Monday, February 15, 2016

Second Sunday

Not What We Had Hoped For!

The Panther started up well on Sunday morning and a test ride round the tract was decided upon for a proof of capability.

The clutch drags and will not fully disengage, the brakes are less than perfect and therefore need some adjustment.
It was decided that discretion being the better part of valor we should defer the Second Sunday meet for one more month.
All in all I'm happy with the progress, the bike starts fairly well, the electrics are working as they should, the new magneto connector and HT wire produce a consistently strong spark.
The bike was ridden on the day for which we aimed, just not to the place we had hoped.
Not a failure, more a realignment of goals.

So, we took the Velocette and the Triumph instead.
The Triumph performed really well but the Velo decided to be a little petulant when I tried to start it for the return trip.

We had lots of advice from the Velocette "Experts" but ultimately we started it ourselves..
Experts 0 Amateurs 1



It was a picture perfect day for So-Cal in February, clear and warm, about 80 degrees.
A pretty good turn out for Valentines Day 90+ bikes.

As the organizer said, a good group of guys who brought the love of their life, and some of them even brought their wife or girlfriend!


Rick rode the Triumph and I rode the Velocette.


I have to say that the more I ride the Velo the more I like it.

As with most of these older bikes, when you kick start it the momentum from the kick start mechanism passes through the clutch. After a few hard kicks the clutch warms up and slips.

Today we adjusted the clutch, a not very scientific method was illustrated in the manual, but we'll see what happens on the next ride.

I'll send an update on the Panther when there is something to report.


Ciao Bella 
Norm

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