I have been on holiday this week so had the time to go to Motoworks in Hudderfield to get a battery. The battery for the bike is a 30 amp hour, lead acid job. It would run a small car. In times past when money was short and I needed a battery for a BMW I would get one for the Reliant Robin. You would have to modify the battery rack a little but it was a small price to pay. The Reliant battery was about a third less in cost than the genuine BMW article and work just as well. 30 amp hour battery is the heavy duty version. The standard item is 25amp hour. The bike needs a good kick to spin the engine to start it and a hope to have some electrical "extras" on the bikes so a big battery is the order of the day. When I get the new alternator it too will be a high output job to go with the big battery.
I topped the battery up with the acid which was provided separate bottles. I put the battery in the frame and hooked the earth strap and main power feed. At the same in I fitted the fast connector for the battery charger. This means I can leave the charger plugged in keeping the battery in proper trim. When it comes to riding the bike I can just unplug the charger and be on my way [nothing like optimism, is there?]. The battery needs 24 to 30 hours to come up to full charge. Thereafter I can test the starter motor. I have taken the starter motor out of the bike so that I clean it up and repaint the unit. It should also help the testing process should all not go as planned.
Whilst at Motoworks I got a set of steering head bearings and the fuel line. The fuel line has been cut to size to go across the back of the air box. The steering head bearing has not been so simple a job. I needed the rubber mallet to get the steering stem and bottom yoke off the bike. That should have been a clue. The top tapered roller bearing came away without much ado. The bottom bearing was quite another story. So far the bearing has been destroyed leaving just the inner bearing face which seems to have cold welded itself the stem. I have broken one screwdriver and bent another trying to pry the bearing up the stem. So far no movement on the bearing front. Time to set it aside to calm down and regroup. Everything was going so well up to that point!
