Have now done 300 or so miles on the SF, so time for a bit of an update.
The second time I rode it, the clutch cable snapped, approx 2" in from the handlebar end- thankfully I was only a mile or so from home so it was no biggy.
I guess I wasn’t that surprised that it would happen at some point, as it really does need a strong pull at the lever on these, and the cable didn’t look particularly new- I pinged the bunch who bought up all of Slater’s remaining spares a few years back, unfortunately, they didn’t have any, and suggested Venhill for a custom made one which was going to be my next port of call anyway.
As the Venhill one is custom made to order it’s a 2 week lead time, so I set about sorting it with a generic inner ( not sure what it was originally intended for but it was from of my old Dad’s hoard of Vincent/Sunbeam/BMW spares which would have made him very happy if he’d been around to see it
) that had the lever end nipple on there, so I just had to cut it to length and securely peen over and solder a nipple on the actuating arm end.
All went to plan, but the original outer has definitely seen better days, and as a Venhill one was only ~£30 delivered (£20 less than a genuine one would have been if I could get one so a bargain in that respect
) I ordered one up
And the new cable has now arrived, so although my DIY fix is working absolutely fine and has been for the last 150-200 miles, I’ll replace it with the Venhill one, mainly as I have more confidence in that than my adapted one, which will be a minimum of 40 years old at a guess
The broken clutch cable has been the only issue so far, but I’ve also sorted the front brake.
As I said in my OP, although the brake certainly has plenty of power if you really yank it, but there is no slack or feeling as the lever at all, it’s rock hard, and it’s made much worse by the distance the (non-adjustable) lever is from the bar, as hopefully you can appreciate from this pic
How people tolerate them like this these days when you don't have to is beyond me, but putting it into perspective, it’s still massively better than the shitty old single-piston swinger on the 550K3 was even after a full refurb- at least it stops you!
The OE master cylinder is stated as a 16mm piston, but the forums seem to say when measured it’s bigger than than so I thought a 14mm or 15mm should do it.
I don’t have anything that small in my spares, so I started scanning eBay for a suitable SH one, but in the end bought a “Savage” (
) Nissin looky-likey with a 14mm piston that’s intended for a CBR
Now, I fully expect to get flamed here for even considering cheap Chinese tat for something so important as a front brake, but my rationale was I’ll inspect it and if it looks really poorly made ( I know from personal experience that some of the Brembo etc copies are atrocious) then it’ll just go back, but it was a fraction of the cost of an (unknown age) SH Nissin or Brembo one at a grand total of £27 delivered , it’ll be brand new, and if looks OK it’ll go on to see how it is- I wouldn't even consider this approach on , for instance, my ZX6, but well this is different, to me anyway
And this is it.
Even comes with a brake light switch in with that price, although that’s not needed on the Laverda as it has a pressure switch fitted in the hose T-piece under the bottom yoke
Whilst Brembo/Nissin quality it ain’t, it really isn’t bad IMO- in all the important areas it measured up true and straight and cosmetically is reasonably finished, so on it went- fitting was painless and after being bled up (two bleed nipples on each of these calipers) the feel was completely transformed with, on first thoughts, if anything, too much lever travel, and of course with the remote reservoir it is a bit out of keeping with the era but I think the lever is a fair match with the other side, and thought I’d reserve judgment until after a road test, and I gave it a go.
And I am pleased to report it’s absolutely spot on in terms of feel, the brake feels so much more powerful and controllable, and it has made a massive difference to the riding experience and confidence that a decent front brake gives- the front brake now whilst not 2020s Brembo Stylema /RCS power is better than I thought it would ever be and as good as say a 98 R1 or Gixxer was when new, which is more than I need on this bike- I am so much more comfortable having proper feel and controllable power on the front brake, so it’s staying on there for the foreseeable.
So what else?
Well, I also thought I’d sort the engine crankcase breather- It comes off what you’d call the rocker box cover at the very top of the motor, and currently just terminates behind the RH side panel next to the battery and air filter .
I'm not sure if that’s as it left the factory, I suspect not, but either way, it’s less than ideal IMO- it’s not belching out smoke or oil but needs extending ideally into some form of vented catch-tank rather than straight to the ground ( and back tyre in event of engine problems), so that is my plan- this is how it currently looks ( with side panel removed)
You also hear it when sitting at tickover, sort of like a sink plunger / big old traction engine or something, makes me smile but it’s going to be silenced- this is the sound
I had some 3/4” silicon hose in the shed, so thought I’d replace it with that, but the reality is it’s just too flexible and folds in on itself where it has to make the 90-degree bend under the tank, so the old one has gone back on, and I’ve ordered a small piece of suitable dia ally pipe to enable me to use at least the top half of the original ( the black pipe in the pic below) and extend it with the clear silicon stuff.
I’ve also had a little play around with footrest positions, as they are on cranked splines- this is what I have now , which is one spline different to how they were- slightly higher and further back
And this is nearer what I’d like- obviously would need to sort another gear lever and brake pedal arrangement for that.
Anyway, I’m getting used to it, so it’s nowhere near top priority, , but if I can sort some sort of rearsets to give me the position I’d like I will
I still need to get some better tyres (ContiClassicAttacks are the best you can get for any of these oldies and that’s what it’s having ) on it, and I’m also going to replace the original mechanical indicator relay with a modern solid-state one;- the OE one, although perfect at tickover, is fecking useless/hilarious at speed, with the lamps greatly affected by engine speed (or more accurately, the vibration that speed on this bike produces) and pretty much stay on full time when you’re giving it full-hole when overtaking, etc.
But unless anything falls off or breaks, that’ll be pretty much it for the moment in terms of the fettling , I’ll just keep chucking Esso Super in it (it’s returning ~50MPG so far
) , keep a check on important fasteners for tightness etc, and enjoy riding it , it's a cool old thing IMO that I can bimble about on, or ride hard if the mood takes me and not worry about breaking down /washing oil off my boots after every ride or having to rebuild the motor every 5 minutes, and gives me pleasure riding it
Then when the weather turns to shit over the winter it’ll get a sympathetic refurb where I’ll get some tarnished original fasteners, wheel spindle spacers, pillion footrests etc re-plated, strip and refurb the rear shocks, or maybe even replace them with something more modern/blingy, paint / tidy up the switchgear and fit new grips and sort anything else that I think needs tidying or blinging up - we shall see!
) it for fettling on the old girl for a while until I start pulling a few bits off over winter to get a few bit of plating etc tidied up here and there
