In 2009 I felt that a motorcycle would be the thing to have. I traded my VW 1300 model 1973 to a 650 cc Honda Nighthawk model 1985. In 2018 it was traded for a Kawasaki EN 500 model 1992.In 2021 I upgraded to a 1995 model.
The first year I replaced the front fork seals, I also noted that there was plenty of "Blue smoke" when loading the motor. Well, keeping the speed below 85Km/h and adding oil was my strategy for several years. Checking the spark plugs gave me the information that there was a problem in cylinder number 3, but since the engine started and somehow behaved, I left the fixing of the problem to the future.
In the late summer of 2013 the warm engine would not run on idle, my "oil adding" strategy ended this summer. In the early spring 2014 I took the bike to BN-Motor where I could investigate and maybe fix the problem.
Rebuilding the cylinder block and head.
In the summer 2015 things were fine until the rear wheel jammed about 50km south of Jeppo. BN-Motor was called to pick me up with a trailer. The problem was in the drive line.
The problem with the drive shaft took some weeks to fix. I had already "heard" sounds from the drive line, sounds that shouldn’t be there, so I had already bought some second-hand E-Bay parts. Part number 1 Universal joint and part 14shaft assembly.
Sold Honda CB 650 SC Nighthawk 23.08.2018
Bought Kawasaki EN 500 21.08.2018
The Nighthawk served me for 9 years with 30000 Km added to the already 50000 Km on the trip meter, a possible gearbox renovation sounded to be around the next corner, so the bike was sold as a project. A Kawasaki EN 500 1992 with 42000 Km on the trip meter was bought as a replacement.
I had a plan to service the EN 500 for the season 2019. The plan was new tires, new wheel bearings, valve adjustment and starter overhaul. The starter showed typical symptoms of worn carbon brushes. The list was sent to CMS , one of the best suppliers of MC parts for older type of bikes. Some surprises were found, the front belt drive splines were worn, maybe not too bad, but with everything open, I replaced the belt drive. When the starter was to be taken out, the tight passage between the carburettor and the engine was a problem. The carburettors are slightly movable since they are mounted on rubber flanges, this is where I messed up the job. I moved the carburettor too much and the O-rings on the T-pipe, the fuel rail between the carburettors were damaged. This was of course not noted until the first start up, with fuel flowing over the engine. The O-ring type should withstand the fuel, so Viton type is recommend. After this battle i had the bike running in the end of June. Some of the pictures below were used to track a problem that occurred in 2021.
2021 July The year 2021 was a good cruising year, that was to the end of July, then things went bad. I was on my way home from Vasa running at about 100 km/h, suddenly a terrible sound was head, the sound was loud like a high frequency scratching. I remember that I pulled the clutch, and noted that I was still on the road, not in the woods. The motor was idling, and about thousand possible failures were processed in my head. I stopped the motor, and started I again, nothing alarming heard. Tried to drive some 100 meters, but the sound was back, I decided to stop everything and call my son to pick me up on his trailer.
Picture document At the 2019 service, I noted that the alternator stator had seen some hard times. My thoughts were that there had been an interference issuer between the stator and the flywheel. The problem had been taken care of, and the stator was usable when the parts were reassembled. No metal particles were found in the housing at this occasion.
Investigations With this in mind, and reading the forums were "blown magnets in the flywheel" was a known issuer, I thought that this could be my current problem problem. The suggestions on the forum was to get a newer type of flywheel with a protecting shield over the magnets and a new stator. The price of these parts were about half of what I paid for the bike, so not really a good solution. To be sure that this was my problem, I opened the left side of the motor. Yes, it seemed as if I had the described problem, metal particles all over the parts, and in the flywheel cover. The only disturbing thing was that there was already a new type of flywheel, the described one, with the protecting shield over the magnets. The stator was in my opinion even more damaged than in 2019, however, the shield over the magnets only had some minor scratches. These light damages, the amount of metal particles and the sound I heard when the disaster happened, did NOT match. Since I was convinced that the stator had hit the flywheel, I did NOT read further on the forums, to learn more about what else could happen around the flywheel, that was a MISTAKE. Since the flywheel was ok, the only thing I would need to get the bike running seemed to be a new alternator stator. A suitable stator was found on eBay for just over 100€, that was a reasonable sum to invest in the bike.
New start The new stator arrived in August and was installed, I noted that the diameter was 102,2 mm, the replaced one was 104,4mm, and I wondered if the alternator charging output would be affected. The flywheel was 105,8mm, that is a gap of 0,7 mm on both sides, very tight fit, could it be an old type stator in a new type flywheel? The new setup resulted in a gap of 1,8mm on both sides, that is more realistic. With new oil and everything tighten up, I started the engine measured the alternator output and run the motor up to working temperature, everything was as expected, and I could not identified any abnormal sounds. My son was working in the garage, he would be around for the next hours, just in case....... I went for a trip to the nearest town, approaching the town, and just within the 50km/h speed limits on a straight part of the street, the back wheel seized, full stop screaming on the tarmac. The motor would not even spin with the starter, the motor was seized. Jepp, that was why I asked my son if he would be around for the next hours, I was not confident that I really had fixed all the issuers.
No hope The bike season was coming to an end and so was my patience with the bike. Checking on the internet I found a low mileage Kawasaki 500EN 1995, with only 16472 Km on the meter. That is the one on the picture at the top of this tab. With this solution I enjoyed the bike season to September.
2021 End of bike season The 1992 Kawasaki was sold as a project, seized and with the whole story above told to the interested buyer, who promised to tell me what the root cause was, that I should have fixed. After some weeks he reported that the starter chain had tangled with the chain guide, and was stuck behind the flywheel against the motor block.
2022 January Looking forward to next bike season with a "new" bike, my thoughts were interrupted by such a simple question as "how do I know that the starter chain is ok in this bike". That question is of course related to what was found on the old bike I sold. Well back to the forums to look for anything about the starter chain or starter chain slack. One topic described a clear case, the starter works over a freewheel attached on the back of the flywheel. The freewheel and the drive sprocket with the chain to the starter is fastened with 3 bolts to the flywheel, these may loosen up and hit the mechanism behind the flywheel. So now I know why things did not look right about the "minor damages on the magnet shield, but a lot of metal particles", the metal particles were from a loose bolt in the rotating flywheel, chewing through anything in its way behind the flywheel. Can I be sure about this? Yes, this time I have proof, maybe late, but better late than never. In the pictures below the 3 bolts are in place in the pictures from 2019. In the picture from 2021 when I replaced the stator, it can be seen that one of the bolts is loose. Well this is life you win some battles, and you loose some battles.
Season opening
Backrest
Fuel gauge
Season 2022 opened with coffee and ice cream at my season opening café. New front and back tires, a modified backrest and a fuel gauge mounted.