The old Suzy was looking decidedly scruffy & unloved after spending the winter in the garage. It was covered in coal dust, dog hairs, etc. & it was badly in need of a freshen-up as the riding season is almost upon us

Numerous attempts to bring it to life were unsuccessful so it was time to get the spanners out & find out what was wrong. The plugs were rotten after the failed starting attempts so they were cleaned & gapped ready for action. The plug from the left cylinder was much dirtier than the plug from the right cylinder – more about that later

The ignition system is old school, wouldn’t have it any other way. I found that there were a few issues with one set of points. The threads on one of the adjusting screws had given up the ghost resulting in the points having partly closed. A bit of daw-faking sorted it out but I’ll be giving Crooks Suzuki a buzz to see if they’ve got replacement screws

The engine fired up immediately after the bit of maintenance but I could tell that it wasn’t running smoothly. A check of the carb settings showed that the mixture screw on the left carb was screwed out a full turn more than it should have been (can’t remember doing that :doh:) The correct setting is 1 1/4 turns out. After sorting that out it ran like a Helvetian chronometer

The front brake is about as much use as a handbrake on a canoe, a single disc set-up with tiny brake pads. It was never any good & I’ve learned to live with it in the ten years that I’ve owned this bike. I removed the caliper, stripped, cleaned & reassembled everything. The pads were in perfect condition & the piston was free & in good condition also. I put it back together & I bled out the old brake fluid. The brake is still bordering on useless but I’m used to it by now. I might fit a braided brake hose to it this year in honour of it’s 40th. birthday in the hope that it would improve stopping power. We’ll see

When the mechanicals had been sorted I just gave it a quick squirt around the estate to see if all was OK & then I adjusted the slow running to get it ticking over the way that I like it. It needed a major clean before I put it back in the shed & it looks a bit more respectable now. I might throw it into the Paddy’s Day Parade at Carrigaline on Sunday if I bother to get out of bed that day. Anyway as I said earlier the spin season is almost upon us so the work was necessary. My application form for the Youghal Vintage Run arrived in the post this morning so that will be my first ‘official’ vintage run of the year. Can’t wait :bikerie: