TALES FROM THE SHED
Many things are frustrating in the crazy world of classic bikes. Some of these are really, really irritating. Like starting your Matchless up after curing – at vast expense and over several months – a simple fuel leak. Of course the fuel still leaks. The only difference is that it now leaks from somewhere else. Never mind, things could be worse. The tank doesn’t leak. He writes, fingers crossed – a neat trick but manageable by Noted Experts.
Being that Noted Expert, I of course understood at once that the fuel was leaking because the float had sunk … but it hadn’t. You can tell this by tapping the tickler and feeling the float lifting the needle valve back against its seat. Experience like this comes only after a half-century of failing to fix elderly British bikes. Experience like this is entirely valueless, as the fuel still poured out of the carb and all over the magneto. Which is potentially unhelpful. So, applying my noted expertosity, I wheeled the Matchless outside into the rare Cornish sunshine, reasoning that if it caught fire it would be far enough away from The Shed for me to go slice some bread and make toast on the bikey bonfire, rather than screaming in terror and panic as the bikes I actually like went up to heaven. That would be the other bikes, not this one.
Kick. Phut. The great thing about magnetos is that they… well,
