insured

Feel free to write for advice to: TAG Clinic, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ or email theclinic@twistngo.com
but please understand that we can’t publish every letter or reply to any queries in person.
The Clinic
Nasty cough first
thing in the morning
My Peugeot Speedfight 50cc ran fine
until recently. When the bike is started
after being left overnight, blue smoke
pours out of the exhaust and it’s hard to
pull away. For about a mile you can’t get
over about 15mph because the bike is
jerking, but then just like a switch it
clears and you can reach speeds of
55mph and there's no more problems
till it is left again. Nick, Leicester
This could be one of two things, or
maybe both. First off get the choke
mechanism checked as this could be a
little lazy. When on choke the usual 15-1
air fuel ratio can be as high as 1-1
Oooooh my stiff back
My MBK Ovetto 50 suffers from an over-stiff rear
suspension: it's like riding with an old-fashioned
three-penny bit for a rear wheel. Will this improve
with mileage, or is it possibly a seized rear shock or
out-of-round tyre? Is it possible to fit foldout rear
pegs to the frame under the footboards? My
passenger doesn't feel safe with toes tucked in on
the small rear platforms? Barrie Stockton, Burnley
The suspension should move through most of its
length of travel simply by putting your bodyweight
fully on the rear end. It should then spring back as
you lift up. If it shows any resistance then something
is amiss.
Compare it to other scoots, not just an Ovetto. A
new shock should sort this out, although sometimes
(such is the
amount of petrol
needed to get a cold
engine started). If this continued
at that rate it wouldn’t run very well
(certainly the engine would be coughing
a bit and smoking even more).
Should this be working fine then get
the float level checked out. If this is OK,
it’s likely the float valve is leaking. This
in turn fills the bottom end of the engine
making it hard to start and taking some
time before it clears its throat and starts
to sing again. This may appear to be a
minor fault but over time it will wreck
your bottom end as the fuel washes the
oil off bearings and other moving parts
leaving them totally unprotected during
the all important initial start up phase.
the problem can be with the engine mounts. As for
the footrests, this would involve some pretty serious
modification work involving attaching a piece of metal
running the width of the footboards to fit pegs where
currently there aren’t any. This is just an idea but it
might prove easier to get a new pillion passenger.
So there we were cheering the Brits on in the last
cricket test match when Stevie P (our ace lady
photographer) enquired about the rules of the game.
Being one of my specialist subjects I just couldn’t
help myself. Here we go:
You have two sides; one out in the field and one in.
Each man that's in the side that's in goes out and
when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in
until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's
out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and
tries to get those coming in, out.
Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a
man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get
him out and when he is out he goes in and the next
man in goes out and goes in. There are two men
called umpires who stay out all the time and they
decide when the men who are in are out.
When both sides have been in and all the men have
been out and both sides have been out twice after all
the men have been in, including those who are not
out, that is the end of the game.
She looked in total disbelief and carried on
watching the match. Anyway, we won so you don’t
need to know how it works, so let’s get on with the
mechanical questions.
Chris Pearson Bsc LSA (bronze swimming
certificate and lifesaver’s award)
Uphill task
Uphill my Gilera DNA 50 loses lots of
power (down to about 22mph).
Sometimes it does it on the flat
(mainly when I release the throttle,
then put it back on). I have a Viper
racing exhaust with the correct
weight rollers and a Malossi Multivar
racing variator. Any ideas?
Gary Cowan, Glasgow
This could be many things as you
don’t give too many clues of what
actually happens when it’s playing
up. However it sounds like a fuel
problem to me. This could in turn be
anything from a float level being too
low to a blocked petrol cap or tap.
Start at the top and work
downwards. Leave the petrol cap on
and see if you can drain a tank full of
juice out of the tap without the flow
slowing considerably. It may well
prove that the tap is lazy and losing
vacuum or if the cap is blocked then
a partial vacuum will be forming
within the tank preventing the fuels
flow.
If this proves to be OK, delve
further into the carburettor workings.
The fuel level is critical to correct
operation of the engine so measure
that first. If all of these things are
correct you could try a different grade
of spark plug in case it is ‘whiskering
up’ at speed.
86 NOVEMBER 05