G15CSR-This Week's DPO Discoveries

Gerard Harrison · Post by **Gerard Harrison** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:32 am

Clutch Hub Rubbers?...Bah who needs them

Jet Block Sealing Washers? Can't remember where they were put...bah who needs them, just pull the jet block down extra tight

Good glory I don't think there is 1 blessed part or assembly in this bike that wasn't somehow mammocked or disassembled then misassembled by its Distinguished Previous Owner(s).

Clearly He/They were fearless in their quest to explore and misunderstand every blessed aspect of this motorcycle. There had to be a squadron of highly untrained non-professionals assigned over time to this machine to accomplish this kind of quality and depth of ignorance.

I can't wait until I tear down the motor....my first inkling of how much fun that will be was when I discovered the socket wrench socket that was left abandoned in the pit where the forward center head bolt resides....

this "free tool piece" was found only after marveling at the gobs of gasket sealant that had ooozed and congealed at the joint between the cylinder base and the crankcase...reminding me of those old wax-dripped Chianti bottles used as candle holders in the clubs and coffee houses of the1960's

My initial reaction was to snap a drive extension on the 3/8's ratchet wrench and connect with the abandoned socket....but I thought better of it and decided I will wait a while before I work-up the courage to find out if there is maybe a stripped bolt head underneath awaiting me

By far, this is the most deceiving project bike I have tackled...all critical hard/impossible to find parts were there....... I once restored a 1967 Enfield Interceptor that sat in a barn in Kansas for 30 or so years...it was rolled off the delivery truck completely coated in hand-brushed Rustoleum black....that was a dream compared to this...all the chrome on that Enfield had been preserved by the paint and it had clearly died of passive neglect

This poor G15 machine evidently lived a long and tortured life before it was able to confound an owner into giving up on it

I will opt for passive neglect over active misguided maintenance any day of the week....but then I cannot play the victim here....after all, I did volunteerEdited by - Gerard Harrison on 12 Jan 2011 11:34:03 AM

itma · Post by **itma** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:35 pm

welcome to my world of weary cynicism.

Gerard Harrison · Post by **Gerard Harrison** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:55 pm

Indeed, some projects give you a profound sense of satisfaction like one would realize in the renewal of an old masterpiece

...others leave you with the feeling you invited a convention of village idiots into your life and you are now cleaning up after them

orbinrangle · Post by **orbinrangle** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:30 pm

On the other hand what I've discovered during routine maintenance and especially a head removal (because I dropped a pen refill down the hole) made me realise I am not the most stupid amateur I know despite the pen thing.
There is a least one other person higher up the dullard scale.
Yours is a noble duty, Gerard. You will still get that sense of satisfaction.

Gerard Harrison · Post by **Gerard Harrison** » Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:43 pm

quote:
On the other hand what I've discovered during routine maintenance and especially a head removal (because I dropped a pen refill down the hole) made me realise I am not the most stupid amateur I know despite the pen thing.
There is a least one other person higher up the dullard scale.
Yours is a noble duty, Gerard. You will still get that sense of satisfaction.

Thanks for the encouragement RJ....I should remember my older brother's wise counsel ...."Be thankful for all the idiots of the world....without them we wouldn't look half as good as we appear to"