mike wilson

Or the crankcase venting system. In either case, it is u=due to a less than 100% efficiency, which is guaranteed. Sometimes, this does not matter so much. There are documents detailing how particulate matter in the oil causes wear and, not suprisingly, it is the particles just larger than the clearances involved that cause most wear. Smaller (and larger) particles have dramatically less effect on wear rates and can (especially in the case of smaller - larger particles bring their own problems) be safely ingored. Especially as the cost of filtering smaller particles would be much higher.

Worth noting, however, that _if you make up your own new cable_ this is a matter that should be taken into consideration.

Sadly, nor can you look at the head in isolation.

I bet it smelled of wheee! after the first ride.

It's alright; I was up at 2am this morning with a sore throat. I'll have to go to bed at teatime and will be awake again by 9.

It's a bleeding rotary! Here's the oldest motorcycle you are ever likely to see.......

It's repeated regularly during the day. I watched at 9pm last night.

Radial http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/radial.htm and rotary http://www.aviation-history.com/engines/rotary-theory.htm engines are two entirely different beasts, despite their similar appearance. The engine from a Sopwith whatever would most emphatically _not_ be 600cc. As you can see from the second link, about 900cubic inches (somewhere about 15l) was common for a 100HP engine. That was a good power to weight ratio in those days.

Ever seen a brand called Fok Hink? I saw a bottle about 30 years ago and have been looking ever since for another.

Rotate the engine to correct orientation and extract spindles. Retorque. On to the other cylinder. Same. Carry on rotating (to bring original cylinder to correct position for reinsertion) and bring up the proper indicator at the incorrect cycle......... ?

Nobody will know what you are talking about if you don't spell it properly.

"Are there streaks of leaking oil running down the side of the engine? This indicates an oil leak." Possibly the most enlightening thing I have ever read here.

Slightly longer quote: "They are sensitive to heat cycles which means that at their ideal operating temperature, plasticizers in the rubber are liberated making the rubber pliable. The more plasticizer that is released, the stickier the tire! This only happens when the tire is hot. When the temperature drops and the plasticizer has been depleted, the tire turns hard resulting in very little grip" This doesn't seem like the sort of stuff we are used to from you. Almost Wikid in its simplicity. However: http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7150301/description.html From which: "Typically, the plasticizers may be selected from those commonly used in the known art. Advantageously, they are selected from mineral oils, vegetable oils, synthetic oils and the like, or mixtures thereof, for example: aromatic oils, naphthenicoils, phthalates, soybean oil and the like." Doesn't sound like the sort of stuff you would want oozing all over your tread when you are striving for max grip. Sounds more like stuff you would want helping the raw rubber to fit in every part of the mould.... "There is NO manufacturer that uses mold release on the tread area of the tire. Approximately 70% of any tread compound is oil." Well, again, this is just bull. 70% might be _derived_ from oil but that is not the same as saying they they _are_ oil. Although, from my quote above, commonly used plasticisers _might_ have some effect on mould release. I suppose we shall just have to agree to disagree.

That's interesting. It's not possible to (or, at least, I didn't) pick that up from any of the picture published so far. High-quality chilled cast-iron might be a suitable material for the tappets but I would have thought steel finished products would be easier (and therefore cheaper) to produce. Makes me wonder what Piaggio is going to do when the milk-cow of disposable scooters comes to an end.

Not logical. The plasticiser in it that is outgassing is there to aid production. Why else would you carefully heat cycle a new racing tyre to get better grip? Why would tyre fitters advise you to take it easy with a new road tyre until some miles have passed? These chemicals _reduce_ grip.

He's tried the academic route and admits failure there; his attempt at tradesman seems to be equally unsuccessful, given that many who choose that route do so because very good money can be earned and he is certainly not doing that. He seems to have a genuine interest in motorcycles (although he doesn't know that the crossheaded screws on Japanese bikes are not often Philips system...) but he does seem to be rather a dilletante.

Face north. Drop your trousers - both sets Wait for a particularly bright Aurora Borealis. Grasping a bottle of Nastro Azzura between your buttocks, sing the Italian national anthem. In Latin. The last point is particularly important.

Not necessarily. Car companies are reknowned for running up huge test mileages of new models; normally into six figures, often more. However, I remember reading a report of a new tourer motorcycle from one of the big four, some time in the early 1980s. As it happened, the introduction presentation was partly hosted by factory test riders. The journalist (from the late, great Cycle magazine) asked one of the riders how big the testing programme was for the new long-distance tourer. 20,000 miles, he was told. He had just managed to get confirmed that this was the total for the test fleet when the rider was hustled away by a sales manager. My experiences of large mileages on two wheels make me think that the figure was probably right.

It's not choosing the cheapest that is the fault. The fault is in not checking your supplies before installing them.

The production and quality control engineers, certainly. They have manifestly failed in their duties. Without their failure to fulfil their responsibilities, the bean counter/supplier mistake/shortcut would have been caught before it became public. This is not a single failure, it is a systemic problem.

My guess would be that there is such staff turnover in the middle management area that the company literally does not know from its own experience, becaue it doesn't have any.

You should be able to hire one of these, in the correct size. http://www.cromwell.co.uk/KEN5034720K The separator part is also not so expensive to buy. The rest can be fabricated. http://www.cromwell.co.uk/KEN5034520K

It's a "horses for courses" thing, with one answer not being applicable to all scenarios. In this case, however, both parts need to be both hard and similar. On top of that, there needs to be a designed-in manner of spreading the wear as evenly as possible across the system. Because of how cams work, most wear would accrue at the point where the cam starts to work if there was not a system to "shuffle" that point about. Normally, this involves a way of getting the tappet to rotate a little each time it is lifted by the cam.

Only true anywhere south of about Yorkshire. After that, the countryside is high up with good views.