Driving the bike home I began to hear noises from the engine, but as it seemed to have plenty of power it didn't concern me and I decided a good service and oil change would fix it up. Next day when I went to start it I found the battery was dead. As there was no kickstart I had to charge the battery for a couple of hours, but even then it had to struggle to start the motor.
I spent £50 on new battery, plugs, points, oil and filter. I drained the oil and noticed that it was full of copper tinted dust and looked as if it had never been changed for ages, so I decided to flush out the engine before refilling with new oil and adding a tin of STP for good measure. After all this the engine sounded a bit quieter but not perfect. After running the bike for a few days I realised that the big-ends were gone and my problems were about to start. Sure enough, two days later, after finishing work, I pushed the starter button only to hear the starter turning but not the engine - eventually it did start. After a week of unpredictable starting and increasing engine noise I arranged to use a friend's garage to strip down the motor.
The engine was surprisingly easy to remove considering its size. I found the main bearings were down to the copper and the big-end shells also worn but not as badly as I'd expected. The crankshaft was checked and found to be OK. As each crank, con-rod and shell had a different code it took me a good few hours of head scratching to work out what sizes were needed. Eventually, armed with the right info I ordered six main bearing shells and eight big-end bearing shells at a cost of £70, plus a pattern gasket set at £30.
When I stripped the starter clutch I found broken return springs - the answer to my starting problems, I figured, so I ordered them as well. While I was waiting for the bits to arrive I took the false tank and side panels off and had them resprayed for £20. I also painted the frame and cleaned up the rest of the bike. I replaced all the rusty nuts and bolts with chrome ones from Custom Fasteners, along with an Allen screw set for the engine. After a week the engine was rebuilt and replaced in the frame.
The bike sat there looking good until I started her up there was lots of steam coming out of the exhausts and the oil was turning milky. Shit, here we go again, I thought, more money down the drain. I found out that the water pump mechanical seal had burst and flooded the engine with water, so I had to buy a complete water pump at £60. After cleaning out the engine and fitting the new pump the engine started and ran OK.
After a day or two with no problems and thinking things were looking up, the starting problem reappeared and the bike became so unreliable that I became embarrassed at asking people to push 600lbs of metalwork and decided to put the bike off the road. I ordered a complete starter clutch at £60 and left the bike in the back garden. By the time the parts arrived the bike was submerged under a foot of snow. I was becoming really pissed off with the whole endeavour and began to wonder if I would ever get out on the bloody thing.
Two weeks later the snow melted and with a mate removed the engine (dab hand at it now) and replaced the clutch - problem solved. The bike ran well and I used it for a few weeks without any faults occurring. I then decided to replace the brake hoses with braided ones and found that the front caliper bleed nipples were rusted in and eventually had to buy a pair of used calipers for £40. Then the centre stand snapped £30 for a new one and a right pig to replace.
I was becoming used to the bike and it went OK except for using a bit of oil, which, I suppose, was only to be expected from an engine with a high mileage. As it was nearing spring I decided to fit some panniers and a top-box ready for some long runs when the decent weather arrived (I'm still waiting). I also fitted a set of engine bars which I had picked up from the breakers for £10. Next thing was to fit a fairing, which involved fitting the fairing frame to the bike, then the headlamp and extending the wiring. All went smoothly except that I was running out of daylight and went to the pub intending to fit the rest the next day.
The next morning I woke up at seven, climbed out of bed, looked out of the window something missing - me soddin' bike's been nicked. I went outside to find my large chain with a smashed padlock and an iron bar nearby. I phoned the police and went off to work thinking that me and bikes don't mix and that I should stick to cars. At eleven the police came to tell me they had found the bike only a mile away. The wiring was ripped out, the ignition switch wrecked and the instruments smashed.
After joining up a few wires I was able to drive it home. Three weeks later I had fitted a new switch, rewired the front end and replaced the instruments (at a cost of £70), then finally completed fitting the fairing. I was, beginning to have faith in the bike, taking it on ever increasing lengthy runs, when it died on me. After limping home on what appeared to be three cylinders, I discovered that the head gaskets were blown and the bike was off the road again while I removed the heads and got them skimmed and purchased two head gaskets at £12 each.
After another week off the road the bike was running again, but by then I had lost all confidence in the machine. I had found it quite nice to ride when it was running OK, although the mass made it a bit of a pig to throw through country lanes, even if the relative low centre of gravity made it surprisingly easy to throw through town traffic. The suspension was shot and apparently wasn't taut from new, so I'll leave you to imagine some of the tricks it could get up to over bumpy going. But the motor had a nice slug of power and the thing would cruise serenely along at anything up to 90mph.
But when the radiator started to leak I decided to get rid of it. I reckon the bike was just worn out, and more and more small problems would keep cropping up. I had the bike for six months, spent £600 on it, wasted god knows how many hours on it, and only did 2000 miles - not exactly value for money. I traded it in for a new VT500 and it's great not to have to work on it every day. But it's not what I really want and am already looking at those Evolution Harleys.
Martin Sleep