Don’t let sunny day appearances fool you. Every time you see someone on a nice old good-running bike you can be sure they’ve put in hundreds or even thousands of greasy hours behind the scenes in some garage or sidewalk or living room.
Brooklyn. 1998. In the earlier phases of R&B refinement. After a 30hour weekend getting the motor buttoned up and back in the bike after a major failure. Riding with sport bike guys. Best way to get me to do something? Tell me I can’t (keep up).
Jason
We were talking with a friend last night who was trying to get his dual Dell’Orto carbed Guzzi synched and idle speed set. As is often easy to do, we slipped into over-analyzing what needs to be done and how to accomplish it. Then after a a couple beer’s worth of continued speculation and jabber, we reeled it in and simplified it.
Synching a twin is easy. Here’s how to do it.
Some people are conceptual learners, needing to understand how something works and the approach behind tuning it. Others a procedural learners, concerned more with how something is done than why it works. Both are valid. I’m in the former camp. I’ve found that once you know how something works there are many different recipes for how to do it.
There is only one goal in synching your carbs: To have all cylinders contributing the same amount of effort at any time.
There are three steps to doing this on your twin:
1) Obtaining the optimal idle fuel mixture for both carbs
2) Setting the idle speed screws so both carbs run at the same rpms when the other cylinder is not firing
3) Adjusting the throttle cables so that the throttles move at the exact same time when the grip is turned.
There are some tools you can use to make this job easier or quicker, but they are not required. You can do a fine job of synching with just your ears and a screwdriver. A simple vacuum gauge like one you’d get at the auto parts store will make setting idle fuel mix easier. A motorcycle carb synch tool makes step one and two easier. A tachometer could also be used in place of a vacuum gauge or synch tool for the first two steps.
I’ve been having a hard time getting out for a ride in the last couple months. Work is blown up and demanding mad hours (need to find a new job). Emmett is now walking. Cold weather has me tired all the time. There’s no end to things that need to be done around the house.
Got my chance yesterday. Almost folded when I woke up to see the 34F on the thermometer and the clouds in the sky. After breakfast and a snippet of sunlight, I decided I’d best take my chances. Good thing I did.
Per usual, I chose a general direction and tried my best to let my good road instincts guide me. Sometimes it works fabulously. Others, well, some of you have ridden through plenty of suburban sprawl hell zones that this city has so many mile of, with me. Sorry. Yesterday turned out right and I found some new great roads and routes to get out of Dodge with minimal foulness. I even wrote the names of the roads down on my fancy phone a few times during the day so I might get back there and continue scouting at some point.
I ended up at French Creek S.P. and Hopewell Furnace. I’d been camping at the former a few times but never had the pleasure of checking out the furnace. Wow. I had no idea. What a place. A system of sluices for carrying water from Hopewell Lake runs for miles through the woods to drive the water wheel for the furnace belows. The wheel house below is almost temple-like in its quiet and demand for calm. The coal barn and feed room set on the hill must be 100 feet above. Downstairs there were ten or more casting mold stations that appear to have been recently used. I wonder if they give demonstrations. The furnace is obviously not working, but there’s no reason they couldn’t make molds there at least. The pig iron troughs in the floor at the foot of the furnace were still full of old rusty iron. Stacks of pig iron lay about the building everywhere. Molds for frying pans and griddles and shirt irons too.
After a dynamite cup of coffee from a visitor center lobby vending machine (which spilled on me and took almost ten minutes) I made my way while I still had time. I suited up and pulled my ipod out of the tank bag. I spent the next few hours riding twisty back roads around Berks and Perkiomen counties through the blaze colored trees. Listened to Fleet Foxes and Fruit Bats and Black Keys. Perfect companion.
It was nice to be back on the BSA again. I finished this bike (again) in the Spring and spent the first couple months of the season riding it everywhere. Then for some reason I put it away in August and hadn’t been on it since. After pumping up the tires and changing the oil, she was a flawless ride. Nimble and perfect for this type of ride. You can flick this bike through the turns at 60mph just like a modern bike, or pretty close at least.
Got home by sundown and went out to dinner with my family.
Jason
Manatawny Rd somewhere just below Oley, PA.
Covered Bridge Rd just outside of Pleasantville
It wouldn't be Fall in PA without coal
Dan, Casey and Ralph made up a box of sweatshirts for us a late birthday gift for me. Pretty cool. Thanks.
