I little while ago I acquired one of those Enfield flat twin two-strokes for no better reason than to find out if their reputation for being 'difficult' is deserved. As purchased, the governor was in kit form in a separate box and I wondered why the vendor had not taken the few minutes to assemble it and bolt it on to the engine (if at all possible I like to keep things at least loose assembled to stop bits getting lost).
Anyway, last night I finally got round to having a look at the engine; the governor seemed fairly straightforward - eight steel balls between two conical plates with an adjustable spring load - the only problem being that one needed about fifteen fingers to hold all the components in place. So, the delicately poised assembly was offered up to the engine and - bugger - the inlet manifold is in the way! No problem, off with the manifold, perform the balancing act again and bolt it all together, success! Right, refit manifold - not so fast soldier - catch 22 is that with the governor in place the manifold won't go on. Just the designer's little joke you understand, at least now I know why the governor was not fitted!
The right way to do it appeared to be to dismantle the centrifugal clutch, remove the flywheel, fan, cowls etc etc. But there looked to be a small chance that if the governor and manifold could be offered up simultaneously then they might just go on. Now at least twenty five fingers some elastic bands and bulldog clips were required to stop the combined assemblies doing their finest fragmentation grenade impression all over the dusty workshop floor, but after a couple of attempts it worked! I was just congratulating myself and tightening up the last bolt (21/75ths Mongolian standard intermediate I think), when Helen appeared at the door "You were only going out into that workshop for a few minutes and that was three hours ago" - how time flies when you are enjoying yourself!
There must be many other examples of 'comedy' design out there, one which springs to my mind is the earthing brush on the Lucas N series magneto which lives under the ID tag!