1st ride on the 49

[thsmith]

Well, after lubing almost everything and no longer having the lower end sump problem I decided to venture out in the late night hours to have the rode to my self.

All I can say is my 30+ years of riding did not prepare me for the rocker clutch, manual advance, mechancial brake features. What a blast, I was shaking from adrienlan rush for 45 minutes when I pulled back in the garage.

I was surprised the 61 inch motor moved as well as it did, I think I stalled it 4 or 5 times but after about 15 minutes I was doing pretty well but not ready for prime time traffic yet.

I was not convinced I need the book V-Twin referrs too but I am ordering it today as I have found 5 grease zerts and have no idea how much grease to put in the star hubs, anyone have a rule of thumb on this until my book arrives ?

I really appriciate and glad for this web site. I thought I knew it all until I got this bike now I feel like a newbie.

Thanks to all who have posted responced to my questions, I hope to meet some you down the road, any chances of a group meeting sometime? would be great to get all this knowledge together with your bikes.

Tracy

[wheels]

CONGRATULATIONS!! on your scooter. i think you have a good idea with a panhead ,flathead and knucklehead rendesvous(? spelling).

[thsmith]

Thanks Wheels. A meet somewhere this Spring would be great. I should feel more comfortable with the 49 by them.

[FastEd53]

thsmith, Your thread brings back some fine memories. In the early 80's I rode my brother in law over to look at a fairly stock 48,rocker clutch,left hand ign. retard, tank shift. After some neg. he purchased it and took a short ride around the cul-de-sac and thought!! he had a pretty good grip on riding it. We headed for home and the excitement started, The first cross road we came to had a little loose chat on it, I looked over and he had the front wheel sliding the back wheel spinning and the bike backfiring like hell!! I laughed so hard I thought I was going to lay mine down before he fell over. We made it home laughing all the way and a smile on his face like he really had somthing special. By golly I believe he did!! Reeco passed on too early in his life but he sure loved that old Pan !! Thanks for letting me share that old memory and Good luck on your old scoot. Ed

[VT]

Grease will probably squeeze out of the crossover tube with a couple pumps, 1/2 squirt for the seat-T, couple pumps for the seat post, 1/2 pump for the rear brake drum lever, a pump for the rocker clutch, hit the brake pedal zerk. That's 6 plus the two hubs is what? 8?
I lub' (love) a rigid Pan and FX cam jockey too much. Saturn-ball stick too. You run a Budwiser tap handle or "top-heavy" the shift lever, then you run the risk of rachet prawl damage and a citation from the roving brain police/style commitee. Don' you do it. Don' you even think about it. The Saturn-ball provides all the hang-lip a person needs. Two fingers does it. Only problem ever, has been too many people wanna' be quick on the draw and force a prawl, when the prawl is only sprung with so much spring action. You're overpowering it man. Your over-lording on mechanical parts you have no right to. That's right ain't it? You want more snap? Go order up some tighter compression prawl springs. Something that'll put the "rush" on prawl transition. There's people that do nothing all day but custom wind springs. Sort-order shop in Santee does it. One in your neighborhood we're sure.
The thing is, you can make a switch from a tank shift to jockey without harming any OE stuff. You need a spare rachet top and FX shift cam. It's a bolt on deal. All parts are available re-pop. Beautiful world. But, you have to stay focused on those specific parts. Don't be lead astray to using your tank top lid. You have to invest in a life style change. It will change you forever - make you wear your ball cap backwards and become an asphalt sportsman. Won't work with your tank top lid. Shift pattern will be wrong. It won't take you "there." You'll probably never go back to a tank shift. I didn't. But, you could. No bridges burned. Just some re-arrangement. Biggest problem is getting "lost" in a series of curves. You just want to go deeper and deeper into a turn on a rigid frame (no flex like a swing arm). You're already so low to the ground, and on an oval-top road, you can break the tires free, because of exposed road-bed aggregate and die a death.

[thsmith]

Yeah, I did find a few more zerts to lube, some were clogged and had to be pulled off and cleaned out in order to get grease to flow, I also found the rear star hub zert broken when I tried to remove it and now have zert threads broken off in the hub so it looks like I will be pulling the rear wheel sooner than I was planning.

Looks like I need to pretty much touch everything on the bike to feel comfortable it is in good working order and adjusted to my liking.

As far as the shifter is concerned I will keep it as a tank gated shifter, no interest in deviating from stock.

Looking around for tires as I HATE the white walls, it looks like Coker's web site has the best price for the Firestone replicas at $90.00 a piece. Interesting reading lastnight in the shop manual says to rotate the front and rear tires. Bases upon my weight I will be putting 15 pounds of air in the front and 20 in the rear.

Looks like the HD TiVo was a good purchase as I spend my evening in the garage, something I have not done much of in the last 10 years. Now I have the 2 Fairbanks Morse stationary motors and Maytag gas engines screaming for attention but they will have to wait until I have gone over the PAN head to toe.

Thanks for listening to my adventures and agonies.

[VT]

Try an Easy-Out tap on the zerk if you can get your hands in between the spokes. I hear you on the jockey. It wouldn't increase the value of your machine a nickle either.

[Cotten]

THS!

Coker's have been getting a lot of bad reviews lately, but only Yokohama makes a tall profile tire of any quality,..unless a Chien Shin or Pirelli would suit you. Some say they handle MUCH better.
Note that all will come with an inflation spec WAY over what our vintage manuals say.

And beware that the delicate 5/16"-32 zirque thread is so thin (that's why it broke) that the outward pressure of a conventional extractor will soon mush it to oblivion, and probably the hub threads as well.
Getting a left-hand drill into it straight while laced is probably impossible, but that's my method when disassembled (along with gentle heat and Kroil, the best penetrant). In the meantime, it really shouldn't keep you from riding it. Put a piece of tape over it if its messy!

[thsmith]

Thanks Cotten, I plan to remove the wheel so I can get at the zerk, it is bearing one not the center hub. You mention the air preasure, no matter the tire I get should I stick to factory preasure ratings or the tires and if tires what would it be for a say 280 lb guy?

I have not seen the Yokahoma tires anywhere. As far as Cokers, their web site is about 2/3s cheaper than anyone elses for the same tire.

Everynight this week I have spent 3-4 hours in the garage tinkering on the Pan but I keep taking two steps forward and then 1 step backwards, last night I was kicking her over to start and the kicker pedal broke off. Now I do not kick her with all my 280 weight as she starts easy. Just a cheap aftermarket bicycle kicker pedal. I was thinking of ordering a cadmium bicycle kocker pedal from V-Twin. Any input ?

If all goes well, I plan to rider her to the inspection place tomorrow so I can get her registered next week.

[Cotten]

If you mean a zirque tapped into the eccentric part of the star cover, that shouldn't have been there on your '49 anyway. ('55 and later if memory serves right.)