That lump of japanese custom sickle in my garage is not responding to the attention I am giving. (and my attention doesn't come cheap so someone or something will pay dearly in the long run)
Virago VX750 - codename - The Old lady is not a lady anymore............OFFICIAL
I left you last blog episode with news that I had rebuilt the starter mechanism, after tentative pushes on the button all seemed in order.........Joy ! Rejoice for it is fixed..........the gear engages and thus spins the cogs and whirry things that send the pistons skywards..... Bless all the good starter motor fairies for I have forward motion..... A miracle has happened.......
A time for celebration, (read - much consumption of homebrewed beer)
And so it was that the other jobs were completed with a light heart and in a matter of weeks 'The Old Lady' was booked in for an M.O.T.
Being a trusting fellow I hadn't bothered with the customary blast up the road beforehand, nay...and trice nay.....all was good in Virago land.
The M.O.T. was booked for 5.00p.m. and is on the way home from work so first ride out being early morning in a work direction..........that's when 'the Old Lady' started showing her colours, cut out she did.....and then running on only one cylinder..
Hey ! Bitch ! Stop sulking I've gotta get to work....and I did with a bit of spluttering and backfiring. Amazing what a bit of full throttling will do, shows who's master.
Anyhows, 'The Old Lady' passed despite the tester commenting that she sounded like a tractor. Thought that was normal music for a Virago exhaust.
The backfiring and spluttering continued though, and on inspecting the spark plugs I discovered the rear cylinder plug was as black as coal. Sooty not oily, rich mixture, but how come, the carburettors had been cleaned and returned to standard settings by none other than myself. It took some time to discover that you can't always trust what it says on the tin, and in this case what's stamped on the jets.
Dear readers..........Albert has once again fallen foul of the phantom jet drillers of old london town.....Some bright spark had drilled the pilot jets out big enough to run a bus through. Fair enough - but file the number off too.
Problem solved..........Not on your Nellie !
The Bitch is still playing up...........The spluttering continues
Albert will win...............it's just a matter of time.........
Stay tuned for more news as I continue to try lift this Virago from the depths of the worlds motorcycle junk pile and place it in it's rightful place among Japans finest mechanical masterpieces
