Fixing Up The Blackbird; February 2021
It's February 2021 and we're a month into what I think is our 3rd Covid-19 lockdown. My three bikes, Tracer, Blackbird and Big One, have been laid up in the garage since November with their batteries removed on chargers. The Blackbird and Big one are both SORN'd without MOTs and the Blackbird is uninsured.
The Blackbird needed a few things doing so I have been fettling away on it in the garage over the winter. After 15 years and 71K miles I actually got around to checking the valve clearances on it. A pig of a job as it turned out which involved:
- Removing all the plastics.
- Removing the fuel tank.
- Removing the airbox.
- Disconnecting the throttle cables.
- Removing the ignition coils and HT leads.
- Draining and removing the radiator.
- Unclipping the wiring harness and brake lines to provide access to the valve cover.
- Checking the valve gaps which where all in tolerance (good old Honda build quality).
- Putting it all back including a new valve cover gasket which was very tricky to fit without snagging it.
So it turned out that I didn't need to adjust any valves, which I was grateful for as it meant that I didn't have to remove the cams and mess about with buckets and shims. At least I now know the valve clearances are correct. Aside from checking the valves I:
- Painted the mainstand with POR 15 and refitted it with new bushes to stop the wobbling while the bike was on the main stand.
- Painted the radiator and oil cooler with heat resistant paint.
- Replaced the wire and connector between the stator and regulator/rectifier.
- Changed the spark plugs and air filter.
- Fitted a new battery with better cranking performance.
- Changed the graphite seals on the exhausts (because the old ones disintegrated when I took the exhausts off to access the main stand bolts). That wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.
- Added a bracket for gauges and wired in a voltmeter and a USB charging point.
I'm very fond of my Blackbird and unlikely to get rid of it. (I'll probably leave it in my will to my son.) It goes just as well as the day I bought it. Its smooth and powerful engine makes covering long miles a doddle and as long as I'm not doing too much town work the seating position is fine for me. All I need now is to build up so confidence in th electrics so that I'm happy to ride it further afield.