Info Longford Motorama 2022

Part 1 - The Trip

Hi All,

Yesterday, I thought I'd go for a bit of a ride and blow the cobwebs out of myself and the little Suzuki Across. Having only recently started riding again, I wasn't too keen on anything like one of Murdo's long distance adventures, so I decided to go to the Longford Motorama. It's about a 180km round trip from my place, so that was plenty as I was riding solo and taking the back roads which turned out to be a bucket load of fun.

The town of Longford has a special place in Australian Motor Racing history and if you want to know more, then you should use the following link.

http://www.speedwayandroadracehistory.com/longford.html

 

Part 2 - The Pain

So, after having a fun country ride to Longford, the bike started running rough coming into Longford and eventually stalled as I pulled into the first service station to get fuel and maybe see what was wrong with the old girl. Fuel (91) was only $2.09 per litre, but deisel down here is crazy, $2.28 is the cheapest I've seen.

Anyway, after putting some fuel in the thing and letting her sit for a bit, I attempted to get her started. She eventually came to life and with me blipping the throttle, I rode off to the motorama. Again, she stalled once I went to park her. I shut her off and let her sit for a couple of hours while checking out the show.

 

Part 3 - The Bikes

I went to Longford as the local VJMC had a stand and I thought there would be plenty of bikes on show...there wasn't. It was more a car thing, so that was a little disappointing. Tasmania is a really weird place when it comes to old vehicles. Considering the population is little more than 540,000 people, it's amazing how many old, well-maintained, vehicles there are down here. I found out the other day, that a bloke around the corner from me has 4 complete model T Fords in his shed! Another neighbour has several rideable 1930's inline 4 Indians.

Anyhoot, the VJMC stand was okay, but only a handful of bikes on show.

 

Part 4 - The Cars

There was a lot of cars, both street and racing. I have posted a few below, but there was a lot of really interesting displays and it was a really good day. Hopefully, the VJMC got a bit of interest with their stand and display. There was the odd other bike in the place, but not too much.

 

Part 5 - The ride home

Well, I knew I was in trouble when I got back to the bike and she didn't want to start. Felt like she was trying to run on at least one less cylinder than what is concidered normal. I can't be 100% sure what was causing the problem, but my first thought was "Mikuni carbs...damn you all to hell!".

Anyway, she eventually started and with me again blipping the throttle all over the place, I eventually made it out onto the open roads and she seemed to be going okay as long as the revs were kept highish. When I eventually got home, I pulled up expecting the bike to stall and the bloody thing just kept on idling as if nothing had happened. I started her again later in the day and went for a quick lap around the block and again, all was well. Weird.

 

Hi Peter,

These carbs were pretty bad. The engine would instantly flood if you used the choke and you could only really ride it in Summer and even then it had terrible flat spots. So, I ordered some bits from Litetek and rebuilt and balanced them. The bike was running fine, but that was the first long ride it had been on since the carbs were rebuilt. I'm not knowledgeable on Mikuni carbs, but I wouldn't think it was a filter issue as it idled and ran fine when I got her home (you'd think a blocked filter wouldn't unblock itself). I actually thought it had fouled a plug and cleared itself once I got going again. It was a hot day (28), but nothing crazy. I was hoping to have a long chat with the chief this weekend about these carbs, but that's no longer an option. I'll watch how it runs on the next ride. Fuel economy was terrible. Do you lower the needle if it's over-fueling?