Ride report Ambo content.

[luthier]

Ride report!
I had a couple of hours this morning so I took the Ambo for it's maiden voyage.
Handles the dirt well . I toggled between first and second out to the tar. On the way home I was mostly in second, either I had got used to it or the new rings had bedded and it had a smoother pull from the higher gear.
It has nice gearing. You don't need fourth till after 60mph.
It's great on the tar with no suspension issues that I could find.[ I rebuilt the forks and fitted new bearings in the headstock and swingarm and driveshaft carrier. I put the old shocks back on as a temporary move but now I think I'm going to have to polish them up as they behave beautifully.]
I decided to go to Gundy to fill up. About five k's out a highway patrol  cut in up front.
Jeezus I'd come out without the logbook. Was this the end on the first day?
But they kept on thank dog.
While filling up I noticed the throttle grip had loosened so borrowed a screwdriver at the store. Those Super Practic units get in the way of the brake lever if yer not careful.
Also there was some oil from the bevel box on the back tyre. Hoping that was the burp it had to have as I didn't replace the inner seal, only the big outer one. Seems I may be right there as no more became evident before the plug was removed.
Headed for home.
A bit of missing which was expected. I need to update some ignition parts.
And the usual tappet adjustment after a rebuild.
Some oil on the right head. Might be a slight rocker box issue.
Fine.
But then I looked down to see my left boot covered in oil.
*uck!  Must be the oil relief stuck but no. The oil filler dipstick bolt was awol.
I was sure that was tight.
So I went for a walk.
Nup didn't find it. But I worked out how to get home.
I took the diff filler plug and used that. Yes it was a gamble as I had no idea how much oil was still in there but having walked the road and only seen small drips I figured it still had enough.
So she's safe home but filthy and parts ordered. Tomorrow I'll drain the engine oil and check the level of the diff oil. And give her a degrease and polish back to beautiful.
I have a spare gearbox filler plug which will do till the new dipstick arrives.
I'm extremely happy about this bike. It has exceeded my expectations in handling and performance.
Just a few teething probs and she's going to be the best bike in the universe.

Here she is before I left.


At the top of Belltrees hill.


First mud.

[kidsmoke]

Beautiful.

I think I want one.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

 

[jas67]

Looks great!   I'm happy to hear you've got it out on the road and are enjoying it!

I'm looking forward to getting my Eldo on the road, hopefully, before winter hits.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Attaboy.  There *is* something about a loop..and I love bringing old machines back to life. Win win..

[Demar]

Very nice. An Ambo is on my build list.

Enjoy. 

[Kiwi_Roy]

Nice bike,
              When I first put my Eldorado together with a 2nd hand rear end I found it was getting super hot, It turned out the housing was in so far it was rubbing on the wheel.
I'm not sure what caused it, perhaps dimensions changed over the years but I shimmed it out and it's been fine since.
Just put your hand on the housing after riding 5 miles or so make sure it's ok.

[canuck750]

 

looks fantastic, enjoy!

Jim

[luthier]

Nice bike,
              When I first put my Eldorado together with a 2nd hand rear end I found it was getting super hot, It turned out the housing was in so far it was rubbing on the wheel.
I'm not sure what caused it, perhaps dimensions changed over the years but I shimmed it out and it's been fine since.
Just put your hand on the housing after riding 5 miles or so make sure it's ok.

I have the heat and I had the leak but I fixed that. The join between bevel box and swingarm had no gasket.
Does now. Is oil supposed to be able to run out the front needle roller when you have the box out and tip it up?
Despite all the leaking there was still plenty of oil in the box.
But it's still heating up more than I'd like. It doesn't burn your hand but after 20k's it's way too hot in my opinion.
Which way did you shim yours Roy? That is, where did you place the shims?
My wheel runs free when on the centre stand in neutral so I can't really see where shims could go.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I have the heat and I had the leak but I fixed that. The join between bevel box and swingarm had no gasket.
Does now. Is oil supposed to be able to run out the front needle roller when you have the box out and tip it up?
Despite all the leaking there was still plenty of oil in the box.
But it's still heating up more than I'd like. It doesn't burn your hand but after 20k's it's way too hot in my opinion.
Which way did you shim yours Roy? That is, where did you place the shims?
My wheel runs free when on the centre stand in neutral so I can't really see where shims could go.

I hate leaks (and they don't make customers too happy either), so I use a light coating of Permatex 300 on the sealing surfaces of the rear drive and swingarm in addition to the gaskets and o-ring.

Yes, if you remove the bevel box with oil still in it and tilt it input shaft down, oil will run out since there's no seal there.

Just out of curiousity, I've been using my infrared thermometer to check bevel box temps lately and all of them are in the 110*F to 160*F range. Not excessively hot IMO.

[Kiwi_Roy]

I have the heat and I had the leak but I fixed that. The join between bevel box and swingarm had no gasket.
Does now. Is oil supposed to be able to run out the front needle roller when you have the box out and tip it up?
Despite all the leaking there was still plenty of oil in the box.
But it's still heating up more than I'd like. It doesn't burn your hand but after 20k's it's way too hot in my opinion.
Which way did you shim yours Roy? That is, where did you place the shims?
My wheel runs free when on the centre stand in neutral so I can't really see where shims could go.

From memory I think I just put a large washer on the rear axel between the wheel and the box, it was rubbing on the wheel next to the spoke heads.