After 8 years living in various rubbermaid totes, and getting moved to two different states my 1965 R50/2 runs again. This bike has a great history with me. My dad and mom were living in Hawaii and bought this bike to get around the island. When they moved back to the mainland in 1970 they shipped the bike with them. It cost the same as a seat on the plane. They flew into Seattle, got some gas for the bike, and started riding. About a week later they got to western Pennsylvania where our family is from. My dad and my uncle rode the bike for the next 5 years and then the floats in the carbs went bad. Fast forward 27 years. Dad gives me the bike to restore it. I lived in Illinois at the time and my Brother-in-law brought it out to me. I bought floats for it and got it running again. I then tore it down to fix it up. While it was in thousand of pieces, my wife gets transferred to Virginia. That was almost 3 years ago. Now it is back together and running. I still have a few things to do such as tuning it and trying to figure out why the brake light and the neutral indicator is on all of the time. Right now I can get it to run but when I try to accelerate it falls flat on its face.
Another one on the road. You will love riding it and the family history is unbeatable. Welcome to the Slash 2 world.
I'll take a stab at the brake lite problem. In the picture, you can see the lever that depresses the brake light switch. It's right behind the clutch lever with the stout spring. You can't see the switch in this pic, it's mounted with them teeny nuts on the back side of the plate, and no matter what you do, it's a pain in the ass to get to it. I remember having to get the 5?mm nuts off from the other side to service the switch. ANYWAY, the arm is supposed to depress the switch, and keep it there which "breaks" the circuit. When you step on the rear brake lever, the switch post moves forward and "makes" the circuit, actuating the lamp. Often, the brake lever, the small lever, or the switch itself are misaligned after 46 years, and the small lever doesn't fully depress the switch, and your brake light stays on... I, stuck a teeny little crutch tip, [visible in photo] on the actuator lever to make up the misalignment. It worked for a while, until I sucked it up and dismantled the whole shebang and set everything up right. You can see the elongated holes for adjustamento... I'll guarantee you that switch is filled with goopy,tarry,oily grit and grime. Take it off and soak it electrical contact cleaner for a day. If it's ON, then it still works. Or you buy a new one from Vech, it was pretty cheap. PS, Your headlight ears are upside down
Huh, that's what you get for leaving it in pieces for 8 years... Thanks for the info on the brake switch. I'll have to check it out. I know the switch moves freely but maybe something else is misaligned.
Looks great and I appreciate the good story and historical background. I hope it runs great and you can pass it to the next generation.
That is great to see an old veteran back on the road. Particularly sweet that you've left the original "patina" live! I'm taking possession of an old 1954 Zundapp soon and hope to do the same. Great job and a great story.
Brake lite was way out of adjustment, now fixed and the ears are flipped. I'm going to go for a ride on the Suzuki and come back and work on her, see if I can get it running better.
R50, A more detailed description of the "falling flat on it's face" problem, might help to pinpoint where you can start looking for the fix.... Let us know
I can get it to idle nice and smooth. When I try to increase the throttle on it it will stumble and cough and then it will start to rev. At that point it will rev fairly easily and smoothly. Now when I let the clutch out it will start rolling then it just dies. I pull in the clutch and goose it and it is back to coughing and popping. I also need to add that I have done nothing when it comes to timing or tuning the carbs so far.
Nothing is good, and how it should be. Adjustments should be made one at a time. Take it for a ride, and then make another one. If you try adjusting 8 things at once, you'll never figure out which part is screwin' up the works. Don't ask me how I know this! Let's start by determining that your throttle cables are connected, and connected correctly. It's possible that you're not lifting a carb slide. Maybe late, maybe not at all...it would start and idle, but cough and die under load. Which is what you described. Pull the intake tubes off. Check to see that the slides in the carbs are both lifting at the same time, when you twist ze throttle. Set two swizzle sticks, [mini tongue depressors] under each slide. Gently engage the throttle, the 2 sticks should start moving at the same time. There's an adjustment if they don't. Make sure the slides are returning to their bottom position as well... These bikes are well made and dead simple. If something ain't right, there are only a few things that can go wrong. Start with the obvious.
It might be running OK on the idle jet, but you have a plugged pilot jet, then its OK on the slide/needle/main jet. Pluck a strand out of your wire brush and clean the orifices with that and some spray cleaner.
danedg - You got this one right. My left slide moves LONG before the right one. I only had a second to run down and check the slides but I will try to get back to it tomorrow and make an adjustment. I'm assuming the adjustment is moving the cable stop in and out. Correct? lemieuxmc - I will clean the jets as soon as I get the slides working together. I have a feeling it's going to be a combination of things. Also, thank you for your service.
You've got 2 carbs...we've a 50/50 chance of getting this right. I really like the fact that no major stuff has been done to your bike. If your lucky, we can avoid the, "You really need to tear your bike down to the lowest common denominator and start over from scratch", syndrome. It happens a lot, but it's not always necessary. You've got provenance. Mom and Dad knew what they were doing when they bought the R50.. It was a tough, sexy, little bike then, and it still is today. Let's get it runnin' for you and yours. How cool is that?
[hijack] Sandy Hook, huh? Used to live up in Fredneck and come down to the river to paddle the staircase (Shenendoah/Potomac) right in front of your door. Hopefully the river isn't in your front door today. [hijack off/] Nice bike!
I can't find the foto, but pop the top on the carbs. Be careful of the o rings. You can get a whole new set of gaskets from BING. I think it's the OH2K kit for about $12US Make sure that the cable end is properly attached to the slide top. It comes down from the big hole and lodges into the small hole. Sometimes it can get hung up in the wrong spot. Yer bike doesn't have enough miles to warrant new jets.
I know what you are talking about. Those little slots caused me several headaches as I was putting the cables on. I'm 99% sure those are where they should be. I'll confirm though... Thank you for your help. The fact that you are willing to help someone you have never met just because we enjoy the same type of bikes.
