Somethings not right with this bike, ohh oh.

Hit a real chanker of a pothole a week past Sunday on the Loch Lomond road , a right dull one , but everything seemed OK . But the old girl was doing a bit of popping and banging later in the day but I put that down to low battery as I discovered the bike was not charging. She was also poor on Mondays trip for a MOT but I put that down to the fact it was pissing it down, but......





Maybe it was this?

Great troubleshooting. Your balance tube has come off. That must have been a cavernous pothole to knock that bad boy loose. Rehook it and you should be good to go.

I had the exact same thing happen to one of my manifolds. The bike started popping and running wierd. I thought it was an air leak so I sprayed some carb cleaner at the left manifold and the bike stumbled. I didn't see the manifold crack (on the inside ear of the manifold until I had the outside bolt loose and it broke in 2 pieces still on the bike...

The nice thing was that I had an extra manifold in my parts bin, and there wasn't any mystery to the repair... My conclusion was that my paranoia over not tightening bolts enough had finally been balanced against my fear of overtightening... :lol:

As you say it's handy to have some bits and bobs laying around for a rainy day. Job done and she is back up to snuff. Treated he to a new gasket on the valve cover.
It was a deep pothole, I was half expecting a puncture!

I had a look at the plug and there was rough deposits on the bar which was unusual and it wasn't pinking.
Jg

Not something you would expect to break from a pothole :shock:

Must have been weak to begin with. I would have been looking underneath for a swished oil line

Why are you guys rigidly mounting your carbs anyway ? Rubber mounts help stop frothing which can cause the motor to run rich. I know the rigid mounts are standard on Commandos, but does that mean they are good ?

dennisgb said:

Not something you would expect to break from a pothole :shock:

Must have been weak to begin with. I would have been looking underneath for a swished oil line

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Maybe not but I had the carbs off fairly recently and did not notice anything , but that's not to sat the crack was not present at that time and evolved into a break.

acotrel said:

Why are you guys rigidly mounting your carbs anyway ? Rubber mounts help stop frothing which can cause the motor to run rich. I know the rigid mounts are standard on Commandos, but does that mean they are good ?

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Maybe something to think about Alan but at the moment she is stock.

Jg

acotrel said:

Why are you guys rigidly mounting your carbs anyway ? Rubber mounts help stop frothing which can cause the motor to run rich. I know the rigid mounts are standard on Commandos, but does that mean they are good ?

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Hi acotrel,

I agree 100%, but are there "off the shelf" alternatives to use with the standard carbs etc? or would you have to cut the standard manifolds, machine them round then fix a hose between each half?

cheers,

cliffa.

I'e had a standard manifold crack there after substituting the stock rusty washer for a shiny stainless one. ( X 2 of course ) The washers that worked next attempt were small and delicate like the originals but in stainless. :?