So the fact I had not been writing about the S90 is a give away of how I had been feeling. To be precise, it has been one disaster after another. I won’t mince words when I say the previous guy that tried to do it was a complete waste of time and money. His lone mechanic was working on several projects at the same time. Sure he may had been competent but the fact he could not devote his time to mine just resulted in a half baked effort.
Here’s a video I received this morning. It’s running now, with a ‘full wave’ 12v electrical system. When I asked the mechanic if it was normal now, he said it was ‘perfect’.
But before that, let’s go back with a thorough history.
Sometime 2021 during the Covid season I misplaced one of the boxes that contained several parts. To recall, I pushed the bike to a nearby motorcycle shop – one I trusted because they had fixed up my Blue EX3 very well. At some point the guy there more or less let it sit as he was waiting for help from his expert friend – and then Covid showed up and everything just stopped.
After things improved a bit, the mechanic had left that shop for who knows where, and I decided to give another guy a chance at getting it done. So one very rainy afternoon I drove my car to the motorcycle shop and me and another mechanic there put the boxes in the car while it was both raining and there was a chance I would get a ticket for illegal parking – I already had gotten one for the same spot in the past.
In the rush, I forgot one whole box of different parts. Hooray right?
That lone mechanic basically pinpointed two main problems. First, it wouldn’t shift properly. The clutch was rock stiff and it was so hard to put in the right gear, forget even finding neutral.
Second, the ignition coil would get super hot.
So he tried and tried to fix it, nada. At the same time he was busy with other bikes his boss was throwing at him, so I could see it wasn’t getting as much attention as it needed.
Added to that was the cylinder head leaked and seemed to be bad. He eventually fixed that, but it was a long and expensive process.
If I felt bad now, it was nowhere to how I felt back then. It just looked like I hit a wall. I had lost all confidence in the mechanic and his boss (especially his boss, who was completely unapologetic), so I was prepared to take it home and just park it until at least a solution would come along – and I had to be honest with myself – the chances of that were slim.
So anyway, here’s where I met Johnnie Lightning, who happened to put up a shop at a rented place that was a ten minute walk away. I literally introduced myself to him and started hanging out there, and brought my bike.
Johnnie as friendly as he was was mostly a body shop guy, focusing on welding jobs and cosmetic improvements. It turns out the mechanic he hired to get my bike fixed wasn’t as good either, so again, it sat.
Then, his lease on his shop’s address lapsed and he had to move. He found a place approximately 30 minutes via motorcycle from here, and there I met another guy, John of Johnny Cycles, another body shop. John was another great guy and he excitedly introduced me to Noy who owned JL Eight Motorcycle Shop, andspecialized in Honda Cubs, fixing an acquaintance’s bike in the past.
Noy is a very quiet, reserved and humble guy. Too quiet actually, and I’ll talk about that later. Anyway, he took in the bike, saw its problems and declared I’d have it back in a few weeks. It would start, but again the ignition coil was hot as hell and it was almost impossible to shift. This was November 2022. After that passed I clearly remember him reassuring me on Christmas Day that I would be driving it back home by the New Year.
Ok.
January he told me to source a new 2nd and 3rd gear, which were both very worn out:
I found new ones and he replaced them. I even made a video here:
Looks great, right? That was January 1, 2023.
Occasionally I would message him to ask what’s up on Facebook. He wouldn’t reply back. That’s what I meant about being too quiet.
I wasn’t in a hurry actually, but not getting updates riles me. Of course it does. It would anyone.
I visited end of January to say hello, he was busy with customers. He explains he tried the bike and it would shift now, but he noticed the ignition coil was super hot. I kept it to myself, but I remember telling him that when I brought it to him. I said ok please let me know what else you need, and if you can get it working by Feb that would be great. He agreed.
Mid February he asked me to buy two things: A new ignition key, as the old one’s contacts buried themselves deep in the rubber for some reason.
And also, a new 6v ignition coil.
After delivering them, another two weeks passed. Again, no responses when I messaged.
So finally I went there again sometime around March 1 or 3.
He was sitting outside his shop, and when I first saw him he said hello and he had been busy as he had just finished fixing a customer’s Kawasaki Z-1000.
I didn’t necessarily snap, but that really got to me.
It had been 5 months and the last thing I wanted to hear was that he had been putting other client’s bikes ahead of mine. Nothing really irks a customer more than to know others’ customers jobs were getting more priority than yours. Especially considering my 1968 bike is about as simple as it can get and should be a breeze to an ‘expert’ like him.
I kept my voice low, but I told him i was going to pull it out soon if no other progress was to be expected. I tried to be really civil and I think I was, but I was really pissed. It was just too much.
A few days later I felt bad about it and also had to face reality. I messaged him again, and asked that if he could get the bike to run on 6v that was ok with me – as long as it ran I was happy.
Reality hit me: If I pulled it out his shop where the hell was I going to go? It had a better chance getting fixed with him for sure, especially after all the work he had done – as slow as he was. But then again I would appreciate some sort of time frame. I mean, every customer deserves one right? I didn’t feel I was being unreasonable.
So I went there 2 days later and lo and behold the bike was sitting outside, looking like it had been worked on. I parked beside it and stared at it a long time. I hadn’t really seen it under the sun that was in weeks. I think I was training my mind to believe that I actually owned it. It looked rough, but it actually looked nice. It was mine. I liked it.
He came out to greet me and immediately told me what his plan was. He noticed the stator was in a certain way (I don’t remember what he said), and that he decided he was going to go full wave now, because it would be a far more reliable bike than 6v, and he wouldn’t have to change the bulbs etcetera. He regretted that he asked me to buy the 6v ignition coil, and he already had his gopher buy a new Lifan set, which includes the parts needed.
That was 2 days ago, and this morning he sent me the video at the top of this post. I asked him if it was ok, he said it was now ‘perfect’.
So there you go.
It’s a thursday now, I ‘ll go there tomorrow or Saturday.
He hasn’t driven it yet because the engine was removed, but I’m hoping he would be able to before I go there to catch any more gremlins.
That’s it, that’s the big update. Hoping for the best.