The XS Triple Sidecar - cracked inlets and other maintenance

The shortest fairytale in the motorcycle world goes something along the lines of: "... and then he finished the bike and rode it."Well, I have to say I was a bit shocked, that the last batch of inlet rubbers only lasted about six months to a year, before they started cracking quite badly.

Another thing that didn't exactly stand the test of time, was my engine breather arrangement. I had thought about gluing both parts together, but initially it held up quite well.

Because I was actually waiting for someone and it was (for once) not raining, I decided I might as well check the timing of the ignition, mainly because I noticed some pinging. (I hadn't seen the cracked inlet rubber at that time as it was on the middle cylinder!) While I was at it, I also decided to finally get rid of the mangled philips head bolts and replace them with some decent hex, just in case...

And lastly, I changed the needle position back to the middle one on all three cylinders. Now the old girl truly purrs like a kitten. 

The more I think of it, more like an enormously fat black cat...