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Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The Italica Bulldog 150 Manifests Its First Malfunction

Yesterday in the late afternoon/early evening, I took the motorcycle out for another ride -- into town and back out, just to enjoy the day and develop my "driving in traffic" skills (my return home was during the typical rush hour period and along a typical rush hour route).

A couple of miles from home I started noticing an intermittent metallic sound, not unlike a tin can being kicked or dragged down the road. It didn't sound internal to the engine, but it was coming from that general area. I was in the "lots of cars moving fast" part of the trip rather than the "lots of cars in start-and-stop" part of the ride, and only a few minutes from home, so I chose to just get home rather than stop to investigate.

As soon as I stepped off the bike and went to put the kick stand down, I thought I could see the problem, and I was right: The spring that holds the center stand up was gone -- either broken or just slipped off somehow. The stand was falling and scraping the pavement, presumably when I'd hit a little bump; the next bump probably knocked it back upward, ending the metallic dragging sound until another bump.

I zip-tied the stand in the "up" position. I'll either get a new spring, or remove the stand entirely (it has its uses, one of which is positioning the bike for an accurate check of the oil level, but it's not strictly necessary and adds weight).

While I was zip-tying it up, I noticed that a small, capped tube/hose coming off the air filter box was loose and floppy, so I zip-tied that in place as well. Not sure what purpose that tube/hose really serves. The old 50cc had one as well, and of course I pulled its air filter box off and replaced the whole apparatus with a cone filter, which I intend to do on this bike as well ... soon. But that modification comes after installing the NGK iridium spark plug and Nibbi performance coil, both of which should arrive today.

In a rare instance of foresight on my part, I ordered a big box of zip-ties during the period when I was shopping for motorcycle gear/accessories, assuming that I'd need some. Once I have the fairings off to do stuff inside the engine compartment, I plan to attend to any wiring/cabling that isn't snug and secure.

Update: I've added a selection of center stand springs, among other motorcycle stuff that I haven't bought yet, to my Amazon Wish List. After the layout for the motorcycle, taxes, tags, full-face helmet, etc., I'm watching my wallet at the moment. I'll get to this stuff eventually ... unless others decide to get to it for me first.

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