Japan Meets Britain

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Sat Mar 02, 2013 2:24 pm

Went for a VERY CHILLY shakedown ride today. The mercury only managed to make it to 36 degrees today, and I was only able to tolerate an hour's ride.

Overall the bike ran great -- a variety of things were done this time around, including the new Rick's Electric stator and voltage regulator, new anodised slides for the Amals, new advance unit, new points shaft seal, new cam chain, and a few other things that I can't even remember. I tried it at various speeds today (highway, residential, stop-and-go) and for the most part it was completely dialed in. I think the idle will need a bit of adjustment, and the clutch cable was a bit looser than I like, but overall it was great. Interesting to note that when I first started the ride, the idle was at about 1500rpm, but 45 minutes into the ride the idle dropped down to 1000rpm. We'll have to see what that's all about, but I told John that we should just keep things status quo for the time being, and see what happens when the temperature warms up (which I'm hoping it will eventually do!).

Surprisingly, I found out that at 85mph I'm doing about 6000 rpm in 5th -- as I recall, last year when I rode the bike, at 6000 rpm I was only hitting 80mph in 5th.

Actually I don't look too chilly here, but believe me -- my fingers were numb!

SuperHawk2013 by Vince.Lupo, on Flickr

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 3:47 am

Vince

Great picture!

I have missed your posts. Strange about the gearing. Have you changed sprockets, or the speedo? Or maybe the tires?

Hoping to finally get my CB77 on the road this year. It's probably been laid up for 35 years now so it will be fun getting her fired up.

What started off as a "retirement project" got relegated to a very back-burner job once I got enticed back to work...

Take care

G

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 5:06 am

No nothing has changed in that regard -- maybe it's just that John's recent work has unleashed more unbridled power! Or perhaps now that the NOS speedo has gotten a couple of thousand miles under its belt, it's become a bit more vague.

What I find a bit odd is the fact that I started out with a 1500 rpm idle, and then 45 minutes into the ride it dropped to a 1000 rpm idle. I don't think it's really anything major, and the 36 degree temperature may have been a factor, but it's definitely something I'd like to sort out once the warmer weather comes along.

ahenthus · Post by **ahenthus** » Sun Mar 03, 2013 10:54 am

Vince,
I like the cafe treatment you've given your Super Hawk. After owning your Cayman for two and a half years, how do you like it now? I posted on your off topic "other passions, hobbies" post at the dealership picking up the Cayman. I love red Porsches too. I know what you're going through with the weather now. I lived twenty minutes out of Baltimore down BW Pkwy just below BWI back in the mid nineties. I've been a devoted British motorbike and motorcar fan for the last forty years and still wince when I think of the 68 Daytona I passed on in Odenton. Not one of my smoothest moves. I've got three Bonnies and three Healeys but out of the six, only my 56 100 is a driver. When I finish my CL77 maybe I'll get back to my 67 Bonnie restoration.
Claude

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Tue Mar 05, 2013 6:13 pm

We're still liking the Cayman quite a bit, though that new Cayman sure looks tempting! It's quite a comfortable car to drive for a long trip, and the two trunks hold a surprising amount of stuff. So all in all, quite pleased with it.

One of the issues living in this area is finding good roads -- normally I ride either west or north to get to the good roads (out to Frederick county, or north towards Pennsylvania). Where I am (near BWI airport), there's really not much here in terms of quiet, twisty backroads. But as long as you're willing to ride about 30 minutes to get to the better roads, it's really not much of an issue.

The one thing that I was wondering about was the change in the idle speed during my last ride -- I would have thought that the idle would go up as the bike got warmer, but instead it went down. Very strange.

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:27 am

Vince

Does the bike "sound" like it's idling more slowly. If not your NOS speedo / tacho may just be settling down and accounting both for the 'change' in idle speed and the mystery change of gear ratio........

G

Vince Lupo · Post by **Vince Lupo** » Wed Mar 06, 2013 4:11 am

Yes it does sound like it's idling more slowly, to the point that in that one section of stop-and-go traffic it stalled twice. So the idle definitely changed in that hour-long ride. Wish I could ride it more to see what's going on, but the weather this time of year limits my ability to get out and test.

Think the new hard-anodised slides might have anything to do with it?