Catch up

Doesn't time fly when you are waiting for wheels? I ordered them back on January through Symtek Racing. Steve is a nice enough bloke, and while I had orginally wanted some PVM wheels, he'd advised that PVM delivery times were obscene, and suggested that marvic would be a better option. I handed over 1200 quid, and waited for 8 weeks, then 10, then 12, then ... well you get the story. It would appear that Marvic had had a run on wheels by GP teams! I don't give a flying fsck, I ordered my wheels so long ago now, the interest I could of earned with the moeny in my savings account could have fed a small village in Mongolia! Suffice to say Marvic finally admitted they didn't want to make the moulds for my none standard rear wheel.

I cancelled the order end of May, and immediately placed an order via Cambridge Motorcycles through Harris on PVM. Much discussions were had, but the upshot is that they've quoted 6-8 weeks, and they have confirmed they can make a 5.5inch rim. The PVM 5 spokes I have chosen are forged Aluminium - so they are CNC'd - we shouldn't get any issue with the manufacturer not wanting to make up new moulds etc. Fongers crossed anyhow. The following are the wheels ordered .. nice huh?

In the meantime I've been forced to ride with the standard rear rim of 4.5 inches. A 160 does fit a 4.5, indeed the SV650 seemingly uses a 4.5 with a 160 road tyre ... personally I hate the feel. The bike does not seem to like it. It's rideable, but not overly nice if you see what I mean.

22nd June

Well a 14 hours day and we got the straight cut primary gears fitted; the kevlar clutch plates in; the programmable CDI and throttle position sensor installed; the oil tank made and fitted; and a keyless ignition fitted.

I can't thank Mark Dent enough for spending the day with me fettling. I managed to polish the rear sets in between bolting and unbolting stuff for Mark who, it has to be said, is one of the quickest machinists I've ever met. It's facinating watching him pace back and forward to the bike, taking measurements and fabricating!

Kev Cordina as usual was there to help and his keyless ignition, while initially refusing to do what it was told, came good when Kev figured out a few things. Still need to sort the tacho feed and make it read correctly, but he'll get round to it eventually. The CDI has an 11.2K rev limit on it anyhow!

Mark has made a beautiful bracket to mount the TPS to the oil pump accelerator housing. Twist the throttle and the oil pump accelrator cable increases the oil pump flow rate and turns the TPS.

The Programmable ignition looks great in the custom housing, and the two map toggle switch added to the bars will keep people guessing. last time we had the programmable ignition on was at the dyno day ... I can't wait to ride with that power!

So .. plan was to ride the bike today! Bwahahahaha .. Never expect things to go to plan when you spend the whole day away the day before. Finally got permission, having finsihed chores etc, to go play on the bike at 4pm today .... Humid as hell, just about to go for a ride and .... you guessed it .... 3 weeks of beautiful UK summer ended with torrential rain. How pissed off! Grrrrrrr ... Maybe tomorrow!

23rd June

Well the rain finally stopped, and I had a few minutes to quickly run the bike and down the road. There's still premix in the tank, nad the oil is slowly moving along the oil way to the carbs. A quick 5 mins out should see the bike running the oil through, then I'll come back and empty the tank and re-fill with pure petrol. What a novelty ... no pre-mixing.

Plans ... never make them is what I say ... they never pan out the way you expect. The battery has gone flat overnight, but no issues, we'll fire her up anyway without the tacho etc! Mental note to install an optimate connector to the battery so I don't need to take the faiirng off.

The bike fires up fine without the battery charged .... so I don equipment and after warming the bike up a little head out for a quick run .... ooops fairing flapping about. I forgot to put the pins in the side mounts!! Spend 5 mins cursing while I search for the pins in the garage and after finding them exactly where I'd left them (isn't it always the way) get them in place.

I head off out off the estate and keep moving as I approach the t-junction - the clutch is dragging a little bit :o( However the good news is that this happened last time I installed new plates, and it settled down in a couple of rides. I head back and adjust the clutch to give maximum leverage, and try again. Better .. it's not trying to throw me into the traffic at the t-junction this time, but the drag is noticeable.

I head out of the estate and down towards the next village ... the engine sounds crisper, and on the standard mapping I open her up a couple of time gently warming her through! Feels better than last time out, and I guess the throttle balancing would have helped there .. they had moved out of sync prior to getting the bike down to Mark. The down-changes are a bit stiff due to the dragging clutch, but I get her turned round, click the "mental" button on the map tpoggle switch (fast map engaged Captain), and nail the bike in second from part throttle. Shit ... the extra advance that Mark added to the part throttle position really makes a huge difference in pickup from neutral part throttle and the bike just heads towards the horizon - but then the revs rise and the bikes phenomenal acceleration is tempered somewhat ... bugger clutch slip! 1.5 miles later I brake into the village eager to turn round and go again, but act sensibly instead and head home having to blip the throttle to aid the sticking gears!

Mmm ... need to work on that clutch adjustment. I check the oil ways and see the oil has made it to the carbs, so drain the fuel, and realise I have already pre-mixed the superunleaded sitting in the agrage. Oh well, will have to wait until I can get some clean fuel tomorrow!

On reflection I'm not sure if the clutch slip is due the clutch bedding in, poor adjustment, or a mismatch of kevlar plates and synthetic oil. We'll find out tomorrow!

24th June

It's raining again :o( The clucth is adjusted almost perfectly as far as I can see ... Hopefully I'll get some breaks in the weather today, and certainly before the weekend, when I intend to go watch some mates at Brands Hatch race the GP circuit at a club meet with Bemsee. Fingers crossed. I'm dieing to get out on the bike for a proper shake down, and with a two day track excursion planned with the Ixion mailing list next week, it better stop raining soon.

27th June

Just had a call from Cambridge Motorcycles my new wheels should be arriving mid week next week, so I may even have them fitted for the Cadwell outing planned for the 3rd/4th July. How excited am I - a supplier who promised delivery first week in July, and fsck me, I get delivery first week in July! Congratulations to PVM, Harris, and Cambridge Motorcyles.