jaylael

(These are photos from last week so the mentioned mods aren't in the pics.) As the target day for the bike's first trials event draws near, I have been completing final preparations. I cut out clear vinyl protective covering for the frame in the footpeg areas to reduce boot scuffing of the blue paint. Welded on a shark fin to keep my fingers out of the back sprocket. I also had to custom build a 520 half link, which was constructed from a #50 half link purchased at the local hardware store. Half links are almost impossible to find but badly needed in this case, since proper chain adjustment was not possible otherwise. At some point it would be nice to buy a genuine Sherco chain which contains the half link from new. In the interest of thrift, I was able to combine components of scrap 520 chain, with the sideplates from the #50 half link, by drilling out the holes in the sideplate, to the size of the chain roller support tubes. Once the half link was assembled and aligned, I tig welded the pin ends. The final result looks to be pretty sturdy. I will know if it is going to hold very soon.

In my case it's a fondness for Mecatecnos and none around I can't afford to buy one if there were any to buy so it's a moot point. This meshes well with my Hodaka interests. The Spanish couple on the Sherco seem to be doing some pretty tough trialing. I say good job to them! Maybe they like Mecatecnos too.

Funny thing, just after we bought our home, when the realtor lady came back for the sign I had allready used it to re paint the switch plates on. The other side shows the evidence of this indiscretion. After I offered to give it back to her she declined. I think she was peeved a bit. Don't those screened vents in the top of the tank cover remind you of those Rothmans Honda RTL 250s? I have to wonder really how much force is applied to the cylinder head studs upward on big drops. After all we are talking about a bike which did fine for ages with an aluminum swingarm bolt!

Congrats Ridge! Good job getting a new bike. Take it slowly and do all the pre ride checks properly. Those are some sweet bikes.

Worked on the bike for the past two days and a good part of the nights. I got it fired up and rode it around in my little yard here, and she sounds brilliant! It really seems to run very well, like a proper trials bike. I am exhausted, and very happy.

I'm not really a painter, Tha' knows.

Thought I'd post a couple of teaser shots from this evenings paint work. It's still wet in the piccies.

The fuel screw setting also varies depending on what pilot jet is in it. A typical 2000 and up trials bike with a DelOrto carb comes with around a 30 pilot in there. I have had better idle, starting and off idle performance with a bigger pilot from stock, say number 38 - 40. With the too small pilot jet these bikes oftem come with, you need to put a tiny dab of loctite type thread locker on the screw threads and set the mixture screw so there are about three threads showing. This amounts to allot of turns out. Basically doing this gets the most fuel through the circuit, that the pilot jet will allow. When a typical trials bike is set this way it usually runs barely rich enough to perfom decently. If you have say a #38 pilot jet, then try starting at 3/4 turn. Go in or out from there if the machine presents symptoms described above, such as hesitation upon giving it the gas at low revs, or it can demontrate being too rich at idle by excessive popping at the exhaust upon decelleration. This may be a vague answer, but it was a vague question.

Copey: I will resrict myself to 5 foot and lesser leaps. Alot lesser! Glenn: I have four seasons worth of Venture brothers on CD. I think they are hilarious! Try watching a bit of it sometime. The Sherdaka is getting allot closer to "done" and the frame is hanging up covered in black epoxy primer. I need to get it running in time for a trials event coming up wednesday, and also another trials event coming up sunday june 15th. These should be the bike's first outings. Talk about a trial by fire. Here's hoping it will work. I am leaning toward a Mecatecno Skywalker paint scheme.

I can measure it when I get it back. Otherwise I don't think my spec will be accurate.

Bradford ignitions website= Steve Hardker en Espana.

I found the primary ignition coil, which is the green wire, open. The stator is on it's way to the guy who rewinds them in Spain. Cost will be L 82.50 posted to my door, and takes around 2 weeks turnaround time. The Beta flywheel puller fits perfectly as it's Ducati ignition. The trigger coil resistance is very close to 100 ohms, measured from red wire, to ground which is the white wire. I have one of these in stock as a spare from a Gasser I once owned. Too bad this wasn't what was needed. So a quick ohm check would be white to red= 100 ohms White to green= not open (No spec obtained)

http://www.adultswim.com/shows/venturebros/ OK I figured out where the expression, "Cool Beans!" comes from! The venture brothers. They are sort of like a parody of Johnny Quest. I have watched most of the episodes. The glacially slow forward progress of the Sherdaka inches ahead. I still haven't run it because the gas tank isn't finished. Many of the details are coming together. I trimmed off all the excess plastic and made a top trim piece out of the original gas tank. I fabricated an adapter to connect the Sherco airbox to the Hodaka carb, which is a Delorto from a 1986 Fantic "301 progress" E bay item.

Thanks for the help guys! Cope, It looks as if I will be able to get the flywheel off with the Beta puller then, hopefully. I will try to ohm check all this stuff and go from there. I will post results when I know more. I noticed the 250 uses a different setup from the 290 according to bradford ignitions website. Something I never knew, or wanted to know.

I recon I need to ohm check the coils etc, but I have no specs. Probably some really expensive part has gone bad, but which one? Anybody know where to find the ohm specs to help get this bugger diagnosed? So far I have just looked at the connections, disconnected the kill button, and still no spark. She's as dead as a wedge. Perhaps someone would be so kind as to enlighten me a bit on this. I must have about a dozen different flywheel pullers, one for beta, two different ones for gas gas, old bultaco, ossa, Hodaka, on and on. Sure hope one of them will work on this one. Still too knackered from working to have a look at the old girl. Mostly I'm just on here to whine. (Whinge for you Brits) Is it pronounced whing or just mis-spelled?

Maybe with a custom air cooled cylinder you could ride vintage trials.

If the crank pin has shifted it would cause bad vibrations when revved up. Start by checking all engine mount bolts are good and tight. If they are ok, then pull off the flywheel cover and start the engine, looking for eccentic movement of the flywheel. I recently suffered this problem on a Hodaka trialer and found it was very easy to see the eccentric movement with a timing light. You could see the thing wobble about 1/4"! Hope this isn't happening to your bike as this is a big job to fix, and not likely on modern engines such as your Gasser.

Dave, It doesn't hit now. Before is when it used to hit. A good bit of the front of the cyl. head had to be ground off as well as eliminating my flat strap front subframe and redoing the header pipe to clear. Now I can tune the forks to best performance for my weight, and still not have the front tire collide with the engine, frame or exhaust on full compression.

The front fender is an old preston petty. I trimmed it to match the contours of the Sherco fender at the ends. I think I can heat it up and bend it down in back which will look better. The Skid plate looks to be done. No rubber mounts just bolted up to the sherco mounts in back and custon mount brackets to front of the engine. This should be sufficcient for what I want to do.

It has been awhile since I posted on this project. Here are a few photos of the current bike. I had allot of re work to get the bike done and now it's about where I thought I was before. I guess I thought if I wished hard enough the front tire would clear. Whatever the case I am now looking back at the series of events which led me to here, and it really has been fun overall. I needed to secure the front of the motor in order to build the back part and the head stays, so in a way my first effort was simply a jig, and a source of welding practice time. Looking at the photos one can tell that I have long harbored a good deal of fondness for the Mecatecno Dragonfly and Skywalker trials bikes. This Hodaka should sort of help to satisfy that longing to own one of these fascinating and rare spanish bikes. The top of the engine head is secured to the brame steering head area, with a straight piece of chrome moly tubing which was scavenged from a scrapped 1982 Maico frame, (so it's German quality steel) and it has been tig welded very solidly. I think it should be strong enough. I have plans to finish it and ride it a bit before really finalizing the color scheme. I have had so much fun imagining the bike in different colors. Trying not to be too hasty in deciding. The black front fender is a temporary until I get together enough dough to buy the Sherco items. Anyway, hope those of you who are following this story will find these interesting.

What happens when you use the type of mineral oil from the drug store, not that i've already done that or anything...

Carefully replace the rubber seal and o ring or whatever is in the master cul. Be sure to back off the adjuster screw enough to allow small clearance between the pusher and the piston. Obtain a small siringe from whatever source. Install a small hose from the brake fluid filled siringe, open the bleeder screw and push the fluid from the bottom uo until there are no more bubbles in master cyl. resevoir. Once you pump up the lever a few dozen times, adjust the lever positioning screw to suit. Note the lever must have clearance at rest to function hydraulically.

That's my plan at this point, constructing a connector from the engine head stay to the steering head area. I think it will work fine. The first set of front braces would have done the job had they been clear of the front tire. I thought there was some contact before, but when I put the 80 forks on it got worse in spades. This probably is an irrational project allright. The product of a long winter and years of daydreaming about a "modern" Hodaka. Once I get this bike done and parked on the lawn at Hodaka Days, my suffering will all be a distant memory. Next to all the amazing project Hodakas out there, this one will be just one more.

Here are a few shots of the poor thing as it sits today. Soon I intend to work on it some more, but I am really enjoying being able to ride.

Funny you should mention that. It hits really bad! The front subframe had to be removed entirely, and the new one will be drastically altered from the former, which now rests in the recycler's bin. Since riding season is upon us, I have been finding less time to work on this bike, but as time permits I will continue trying to climb this mountain of self imposed complications. Sure do like the "new" 03 Sherco alot!