru the aftermarket "Rear fender eliminator. Not having any insulation tape I disconnected them from the harness and kicked it in the guts, but no dice. Bugger.
I'd by this stage removed the tank and sidecovers, so I just kept tracing all of the wiring, until I found that the wiring on one side of the multi wire plug connector for the lights/kill switch had all melted together. Well that made sense. OK, so eventually, I disconnected everything, pulled a couple of earth wires I'd made for the rear blinkers and hotwired it, twisting one wire around the positive wire connection on the coils, and the positive terminal on my battery, and one from the earth point on the coils back to the negative terminal on the battery. It fired right up, so I put everything back on, and rode home slightly stressed, slightly sweaty and smelly, but happy that I got home, and not on the back of a tow truck.
The weather has turned back to crap over the last couple of days, but once the sun is shining, I'll get back out there and fix that wiring, hell, I might even wire in a fuse or two. (yes, there is a fuse box, but because there's no regulator or starter motor, the fuse box isn't actually connected to anything.) Anyway, here is the only pic I had the presence of mind to take.
Terry's big black Zed's first ride 17 Feb 2020 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Oh, and the good news is that some big boxes have arrived over the last couple of days, so the crank and other parts for my 1428cc engine have arrived, I'm looking forward to putting it together, but that's another project......... More later.
