Hitchcocks Forum

Woodsman has 300 miles on it and on delivery the low fuel warning light was sticking on. It needed replaced. The bike then, this week, would not start. Meter showed battery was not powering under load, hence not enough power to turn over on ignition. It will be replaced tomorrow. Moral in the story is bike was obviously in storage for a long time and the battery decayed, plates sulphating. The dealer, who also grossly over-filled the oil tank, should have checked these things. The dealer? CG Chell in Staffordshire. And I am in Glasgow, so the ball ache of returning bike, claiming warranty etc is just not on and another £100 has gone thanks to inefficient PDI. Other than that bike is great, but it is a poor reflection on dealer and their preparation systems, or lack of!

You've already guessed... Thunderbolt, already three years old when bought as new (had battery replaced), the rear brake light switch kept jamming on. Not tension or adjustment, just kept sticking. A drop of engine oil sorted that out. Some rust... J B Weld under the engine, keeping the oil in after what looked like a rebuild by somebody that couldn't use tools properly, and the sure winner, bought in kent, now near Besancon, France!



Bright side? Well, mine runs very well, never given me a problem, except shell V100 fuel which runs very well but seems to cause the engine to work on the 8 stoke cycle until warmed up. (could be something else).



I like my Woodsman, Just wish it had come as a 'new' bike, not one that been hanging around for over three years!

New battery now in and starting perfectly. It was an Exide supplied presumably originally and probably lying for a year or so and sulphating. Dealers should charge and maintain a charge on long standing bikes. Now planning a few changes including a longer reaching hand made side stand and figuring out how to lose weight off the bike, which is markedly heavier than the old 2004 iron barrel classic.

You will lose quite a bit of weight by ditching the electric starter motor, solenoid and the starter gear and sprag...

You are right Michael but the electric leg is handy. I am pulling the clutch lever in now to take any load off the starting process possible. I would like to put the bike on a diet but that involves a new exhaust, canning the centre stand and all the other things including your suggestion - not sure it is worthwhile as getting 95mpg.

Try ditching the 'cat' torpedo silencer, it weighs about 21 pounds compared to our hosts Classic silencer (EFI) which weighs around 7 pounds.

Good idea Mick thanks can you point me to the exact part I might well take that option. Will it replace the existing high level silencer on the left of the Woodsman? The bad news is that we are almost certain it is a sprag failure - not the battery - and after just 300 miles - NOT GOOD! I rang MotoGB who said they will send out a claim form...............sigh

I'm not actually sure what is in a woodsman silencer (they are unique to the bike) Wether they have a crappylytic perverter. or not.



I will have to go take a look, see if I can tell...

A weak battery kills sprags... also, the sprag change could take as little as 30 - 40 minutes... done it a couple of times on my efi