Something to Work On.

So the TC moto shop is now the proprietor of a motorbike. Hooray!

Our fine purchase, got at the high price of $70, is a Honda Chaly of approximately 1997 vintage in fairly miserable, though mysteriously running, condition. This is how we found her, at Leb Ke's families house. Upon firing her up (I was totally astonished that it ran. These honda's are ridiculously dependable) and driving around a bit, a mouse that had previously made its home in the Chaly sprinted away, to find a new place of rest.

This next picture is of the throttle cable, where it meets the carburetor. As you can sort of see, it is shredding into bits. I think there were about 3 wires left intact upon riding back to the shop. The reason it has taken such a beating is that the throttle assembly on the handlebar no longer functions correctly, so the only way to control the speed of the bike is to reach down (the carburetor is located between the drivers legs, by the knees) and pull the cable directly.

To put it mildly, this makes it difficult to ride. Turning is highly dangerous.


However, we made it to the shop, and it is now resting for the coming teardown. I'm not really sure what the goal is yet. Ideally we would restore/hot rod it, but I'm not sure If we can get it registered. So we'll explore our ability to legally drive it while stripping and cleaning it, and try to deduce the financial investment required to return it to somewhat safe status.


If actually driving it is not in the cards, it will just be a lesson in what not to do. For example, the rear sprocket is pictured below, in all it's shocking glory. Normally sprockets have teeth similar to dog canines, i.e. large and pointy. This one looks more like dull shark teeth, all curved backwards. Because the teeth dont stick into the chain, when you are driving and let off the gas, the chain 'coasts' over the teeth and makes a terible racket. I think the only reason it works at all is because the chain has zero slack. It's pretty nutty.


So thats the moto story. Also, we now have a whiteboard, to facilitate teaching.



On monday, people from Tramoung Chrum are coming to the shop. I will attempt to teach them how engines work, and if that fails we'll just take the moto apart.

So that's whats up!

Ned.