Sunday, July 09, 2006

Over the hump

500 miles on the bike now. The motor mount bolts seem to be bedding in, and everything else has been good too. No smoke, starting on the first kick, and running great. And now I can start progressively running the bike harder too. Even with the one-third throttle limit it's had no problem keeping up with traffic though.

The club ride last weekend was rainy but a good time. It was the bike's first overnight trip, up to the mountains. We crossed the continental divide at Loveland Pass (el. 11,990 feet) and overnighted at Lake Dillon, which is around 9,000 feet. The bike did fine at altitude even though I have it jetted slightly on the rich side.

Today I finally got out the timing light and strobed the ignition. It was off a bit - left cylinder was at 24 degrees and the right cylinder was at 31 degrees. I guess static timing just isn't that accurate! Didn't seem to affect the bike's performance however. I'm told that when everything else is sorted, the timing isn't that critical. That does seem to be the case. In any event, I set both cylinders to the specified 28 degrees (I'm running points; no Boyer for me thank you very much). Test riding will have to wait until later in the week, due to more rain.