She’s clocked up 24,000k now. Pitted fork legs and some chips on the
fairing and wheels are tangible evidence. The Silver paint work which made her
a stand-out on the shop floor has proven to be high maintenance. Every bug and chip shows. That’s OK.
When banished to the garage for a furtive smoke, the time is justified
by a polish with Plexus or Mr Sheen.
Out touring she’s a magnet for old guys; they love to stop
and talk about their old Trumpies, or Matchless, BSAs or AJSs. The tales roll out, of helmetless rides,
missus’s perched on mudguards or mates gone to the wreckers yard in the
sky. She even commands grudging notice
from hog riders. It’s all about the
brand.
Mods since the last post include a seat cowl and a factory
‘off road’ can, both second-hand ebay finds from a bloke in
The can is a stainless, short slip-on, straight through but
with lots of packing so the noise isn’t much greater. From the factory the bike comes with a
Eurocrat approved can with 82db at idle.
Completely inaudible at speed.
The new can and the factory remap that’s designed for it provide a neat
burble on the overrun and can be heard as a low thrumming at speed. As Ben predicted, it gives a quicker throttle
response and it seems to rev out more readily, both welcome aids to keeping up
with some members of the club. Fuel
consumption is improved by 5% too, so it’ll pay for itself in, ah, time.
I’ve been running a Michie Pilot Power on the front and
While at Porepunkah for the Xmas camp, the front scrubbed
out quicker than expected (wonder why?) so a trip to Albury brought back a Road
on the front, now matching the rear.
With a similar profile they hold a line much better through the bends
but there’s less rubber on the road at a high degree of lean so the margin for
error is reduced. But I always was a
sedate rider.
The 20k service on the Sprint is one of the biggies,
involving valve shimming, wheel bearing lubes and other niceties. I took the schedule to Charlie at Turn One,
the Trumpy guru, with the tech stuff highlighted for him to do, and the
remainder for this amateur grease monkey.
Nope, not Charlie’s style. He
stamps the book, he does the service.
OK, I bought it. Not too bad in
the end. With the full monty plus new
plugs (corrosion on the threads), new rear pads, a clean of the SSSA as well as
fixing my cross-threaded bolt job on the top-rack, it came to $600.
Pride was salvaged when he agreed I could change the oil in
the front forks. It was as black as used
engine oil and I had fun inadvertently spraying the garage as I tried to pump
it all out. Fresh stuff made a big
difference to the handling. The back end, though, needs work. With preload and rebound damping at the max
it still wallows with luggage on. Can I
justify a firmer spring and a second reworking of the valving? Sigh.
It’s like having kids; the spending never stops.
p.s. Coming up to the 20k service the front
end started a mild judder on braking at low speed. Figuring the
headstem bearings would be adjusted at the service I waited to see what
survived that.
Same problem. Took her to PS this
week and they did a run-out check on the discs while I waited. Both
within tolerance. Took her back the next day when they had more
time, to check out the rim and wheel bearing. No problems there
either. They're thinking there might be vertical run-out and have put in
a request for replacement discs. They'll have to come from the