Reed all about it
Order I had ordered carbon reeds for the NSR quite a while ago so it was nice to be organised for a change. So with a little time on my hands I decided to pop the cages out and change these over. I had already had the carbs off previously for cleaning and had only placed them in situe so was no drama removing them. The carb rubbers followed, taking care to release the torque evenly as I have heard horror stories of engines blowing from air leaks caused my bent inlet rubbers. With these off the reed cages are no longer secured to the engine so can be pulled off as well, along with (most of) their paper gasket. Now I was confronted with this which initially looked pretty horrific. One side shiny and like new as it aught to be and the other brown with a streak of brown and dirt down the inlet. Images of water ingress, corroded bearings and seized bottom end rushed through my mind but then a bit of logic seeped in and I turned the engine till I could see the bearing itself.