Beautiful weather in May?

The forecast was good, so I decided to get some riding in today. I left her indoors slumbering, and jumped on the bike unsure of any destination. It was warm, comfortable and bright, so I took the M55 and the M6 to the junction with the A59, which has to be one of my favourite roads for biking. I landed in Leeds by noon, and decided to call on a friend who is intending on holidaying in Thailand, to ask if he was prepared to sign up for the revolution.

He wasn't in, so I climbed aboard again, and made my way to Castleford, for no good reason other than thinking about where I could go next. I decided to surprise my friend Andy over in Hull, as it was his birthday. The sun beat down and the temperature rose, but the journey was fine with the bike beating out the its melody of power pulses. When I arrived in Newland Park, Abigail, Andy's daughter told me they had gone out on the bike! A quick nosy around Sutton in East Hull, then I decided to call on some other friends who live out east in Old Ellerby, Ann and Derek. This time the call was successful, and we passed a couple of hours in the garden, catching up with events.The clock headed towards 4pm, and it was time to make a move. I said my goodbyes to everyone then headed towards Beverley, then Malton, Helmsley, Thirsk and back to the A59 to traverse the Pennines, stopping at the Cross Keys in East Marton for a pint of Blonde Witch from the Skipton brewery, before making my way home.

Deeper into the damage.

The next step was to remove the clutch, crankshaft sprocket and primary chain to find out why the jackshaft wasn't returning.


Without removing the clutch, there wasn't enough clearance to take the jackshaft out, so it had to come off. The crankshaft sprocket is securely attached with a 1 1/2" nut, and the clutch with a 1 3/16" nut, and I had neither. Ten days later and I had acquired both tools and braved the sub zero temperatures to move to the next stage. After some heaving, the clutch, chain a crankshaft sprocket came off, and at last I was able to look into the housing of the jackshaft.


The mystery was revealed. The oil seal above had been installed incorrectly, with a lip that should have been facing the gearbox, projecting in to the primary instead, and preventing the jackshaft returning and the keeping the starter engaged. Inspection of the gaskets also highlighted that the clowns at Southport, while claiming to use OEM parts had used pattern parts.

Time to gather all the bits that I needed to get the bike back on the road. The following weekend, armed with gaskets and oil seals the primary went back together, and this time the starter retracted, but didn't have the power to turn the engine properly, irrevocably damaged by the run home from Southport. Another week slipped by while a replacement was procured. but at last the beast fired up and sounded as sweet as ever. Re-assembling the bike also provided clues as to why the business had made such a mess of what should have been a simple repair.

On replacing the oil seal the instructions advise that the splines on the clutch must be taped over before the Inner case is passed over the main shaft, or the oil seal will be damaged. It also stresses that the jack shaft oil seal must be installed with the lip towards the gearbox. The "business" don't use workshop manuals..............

Well the "business" have taken over £700 from me, £600 worth of parts and labour from Preston Harley Davidson, wrecked my starter motor - another £350, and failed abysmally to effect the repair they were contracted to deliver. When I began work on the problem the repair took me no more than 4 hours in total, and I've had to re-do everything the "business" in Southport did, and more. It's a sad indictment of the motorcycle business when anyone can claim to deliver a service without being qualified to do so.