Hornbills
Member
I've been a motorcyclist for nearly 50 years - not as a 'biker', it's my preferred method of transport - and have owned and ridden just about every kind of two wheeler (Actually I had a 3-wheeler Berkley with a JAP 1000cc vee twin with no reverse gear so I guess that counts too!). I started with small Nortons (Jubilee), Beezers (Bantams) and Triumphs (Tiger cubs), a Ducati (250 Desmo) and even a few Lambrettas and Vespas; Since then I've owned mostly Japanese, Italian and German stuff until last year I salvaged a '96 Hinkley 900 Thunderbird that is now, after a year of hard slog, almost road ready. I call it the "English Patient" as it stubbornly refuses to come right despite an almost total mechanical rebuild. It starts and idles and revs beautifully and sits there smug in all its gleaming glory.
But do you think I can get the bugger to run after it is put in gear? Not a chance. Now I'm trawling the threads to find a way through this legendary 'side stand cut out safety' mode. I hope to detail my work on this so far, but any comments and suggestions in the meantime will all be food for thought and gratefully received. Greetings from sunny Kleinemonde in South Africa's fairest Cape!
But do you think I can get the bugger to run after it is put in gear? Not a chance. Now I'm trawling the threads to find a way through this legendary 'side stand cut out safety' mode. I hope to detail my work on this so far, but any comments and suggestions in the meantime will all be food for thought and gratefully received. Greetings from sunny Kleinemonde in South Africa's fairest Cape!
Welcome, from Northern California. You're saying you are trying to get around the side-stand safety switch? Put the bike on a floor jack/lift, so the back wheel is off the ground and the side-stand can be put up. Then you might be able to test putting her in gear.
TO TT, Greyfell, probably has you covered, nice to have you with us.
