Subject: A little more success with Eldo - but... (long)
Author: Tom Christian
Date: Apr 18, 2005, 7:50 AM
Post ID: 1718720718
Planned an 80 mile jaunt on the Eldo this weekend. This
is the first significant ride I've taken on this bike
since buying it last year - its been one problem found,
one problem fixed since then. The trip went beautifully,
everything seemingly ok, the left side valves clattering a
bit louder than the right - but no noticeable issues, she
idled fine, shifted fine, pulled up hills, no wobble at
high speed, no smoke, no leaks, and even the speedo &
odometer seemed to work.
After about 70 miles, the Clutch started "shortening",
less and less freeplay to engagement, and barely enough to
disengage. Finally it wouldn't disengage and stalled at a
light. It looked easy, the two locknuts had backed off at
the clutch adj at the rear of the tranny. I fixed that,
but the lever action felt "funny" too firm, like the
clutch still wasn't disengaging. Still, I hit the starter
button - nothing. Pop started it and got it home, the
clutch disengaging just enough, kicked it into neutral
just before I hit the driveway so I wouldn't plow through
the garage doors though :). I readjusted the cable again,
but now I cannot get the clutch to disengage? Throughout
the ride, the clutch had a relatively short throw compared
to a modern bike, but I've heard this is "normal", so I
didn't pay it any mind. Any ideas?
I determined that it wouldn't start after stalling because
of dead battery (confirmed this later - reading 9v). Its
a brand new battery, but I did discover half the negative
post had broken - I hope that's it, but I'm not sure since
I'm still having trouble with the idiot light on the
alternator kit, and my dash turn indicator lights are iffy
(the light fine if I jump the to the battery negative) and
exhibited this symptom with the previous battery as well -
which prolly means I have weak ground. Even so, the
battery shows as charging when the bike is running, but
the battery goes dead? Does this mean a ground short
somewhere - this problem is "keeping me up at night".
Still, a great ride. Loved the bike, my first real ride on
an Eldo; much more nimble than I expected. If I ever get
it sorted out, I think I'm selling the new EV.
Thanks, -tom