I still haven't ridden "the Frog" myself yet, but I'm really pleased Tom's getting some enjoyment from it -that's the whole point of building these things after all.
Today's list of minor niggles:
The speedo's stopped working, which appears to be a cable problem. Either the cable itself has too tight a bend in it, or the 90° angled fitting on the end is slipping. It's a car fitting with a plastic stub that connects to the original drive unit. I think the plastic bit needs replacing with a short length of normal metal bike speedo inner cable.
There's still an unidentified rattle from the left side, possibly the exhaust heat shield.
The cylinder head gasket's leaking between the fins on the left side. May be worth just retorquing the head bolts or trying an oil additive to seal the leak. If the head needs to come off, it's an engine out job -a big job.
On the plus side, nothing's vibrated loose or fallen off, all the lights still work & the clutch seems to have quitened down. The clutch lever operation is now much smoother too.
No idea what it's doing to the gallon, but the boys did manage to run out of fuel this evening. Fortunately they had the ingenuity to use a bottle they found at the roadside to transfer fuel from Archie's 1100 to the XS.
It's the first time I've seen it moving under it's own steam & I must admit I'm pleased with it. Might seem strange that I haven't leapt in it myself yet, but with that project now complete & being road tested, I just want to crack on & get the truck done too. I know the bike's in safe, sensible hands & I'm more than happy for Tom to keep on pootling & refining it for now. Good to see you guys