27 JD Restoration

[Steve Swan]

Gorgeous setting for pictures of your '27, Steve. It is great to see someone having fun with their vintage motorcycle. Keep taking pictures, as I love seeing pictures of that beautiful motorcycle.

Thank you Eric!

[exeric]

Gorgeous setting for pictures of your '27, Steve. It is great to see someone having fun with their vintage motorcycle. Keep taking pictures, as I love seeing pictures of that beautiful motorcycle.

[Steve Swan]

So, i went for my little 29 mile route up around Horsetooth Reservoir, and then down through Masonville and over to Hwy.34 and turned around, stopped in Masonville and took a couple pics. everything seems to running well after 196 miles, i removed the last thin washer, as i accumulated 30cc (1 ounce) of oil in 30 miles. my prior ride, last November, i gained 40 cc during the same ride/route. so it will be interesting to see how much oil accumulates with no washers. A big thank you to my buddy James Lafler to took up the rear, cars were out in force today. James is in the middle of fitting together his '29 chassis, his engine and trans are restored; his will be a beauty.

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[Steve Swan]

I am giving Tommo a HUGE THANK YOU for making available a BEAUTIFUL original headlight for my 27. THANK YOU, Tommo !!!!!

[Steve Swan]

Great thread, good job ! Really enjoyed reading about and seeing the build - enjoy !

Thanks Tom !

[Tom Lovejoy]

Great thread, good job ! Really enjoyed reading about and seeing the build - enjoy !

[Steve Swan]

i took the old fellow out for another 30 mile ride today. All flawless. i accumulated 40 cc of oil in 30 miles with two thin shims. Removed another, so I am now down one thin shim, so on my next ride, we'll see how much oil accumulates on the next ride. i now have 167 miles on the engine. Sorry, no pics...... i'll do better next time, might not be til next spring!

[Steve Swan]

a couple grainy pics i took from the monitor screen of my first 30 mile ride in the rain, August 9.

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[Steve Swan]

I used to go thru Masonville a lot back when the road to the west was gravel...
VPH-D

Those were the days !

[Steve Swan]

Fantastic, well done Steve.

It looks a bit chilly out west from the Mercantile though!

John

John, don't believe what you see. i robbed that picture off the 'net !

[TechNoir]

Fantastic, well done Steve.

It looks a bit chilly out west from the Mercantile though!

John

[vph-d]

I used to go thru Masonville a lot back when the road to the west was gravel...
VPH-D

[Steve Swan]

a stunning bike steve. great job now enjoy the riding.

Thank you !

[nuklhd]

a stunning bike steve. great job now enjoy the riding.

[Steve Swan]

Steve, It's great that the old girl is on the road! Awesome work! Unless someone had done a complete restoration as you did, they cannot appreciate the large amount of work and time that is involved. You will find that the mount of oil that accumulates also depends on the speeds that you ride. At higher speeds the oil pump pumps more but with modern rings you don't consume anymore. Just a thought. I don't worry too much about how much oil is in there since I change mine at least every 150 miles. With 2 pumps of fresh oil, I know I am good with no oil consumption. Keep having fun and enjoy! She's a beauty!

John, thanks for your encouraging words of experience; coming from you means alot. it's quite a sensation riding a bike built from parts that were never together as a motorcycle. i have to say, my first rides, the bike really did not feel like a motorcycle, if you know what i mean. as i get more miles on the clock, i can literally feel everything seating in, mating together and actually feeling like stuff's working together the way it may have felt when it was new from the factory. what's really cool, is i am getting used to having a rear brake only and stopping power is really not that bad, i simply find i need to accommodate road speeds to match braking performance.

interesting what you say about oiler output; i appreciate that! i'm also giving 2 strokes after dumping the oil. make perfect sense to do oil changes every 150 miles and running a "dry" piston setup, it's nice to know i'm not blowing oil past the piston, into the combustion chamber causing carbon buildup.

i also forgot to say, i got up to 50 mph and had lots of throttle to go. I am still varying my speeds between 30-40 mph and mildly lugging for short distances on hills. i slow down to 30 and speed up to 40.

what's also very cool is the bike is getting dirty with oil, bugs and road grime !