Originally published at supple.co.uk. You can comment here or there.

Wahey! My bike lives!

My mate Pete spent most of Sunday with me working it and the results have been very positive. The new set of carbs fit in fine, although we did notice they were restricted, which is bad. Thankfully just a case of swapping the caps from the old set and I have an unrestricted bike again. Total oil change with new filter, air filter change, fresh fuel, new and fully charged battery and a dismantled, cleaned and rebuilt clutch - The result was a bike that fired up straight away, and after lots of initial smoke and steam from the water and other crap in the engine and exhaust being burnt off, the result was a bike that was happily ticking over.

Not yet ready to ride though, but the last few tasks are fairly simple now that the engine is sound:

1) Brake callipers need dismantling, cleaning, rebuilt and bled as they’re all seized up. I will keep my eyes open for a replacement set as well though

2) Loose wire or corrosion in one of the front indicators as it’s not working

3)  Need to take the front forks off, give them a clean, put on new fork seals and add fresh fork oil.

4) Carbs need balancing, although Pete has given me a jetting kit so I can get even more performance out of it. Will fit that before plugging it up to the balancers.

Only a few hours work at the most

The petrol tank has had a good coat of petseal, which should have dried by tonight so I can attach that back on and put the petrol in. Other than that, it could do with a good respray and clean

Best start getting some insurance quotes, though it’s generally under £100 for the year as it is a F Reg bike.

This is all happening at a good time, as my car really is on it’s last legs.