I have an AOG (Aircraft On Ground)

Soundtrack: Roger Waters – The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range

Or BIG (Bike In Garage)
Two post’s on the same day. Not possible?
As you read this, you are becoming vitness to if not the biggest, so the most important resque mission in the history of Spain, concerning a Danish guy and his old Ussel Mammut.
Things are plain and simple, my starter clutch is beginning to fail now and then. It gives a very annoying sound when trying to start the bike from cold. Now you ask yourself, how would he know, he stopped riding and settled down in Palma del Rio, Spain instead.
No, it just got very bad while staying here, maybe because I haven’t been riding it that often over the last period of time. I have asked Beatriz, if she sabotaged Ussel Mammut? She says no, and keeps smiling.
It is a common problem with the VFR’s when they get older, fairly simple to solve with the correct replacement parts or repair. “Monkey see, monkey do”. I’m not the first to experience this. The bike starts without big problems and runs good, but it is just a matter of time, before I can’t use the electro starter anymore. I can imagine being in Western Sahara, Africa with a 350 kg giant trying to start it by pushing it !”·$%&/()= I hope a bushman is near to help me.

Here is a great post on replacing a damaged starter clutch, taken from VFRworld. A guy from the Danish VFR forum welded his starter clutch, and have been riding with this ever since.

Right now I’m trying to locate the parts, and get an offer I can afford. I will either have it send to Palma del Rio or Ceuta (where I’m heading next time).

I have 3 options:

1: Buying a new starter clutch kit from David Silver UK – 202.25 GBP and shipping in 1-2 weeks, due to parts not in stock (Too expensive, I can buy a whole second hand engine for that price) or CMS from The Netherlands (they have one in stock ready to ship).
2: Having a skilled guy with a TIG welder here in Spain repairing the old one?
3: Cross my fingers and hope that one from CLUB VFR SPAIN, with the help from Bradley Robert Muir, has a spare engine, and willing to sell me the starter clutch assembly from it?

 What I need for the repair is:

1 x 28120-ML7-690 – Clutch outer
3 x 28125-MT4-000 – Spring for starter clutch
3 x 28126-415-000 – Cap for starter clutch
3 x 91101-516-000 – Roller for starter clutch
Locktite for threadlocking the bolts

I will replace this together with the a  new clutch.

I will cross my fingers that things aren’t getting worse. We will ride to Malaga this weekend and spend the time with her brother (José) and his wife (Maria Luisa). Otherwise Beatriz just have to push, because “I can’t move” ;oP

This is not a scam for not leaving Palma del Rio or Spain. I will leave next week, with or without a new starter clutch! See the image to the right, You can clearly see the crack of the starter clutch.

If anybody out there is able to solve or help me with the problem and kick me of for Africa, please let me know… And no Rick Astley songs okay.

I will make sure to come up with the more about this, and how I solved it. This is not the end, the solution is to come…

UPDATE 28AUG2009
Things turned out that Faasa where Beatrizworks seems to have a TIG welder. The Faasa group  is a helicopter and airline business which provide emergency transports for hospitals, educate helicopter pilots, and most important firefighting here in Spain.
This is the best and cheapest solution for me, saving 200 GBP, and a whole lot of difficulties of planning the logistics on where to send the parts, plus saving of time.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can call me the stingiest guy on the planet, even Uncle Scrooge have troubles to keep up with me.
I will disassembly the bike on Sunday or Monday, determining to problem for real and take the part to Faasa, if broken? The company is located just outside of Palma del Rio. You might wonder how the hell, this guy managed to get a Helicopter company to help him? Things are simple, I know a very important and beautiful person at the place, Beatriz, so I guess I’m some sort of plugged in, you know what I mean! Another thing is that I like coming on visit and go around the area to look at all the hardware they have like the Bell’s and my beloved Agusta 109A. And also a chit chat with “Sharky”, a US citizen and representative from Bell helicopters. Even the security guard has stopped asking me questions when arriving, and just lets me in. I simply miss working in that kind of business, and the people too. I drool every time I stand next to her (don’t read this Bea). Maybe one day it will be me, sitting in the right seat, one thing is for sure, I want the A-license for the fixed wing aircraft one day, it’s a dream of mine. Well what were we talking about, was it work? I better get things done here! See you…

Update 28AUG2009
Just got a mail from Brad, Murcia, Spain telling me that some of the parts are located on the Canary Islands at a member called Jonathan from clubvfrspain.es. He has the parts showing on the picture, springs, rollers etc. from a RC36-1. Same shit no difference between the two model, and he is willing to send it to me. I guess it is my lucky day. The bits and pieces has available has been soaked in oil for for the last two years. I guess it sometimes makes sense keeping things instead of throwing them out. Maybe a Danish guy can use them some day? But it still doens’t help 100% as I still need the part that is cracked, the outer starter clutch. Meanwhile Brad is trying to locate a used but in fine condition at a wrecker in Murcia. If I get all these parts, I will install them on the bike, and get the worn one welded at Faasa as stated above. In this way I have a backup spare for later use.

He also write a very important note! I qoute him from the email received from Brad today:

“In the photo below, the red arrow points to the tabs on the outer surface of one of the parts which I am told send a spark to the ignition pick-up sensor.

 If these tabs are sunk inward, you can prise them back into shape with a screwdriver, with care. If sunk in, the bike may not go more than 80 km/h or could have a very rough idle or even just stop running….

The problem I had was that the courier had dropped the package and I installed the part without realizing one of the tabs had sunk inward. I went crazy over two months until I found the problem….

If you need any of the other parts, I can send them but I would swear it’s the first part which will have cracked

Note: Put the bike in gear to make undoing the bolts easier, and to remove the central bolt, use a long extension on your ratchet…. I think it’s reverse threaded. It’s very hard to unbolt”.”

A big thanks so far for the help from you and the VFR forum.

Update 04SEP2009
I ended up ordering a new starter clutch after disassembling the bike to confirm the problem. It was cracked, classic problem. Faasa was not able to weld the old broken starter clutch as I had planned to start with. I ended up paying 192 Euros incl. shipment for this part, fuck.
Now I’m waiting on the new part to arrive from The Netherlands, ordered it 02SEP2009. Approximately 3-4 days to arrive, so today it might arrive here in Palma del Rio, Spain, or Monday. Of cause Beatriz wants it to arrive on Monday, and not today. Maybe she already have it without telling me?
I have replaced the clutch, now that I had opened into the internal parts of the engine. Don’t want to waste another packing. The hardest thing about this job, is to remove the old packing. When finish José (Batman) and me (MacG(i)ver leave PDR to ride down to Gibraltar and Algeciras, spending a couple of days on the road. It is going to be fun…

Update 08SEP2009
New starter clutch received here in Palma del Rio, Spain. Only thing needed is to install it tomorrow when I can borrow some Locktite and a 17 mm top socket from Eduardo at Citröen here in PDR. Today everything is closed due to holidays. I’m exited to test the bike after assembly, see if the vibrations have disappeared. I experienced more and more vibrations from the engine lately, probably due to the old cracked starter clutch.
Meanwhile I had the opportunity to get a free update on my Hepatitis vaccination here in PDR. You might not believe in me, but the hospital gave me the vaccination without any problems. Back in DK I had to pay for this kind of service. Will leave on Saturday, look forward to some dirt roads and wild camping in the continent of Africa. I guess it is time for me to progress and get on the road again…

Update 09SEP2009
Part installed, engine serviced with new oil and started up. The V4 starts and runs perfect again. Will take Ussel Mammut for a spin tomorrow to test it on the road. I also managed to rearrange some of the heavy tools and parts on the bike. Getting the weight and center of gravity more forward and down.
Bought some new oil a couple of days ago at the moto shop here in Palma del Rio, Spain. The guy in the store, I think it was guy owning it was very interested in knowing how it was possible for me to ride around the world. In another word, he wanted to know the financial background of this. My friend José told him what I had done to achieve this, that I financed this journey myself, but also getting help from companies and people. I left the shop paying the the full price of the oil. I guess he didn’t understand a thing of what I just told him. And further more I didn’t bother to do anything about it. He had the power, I needed his product ;oP
Another thing. I have been in contact with my bank regarding the clutch kit I ordered from David Silver Spares in UK late June 2009. It never showed up in Murcia, Spain, and had no tracking number. DSS refused to send me a new clutch kit for free when I emailed them back regarding the sad news. They would cover the price of the shipment to show a little goodwill, ash holes. Even more they refused to return my money. BASTARDS! The European rules for doing purchases on the Internet with your credit card, state that you are insured if no product shows up. They must have some kind of an insurance when things disappear by mail.
I guess it is my lucky day once again, getting my hard earned money back. Sorry DSS, you better look into supplying your costumers with better service in the future.
STILL LEAVING ON A SATURDAY…