More Rapido

It was a hot one again yesterday - I'd guess someplace close to 90 again mid to late afternoon. I've been limiting my activity during the heat due mostly to the fact we haven't had a string of hot days to allow my body to get acclimated to the heat. However, that's just fine with me. I've been getting a few things done, like the carb and air cleaner on the Rapido.

The air cleaner looks pretty good on the bike but the more we fix and paint, the worse the frame and wheels look. I'm going to pull the tank off next and get that rinsed out. After seeing the condition of the carburetor, I don't foresee any real problem there. I've got new rubber mounts for the front of the tank. One of the old mounts is missing and the tank is currently wired on. The tank is supposed to sit on a rubber mount in the tunnel. It pivots on that when the strap on the back is tightened down forcing the ears on the front of the tank to lock into place on a couple of pins sticking out from the frame. The previous owner must have lost one of the rubber mounts and rather than getting a replacement, did the wire thing.

I installed a new throttle cable when I put the carb back on. The cable seemed to be bit short but I think most of the problem was the position of the handlebars. Must have been a big guy riding it before. The bars were rotated forward quite a bit. After rotating them back to where they probably were from the factory and rotating the clutch lever downward to level it out, I picked up just enough slack to make it work when the bars are turned lock to lock. I'm going to safety wire the cable on the throttle end and carb end to make sure the cable won't pull out and get stuck on full throttle or something. Don't want the grandson to find himself in a panic situation.