Shakedown runs

After a little fine tuning, we then started doing some shakedown laps of my local village. I have a test route of about a 2 mile lap, the first half of which is uphill, which means that if anything goes wrong halfway out I can pretty much coast back home! 

We did just over 10 miles without any big incident. Four main things to address: 

• there is a bit of an oil leak from the valve cover, which should just need tightening a bit.
• the gear change is a bit notchy, particularly going back into first from second. Some of this could be because the clutch is dragging slightly (the friction plates seem slightly too thick) but I'll check the selection adjustment as well.
• the petrol tap seems to be leaking slightly. I'm going to swap it for one with a reserve on it as well anyway.
• one of the indicators is loose!

I was very pleasantly surprised at how nicely she ran; how nimble handling and sprightly, especially considering I'm running in a new engine. She span up to 50 as easily as the Classic 350, although to be fair, she is quite a lot lighter. 

I couldn't have hoped for better from a shakedown, after a complete rebuild from essentially a box of bits, so there is just a bit of tweaking to do and I can start building some "confidence miles" locally and start running in the engine. I pulled the plug to see what that was like and it looked pretty good, considering I’m just running locally at low ish speeds.

I’ve fitted some period throw over panniers so I can carry plenty of tools with me if anything needs tweaking while I’m out 🙂.

A couple of days later I got another 20 miles running without any big dramas, so I'm feeling that I can gradually go a bit further afield now. I'm so impressed with how she runs - I have to remind myself that I'm running her in as she spins up so eagerly, but I'm not stressing her or slogging along in low gears so should be good.

The new petrol tap has arrived and I've recently got hold of a strobe timing light (another FB Marketplace bargain!), so I'm going to set the timing more accurately and fit the tap (to give me a reserve as well) before I go further.

I am booked in to display her at a local show in a fortnight, so the aim now is to get the confidence to stray 20 miles away from home!