November 2021
I did a fair bit of work on this T140D when it first arrived from the USA. Since then, apart from a bit of carb tuning, it had been performing pretty well. The only glitch was that the clutch would stick itself together during periods of unuse, and would be quite reluctant to free. Once free and warm it would then perform ok until the next layup.
As a low mileage bike, it had obviously spent much of its life in storage, so should be a straightforward strip and clean hopefully.
On the ride in I noticed how heavy the throttle action was. It made life quite difficult in city traffic, so I decided to look at that first. A bit of rerouting the cables, and a bit of 3-in-1 oil down them seemed to elicit an improvement. A chack that they were in synch and on to the clutch.
I figured it highly likely that this would be the first time the primary cover had been off since it was built.
The condition of things inside suggested that this was the case, but it all came apart nicely and everything would be reusable.
All the plates were in good condition, and they were all suitably bathed in kerosine, given a good polish with a rag, then left in the sun to bake for a bit. I had been waiting for just such a day for that reason.
After reassembling the clutch I spent a fair bit of time making sure that there was virtually zero runout when kicking the engine over with the clutch released. This is to ensure it gives a smooth takeup in use.
A brief test ride proved it had worked, and it is a pleasant bike to swap gears on. Gives the impression of being quite low geared, as the speedo and tacho tend to keep pace somehow.
Still rates as the prettiest Bonneville ever in my books.
And then I get to deliver it home.
Lovely.