Starting out

Hi Everyone,
Allow me to introduce myself. my name is Martin, I am 38 Yrs old & I have never owned, driven, or ridden anything more powerful than my pushbike.
Until now.

About two years ago i was given a 1984 (b reg) CF70 three speed automatic which had been sitting in my aunt's garage since my cousin stopped riding it in 1991 (well, that's when the tax expired anyway).
It has since sat in my shed doing nothing (through my fear of breaking something by attempting to do any work on it) until two weeks ago when i decided i would get started.
i have now managed to un-cease the back brake & have fitted a new battery & it seems the electrics are fine.
My next plan will be to fill it with petrol & hope the engine goes.
After that i will get it (and Myself) road legal (hopefully all by next spring).
That's that really, just thought i'd say hello. as at some point i will probably have to pick some peoples brains on here for help & advice with mechanical stuff, etc.

this is my daughter sitting on my bike.

Hi and welcome fellow Chaly owner (and the same model)

This was mine when I got her (she was being used by kids to jump fields)



Now she look a bit differnt, and is now back on the front burner and getting my undivied attension



I'm changing a few things on mine, as I dont like the square headlamp and square indicators, I want mine to look like the classic CF70 with the
chrome indicators and round headlamp, so a lot of bending and mending going on.

At first I was going along the route of welding a new bracket onto the forks, but now I'm going off on another route.

Welcome,and good luck with your chaly looks to be in great original condition? will you be keeping it that way, or r u going down the modifi road???
Be careful as you can spend £100s on it and it could well be worth a lot less than leaving as is

Hi
Are you sure its not a Lady Dax in disguise ?????????????????
I am not a fan of the square headlamp on the later CF's mine is a 78 with the round style headlamp and round indicators you are now at the pointy end of the debate show pony or runabout
Glad you have made it to the party
P.S where do you reside (Chaly hat)
where you from ( ST hat pronounced with a silent H )
Tufty

I haven't really thought too much about modifications etc, my priorities are getting it working & through an MOT, taxed, insured, etc, getting myself a provisional license & firstly a CBT. then doing the full test as soon as possible.

i'm kind of leaning towards the idea of keeping it as original looking as possible (apart from putting the basket back on the front!!) but at the same time i eventually would like to have it sparkling & gleaming like new.
However, I often change my mind on a whim so who knows how it will eventually end up.
The only major thing i think i'm definitely going to do reasonably quickly is change the colour. Being a lifelong spurs fan, i will have serious personal issues if i have to ride around on a red bike for too long (my cousin who i got it from is a liverpool fan, hence the red ).

By the way, I live in Harlow, Essex (well, someone's got to, eh!)

So anyway, i went out today & bought a can of petrol. put it in the tank and (after about five minutes of kicking it over) the engine only bloody went & started
Hopefully, tomorrow i will fit the new rear brake cable that i got off of ebay. Then i just need to get a new rear tyre, as the one on it is balder than my forehead (probably not til after xmas, as santa is gonna charge me a small fortune this year) and i will put it through an MOT to find out exactly what else needs doing.
However, everything i've tried to do so far hasn't thrown up any real problems.
so far, so good (*frantically touching wood that it stays that way*).

i finally got around to fitting that brake cable. all went swimmingly.
however, i thought i'd try starting it up again. this is where it all started going wrong.
kicked it over & over & over....... nothing. occasionally i'd get a little bit of a splutter & it would try to go, but then i would just whimper & stop & i could not get it to spring into life.
have bought & fitted a new spark plug in case that was the trouble, but still no joy.
why would it start up the other week after 20 odd years & not start now??
My brother suspects the carburettor may need stripping down & cleaning. is this likely to be the problem &, if so, how would i go about doing it??
Any other ideas as to what the problem might be?

All help & tips will be greatly appreciated.
thanks.

BaldyMD wrote:My brother suspects the carburettor may need stripping down & cleaning. is this likely to be the problem &, if so, how would i go about doing it??

Most likely, yes. (+ check if you have a good spark or not)
First, check if the fuel is still good / no dirt in the gas tank and that it flows smoothly in the carb.
If not, try again after taken the fuel cap off the tank.

After that, get a revision kit and clean the carb.
Make sure you replace all gaskets and even jets if necessary.

Still not working?
Might be worth checking the points and condensator.

Other causes can be worn (head) gaskets and so on.

Hi all,
Thanks for the advice about the carb. Sorry for the delay in getting on here & saying thanks, but it was much appreciated. Turns out it was just blocked jets. Took carb apart, gave everything a wipe down & cleared the holes in the jets with a strand of speaker wire!
Put it all back together, kicked it over & it started again (yes!!).
Took it up to the garage block near my house & gave it a run around. This was when I found out the speedo wasn't working. I took the speedo cable off & found the inner was snapped. I pulled it out and fitted it into the bottom of the speedo and span it by hand. The speedo itself works (which is great news).
I have already got a new cable (found one on eBay on Sunday, ordered it by phone Monday, delivered to me on tuesday) which is now sitting in a bag on my table waiting til the weekend when I can fit it.

Hopefully, now all I need are two new tyres then I can get it booked in for an MOT (fingers crossed it gets through). Then, barring any unexpected surprises, all I will have left to do will be cosmetic stuff (cleaning, polishing, shining, etc,

Also, I now have the V5 back from the DVLA, and yesterday I posted off my provisional licence application. When this comes back, I'll get that CBT booked.

Seems things are starting to come together, fingers crossed it stays that way!