Fooked Rimini 5 speed.

[10 inch Terror]

After starting my RB yesterday for the 1st time in 6 months to get it MOT'd it fired up ok but after putting it into gear it wouldn't pull away and stalled. I went to kick it over again the kickstart wouldn't engage like the clutch was pulled in. I assumed that the clutch plates had stuck together from not being used for so long. Anyway I've just stripped it down and there was a lot of debris stuck to the magnet on the drain plug. The clutch was fine so I decided to check the gearbox and I found this.



The engine was built for me a year ago by a dealer (who I've contacted earlier today) and has done no more than 50-60 careful miles. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement and hoping he (the dealer) will do the right thing and replace the damaged parts. As far as I know it's the 2nd 'stronger' version. Has anyone heard of one failing with this amount of miles on it? I'll wait for the dealer to get back to me before I post anything else. Cheers all.

[wack 63]

It's interesting the amount of wear on the teeth that are left for only doing 60 mls, I've seen less on 50 yr old boxes. I fitted a new clutch this year and pulled my Cyclone down to check it over and although only done 8-900 mls it looked brand
new and gets some hammer when I ride it. Kiss of death now. Seems to be always 1st gear that strips so I wonder if the way the teeth are formed to mesh with the 2 alternative loose gears has anything to do with it?

[philz]

I'm sure I have read somewhere that there was a recall on the original box have a read of this.
http://lloydyslambrettas.blogspot.co.uk ... arbox.html

[10 inch Terror]

I had to wait longer than normal for the build as it was mid way thought the recall and the builder was waiting for the Mk2 version to arrive. I'm pretty sure this is the newer version.

[Adam_Winstone]

As a Cyclone user I keep a keen eye on all reports of these, good and bad, as I don't think that anyone wants to assume that it could never happen to them. Sorry to read that this has happened to you 10 inch

Looking at the photos, I see that the alignment of the loose 1st gear is very close to the bottom of the teeth on the cluster, as identified by the reference areas of contact/shine. I stripped my V1 after a few hundred miles when I managed to get my hands on some different thickness shims (since supplied with all Cyclones sold by Rimini... all V2s, etc.) and noticed that mine was also showing reference marks that allowed me to accurately see where contact was being made for each of the loose gears against the fixed gears on the cluster. I was very surprised at just how close one gear runs to the next, being fractions of a mm according to my reference marks! Thankfully, the shim that I was about to fit improved on the space and meant that the loose gears would be running more central to the corresponding fixed teeth on the cluster. However, this stripping and checking did make me wonder how many of the failures of these might be down to poor alignment of the gears, with the possibility of a loose gear fractionally making contact with the fixed teeth on an adjacent gear... with serious consequences!

Please note: From what I know about you, and your attention to detail, I'm not suggesting for one minute that you got anything wrong in your build (far from it), more just highlighting how accurate anyone putting one of these together must be. I had thought mine was 98% perfect with the shimming that I initially had and only stripped it after a couple of hunderd miles to get it 100% (a result of something new to play with and something not cheap to be sloppy with), so I was really surprised to see that my initial 98% happy 1st build was only a gnat's chuff away from allowing adjacent gears to touch! Indeed, margin for error on these boxes is so fine (5 in the space of 4) that I even wonder whether play/wear that many miles might result in could allow for loose gear drift towards the next gear teeth on the cluster?

To rule out the possibility of one gear touching the next, can you align loose gears with cluster, according to your reference marks, and see what your spacing was like? This might give the rest of us Cyclone users a better idea of what is going on inside our motors.

Again, sorry to read of your issues

Adam

[10 inch Terror]

Hi Adam, thanks for your long and well written reply. I didn't build this gearbox it came already fitted to an engine built by a well known and respected ( by many but not all ) builder / dealer. He has been in contact with me already and is going to contact Rimini on my behalf as to a solution. I will leave it with them for now and hopefully a solution that suits me can be found. Thanks again Pete.

[Timbo]

Always sorry to hear about problems with the Cyclone, have heard very recently from two different but well connected sources that (1) they're not being made anymore and (2) no more will be made for a year.... ......Adam do you know what the truth is?

[bolzenanker]

That's not good, sorry to hear this. Mine is still good but I'm wary of it. They are available again from Scooter Center, two versions, one being a 'Supreme' version?

[rosscla]

Isn't the supreme one the specially treated one, presuming cryogenic or similar?

[warts]

Cryo is a relatively cheap option, for the extra money I would have thought something more.
There are also micro polishing processes which some crank and gear makers offer. These are supposed to enhance smoothness, durability, wear and fatigue resistance.
It could be they are using a higher spec steel of course.