|
|
|
|
|
|
| What's new |
|
The following is a the correspondence I have had with the current owner
of my old MuZ251
Nicholas
My name is N. Kirk...., a friend of P.T. I am the one who purchased your Saxon in 1999. I just thought I'd write to you and tell you that it is going fine after all those miles.
Immediately after purchase, I wanted to upgrade it to 300 cc so that I could get better performance with the fairing, and P.T. found a piston and barrel which would do the job. When we took the engine down, we found that there was just about perceptible movement in the crankshaft, indicating that in about 9000 miles or so I would have big end failure. We put the 300 cc engine together, and I went to France on it, covering some 3000 miles. On the way back to Ireland, I stopped off with P.T., and decided that, even though there were no signs of engine failure, I should get a new crank from Burwins. So down I went to London and got the new crank put in as well as getting the front tyre replaced because Matthew wouldn't let me leave on the current one. I also removed the fairing after a few scares in France and in Ireland with windy conditions and a few lorries! I just feel that the bike is too light to have such a thing. P.T. gave me the nose fairing, which he had bought from you a few years ago and which is therefore original to the bike.
The Saxon passed its MOT last week with minimal amount of work, and I look forward to another year of pleasure. I use it mainly for house calls and the odd excursion into Belfast to visit the hospitals. I find it to be excellent in traffic as it is so light and manoeuvrable.
I understand that you bought a CB500. I would be interested to find out how you find this, as intend to get a bigger bike soon, and the CB500 gets good reviews.
Take care
N. Kirk......
To: N. Kirk.... From Nicholas Kotarski
Thanks for the update. P.T. had mentioned a few bits in the past.
I would be interested to know the following.
How did the engine increase change the performance?
Did you also change the gearing?
Has the fuel consumption gone up or down? Some people reckon having
the larger engine helps fuel consumption.
Did you change the carb settings?
Has the oil pump cable been OK since a adjusted the cable guide?
If the crank was changed did they also strip and rebuild the gearbox
or has that been behaving it's self?
The fairing could catch the wind sometimes. 98% of the time it was
pretty
controllable. Being free from the continuous buffeting
of the wind meant I found it easier to and more relaxing to ride and
more able to cope when it did get gusty.
As for the CB500 the bike per se is fine. For my needs those it is
working
out to dear i.e. it would be cheaper by train, so it has
to go. With hind sight I should have kept the 251 and spent some money
on refurbishing it or like yourself increasing the engine size.
N. Kirk......'s reply
How did the engine increase change the performance?
The extra horsepower makes it like hills a little better, and it can sustain higher speeds without complaining. Start off at traffic lights is improved immensely, which is important if the idiot in the Ferrari is trying to race you!
Did you also change the gearing?
I changed the front chain sprocket to a twenty three tooth, as I felt that the engine could handle the bigger sprocket and I could sustain higher speed at lower revs. I try to keep between 4500-5000 revs, which gives me good fuel consumption and 65-75 mph
Has the fuel consumption gone up or down? Some people reckon having the larger engine helps fuel consumption.
I didn't run the 251 engine at all, so I cannot comment on fuel consumption for it. I find that on average I get 230-250 kms to a full tank of unleaded or LRP
Did you change the carb settings?
Yes I changed them back to the default settings as I felt that the mixture was too lean, leading to the engine running hotter. I was afraid of heat seizure (from experience).
Has the oil pump cable been OK since a adjusted the cable guide?
It seems to be fine. I must say that the bike is remarkably easy on two stroke oil. One litre lasts for five tanks of petrol. I have a 1990 ETZ251 which uses almost twice as much oil.
If the crank was changed did they also strip and rebuild the gearbox or has that been behaving it's self?
When I first got the bike, I noticed that fifth gear was a little difficult to attain at times. When Burwins took the engine down, they told me that I needed a new selector for fifth gear, and new bearings for the entire gearbox. Fifth gear is still very (more so than the others?) notchy, but I use top quality gear oil which keeps everything in order. I had asked them to give me a new clutch as I thought that with so many miles it must be worn. But they said that the plates were good as new, so I opted to have it put in again.
Incidentally, when we took of the full fairing, we were unable to connect up the heated grips again as we could only find an earth wire and a positive. This is a pity as I found them very useful in the rain and cold.
As I live on the coast and get a lot of windy conditions, the full fairing, although very useful in the rain, just made me too nervous when it was windy.
I have just come back from a trip to the Giant's Causeway (about 200
miles round trip). It is nice to have a long trip, but the
posterior
end is a little sore as I am not used to the distances! Saxons
are
a rarity over here, so it gets a lot os attention from other bikers who
are always amazed at how many miles it has covered on so little
(comparatively)
maintenance.
|
|
|
|
|
|