This bike almost bit us on the arse! We had to treat it with kid gloves and wear special fluffy gloves when working on it… it’s a bit special you, see and didn’t need to collect any stray marks. We pulled the motor out and stripped it, and shook all the bits out (the gearbox was lunched). Usually the selector spring collapses on these but not here; some dogs had snapped off, gone through the gearbox and destroyed everything in their wake.
So we rebuilt it, put it all back together and – this is where we nearly got caught – just as a final thought (it is part of the job) made sure the oil pump moved freely. Which it didn’t. One of the loose bits of gearbox had got in and smashed it to pieces. We sourced some replacement parts and rebuilt the pump…
While the engine was out we took the time to breathe on the cylinder head a little, with a skim and some porting. We ran it on the Dyno and it felt lovely, and although it needed running in – thanks to new crank bearings and shells – it made over 140bhp at the rear wheel. And if there were any thumbprints on it after they weren’t ours!
Good job we checked the oil pump after rebuilding the gearbox – disaster averted!
