Plenty to choose from. There are 8/9 bikes in my shed, 3 work and are on the road, the others are sadly neglected and have been, to different degrees, for many years due to work and other factors. I’ve spent a few weeks doing some work in the house and having a bit of a sort out in the barns but have now decided to concentrate my efforts on three bikes:
SHERCO 450 ENDURO
2005 Sherco which I bought when it was only 8 months old. It’s fair to say that I was a little naive and have never ceased to be amazed at how much the previous owner managed to fuck up in his relatively short ownership. The bike has been incredibly unreliable and I’ve had the engine out and in bits on several occasions. The last time out a few years ago it snapped a valve spring - I could only determine this by taking the engine out to get the cambox off. The other issue with Sherco is getting hold of parts. Eventually, I decided to pull the whole thing to pieces and repaint the frame a couple of years ago and it has just lurked in a corner since then.
So a couple of hours of focused sorting out and cleaning
And we end up with a basic rolling chassis
It may look ready to go but all the linkage bearings and seals need to be replaced so I’ve ordered the parts and put the chassis to one side awaiting parts and space on the bike lift.
Next job was to sort out the ‘simplified’ modified wiring loom.
This is only part of it and not the worst part. I managed to find a wiring diagram which shows the pinout on the ECU but doesn’t show any wire colours so a couple of hours matching things up, hacking out some of the modifications - the map switch on the throttle had been rewired as a kill switch but I never realised this as the switch is closed in either position! More work to be done and again waiting for some prewired superseal type connectors. Life’s too short to fiddled around with tiny crimps so I use prewired connectors then solder and sleeve them.
Next job is to clean the engine up in preparation for new parts arriving soon, hopefully.
BMW R80G/S
Again, long neglected. I have fitted the DRZ forks and need to finish fitting the extended monolever. I spent yesterday afternoon getting it running as I realised it hasn’t actually fired up for about 4 years. Anyway, after finding a suitable battery and nicking the starter relay from another bike it fired up easily enough.
BSA A10
Destined for a complete refurb at some point but at the moment the idea is to getting the engine running. Photos to follow
SHERCO 450 ENDURO
2005 Sherco which I bought when it was only 8 months old. It’s fair to say that I was a little naive and have never ceased to be amazed at how much the previous owner managed to fuck up in his relatively short ownership. The bike has been incredibly unreliable and I’ve had the engine out and in bits on several occasions. The last time out a few years ago it snapped a valve spring - I could only determine this by taking the engine out to get the cambox off. The other issue with Sherco is getting hold of parts. Eventually, I decided to pull the whole thing to pieces and repaint the frame a couple of years ago and it has just lurked in a corner since then.
So a couple of hours of focused sorting out and cleaning
And we end up with a basic rolling chassis
It may look ready to go but all the linkage bearings and seals need to be replaced so I’ve ordered the parts and put the chassis to one side awaiting parts and space on the bike lift.
Next job was to sort out the ‘simplified’ modified wiring loom.
This is only part of it and not the worst part. I managed to find a wiring diagram which shows the pinout on the ECU but doesn’t show any wire colours so a couple of hours matching things up, hacking out some of the modifications - the map switch on the throttle had been rewired as a kill switch but I never realised this as the switch is closed in either position! More work to be done and again waiting for some prewired superseal type connectors. Life’s too short to fiddled around with tiny crimps so I use prewired connectors then solder and sleeve them.
Next job is to clean the engine up in preparation for new parts arriving soon, hopefully.
BMW R80G/S
Again, long neglected. I have fitted the DRZ forks and need to finish fitting the extended monolever. I spent yesterday afternoon getting it running as I realised it hasn’t actually fired up for about 4 years. Anyway, after finding a suitable battery and nicking the starter relay from another bike it fired up easily enough.
BSA A10
Destined for a complete refurb at some point but at the moment the idea is to getting the engine running. Photos to follow