Strada Camshaft Oil Ways

[Duccout]

Hi George,

I sympathise re the concrete fence posts, they are heavy! I suppose I'd better look inside the handlebar switches, but I'm frightened that a myriad of small springs etc, might fly out never to be returned!

Colin

[Ventodue]

Glad to hear things are going well between you and the Señorita, Colin. For a while there, I might have been worried you were allowing it get you down a bit ...

As far as the re-wiring is concerned, I'm gonna stick my neck out a little.

'Cos I hear you when it comes to re-wiring all the way back into the switch, with all those pesky connections to be de-soldered and then re-soldered ... To be honest, I tend to take the attitude that copper is copper and as long as its still allowing electrons to flow nicely, its best left alone.

Instead, I tend to focus on the insulation, the stuff that lets the smoke escape ...

(Altho' having said that, I did re-wire some of the left h/bar switch on my Vento recently. But only because some clown had messed around with it in the past, with the result that the lights came on and off in a most peculiar fashion. And also, a long time back, I did the Aprilia headlight switch that came with my Scrambler 'cos it had melted - again under previous ownership).

[Duccout]

Thanks Craig. I do remember reading never to take handlebar multi-switches apart, because apparently once opened, everything flies out, never to return, and the Strada switches are actually very nice and still work, after 40 years, which may be more than can be said for Italian switches.

I have never seen wiring go hard the way the Strada's has, it is just solid. Possibly as a result of being left in the sun, or the make-up of the insulation. Luckily it is a simple system, with no electric start, and I've already replaced the ignition system.

[blethermaskite]

Here,s a trick an autospark showed me many years ago, when you are dismantling unusual switch gear where you may have no idea what you may find when you open it up....(the wee springs and balls and bits that fly across the workshop never to be seen again) so you do all the dismantling in side a large clear plastic bag, so if it all goes wrong at least you still have all the bits .
Cheers,
George

[Duccout]

This afternoon I went for my longest ride yet (confidence gradually growing???) about 40 miles, to a local cafe and back. Things are still improving - I have at last stopped the diabolical oil leak from the camshaft end cap, which did involve silicone I am afraid, and the engine is now oil-tight!

A big problem to me is the hideous riding position, which I can't see an answer to; the footrest are way too far forward, which means that I am leaning backwards on the seat and sitting right on my coccyx which gives me back-ache, and they are too wide as well, meaning that I can't swivel my foot in enough to reach the gear lever. I don't know if standard Mk111 footrests would fit; they seem to be narrower, and would help the gear lever problem.

The engine is very torquey, and has no rev-ability at all - there is no point in trying to rev it to go faster, it just makes more noise but little else, and the fastest way to get somewhere is to surf the torque through the box. I assume that this is the result of a soft cam, small valves and low compression, but as I haven't ridden anything as small as a 250 for fifty years, I don't really know!

Colin

[Jon Pegler]

Colin,

Do you have the fixed footpegs on your Strada?
Many Stradas came with the footpeg welded onto the support bars that sit either side of the motor, running from the engine to the rear frame side plates.
On the Italian widecase bikes and the Spanish Forzas the support bars are seperate, as are the footpegs themselves, held together with a M12 fine threaded bolt.
You could try fitting that type of footpeg and support bar to give you a little bit of footpeg adjustment.
Together with a slight movement forward of the handlebars, may take the weight off the base of your spine, giving a more comfortable ride.
The first Forza I ever ran myself was fitted with an aftermarket set of handlebars that I just could not get along with, even though they looked fairly standard. Replacing them with bars made to the original bend greatly improved the riding position for me.

Jon

[Duccout]

Hi Jon,

The footrest are the swivel type, similar to the Scrambler ones, that bolt to the support bars, but I cannot adjust them any further back because the left one hits the kick start. Would the standard Mk 111 footrest fit? They appear narrower. When I first got the Strada I fitted a high handlebar, but that meant that I was sort of leaning back like riding a chopper, so I recently changed to a lower, wider set which is a big improvement, but I'm still sitting with my legs and arms reaching forward, like a monkey on a chair!

Colin

[Duccout]

More aggro........ My bike has the rear wheel situated over to the left in the frame, so I have to run it with a 3.5mm spacer between the swinging arm and the brake plate in order to centralize it, which is not a good state of affairs. On checking recently, the spoke nipples all seem to still be turntable on the threads, so this afternoon I set about getting the rim offset moved over to the right by 3.5mm, to centralize the rim in the swinging arm.

The tyre is a Pirelli Mandrake and is possibly the original, from 1978, and proved impossible to get off the rim. There was no flexibility in the tyre at all, and it took all my resourcefulness to get one side off, the tyre breaking up in the process, but I could not get the tyre off the rim, it was just too hard. So, the only answer was to saw it off with a hacksaw, which I have never had to do before. So now, as well as getting the rim moved over, I need a new tyre and tube.

IF the rim can be moved over, I will have to increase the width of the spacer between the cush drive and the wheel hub by 3.5mm, so I hope that it will be possible to do that...... My bike appears to have a non-standard cush-drive assembly, from what I know not, but that wouldn't affect the brake plate position..........


Colin

[Jon Pegler]

Original tyres supplied for Stradas, Forzas and Ventos was Michelin M38.
They haven't made Pirelli Mandrakes for a few years though.

Jon

[Duccout]

Thanks Jon, I suppose that it was unlikely that the tyre was the original, it is just hard enough to have been!

Colin