I hit about 80 going uphill, tuned around at the roundabout and briefly hit about 85 on the way back down.
It was getting a bit twitchy at that speed and I wasn't going to push it any faster so I shut off the throttle and let it slow down of it's own accord......that's when the engine cut out on me while making a horrendous grinding noise..... Ho-Hum
I pulled the clutch in thinking the crank had gone, I felt something ping off my left training shoe (I was in proper 70's riding kit of course) so I even envisaged a hole in the casing and a rod or piston poking out...
I stopped expecting a pool of gearbox oil to come flooding out - but there was none. Nothing looked particularly wrong at first glance. Electrics were good, ignition was on. Most puzzling as I tried to kick the bike over, compression was there but it did not sound well at all, so I kicked it once and looked for the problem a bit deeper.
Thats when I noticed the left hand alternator casing had come loose. All 3 fuckin screws had vibrated out and let it move off the end of the stator. It had cut out because not only was the alternator loose and doing it's own thing (hence the grinding) - all 3 ignition pickups were no longer in contact with the stator. I was wondering what had sheared off and how much it was all going to cost as I pushed/free wheeled the bike the half mile or so home.
I stripped off the LH covers, examined the stator and pick up units, luckily aside from a slightly twisted pickup brush that was now stuck inside the housing - everything looked OK. I sorted it, put it all back together and it ran. Initially only on two - so back off with the unit and a bit more tweaking and I had it back on 3.
New plugs were needed as I'd gassed up the original set - no gripes about that. I am not absolutely convinced it hasn't knocked the timing out a little mind, cos it does not seem to warm up as quickly on 2 and 3 as it does on 1..Maybe it was like that before - I dunno. It does start first prod of the kickstart (as it did before) and drops straight onto a happy idle without touching the throttle so it cant be too far out I guess
I have put new screws in all the side casings and loctited them in place. I then checked around the bike (again - I do this regularly anyway having been troubled before with stuff coming loose)
5 of the 6 carb inlet housing nuts were less than tight. 4 of the 6 exhaust nuts were less than tight. 1 of the mudguard screws was loose. I only fitted a new mudguard to replace one that had vibed off and tightened all those up 10 miles ago. A handful of other assorted screws and bolts were also less than tight. The bike has done maybe 20 minutes to half an hours running since I checked it all last time.
What the fuck is it with these bikes and fasteners (and more importantly - major components) coming loose ? I can accept some vibration - it's a 2 stroke, I have ridden enough old shitters and 2 strokes in my day to know that stuff can work loose if neglected or not tightened properly in the 1st place but I have never ever encountered anything like this though, not on any other bike I have owned or ridden.
I really do not expect to have a maintenance van follow me around with a full compliment of spares and tools every time I go around the block for when stuff falls off.
Maybe I should buy a big tank of loctite and just dip the whole bike in it ?
... or have I just been unlucky ?
