Yes, I know the last post was titled the exact opposite, but things have moved on since my last post.
What a pain in the as that was. I had her running & ticking over fine at 1000 - 1100rpm prior to changing the rubbers, but after that she either stalled or revved to 3500prm, nothing in between, odd because when I first had her running, before changing the carb rubbers, she was running ok.
- I bought a new pair of gloves,
- I bought a new pair of paddock boots
- I was (finally) made redundant from my job of 32 years
- Tabitha Trophy is finished and is now sitting under cover in the garage awaiting her first MOT for around 14 years
- I've insured both bikes on one policy.
So lets deal with the more important aspects of the list above.
Gloves
Following on from a reccomendation of a fellow VRUK rider, I bought myself some Richa Rock gloves and since the weather warmed up a little have worn them every time I've been out on Tallulah (Tiger).And what a great pair of gloves they are, warm when it's cold but just about right in the 20+ degree heat of the past few days. Whats more, I can wear a watch should I feel the need. I've yet to do a ride in the rain so cannot comment on whether they keep my hands dry, but if it looks like rain, I'll take my Hein Gericke gloves as a back-up anyway.
Boots
My boots are Richa Slick paddock boots. These were comfortable from the off. I originally bought a pair of size 7 boots, but these turned out to be way too small for my size 7 feet, so they went back & I replaced them with size 8. My only complaint is a small one, the laces are a bit too long. Other than that they're good and far better to wear than boots if you feel like walking short distances from your bike to the burger van upon arrival at your destination.
Redundancy
The redundancy thing has been a long time comming as I knew it was on the cards over 2 years ago. First it was supposed to be in June 2020 but because of Covid, it was put back to December 2020. Then I was drafted in to a team that dealt with the Government's Covid response, so it was put back again until the end of June 2021. I could have delayed it again, but the downside was I might have had to work from Stratford, a good 2 hours each way commute and I wouldn't have been able to leave with any redundancy pay.
Tabitha Trophy
We left the story when I was about the take the wheels in for powder coating, well, that's all been done. I also had the footrest hangers powdercoated.
There was a small hiccup with the tyres though. I ordered the wrong size for the rear . I originally got a good deal a pair of Pirelli Angel ST's, not realising that the rear was an 18 inch wheel, not 17 as I thought. Turns out there was nowhere in the country that had a single 18" Angel ST, so I ended up ordering an Angel GT for the rear and selling on the original ST I bought.
Next up, once the wheels were back & suitably booted was to try to start up the beast, the first time to my knowledge for 7 years. Well, I got her started but she was as rough as a jack hammer. One of the coils had gone. A new one was duly ordered from Sprint Manufacturing and she fired up almost at the first turn. There was a small popping sound comming from the offside exhaust. Turns out the rubber from carb to engine had split.
On the off chance that others may have also split, I bought 3 new ones form, you guessed it, Sprint Manufacturing. Now I know what you're thinking, the Trophy 1200 is a 4 cylinder, why only buy 3 rubbers? That's because when I originally removed the carbs, one rubber was badly split, so I'd already replaced one.
Everything back on the bike & it was time to balance the carbs.
Next up, the idle screw did nothing to the revs, screwed in or out, still all or nothing. Off came the carbs again to check over. Now these have been cleaned & rebuilt by my tame Triumph mechanic, so I had no reason to believe the problem was here, more likely to be me that was the weak link here. So backed off all the balancing screws and reset the air mixture screws to 2/12 turns from fully in. Rechecked the floats & jets, all ok.
Turns out the weak link in all this was me. I'd backed off all the adjuster screws following some advice to 'static balance' the carbs. this left the butterflies on two fo the carbs partly open, hence revving at 3500rpm.
I finally managed to balance them although she'sidling a little high in the video..
One last (fingers crossed) issue was the oil pressure light. It used to come on as soon as the key was turned but not long after I got Tabitha running, it went out & stayed out, even when the engine wasn't running. After much head scratching & poking & prodding with a multi meter, it turned out to be a loose connection at the oil pressure switch.
I still don't know if the fuel level light works properly as I've yet to put more than 4 litres of fuel in. That's something else to check out later.
So apart from the MOT, she's all done.
Insurance
Incideltally, the MOT won't be done until I have her insured.
The insurance on Tallulah runs out on 27 July so I'm taking the opportunity to insure both bikes on the one policy.
The original renewal quote just for Tallulah, a 13 year old bike was £117.50 fully comprehensive with protected No Claims Bonus (NCB) - not too bad, but to insure both bikes now that I'm retired form the Civil Service was almost £300.
A little shopping around and I finally got my insurance for both bikes from Bennetts for £89.96. Again, that's comprehensive with protected NCB
Sometimes it pays to shop around.
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