Long Post. Summary: I think it is timing or advance.

[brettironbutt]

Hello everyone. I have been in the saddle for 12 hours a day for two days. I am in northern chile, the Atacama desert, and just after I turned around to head back to where I will ship the bike home, I had a major issue. I lost all power in one cylinder, again. I was 100miles from help in both direction, literally the middle of the desert. I trouble shot, changed the spark plugs, changed a fuel line and filter. Got me on the road for another 30km, where I stopped on the outskirts of a small sea side village. There, I did more trouble shooting. Got it another 20km to a larger village where I rested and made use of their cement garage floor. (Previous, only soft sand to work on). I checked the valve clearance in the morning, and although I did not have a torque wrench, I could not budge the head bolts with the factory tool kit 13mm wrench. 3 of the 4 valves were slightly tight… i could fit the feeler gauge, but with great resistance. The exhaust on the left side was very tight. Not touching, but tight. So I set it correctly. This solved many of my problems. I lost power on a 10km slow upgrade with strong headwinds. I am heavy, I carry extra gas, tools parts, camping gear, etc. It was also hot out. I suspect that it just got hotter, tighter, hotter, tighter. This also explains why I always felt the two sides were not balanced. I was always trying to adjust the carb balance. The valve settings greatly increased my power. But I then had a second problem… my new fuel line was not seating well, and was leaking. I went back with the old one, and it sat perfect. I still have a persistent and significant issue. I have to ship on Monday, so I had to clear 1100 km starting yesterday. I did all but 400 today. Will do 400km tomorrow and then I will have a day to prep before shipping. My new/old issue is that when I turn the throttle, maybe half way when accelerating out of a stop light, I make the turn of the throttle, and instead of accelerating, it starts some, and then bogs for a bit. The throttle is at a single setting now. Then, without moving the throttle up or down, it starts to accelerate in revs and speed over ground. This then turns into bogging down again. When I shift up, the RPMs lower, and the same thing happens, at about the same RPMs. Bog…. Acceleration… bog, with a constant throttle setting. Other things I have done, replaced the condensor (no effect), crossed the spark plug wires, no effect. I have also blown out the jets with carb cleaner. The only other sympton is when I come to a stop after sustained highway speeds, it does not come down to low idle for 15-20 seconds. It comes down to a higher idle and then lowers on its own. I have had 12 hours today to consider what might be going on, and I think it is either a bad advance…. Somehow maybe it is stiff… and so it does not come up or down as it should. OR… the timing is off. And so as the advance moves, it finds the right timing, briefly. I do not have a timing light, and I did not bring my timing tool with the sound buzzer I bought from Vech years ago. Foolishly thinking it was too much space. I am taking a breather, and will check the advance and timing in the morning. I will inspect the advance before touching the hex bolt. Then if I do take it off, I will mount it without knowing how the timing might be. As I recall, once you mounted the advance, it had some play in the rotation, and I would have to take out the slack clockwise to get the timing right. If I dismount the advance, I will have to “guess” when I reinstall it. Clockwise or counter clockwise. (With regard to the slack). Maybe I find something in the advance just by inspecting it carefully while currently mounted. If I have learned anything, it may be something completely different. Oddly, it still starts, first kick, everytime. The only time I had troubles starting was when I cleaned the carbs 2000 miles ago thinking my balance issue was a clogged jet. The throttle body cover was not seated correctly. (So I kicked a billion times and broke (or sprained) my big toe). I absolutely adore my bike, and the community, but I do recognize that my drive to realize the dream of a trip to the Cape has caused me to ask a lot of questions of the forum. Many, answered themselves with a little time, and so I wanted to thank you all for being so nice to me, and for the many of you who have been so helpful, often when I was asking the wrong questions. I don’t expect anyone can help me here or now, but the spirit of the group has often buoyed my spirits. I have always dreamed of this trip, and there were plenty of obstacles, both in the prep/engine rebuild phase and the execution. The forum has been an incredible security blanket. I know I sometimes am quick to reach out, when I should just sit on my question or do a little more research. Now, I am a half days ride from making this round trip a reality. I am enclosing a few pictures from the desert today, and one from my morning maintenance.

[pmtremblay]

I can't offer you any mechanical advice, but I greatly enjoy your posts. The photo of the you, the bike and the hand sculpture is epic. Safe travels!

[schrader7032]

I wonder if you're suffering from "butter heads". You've had so many posts...I've forgotten the year and model of your bike.

[pshosticka]

Even without a ohm meter you can do a rough estimation of timing with a piece of cigarette paper between the points. When it just slips it is close. You can also make small adjustments with just the points gap, open advance, close retard, leaving the advancer in place. Won't help much now but see the related thread on /2 points plate. It has been great to fallow along with you on your amazing trip.

[cwf]

Is that first photo the road?

Well done for getting out there. My wife doesn't like sitting on the back of the 50/2 and I don't want to travel without her or we'd be riding around Europe and beyond.

Charlie.

[808Airhead]

Bogging is probably fuel. Look inside your carburetors at the opening and see if the “main jet seat” has “lifted up” out of the carb body, this will block the needle and make it lean. Compare the 2 carbs and if one looks higher, you can tap it back down into the carb body. I would also check ignition wire connection into plug cap. Good luck!

[brettironbutt]

First, thank you all for the support. It has been a huge part of my decision to try. I have located most of the my problems, this morning. I twisted the slack out of the advance, to the right, and it ran VERY poorly. I twisted the slack to the slack out to the left (counter clockwise), and it ran pretty good. I did not lube the advanced, which I wish I would have. I am almost certain that among my problems, the advance weights are sticking. I will WD40 them tomorrow. I am 22km from the shipping port, and will have my bike back in my garage in a few months where i can really troubleshoot. I had three problems, all of them my own doing. 1. I did not have a long break in period because I would have missed my window to ship, and had to wait another year. (THis happened last year). 2. I checked the valves at the half way point, but it was near antarctica. I did not do a full check of everything when I returned to the north, and the temps were in the 90s/100s. That was a big mistake. I had multiple small challenges, the valve clearance, the timing, the advance lubrication. I should have taken a day to just do it all. Maybe every 10 days. 3. I did not take enough spare parts. I should have taken a timing tool, compression gauge, and spare advance. (My old one). They would have been very useful. And not all that much more space. Again, thanks for the support. I am not trying to brag here, but every motorcyclist I know here, has had to trailer their bike at some point. Not the R60/2. She is as resilient as they come.

[jgreen]

I have to say, that ignition problems are the worst.

I have purchased new advance units that were garbage.

That being said, it seems that most of your problems are when the bike is hot. If you are having ignition problems when the bike is hot, but it gets better when the bike is cool, it may be that the coil is starting to go bad...