Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
Of front wheels and headlight switches
The CL175 is steadily improving (well, "steadily" if you ignore the pause for Thanksgiving, anyway).
I got the new front wheel laced up and tensioned last week, and spent last night repeatedly levering the tire onto and off the wheel as I realized I forgot various important steps. Fortunately, it was much easier than the last time I'd tried, thanks to a hint from Jesse: tires are easier to work with when they're warm. So I set the tire in front of a heat register inside. Truly, that made a huge difference.
Finally, by 10:30, I had the front tire all set up and mounted. I gave it a spin, and although it's much straighter than it was, there's still a curious lump that you can see when you spin the tire. It's there whether it's inflated or not, so I'm finally sure it's not the tube binding inside the tire. However, with the newly straight front wheel, it's much better, and looks like I won't have major problems riding on it.
The new wheel, by the way, looks fabulous. I went from awful, dull, rusty spokes and a spotty, bent rim to a much cleaner, straighter rim, and brand new looking shiny chromed spokes. I even spent a few minutes cleaning up the outside of the brakes with one of those green scratchy pads. It's a huge improvement, and along with the front brake work, makes the front wheel one of the best parts on the bike.
I now only have one major impediment to riding the bike on the street: the headlight switch. It's very intermittent, such that the headlight is only on a very small percentage of the time, and that happens pretty much at random. That's not acceptable for street use, so that's my next task. I'm hopeful that it's just a matter of cleaning up the contacts and lubricating all the bits. I took a look at it earlier, but didn't really commit to cleaning it up at the time.
So, if I can get that cleaned up, and clamp a hose to the crankcase breather (which has been blowing oily mist at the underside of the gas tank for a while, judging by the sludge to be found there), it'll be ready to start riding. Then I can start finding the real problems. Whee!
Posted at 12:40 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater