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ROD¹ said :-
Glyn, that's a shame. I was looking forward to that rebuild.
Ian, the chair looks like a great find.
I had an attempt with a mate many years ago at setting up a side car. It is not an exact science even when you follow instructions.
I think the settings are all a compromise, so I would suggest that you go for a fitting kit with plenty of adjustment.
18/09/2025 16:40:53 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
GLYN! You've let me down! We're only here now for the trike build. Pfffft.
Kidding. That's a real bummer but you've got to make your choices. I'm slowly but surely coming to the conclusion I need to be more careful with my online purchases. Sun lounger (for my son oddly) advertised as Argos ex stock damaged box otherwise perfect. Hmmmm, looks more like used and returned. Blumming fork bush kit - not the one for my bike.
Do you remember once upon a time you bought things in a shop? If they brought you a raggedy box you'd be like "What the deuce! Get me a NEW item please". "Oh look, this is for the CBF250 not the CB500X". Eeeeh thems were the days. Mind you you spent an awful lot of time travelling to various shops only to find they don't stock what you want.
Anyhow perhaps you've dodged a bullet there eh. Enjoy your canal boating in France. Does it count as travels? Yes of course it does. With no trike project you might as well share a few piccies of your floating adventures.
18/09/2025 20:47:54 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
Glyn, A canal trip in the south of France.
Are you on the Canal du Midi?
18/09/2025 21:36:10 UTC
Glyn said :-
No Rod, we’re on the Garonne, the MIDI is too crowded for us. We’re in Buzet Sur Baise. We have the choice between the Canal and the River. We’ll probably take the Canal to Agen tomorrow. I had to feel sorry for the bikers loading on the ferry but have to say the guys tying the bikes down were being very careful with padded covers over the seat covers. We travelled 310 miles today but it’s much easier in a car. The usual disconcerting French drivers were sure of only leaving a fag paper width between our back and their front bumpers.
19/09/2025 17:05:25 UTC
Glyn said :-
Raining here today, I thought we were promised sunshine. I’m having time to think over the lost trike project. The truth is, the trike and I needed each other. The trike certainly needs someone who’s a little unhinged and happy to Weald a spanner and I need another daunting project to make me think and plan and solve problems etc. Twisted headstock or frame? ha, it’s only a bit of metal after all. It was too much money for the mess it was but it could also be the one that got away.
20/09/2025 08:16:48 UTC
ROD¹ said :-
I am sure another project opportunity will show up on the internet soon.
The weather forecasts for France seems to be in contradiction. Rain on some forecasts, and dry on others!
I am hoping to get over the channel in the next week.
20/09/2025 09:18:14 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Regrets? I've had a few....
But often I've dodged a bullet or two. A couple of years ago I just missed a Triumph-Greeves scrambler on eby. What I didn't realise was that it would have been impossible to register it for the road which was what I wanted - so ensued my Tr-Greeves buld which was very satisfying and challenging. On the other hand I dearly regret buying the Yamaha maxi-scoot which was a bit of an impulse.
20/09/2025 15:16:00 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Leaving sidecars on one side (heehee) for a moment. I've just enjoyed a 25 mile jaunt on the Electra which ran very well and didn't run out of petrol (but I should fill it up). Started instantly and pulled like a train although I still think it's a bit undergeared with the 20 tooth gearbox sprocket. I ran it up to about 55 and everything felt and sounded good. The split charge system seemed to work well but was showing about 4 amps charge most of the time. It's a long time since I've had a Zener controlled alternator system with an ammeter so I'm not sure whether this is correct.
The gearchange was initially like the proverbial knife through butter but did get a bit reluctant when it was nice and hot. I have 40 grade monograde oil in the gearbox. The clutch is very light with the cable routed under and behind the oil tank and there's no slip or drag. Carburation is a little bit hesitant when pulling away once warm, and the tickover is set too high but is about right when it's cold. I think I'll get an extended throttle stop screw to help. Steering is lovely as are the brakes.
All in all I feel I may be getting to the end of a long and difficult road.
24/09/2025 17:02:35 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Perhaps the bike knows that once you get it all perfect and just so - it'll be sold on! It is enjoying the comfort of your garage and the regular attention it is getting so it's deliberately ensuring there's just one more thing to look at. Maybe it wants a sidecar fitting too?
25/09/2025 08:09:09 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
My intention is to keep the little Norton but the best laid plans..... You are of course right in that I usually get bikes just the way I want them then pass them on. Or have them nicked. It's a nice bike to ride, if a little underpowered but then my riding isn't on high speed dual carriageways / motorways so that isn't really a problem. I'm afraid the frame would wilt under the strain of a sidecar as it's not built to take that sort of load.
25/09/2025 09:47:16 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
I thought you folk might appreciate this. Modern carburation / injection systems generally have some sort of mechanism to slightly raise the tickover speed when the engine is cold. Simple slide carbs like the Amal fitted to my Norton don't, so you either set tickover to be correct when it's hot which means it tends to die until it's warmed up, or correct when cold in which case it races when it's hot.
Some pre- and just post-war Nortons and Velos had what they called an easy start device. This was very simple and was merely an extended throttle stop screw with a stop which abutted the carb body. You rotated it clockwise, hence lifting the slide, to increase idle speed when cold then back to the stop when warm, obviously setting the stop accordingly.
So I thought why not make something similar for the fake Amal on the little Norton. It was simple to find a spare throttle stop screw in the Amal pile, bore the outer end 3mm diameter then make a stepped component out of a bit of scrap phosphor bronze. A Schrader / Presto cycle valve adaptor provided a nice knurled knob for the outer end. A pointer was made from 1.2mm alloy and secured to the adaptor with a valve securing nut. All was then soft soldered together. I have to eport that it works very well although for various reasons haven't taken the bike on the road with it yet. The picture shows the Mk 1.0 version - version 1.1 has the pointer / stop made out of thicker material to be more robust. If I were to bother with V1.2 I'd make the whole lot a bit longer as it's almost colliding with the float chamber edge.
02/10/2025 16:51:03 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Ian, looks a job well done.
But.....there's always a but.....why didn't British carburetor manufacturers think it might be a good idea to fit a choke for our inclement climate.
Do we just like a tickle?
Upt.
03/10/2025 10:53:56 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Help me out here Ian. Am I correct in thinking what you've created is a throttle stop screw with a pointer? The idea being with experience you learn to start the bike put the pointer to position X then when it's warmed up turn it to position Y. Position X And Y are learned from experience. If it works - it works!
Now - a man with a lathe and your skills should be able to engineer some kind of automation for this surely. I'm thinking bimetallic strip attached to the engine such that as the engine warms the bimetallic strip curls or uncurls, automatically adjusting the throttle stop. At the absolute minimum a remote operation lever...
03/10/2025 14:41:53 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Possibly I haven't made myself quite clear. Not for the first time. There is an enrichment device which is a simple air slide which runs inside the main throttle slide. This does confuse many people as it operates when the handlebar lever is closed. This gives the rivh mixture - assisted on some bikes (not the Electra) by, as Upt' suggests, a tickle. It is crude however as once it os slightly opened it only works at larger throttle openings and does nothing at idle.
But when the engine is cold the rich mixture on its own is not enough to run the engine fast enough to stop it dying. Hence my device. Essentially it allows me to set the idle speed when the engine is hot, with the pointer / stop touching the carb body to the left and the screw at its most extended position hence the throttle slide at its lowest. The whole arrangement is rotated clockwise thus slightly raising the slide for a cold start - the exact amount to be determined by experience / ambient temperature. The device does work as hoped but haven't yet road tested it.
And why would I want to complicate it with electronics or even a cable control? It's only used once per run after all. I once had an Austin Maestro that had a bimetallic choke and it was a nightmare. Hot or cold was fine but warm you had to get out and jiggle the SU's damper rod to get it to go. Actually, SUs also had a little cam arrangement which when the choke was pulled out - which lowered the jet - a little cam also opened the throttle butterfly a small amount. Like my device essentially.
03/10/2025 15:19:01 UTC
Glyn said :-
Nice innovative design that Ian. Strangely, I have a similar issue on the Intruder. That is; perfect tick over when hot but it’s only too happy to die when cold. My issues will be different to your though as I have twin carbs which are probably out of sync causing the problem. I’ve bought new rear shocks as the old ones don’t seem to have any damping and the bike jumps up and down on the springs. However, most of my time is being spent repairing a friend’s fairing off his TZR. I must be mad it’s so time consuming!!
04/10/2025 20:44:01 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Thanks Glyn, not that innovative as based on a pre-war Amal item! I assume your carbs are CV type - usually they have a separate cold start mini carb arrangement that both enriches the mixture and raises the idle speed a bit. I agree my solution would be a bit fiddly for you....
05/10/2025 10:30:18 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
It is then "set" in the warm idle position when the pointer touches the carb body - giving you a solid reference point. For the cold start you will rotate it as you see fit depending upon the temperature etc.
I was rather teasing you about automating it Ian. I too recall the "auto choke" systems on cars of the past. Various bimetallic strips, levers, coolant pipes, and fudges that never would work. It has been my experience if you have 2 engines of the same make, model, year, and mileage one will need choke even if it was just run 10 minutes ago whereas the other will never need choke even in the depths of an artic winter.
Lord only knows how the electronic FI systems cope with this variability.
06/10/2025 08:06:56 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Yes that's right Ren. I'll be testing it in real life later today hopefully. As far as EFI systems are concerned, they use the idle air control valve to maintain idle speed. As its name implies, this allows more or less air into the engine at idle speed by monitoring the actual RPM and opening or closing accordingly. The electronics then regulate the amount of fuel supplied - and of course ignition advance - by monitoring ambient temperature etc etc. But of course you know this. I think you're like the helpful detective sidekick (Dr Watson, Lewis etc) who asks questions they know the answer to so that the audience is given insight into various arcane subjects.
06/10/2025 09:54:28 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Did you get to test it Ian?
07/10/2025 09:29:03 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Yes, short 35 mile run yesterday morning and it worked very well. Started with the device rotated about 90 degrees then backed off after a few miles giveing a good idle but I still have to sort out the slow running mixture. I'm very pleased so far. The bike is performing well and another run without calling on the helpful chaps from Britannia!
07/10/2025 10:00:11 UTC
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