Whilst we have been in lockdown this project has been a bit stuck, before Christmas I dropped some fuel down to my dad in my 10L jerry can. Unfortunately to make the next bit of progress on getting it running properly I needed that jerry can, and with shipping difficulties and expenses and not being able to get another identical 10l jerry can for a reasonable price I figured I would just wait until I could travel to pick it up.
Note I am not normally attached to particular jerry cans but the design of this one is particularly good and the rest of the standard stuff on offer was off the classic leaky and loose the seal design. Or really expensive and metal which is overkill for my usecase.
However I now have the jerry can and my patience has paid off as whilst I was waiting I managed to get a deal on a full working pump assembly, managing to secure it for £30 on eBay. If you read the last update back at Christmas you will know that a full pump assembly from Yamaha is £270 and normally known working units seem to fetch £70-150. There was another option that I hadn’t come across before, it seems a seller in Europe is offering aftermarket regulators of varying pressures. These posted seem to come to about £30 however there is nothing in the manual or documentation I can find to confirm what the correct pressure should be for my model so I felt it was not worth the risk. It would have also added another un-necesarry variable to any further diagnostics if I have got anything wrong so far.
Whilst the project was stalled I decided to do what I normally tell other to avoid, that’s right I bought some shiny bolt on parts for it and put a little more into it. Despite it not running… Although they won’t massively improve the resale value later on they are nice touches to make it a more comfortable bike. Thus I have / am in the process of adding
- Crashbars – eBay listing
- Screen – Puig Universal Design
- Handguards – eBay Universal ones
- Chain Oiler – Banggood
The crashbars and screen arrived last week so I cracked on fitting them, the screen looks and fits alright though I would say it is a little big around the radius of the headlight curve.
The crashbars although relatively easy to fit did require a little modification to the bike, they pick up on two locations. The first and most structurally important is a bolt that runs through the frame and engine underneath the front edge. You remove it from the frame and engine slide the crash bars in and bolt it back in, really simple. The second pick up point is a done using a u-bolt that goes round the down tube at the front that comes down from the steering head to the base of the engine. The problem is that the location this lines up with is directly inline with the location of the horn and it’s mounting plate that is welded onto the down tube.
I managed to drop the u-clamp down a little and get it under the welded bracket on the down tube, however the horn itself then fowls. I got round this by removing the horn, pulling the cable connected to it released enough slake to enable me to move the horn. I drilled out the hole on the metal straight section that the horn is bolted to so that I could get it over the end of the u-bolt. This way as I tightened the nuts on the u-bolts I put the horn mount on before the nut, this places the horn down from the top of the crash bar. Luckily the cable just reaches. It was an easy fix and good enough for this type of bike. If it were a bigger bike or nicer bike I might consider making up a new different style of mounting bracket that picks up on the original lug on the frame.
It’s amazing how much this transforms the look for the bike, it just makes it look more stable and secure. The crash bars and hand guards (when fitted) will make a big difference if the bike is dropped, they along with the screen will also keep the cold off and allow the bike to be even more practical.
The handguards, chain oiler and pump assembly arrived this week so I intend to get them fitted over this weekend… finger crossed the bike then starts and keeps running, bar replacing the lock washer on the rear sprocket and doing an oil change the bike should be ready to get an MOT and ride just in time for summer.
LazyModernTraveler 