Well, after paying the rip-off mechanic and buying the POS in the first place he's got nothing left to buy more tyres. There's a chance I might get it going and then loan him the wife's Virago so he has something that at least runs reliably. He was enamoured by the bike's looks when he bought it, and it is pretty, but it's proven to be a liability now and he's happy to sell it for parts.
Ok, I got it running better than the mechanic, which wasn't hard as they did SFA besides replace the battery and write the bill. Valve clearances weren't as bad as I was expecting. Took it for a test ride to get some fuel. It is a HORRID bike to ride on anything but a glass smooth surface. Rock hard seat and suspension, and weirdly proportioned gear shift and brake levers. It also desperately needs rear brake pads. Carby is still leaking fuel out the overflow, nothing I could do about that. It was also full of black gunk, which I think is the result of a previous owner running ethanol fuel in it and perishing the o-rings and seals. A seal kit and new float needle and seat would probably sort that ... except the Megelli guy doesn't sell them. If someone can hook me up with those parts for the carby, say if there's a Crossfire model that uses the same TK MV34 carb and Crossfire sell parts for them, I'd be REALLY grateful.
cannot help re carby. brake pads-i replaced mine by taking the pads to a pit bike/dirt bike shop and got some similar ones that i had to cut a lug off.otherwise the pads were identical.re the carby- they had massive problems with the vacuum operated fuel tap so they blcked the vacuum line and replaced the fuel tap with one that was either on or turned off. there was a crossfire dealer in coffs harbour.
The tap fitted to this thing is a reserve-off-on type with no vacuum valve. It's riveted together and not intended to be serviced, but it's also in a position where it's physically impossible to access without taking off both black side panels on the left side and sticking a finger up under the edge of the tank. If I hadn't noticed it when I pulled the tank off I'd have never known there even was a reserve tap. Now that it's going my son is keen to sell it, for much less than he paid, and just cut his losses.