Still no physical progress on rebuilding the engine but new club member Andy Jenkins is confident that the cam chain will be safe to run with two split links and wants to source a 2nd hand piston to replace that which has been damaged – So watch this space

No progress on the bike this weekend, although we have received a message Showe Performance indicating that the reed valve is now in the process of being re-manufactured. We still need to determine the correct size of the con rod small end eye which looks to be around 14mm, so that we can order a new small end bearing.

Not content with challenging us with a Royal Enfield that hadn’t run for 5 years and then wanting an Amal carburettor conversion fitted, Annabelle rocked up with a Ural! Yes I say it again, A Ural! The bike is a non runner and needs a little work to get it running. Time at this session was devoted to removing and cleaning up the rear wheel and trying to establish why the rear wheel either has end float or won’t turn properly. Annabelle is going to purchase fresh replacement bearings (Taper Roller) and a new wheel spindle as the old one has wide grooves worn in it by the bearings. Curiously the left hand bearing is a loose fit in the wheel. Lets hope the replacement is a better fit. The most important component to replace at this stage is the battery to establish if any further work is needed to get the bike running. Volunteers are Needed Going forward the club is going to maintain a ROTA of those that are prepared to volunteer for certain roles at one or more workshop sessions... The r...

 Mark and Andy (Polish anything up in a trice) worked to respray the wheels that are now a delicious shade of black. Will the edges of the spokes get stripped of paint and polished? Watch this space to find out. Andy (New member see – My restoration work on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/zisking652)) Is keen to strip the engine to make sure that the internals justify the effort of restoring its exterior finish and replacing the broken fins on the front of the lower crank case. Hopefully work can start on this at our next meeting on 13/08/22 when Mark and the rest of the crew working on the bike can watch and learn from Andy. Fingers crossed the internals are in good order because Andy produces some fantastic looking engines!

 Attempts were made to fit the 2 into 1 exhaust back on the bike but no matter how much pulling and twisting went on, they could not be made to fit and it appears that one of the down pipes is not the correct one for the bike. How this has happened we have no idea. One of our new members is going to try and re-design the downpipe with a spot of cutting and welding. Terry (Yanto) Williams completed the strip down of the carbs to try and find why the right hand carb was overflowing. The float heights looked similar but the rubber tip of the right hand needle valve appeared to have a groove in it that may have been causing it not to seal properly. Terry also found that one of the primary (idling) jets was completely missing. How the engine managed to run at all like this is something of a miracle. The inside of the carbs on the bike were still quite dirty and Phil H our club mechanic took them away to give them a sonic clean. Hopefully the missing jet and a better needle valve can be ...

No further work on this project awaiting a decision on purchasing a replacement cam chain (or perhaps using the current cam chain with two rivetable links - not really a favourite of mine!)

No further progress at this meeting. We are still awaiting the replacement reed valve petals to arrive from Showe Performance in the midlands and a new small end bearing. We will get this bike going one day!

More work was done to get Annabelle’s Royal Enfield running properly. Blockages were found around the emulsion tube in the bike’s original carburettor. These were caused by stale fuel. Cleaning them out got the bike running OK. Annabelle was keen to replace the bike’s Mikuni lookalike carburettor with an Amal Carburettor to improve performance.Terry assisted her to make the change over. It took a little more work than at first thought because of the need to install a choke lever on the handlebars and replace the throttle cable to match the new carb. However, to everyone's delight Annabelle was able to ride home on the bike. John and others worked on his Kawasaki 1000 (An import from the USA) as it inches closer to running properly once more. Issues were found in the wiring that made operation of the starter motor a bit hit and miss. I am not sure whether or not they were overcome. Pulse Adrenaline 125 - More work was done to reassemble the bike after it had been stripped and a vari...

The previous weekend the Z250 had done us proud by starting on queue for us at the Llandovery Motorcycle Weekend. It started without an exhaust system and used fuel from a temporary fuel tank. Nevertheless it started and ran really well. The only issue is fuel leaking from the overflow of the right hand carburettor. This means that the carburettors will have to come back off for it to be fixed. This is not a prospect to be relished as the carburettor hoses have gone rock solid over time and nearly defeated our efforts to re-install the carburettors. 

More work was done towards refinishing the wheels