You can't really ask for much better weather for January in Ohio. The last few days have felt GREAT! There has been the rain, but I will take that any day as long as we can get temperatures 30 degrees above freezing in the winter. I like the fact that we can melt all the snow and then start over from scratch...like a clean slate. I did do a little moped work. Having an unheated garage means that I have to keep my wrenching time to a minimum during the winter.
I also took Buckeye to the groomer since he was getting pretty scruffy.
So here was the deal with the Magnum moped. The studs in there originally were TOTAL junk. In the picture above you can see how stripped the threading was and that lead to air leaks and issues. I never felt comfortable riding the bike because of it. So I ordered the new Malossi studs. They are made of GREAT metal, but they are shorter. I assumed they were the same length and threw them in the engine without measuring, and sunk them nice and deep into the case. I also used red Loctite. Bad idea. Normally you need to heat the red stuff up to about 500°F to loose it up, or a LOT of force. Anyway when I did it the first time I put it back together without a head gasket and locking washers and I barely had room for the nuts. Not going to fly for my perfectionism. So I had to remove the studs. I bought the heat gun as a back-up but didn't need it. I backed two nuts together as far down on the threading as I could. I put a wrench on that and I also locked down on the stud super tight right near the engine case. With a quick thrust each loosened up... barely, but loosened up. I was then able to carefully remove each of them and clean off all the Loctite. I put them back in, and not as deep(but still PLENTY deep), and we are back in business.
I got the piston and cylinder (Treats reed) back on there and also threw on the Proma Circuit from the Maxi, since the Maxi is down for another couple weeks. I want to get a new front axle with better threading and also fix a couple of cosmetic things. Anyway, back to the Magnum... I added a little more hydraulic fluid to the k10 forks to make them slightly more stiff and we are back in business. I rode it around today and it rode GREAT! Probably the best idling bike I have ever had. Super stoked to make it my daily rider.
So the rain returns and then the cold does. We will also have patches of dense fog for Sunday morning. The image above shows the last 24 hours of NAM and GFS forecast models. Lighter rain tonight and early Sunday and then the second half of Sunday looks to be really wet for Ohio with heavy rain at times. Wouldn't be surprised with a few rumbles of thunder. The morning temperatures will be considerably warmer than the afternoon temperatures on Sunday as you can see below.
Last week I ran a similar graphic showing the big warm-up coming and since so many people loved it I figured I would show it again. We will see falling temperatures through the day tomorrow and then a big drop by Monday. Needless to say, I am VERY happy to have one of my winter projects done in the garage. Now I order a couple of parts and wait for warmer temperatures. Enjoy the warm temperatures while you can and have a good one!
Best,
Andrew Buck Michael
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