For those who like old Motorcycles.

[spikey]

Love the demo of rear tyre chain lubrication ...

 

 

(And I still don't see what's funny about the film ...)

[Northmoor]

OK so I'll apologise in advance for the thread drift; this isn't about old motorcycles, it's about old motorcyclists and one in particular.  He's not even that old, but he certainly is considering what he still (for a couple more months anyway) does for a living.  Half the spectators at Silverstone today were wearing something with a yellow #46 on it and it's safe to say announcing his retirement is what sold out the MotoGP this weekend.

 

 

In years to come I will say, "I was there".  Ciao e Grazie Valentino, it's been one hell of a ride.

Edited August 28, 2021 by Northmoor

[2mmMark]

Workshop time!  I've replaced all the control cables on my '38 Enfield with a new set and replaced the period but incorrect control levers with a more practical set of replacements. Making the new cables was satisfying as it's given me a set of controls that operate smoothly.  I get my cable components from Venhill as their stuff is good quality. 

It was a shame to lose the old style levers but they are for 1" bars (I've got 7/8"), didn't work very well and have a few missing bits, for example one of the pivot bolts has been replaced by an M8 nut & screw.

Old controls

 

New controls

I also swapped the "John Bull Deep Grip" rear tyre for a better modern equivalent (MITAS 3.25-19") as the bike is entered in the Shere Hill Climb on 5th September.  Little bit out of practice with tyre changing but I got it on and managed not to pinch the tube. Fortunately the bike has genuine Dunlop rims and I've always found those to be easier to work with. New tube and rim tape, naturally.  The old tube and rim tape had formed a very intimate relationship!  The QD rear mudguard made getting the wheel in and out easy, clever bit of design from Royal Enfield.

 

Looking forward to disturbing the peace and quiet of rural Surrey next Sunday!

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

During a expedition into the loft yesterday I discovered the front sprocket off my first bike (ok - Moped) - a 1981 Suzuki TS50ER.  The spocket is, er, a little worn.  Seemed to go ok though...

Any other horrors out there?

 

[spikey]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

... The spocket is, er, a little worn.

 

Worn?  Nonsense, man!  Three of those teeth have bags of life left in 'em.

[Kickstart]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

During a expedition into the loft yesterday I discovered the front sprocket off my first bike (ok - Moped) - a 1981 Suzuki TS50ER.  The spocket is, er, a little worn.  Seemed to go ok though...

Any other horrors out there?

This was a friends front sprocket. We gave him a lift home…..

All the best

 

Katy

 

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Kickstart said:

This was a friends front sprocket. We gave him a lift home…..

All the best

 

Katy

 

 

The mechanic at the local bike shop showed me one a bit like that - probably a little worse in fact.  The owner was complaining of....clutch slip

And the bike?  A FS1SE - what else?

[Kickstart]

13 hours ago, polybear said:

 

The mechanic at the local bike shop showed me one a bit like that - probably a little worse in fact.  The owner was complaining of....clutch slip

And the bike?  A FS1SE - what else?

 

This was similar. They did manage to ride back to our place very gently!

 

I have a worse rear sprocket that came on a bike I bought for spares. But it is an alloy sprocket, so liklely wore very rapidly as soon as the teeth had mostly disappeared.

 

All the best

 

Katy

[2mmMark]

Running up the hill at Shere yesterday.  A grand day out!

[Kylestrome]

3 hours ago, 2mmMark said:

Running up the hill at Shere yesterday.  A grand day out!

 

I take it, you wear white trousers so that you can immediately trace the source of any oil leak? 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Kylestrome

[2mmMark]

8 hours ago, Kylestrome said:

 

I take it, you wear white trousers so that you can immediately trace the source of any oil leak? 

What a dreadful calumny!  For a 1930s bike, it's very continent with its vital fluids. 

The white trousers are in fact the bottom half of a set of white overalls, the uniform of the Brooklands motorcycle team.

[spikey]

That's a very fine sweep on that throttle cable

[2mmMark]

4 hours ago, spikey said:

That's a very fine sweep on that throttle cable

It did turn out a little too long but I was loath to remake it as prep time was running out.  On the plus side, it's a very nice light action throttle.  I'm building up a more correct carb (well a 274, should be a 74 but they're unobtanium)  from parts to replace the 1928 Amal Type 4 that's on it at the moment. That's really intended for a bike with a lever throttle. Changing the carb will give me an excuse to modify the cable.

The nice thing about this sort of bike is that it can be a work in progress while remaining usable.  I'm on the hunt for a rear stand which might be hard to find and possibly a bit expensive, judging by the ebay auction for a genuine rear carrier. I may end up fabricating the stand myself with a bit of assistance from friends.

[rockershovel]

Last weekend was "whatever the BMF Show is now called" at the Showground, and the Sportster marked the occasion with the traditional Harley party trick of conking out without warning. Milwaukee fit circuit breakers, not fuses and occasionally they trip for no visible reason. Its the first time I can remember this bike doing it. Its usually best to change the main battery wire, breakers and on Sportsters, the key switch as well rather than waste endless time with the multimeter. LOTS of people were out on bikes which have hardly turned a wheel in a year or more and the Parkway and A1 were littered with similar casualties as neglected batteries and slightly corroded terminals staged a carnival of their own. 

[Rugd1022]

Another oldie from the Maserati brothers....

 

[spikey]

Oh crikey, I'd forgotten all about the bikes that had the bars with the welded-on lever mounts.  Were they ever at the right angle for anybody?

[MrWolf]

I had a 1955 James J15 with welded on lever mounts. The handlebar mounts were hemispherical underneath so that (in theory) when the position of the bars was altered, the levers fell naturally to hand. 

I'm not sure if it worked, as although it would out drag a 175 Bantam, it wasn't fast enough for fine tuning of the controls to matter!

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by MrWolf
Picture no attach!

[Gibbo675]

1 hour ago, spikey said:

Oh crikey, I'd forgotten all about the bikes that had the bars with the welded-on lever mounts.  Were they ever at the right angle for anybody?

Hi Spikey,

 

Probably the accountants as welded on may well be cheaper than a clamp and a bolt !!!

 

Gibbo.

[spikey]

16 hours ago, MrWolf said:

.. the levers fell naturally to hand.

 

Being younger than me, you won't have read the notorious phrase as often so it obviously hasn't imprinted as well as it did with those of my generation.  They did occasionally vary the exact wording very slightly, but for most of the 60s it was "the controls fell readily to hand". 

 

Unless of course it was a foreign bike ...

[MrWolf]

I was taking the proverbial a bit there, I've read quite a lot of old copies of The Motorcycle and Motorcycling that belonged to my father and my grandfather and always found that phrase amusing, hence "(in theory)". 

It always struck me as lazy editorial for 'near enough', I suspect that the editors didn't want to upset those buying lots of advertising space. They still do it now with every consumer product. They just use words like ergonomic, tactile and organic. To be honest, I don't think that I have ever ridden a motorcycle of any age or origin where I haven't found some part of the controls or riding position awkward, ever noticed that your feet are seldom in the same plane when riding?

Cars are even worse. Too many switches and gadgets that are just different enough to be unfamiliar. I prefer driving cars from before I was born, fifties and sixties stuff, they have the basics and that's it. They're not fast by modern standards, but with the amount of speed traps and other restrictions, there doesn't seem to be any point in 100mph plus capabilities.

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, spikey said:

 

Being younger than me, you won't have read the notorious phrase as often so it obviously hasn't imprinted as well as it did with those of my generation.  They did occasionally vary the exact wording very slightly, but for most of the 60s it was "the controls fell readily to hand". 

 

Unless of course it was a foreign bike ...

I've also encountered the actual meaning of "light pedal assistance".... the motorcycle press really didn't know what to do about the coming of Japanese machines. German machines offering high quality at prices to match, we knew about those, waddling stone-age American dinosaurs were well known but the Japanese really changed the game, but didn't buy advertising 

Edited October 3, 2021 by rockershovel

[MrWolf]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

I've also encountered the actual meaning of "light pedal assistance"....

 

Read as: "Gutless moped"?

[rockershovel]

1 minute ago, MrWolf said:

 

Read as: "Gutless moped"?

No, it dates from an earlier era, that of automatic inlet valves, single speed transmissions and leather belt drives. Those machines often retained their pedals both for starting the engine and providing a bit of "extra" when they faltered on hills, as they tend to do. I've ridden an early Rudge in a VMCC rally and it was a very effective cardiac workout. 

[MrWolf]

7 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

No, it dates from an earlier era, that of automatic inlet valves, single speed transmissions and leather belt drives. Those machines often retained their pedals both for starting the engine and providing a bit of "extra" when they faltered on hills, as they tend to do. I've ridden an early Rudge in a VMCC rally and it was a very effective cardiac workout. 

 

Pioneer type bikes are something that I have worked on and made bits for but seldom ridden. I think that the only pedal start bike I have ridden was a Yale, which had a 1000cc V twin that would be happy pulling out tree stumps. Although the combined clutch and gear lever belongs in a signal box, it was surprisingly easy to use. A clutchless Baby Triumph was more of a challenge, the two lever throttle only really had two positions, rather like an autocycle. Stopping was more interesting, the rear belt rim brake was pretty vague, the front spoon brake was useless, rubbing atop the rock hard old Cheng shin tyre. 

I found the best way to slow it down was to jam your boot heel against the external flywheel.

[spikey]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 ... I suspect that the editors didn't want to upset those buying lots of advertising space. ...

 

They didn't want to upset any part of the British motorcycle industry full stop.  Hence the blind eye being turned for years to oil leaks, vibration, dodgy electrics and all the other characteristics of yer typical new Britbike.  It still saddens me greatly that it was patently obvious at the time to most of their readers what was going on, but still both the magazines and the industry kept their heads in the sand.