Re: Daily Fixing and Riding Diary on a mainly Ariel 2018

[Paul Slootheer]

(Yes I know this is sacrilege, mustn't mention the 'N' word on the Ariel forum).

Keith

I allways thought it was the "B word''!!!

[Steven.Carter]

Hi Steve,
I'd value your opinion on something. You have a belt drive fitted to your cyclone - question is if they are worth the expense and are sufficiently reliable. I was thinking about belt drive in context of my Commando (Yes I know this is sacrilege, mustn't mention the 'N' word on the Ariel forum).

Keith

Of all the mods I've done it's been my most succssful. Just one problem caused by my own incompetence when I had to the belt too loose. I've got one in my Cylone and WE. The one in WE must be close to 70,000 miles now and it's still doing fine.
I've even bought a spare setup for when the inevitably happens.

[Steven.Carter]

I had a chilly trip yesterday up to High Wycombe Police Station. The boiler house door was just off the custody suite, not very convenient for access especially if they had customers. As a good boy I've never been in one before. Never seen so many boxes of rubber gloves before though:D

[Steven.Carter]

I had the afternoon off today so met up with my friends Mick and Tilly, so I rushed home from Brighton this morning in my Van to meet up with them in Stockbridge. It didn't go well, my ammeter showed it had stopped charging, I did try to tighten my belt thinking it might have been too loose but that failed.
Hmm, thanks for the photo Mick, I think!

IMG_3268.jpg (60.95 KiB) Viewed 1377 times

Fortunately I'd had enough volts to get back home and continued the ride with another bike.
Great grub at the Army Air Museum in Middle Wallop

Back home I took the timing cover of to find the alternator pulley had fallen off so and easy fix with locktite this time.

[simon.holyfield]

You seem to have had some hassle with that belt Steve...

[Simon.Gardiner]

You seem to have had some hassle with that belt Steve...

Ar - I'd thought you'd decided to go back to the dyno chain drive??

SG

[Steven.Carter]

You seem to have had some hassle with that belt Steve...

Ar - I'd thought you'd decided to go back to the dyno chain drive??

SG

I have on WE. This is on my Cyclone.
WE is the pseudo Cyclone with the fairing that I've done most of my riding on. The vee belt on the Cyclone has been on the bike since I restored it around 4 years ago. The Cyclone vee belt hasn't done that many miles but I will replace it with a chain later.
The Altons orginaly came with a vee belt. The Vee belt on WE turned into a "cheese string" after only a few thousand miles so I went for the ,SRM toothed belt. They lasted around 15.000 miles which wasn't too bad but it did mean trouble once a year. Alton must have understood the problems with belts and now make the small sprocket that fits the alternator armature

[Steven.Carter]

Haven't done too many miles recently as I've had to use the van. But I'm back thinking about my slightly Smokey Huntmaster.
I've just calculated that the IMD pistons fitted about 3 years ago have done around 70,000 miles so I've decided to fit my spare barrel and plus 40 IMD pistons.

I've had a smokey engine before caused by oil leaking around the gasket into the barrels but the last time I had the head of I used this copper spray gasket sealant. It looks like I had a good seal using it.

Just kicking the bike over with the head off I could see oil getting past the rings. I maybe could have done a reasonable repair with just new rings

I struggled to get the old barrel off the studs, so I stuffed the cylinders with an old towel and puff the head back on. A heavy foot in the kick start worked great.

[Steven.Carter]

Got everything back together, fine or so I thought. I'd done a few careful miles without a hitch till I started to climb a hill heading for Andover. She seized.
Here's my thinking.
Previously I'd noticed slightly lean running but with well worn pistons it just meant I had very good fuel economy. I think I should have checked the carb and timing before riding.

After she siezed I raised the needle one notch and carefully rode up to Andover. I was popping up to see John Hume so borrowed a few tools and slightly retarded the ignition. I got back fine and the engine feels cooler but only time will tell.
She's a tough beast now to kick over as the compression feels very high so I'm guessing I should have slightly retarded her from the outset. Just goes to show that just because she ran well before, new pistons can change the settings.s

[paul.jameson]

Not wishing to nag Steve, but have you resolved the swinging arm issue we discussed at Tonenburg?

Paul