Billy Bantam passed its M.O.T. on Sept 6th, no - problem.... only issue is a borderline front brake..

The first few short trips weren't traumatic, just being careful as the old boy hasn't been on tarmac in 9 years. The front brake is "improving", but not by much.... have to investigate.

B'jesus, even the light aren't too bad. Grrrrr, the jumping out of 2nd gear is a real chore (but only when changing up). 1st trip to anywhere more than a push home ended in tears about 6 miles from home.... It was getting hot and started to spit back through the carb!!! - Yup, the points had closed up therefore advancing the timing. Had to nurse it home in 3 short hops. Fixed the points and double checked the timing... 2nd attempt, I got to the destination (20 miles) but the last mile was showing similar symptoms. This time I had all the tools needed and did a typical brit roadside repair... sweet memories (yeah right). I added a couple of thou to the correct points gap and elected to ride home on one of London's more suicidal roads for small vehicles (the A406 North Circular) -  The lights were ok at about a steady 45-50m.p.h. Bright enough for the main road I was on, and thankfully the traffic was heavy enough for me to easily pace the traffic.

Days pass.... short little journeys, nowhere special just commuting around the neighbourhood...I had "presumed" the charging circuit was working well as I had meticulously checked and double checked all the wiring, coils for resistance and made a tidy job with the wiring. The other night it would NOT start... the battery had all the symptoms of being flat... damn damn damn... plus the bike had mysteriously flooded. After draining the crankcase and warming the plug up - I managed to get home no problem. The battery next day appeared to have been charged in the blast home. WRONG, next journey it died about 1/2 mile from home with a flat battery, there is a "EMG" setting (emergency) - but it didn't work (need to investigate), but it bump started and the brake light became a effective "engine kill". Relying on the still dubious front brake - I got home.

Sigh, the forks are peeing oil out.... so before anything else I'm going to spend the day doing the front end. using the best fork stanchions, bushes and seals I have ( I spent 4 hours washing and stripping the 3 spare sets I have - all pretty dubious). But until I see the state of Billy's forks, I don't want to speculate LOL - It will give me the perfect opportunity to have a go at the front brake.  I've trickle charged the battery for 10 hours, its now or never for the battery... This time I'm going to multi-meter all the outputs just to be sure its the battery losing it, or Billy isn't doing it in the charge dept.

Nope, the forks are pretty much past redemption. Yes, they are leaking and yes its the best of all the parts I had on hand. So I'm going to have to live with the leaks for now. Ideally, its the stanchions themselves that need re-surfacing... this becomes project #982492

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