First Ride

The S7 Deluxe has been ready, but I needed a license plate to take it out on the street.  The moment I was waiting for arrived today, when the tag and registration came.  I made some quickie retaining clips to hold the plate on over the original UK number plate.  The clips are made of a strip of stainless sheetmetal curved to catch behind the original license plate bracket.  There's a hole drilled in the strip and a bolt welded into that hole so that when the outside retaining nut is tightened the bolt doesn't turn.  The matching brackets attach from the left and right sides and are backed with a strip of inner tube rubber.  This protects the original bracket and gives some elastic tension to the clips.  The clips are made tight enough that they spring out JUST enough to allow the license plate to stretch between the studs.  It is very secure.  Currently the bottom has no clips but simply a piece of weatherstripping behind the plate to protect the original KYL95 plate from abrasion, but I may add some bottom clips later.

You will notice in the film that I forgot to do something as I drove away.  Yup... forgot to turn on the fuel.  I'm so spoiled by the XS650 with automatic vacuum-operated petcocks, and the Guzzi with no petcock.  I got 50 yards down the road and quickly realized what I had forgotten.  I made a few trips UP the hill from my house.  That way if it stops running I can always coast back home.  Unfortunately, its a rather short drive up the hill, so I made a few iterative trips while tweaking the carb.  Overall it runs nicely.  It pulls well even in 3rd gear, and each shift is flawless (unlike the Guzzi).



The best way to see if you've forgotten to tighten any bolts is to see how many fall off on the maiden voyage.  I did pretty good.  I only lost the nut from the distributor breaker contact wire.  It was an easy fix and I was back going again.

There appears to be some oil seepage from the head gasket.  I'll try to torque the head again, but I don't want to snap a stud.  I'm afraid my attempts to seal the oil passageway have failed.  I may be taking the head off again to improve the seal.  I'll have to see what happens when the engine gets good and warm.  Things may seal up as they get hot, or it  may get worse.

My instincts will have to develop for the brake on the left foot.  It will take a while to get used to.  If I can figure a clean an inconspicuous way to add a brake light switch to the front brake I think I will.  Its a safety item and I think its worthwhile.  Learning low speed turning will also be a challenge.  It does get a little squirrely in the turns.  The bike is so well balanced and so low, the counter-steer effect is prevalent even at slow speeds.  I was amazed.  At speeds I tricycle steer with my other bikes, the S7 tends to counter-steer.  That will take some getting used to.

I need to make a little tool-roll of the essential spanners, screwdrivers, and a tommy bar.  Then I will feel better about venturing further from the house.