The Best DR?

[Danm54]

Is 2 DR's obviously!

 

The 350 in the background I've had for a fair few years now, sees as little tarmac as possible and lives on Mid Wales byways. There's a rebuild thread on here somewhere. 

 

The new addition is the 800, kindly delivered to my door by@Rene EFE nice to meet you mate and hope the drive over wasn't too bad.

Been for a little 'post delivery shakedown' shall we say, my god @Havocwhat have you built? I feels ridiculously light, is obnoxiously loud and goes like stink. I love it 

 

Plans for the 800? Mirrors and indicators (sorry) and ride the shit out of it. It's the perfect bike for these roads.

 

 

[Rene EFE]

3 hours ago, Danm54 said:

nice to meet you mate and hope the drive over wasn't too bad

Your drive is something else 

Loved every bit of Wales though, I'm deffo coming back on the bike when the weather's nice.

Glad you like it  

[Danm54]

9 hours ago, Rene EFE said:

Your drive is something else 

Loved every bit of Wales though, I'm deffo coming back on the bike when the weather's nice.

Glad you like it  

I don't get any unwanted visitors that's for sure.

If you're ever this way and need a bike then give me a shout.

[Danm54]

And fault finding begins, these crimp connectors give me nightmares 

 

Bit of soldering and heat shrink is a much better fix in my opinion.

 

All taped up now and the indicators are done. 

Ready for the mot. Once I find a side light bulb. 

[Gixer1460]

Don't need a side light for MOT!

[Danm54]

4 hours ago, Gixer1460 said:

Don't need a side light for MOT!

I'll get it booked tomorrow then!

I'd never use just the side light anyway, always ride with the lights on. Except the 350 which is mainly off, drop a hot bulb in water and it breaks.

[bluedog59]

I think that if a light is there, it has to work. I'd tape it over or remove the bulb holder from the headlight.

[Danm54]

51 minutes ago, bluedog59 said:

I think that if a light is there, it has to work. I'd tape it over or remove the bulb holder from the headlight.

 

I guess that's why the holder was taped up in the loom then. Might get the same treatment again if I don't get a bulb in time.

[TonyGee]

when i did MOT's back in the 80's if it had a bulb holder for the pilot light it had to work, but things have changed since then. !!!!   

[Danm54]

Update on the 800, went through the mot ok, couldn't find a bulb locally but did get a new holder, it didn't fit obviously so got taped in place!

He noted a binding rear brake which I had noticed on the morning of the mot and an advisory for a noisey exhaust. I kind of left it in the shed then, been mega busy with work etc.

 

Had a good ride out today though and a few things need attention, it seems to be running rich, I don't need choke to start it from cold and it smells rich too. It also hangs at about 3k rpm when warm which I always thought ment it was running lean? Could be a carb balance issue as well I suppose. Get some good backfires on overrun but the 350 does that as well, just need to keep the throttle open a touch.

 

It's also too loud, the bike loves higher rpm and it's great to ride like that but I only found out after putting ear plugs in! Thinking it needs 2 end cans like standard, assume that would help?

All in though I like it and it's definitely better than the 1100 on these roads, not as quick on the open roads but the extra suspension travel is welcome on the smaller roads and it's easy to throw it around corners, there's plenty of those here.

A pic for good measure

 

[Danm54]

The 350 had it's first off road outing for about 2 years on Sunday, was a last minute thing so it didn't get a check over other than tyre pressures and a fuel top up.

Immediately I noticed it missing every now and then and it had more backfires than normal on overrun. Figured it would clear up with time and a bit of fuel through the carb.

The lane of choice was my local, Strata Florida. This lane has some deep standing water and even deeper river crossings, especially after the rain recently.

I've ran a high level breather on the carb for a couple of years now, it's unplugged most of the time but for deep water crossings I'll plug it in, as the bike won't run with the carb vents under water. This means I'm safe until the water level approaches the top of the air box, give or take.

That breather stayed connected on Strata Florida and the bike ran perfect, I disconnected it before the ride home and the missing and backfires returned.

So I guess I've got 2 DR's with minor carb issues.

 

On a positive note, the twin exhaust for the 800 turned up, it's a bit chunkier than I'd like but for ~£300 delivered and taxes paid it's cheaper than finding 2 cans with baffles and making a link pipe myself. Hopefully this will take the edge off it a bit.

I have found a twin pumper carb kit but thankfully for my credit card, they don't deliver to the UK.

 

 

[Danm54]

Doesn't look too bad once fitted, certainly doesn't too big like I thought it might. 

Still loud at idle even with the baffles in but not as bad as the single can.

Didn't want to make too many changes to the carb before riding it with the new exhaust, but it seems to idle better and return to idle with half a turn in on the mixture screw.

Spraying wd40 on the carb boots while running didn't change the idle so I don't think there's an air leak there.

[Rene EFE]

On 1/1/2022 at 8:15 PM, Danm54 said:

advisory for a noisey exhaust.

 

[Havoc]

It was stoooopid loud...

[Danm54]

I had tinnitus for 2 days after riding without ear plugs!

 

It was worse through Rhayader though, it just echoed off the buildings all the way through town 

[Danm54]

The suns been out and it finally stopped raining so it was time to make some noise!

Covered about 55 miles Saturday afternoon, very little traffic and some nice roads gave me plenty of time to have a play.

I think I've been riding the 800 like the 350 and just expecting it to pull from idle, it doesn't work like that though, you need to keep the revs up, anything less than an indicated 120kph you need to be in 4th gear, 5th gets little use.

 

I'm not normally one for working out mpg but it's nice to know a rough range on a full tank, does about 30mpg so not sure if that's the enthusiastic riding or she's maybe running a little rich, does need a crack of throttle to start when hot so maybe a bit more in on the mixture screw. Sounds a little loose in the tappet area when hot as well so I'll check the clearances at some point.

 

It's bloody good fun though and I can't wait for some warmer weather 

[dynodave]

[Danm54]

So valve clearances are fine, maybe a touch on the loose side so tightened them up a bit. Pretty sooty plugs though so will keep an eye on those, may need to move the needles down a clip.

 

The fuel tap has developed a slight weep, there's only 1 o-ring so measured it up and ordered a few different sizes, all close but none perfect so hopefully at least one will fit.

Ordered so Tygon fuel line to replace all the rubber hose as well.

[TonyGee]

very rich !!!!!  try screwing the fuel screw in a bit. 

[Danm54]

17 minutes ago, TonyGee said:

very rich !!!!!  try screwing the fuel screw in a bit. 

Already screwed it in before that ride out.

Was 1 3/4 turns out when I got it, went in 1/2 a turn and thats what the plugs looked like. 

Gone in another 1/4 turn so it's 1 turn out now, twin carb but one fuel screw is bunged so there's only one to adjust. 

[Danm54]

The joys of 30 year old wiring...

 

 

 

Got carried away while the fuel tank was off and I was waiting for the fuel hose.

Ended up removing the loom and tidying it up a bit, few new connectors and the above sorted properly then re wrapped in new tape.

 

Been out this evening so will see what the plug looks like over the weekend, seemed to run ok but it's not very consistent returning to idle.

Saying that, I was out for an hour or so and there were only 2 junctions I had to give way at and I didn't need to stop at either one.

[Danm54]

Still rich and the mixture screw and idle adjust didn't seem to do anything consistently. 

Popped the carb tops off to check needles etc and seen the chokes open a bit.

 

Turns out the cable isn't quite long enough to allow the chokes to close fully and I can't see a way to adjust it so I've removed it.

Runs lovely now with the mixture screw 1.5 turns out, returns to idle nice and the mixture and idle adjust actually make a difference to idle speed.

[Danm54]

Sweet 

 

Much nicer to ride at low rpm and throttle opening too.

 

Figured I'd modify the choke cable rather than buy the same problem again. Trimmed 5-6mm off the steel outer where it sits in the carb, choke closes fully with a bit of slack in the cable now.