February 2024

 

February 24.

I have experienced poor pickup on the LE so I ordered a set of new jets from Eurocarb, Dellorto. I changed the jets quite quickly and started up the engine and it seems a bit better but now I have to do a road test when it stops raining. 

After blowing fuses in refitting the rev counter on the Burton I ordered some on line, 40amp blade fuses and a variety pack with a range of 30amp to 3amp to keep my stock at a reasonable level. When I wire the van I am certain I will need about 20 fuses for the whole system. When I say things just happen to me, would you believe when I opened the envelope that the fuses cam in one dropped out and went inside a new 2CV crossbox that have just arrived. I searched for the fuse and found it in the outlet pipe of the exhaust. 

Being one of the 40amp fuses I needed to retrieve it. With and artists brush and some super sticky tape it was retrieved. Sigh of relief. Having been out to Asda I bought some picture frames one was for a shot of me riding over a high plain at some 15400 feet  near Pang on the Himalayan I took to the Top of the World.

Speaking of travel I have just completed reading the 520 page marathon by Dr Pat Garrod  called Bearback. It has taken me 8 months to start it and a further six months to read it. Other than Scientific documents where Doctor is a requisite requirement I think it is pretentious. To be honest I have worked with many in my career in the NHS  and I wonder how and why they qualified being taught to have the authority on knowing everything and get a bit upset when challenged. The book, to me, starts a bit like that but becomes more engaging the further you get into it. I am sorry to say if I wrote something covering an epic journey it would be that long and probably take even longer to read. I think the book is well worth reading with an insight into many Muslim countries we can no longer visit. Adversity makes the story and I congratulate Pat on managing to record this life changing journey.

I did visit the London Motorcycle show at the Excel with my brother, Adrian to see what was new. We both have an interest in lighter weight bikes like the new Triumph 400 single and Kawasaki 500 twin. Both are A2 compliant but I don’t want a restricted model. I’m remapping and removal of the rev limiter would be a transformation. With modern 250’s with 40 BHP on tap what could you get from a 500?

This months’ 2CVGB news  has now a Facebook page in the form of 2CVGB official that I have signed up for. In doing so I receive a nice photo of my El Cid from years back. I guess from about 2007. I also need to complete my introduction to the page for those who do not know me.

It is MOT time for the Buell and I chose Thursday 22^nd March. That day was the wettest I can remember. Setting off in light rain it became heavier and heavier as I progressed to West London Triumph in East Byfleet. It was a wall of water going and returning. My new Oxford Touring suit (bought at the bike show in 2020 just before lockdown) held up well with only ingress of water at the cuffs and around the neck. This was the first time being out in such heavy rain. I was very pleased to remain so dry. Unfortunately the weather and front brake failed me on the day so there will be a retest soon when everything has dried out.

January 2024 Comment.

 

Comment January 2024

 

I have watched too much tele over the past month. Much of it focussed on the plight of the Palestinians and how biased the media is against them. Where else in the world would workers be dismissed over an allegation without proof. I am referring to the 12 UNWRA workers sent packing because Israel is allowed to do and say what it likes. It is obvious that  their politicians justify their actions by transferring the guilt to their victims dehumanising them in their rhetoric and condoned by the USA and UK. By the way I don’t agree with what they are doing on my behalf. If only we could sack all our MPs because one was alleged to have done something wrong. Proof not necessary and withdraw funding to boot.  You may think I have been exaggerating but what is reported on main stream tele is a fraction of what is out there and we are fed details that are manipulated and controlled to give the bias our government wants to justify their actions. I am so annoyed that our Christian Society has not taken any action to prevent the murders taking place. What is happening is wrong at every level and I am powerless to put it right. Post World War 2 the trials that took place also accused people who should have done something did not were considered as culpable as the perpetrators.  I hope the future justice system has a memory even just to put our politicians on the spot. It is all a bit conspiracy theory but we, as the general public will be paying for this for years in one way or another. I would not suggest going to the middle east at the moment.

To escape the dreadful cold Gita and I escaped to Spain and Barcelona to enjoy the sun and see our daughter Neema during that time. I could still watch the spectacle on line. The plan was to do allot of walking and enjoy the sea air.

 If you have been to Barcelona  and contracted Gaudi-itis there is so much more there in museums, monuments, gardens and castles. We stayed in a four star hotel on the top floor with balcony that was big enough for a table and two chairs. Nice to sit in the sun even on a winter’s day enjoying a coffee or a beer relaxing away from the hustle and bustle of the main street below. I did visit the bull ring which is no longer used for bull fighting but is still used for entertainment. Walks along the sea front beyond the “W” building. 

Also on the walks was the cactus garden in the grounds of the Miramar hotel. Quite spectacular. We were high enough at the Miramar to over look the city and take some photos of the spires of Barcelona Cathedral and Sagrada Familial. I was dragged along by my shopaholic and visited some very interesting shops that seemed to have a small motorcycle on display.

 Being away we had many meals out some at Neema’s flat but breakfast was at the hotel in our room. It was aided by having a kettle to boil water for tea and hot water bottles and a small fridge for milk, cheese, ham and beer.  Such luxury with fresh bread for breakfast to start the day. I gave it a five star rating.

Almost at the end of January we were back home as the temperature was going up enough for me to have a ride out on the LE and a Saturday trip to see Coops at Whitchurch in the Burton to see the progress on the new El Cid cover along with a replacement battery for the one that failed over the winter months. There will be more photos when it is ready.

December Comment 2023

 

December Comment 2023

 

Heading for Christmas, sending out cards, buying stuff that you think people will like and foraging for food that will be still in date when you cook it and the weather! I feel confined to the house to avoid the incessant rain and dampness. The weather suits the mood with no motorcycling on tele other than Youtube. Even Itchy Boots had to take a break with a Himalayan Adventure. Watching the events unfold in Palestine is so depressing. Powerless against Western support that will not stop this murder. I have no faith that the west will do the right thing and put an end to this. How is the west held to ransom by one small country that is hated by its neighbours? It is so depressing.

To help me towards Christmas with “Good Will to all men”, not that we are dealing with many Christians here, I retired to the garage to amend some charging wiring on the LE. Having had to buy a new charger because my Motobat optimizer failed. Replaced with an Oxford version at more than twice the price. I have one already and for a number of years it has done the job. The rational was to have standard connections and be able to use it on any bike in the garage the Buell, Kawasaki, LE and Valiant to keep all the batteries healthy. I have already mentioned the wiring changes in the last Blog now I have a short video showing the connections on the LE.

In November I had a problem with my Furygan jacket zip. You had to zip it up with care or it would break open. I tried the squeezing the zipper trick but it did not cure the problem so it was time to get a new jacket. I haven’t thrown it away as I will get it repaired on my next trip to Assam. In the mean time Black Friday was around for two weeks and an offer by Infinity attracted me to make an on-line purchase. A Segura jacket with a massive discount was something not to pass up. I see that The Missenden Flyer now has a Segura Jacket too. Ordered and arrived it was too small sent it back and the larger size arrived. Now a good fit one of the pop studs on a cuff slipped off. Annoying but there was a spare but I needed a tool to fit it. Making the tool from a ten millimetre bolt a quick knock with a small hammer pressed it back together and happiness restored. I was going to wear it for the London Classic Bike Show at the beginning of December but changed my mind due to the intense cold that weekend. I ended up wearing my bike jacket all day even inside.

 

London Classic Bike Show December 23

 

London Classic Bike Show December 2023

 

Another show successfully completed. This one was a bit special as celebrities Henry Cole, Guy Willison and engineering maestro Alan Millyard were in attendance filming a show and being a major attraction. The organisation of the Wey Valley stand had the usual hiccups. We had a battery failure and an illness reducing our numbers by two to eight for the display. The weather played its part in making it a very cold day. Everyone kept their jackets on in spite of nearly record numbers there were insufficient punters to raise the temperature in the hall. I had a thermos of chai to keep me warm and I devoured two bacon baps to help. This year all our exhibitors arrived in good time and we were ready for the punters.

It turned out to be a busy day for us talking about the bikes on display and what the club is all about. My LE is always a centre of interest and keeps me talking for ages but this time we had Elspeth Beard and Chris Arthey signing books drawing people in. I did think at the time we should rename the club as the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists Book Club. I did manage one walk out into the cold and met Franc the Frog and Phillipa from the, now closed, London Motorcycle Museum. Nice to see old friends are still around post Covid. On the way back I spotted a Cotton with a Starmaker engine.

 I think it was called the Telstar. I did buy some chain lube for the Kawasaki and headed back to relative warmth. After a circuit on the ground floor and the Rumi stand I headed upstairs to see what was there. I was impressed by the Speedway display with race winning bikes of Barry Briggs and Ivan Maugher and many others that were not from my era. 

There was quite a variety of machines from the beginnings of Speedway to the present day and covered most of one side. Impressive. Opposite it was, by comparison the small Greeves stand, but just as interesting was the unusual twin port 350cc single.

 I understand that only about twenty were made making it a very rare beast. It looks fast and would have been competing against the  Japanese twins of the time. In the 250cc class it would have been the Silverstone. Not far away was the MV stand with the OHC 175. So advanced for 1951. Like all the Italian bikes of the time they were cleanly styled and looked fast. 

Trying to compete with styling was the Puch Split single 125cc powered EMC of 1952.

 Parked in the entrance was an old favourite and loved by Henry Cole a Raleigh Chopper and this one was. 

We had a visit by Henry to our stand posing by the Guzzi Californian. Henry and Louise our Social events organiser.

 All in all a very good day for the club and our book people even though we didn’t win any prizes as we did in May but this was a different event. I made it home in good time on the LE with only a little steam on the faster dual carriageways keeping up with the traffic.

November 2023 Comment

 

November 23 Comment.

 

As a child I went to Sunday School to have fun with the other kids but also to be indoctrinated in the scriptures. I was always confused when Palestine or Philistine was mentioned. Were they the same?  Was Philistine another country?  I had to look it up and in my Compact English dictionary: 1 a member of the people in ancient Palestine.2 (usu. philistine) a person who is hostile or indifferent to culture. Also adj. It appears I did not get the wrong end of the stick. There are still Philistines in Palestine.

Getting closer to the London Classic Bike Show Henry Cole will be there and on the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists stand will be a few celebrities due to be with us are Elspeth Beard, the around the world traveller and Chris Arthey survivor of a horrific accident on Highway 35 in America. Both will be there to talk to and sign books. I have read them both and they are good reads. Perhaps we should rename the club Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists Book Club?

Recently I bought a new tyre inflator. I wanted something to carry with me travelling on the bike. Something compact and independent. There is an enormous choice on eBay. I settled for a Pumteck Tyre Inflator. It has a battery, SOS lights, is a power bank and pumps up tyres.

 The only drawback is the connector that you have to screw on to the valve. I can’t do it quick enough to stop the loss of air from the valve. I must admit the clip ones are easier for me. I have now pumped up, not only the motorcycle tyres, but the cycle ones and the cars as well as you do with a new toy. It is slightly larger than my mobile phone but about 125mm by 80mm by 45mm deep. Not quite pocket sized. It feels heavy at about 600 gram. I think it will be a useful travel companion.

The other day a letter dropped on the mat from “Back Heathrow” a community newsletter about

 Heathrow becoming greener  and the use of  more environmentally fuels SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) already in used in fuel to cut carbon emissions there is a plan to do more using cooking oils, food waste and industrial waste. I know of the so called “Poo” buses in Bristol but consider the fragrance around Heathrow. It is bad enough with discharges of aviation fuel polluting the air already but adding other, not so environmentally friendly concoctions, is likely to be worse. The idea of  hydrogen powered aeroplanes is what peaked my interest. At present Heathrow sheds tens of thousands of tons of carbon into our atmosphere, Shedding the same equivalent of water in the same locality is bound to have an impact. I looked it up on the NASA website and the impact of water vapour enhances the warming effect of carbon dioxide. Reducing carbon in the atmosphere is needed but replacing it with water will negate the effect. The changes in local weather could be quite dramatic. Heathrow could become a grey area with little sunshine and regular showers of rain when a jumbo jet takes off. Everyone around London would need to escape to the sunshine. Difficult to dry washing without a tumble dryer. I am not so sure that hydrogen will be as good as they say. The thermal efficiency as a fuel compared to aviation fuel requires it to be compressed in to a liquid also requiring a strong, robust tank to contain it. It is all doable but is all that effort going to be worth it? If hydrogen takes off as a commercial fuel what will become of the rest of the worlds’ economies? It has not been properly thought through. I would not fancy riding around with a tank of hydrogen between my legs!

My Velocette LE Story

 

An LE Story.

 

This article is in respose to a request for more information on the LE after I posted a short on Facebook. This was first posted in the LE magazine in 2006 and with a little editing for today.

 I thought I would dig out the “old project” that was conceived when I was at school and has undergone development ever since. The more or less completed project appeared at the Kempton Park Southern Classic bike show in 1994 and has been exhibited at the show most years since.

I think around 1968 or 69 that I did this drawing, thinking I may be able to get some extra ground clearance by having dry sump lubrication. The idea was to chain drive to an external dual pump from the very front of the crankshaft and an oil tank from a BSA C15 to hold it all. In the end I settled for a much easier option, but that is much later on in the story. I spent hours dreaming and designing and not really getting anywhere.  I had no money only grand designs. I finished school and went to work, earning some money, but having to work for exams there was still no time to build. Marriage and home meant changing priorities and not until around 1978 did I get started on the project. I did take a few photographs at the time and if you care to back to  an OTL’s (LE Club magazine) in 1979 you will find my story of a rebuild of 1954 MK 2  PHT 271, very smart in black livery. What has happened to the years? I am now writing something in 2006! I leave you to work out how long that is and believe it or not, Colin; our editor has been doing that job for just as long! I first met Colin on the Severnsider’s club runs in 1968.

 

In 1980 I moved jobs and relocated to Colchester. The late Jeff Tooze found me, as I had left him with an engine to work on. It did not take long to get the engine sorted but the modifications I wanted done to various bits to get the additional ground clearance required someone who had the expertise and the equipment to do it. I had a choice, either to be very radical and build all specialist parts or, use as many original parts as possible and modify accordingly. I decided in the end to use the basic LE parts and modify so that anyone who wanted to undertake a similar project could do most of it in their own garage with limited use of costly experts.  I went to night school and learned to weld and did an enormous amount myself over the next few years, until the lack of support for the metalwork course halted my progress. I made the lower frame cradle from a broken school chair and a couple of feet of conduit. It fitted together very well but did have its draw backs. The oil pipe from the pressure release valve casting was too close to the frame and I had to modify the piping and use a banjo instead! The thread is tapered and needed to be tightened with care. It had not taken long to sort out the rear suspension or modify the body and get it welded up. But the front forks kept me puzzling and it was not until I ran across someone from Cambridge University through the Harley club that the front fork issues was sorted.  By 1985 the body and every thing else needed to be painted so I did more night school in auto repair and very importantly had access to professional spray painting equipment including a hot air chamber. I had a compressor and a very old Bliss spray gun ( before it became Deville-Bliss) I could get paint and thinners from Brown Brothers and set about creating my own colours with, I suppose what might now be called a pearl finish. I used sliver as a base coat and then over coated with different blues for each finish. The blue was diluted out with clear lacquer so the gloss silver shone through. You could get a similar finish using metallic paint but it does not look quite the same. The blues I used were BMC Rivera Blue and Renault Navy ( all old stuff from my Dad to start with! )  Once everything was painted assembly was quite quick ( in comparison ) and  by 1988 the bike was running but not ready for the road. I had  lights, indicators, lots of little bits and charging to sort out 6 volts or 12. No contest!

More delays as I moved house and job in 1992 and not until 1994 did the bike get MOT’d , the morning before it was due at the Kempton Park bike show! It has been on the road ever since.

 

Let’s finish off the body work. The rear mudguard had 2 inches taken off the top to level it out and the fluted end removed. The front and rear mudguards are finished off with stainless steel bands.  The seat is a home made job and probably looks like it but parts like that were quite expensive in the late 80’s about £50 which is about what they cost now! The rear light housing I manufactured from stainless steel as is all the trim. The headlamp is Bates with a sealed beam unit ( the advantages of going 12 volt)  and the brackets were off the shelf, as are the mirrors and levers (M&P I think). Indicators off a Suzuki. The handlebar brackets were from a Yamaha (with home made spacers) as is the twist grip, ignition switch and switch gear. The gauges are TIM with binnacle. These are the bits you can see. In the tool box is a cigarette lighter, fuse box and solid state indicator relay. The horn sits in the middle of the radiator. A Citroen  2CV HT coil is under the tool box. Full wave rectification  is supplied by one from a Yamaha 250 with no voltage regulator to protect the battery. It’s hidden away near the battery.  Run with a 60watt headlamp from an 80 watt generator and why then do you need to drain any power away from the battery? Its only 5 amp hour!  The bike was completely rewired with extra earths. It needed them, there was so much paint on the body work no current was going to go through that. The horn is fitted in the space between the radiator cooling sections and I recently fitted a couple of computer fans to help keep the temperature down. They do stop over heating when ticking over in traffic for long periods. This was done by just threading through the fins of the radiator with some 3mm studding and just to make sure when you tighten the nuts it does not pull through some little square of aluminium as washers.

There are more bits you can’t see, like the lightened flywheel, which is about  a pound lighter, the camshaft is advanced  one tooth and the ports have been enlarged and polished also the valve guides have been shortened to give an open a port as possible. The heads have been polished, but if you took them off you would never know and just a tip to help seal the head gasket the stud holes have been drilled out to 7mm. This means the heads will not corrode on the studs and will remain easily removable but also if you happen to over tighten the head nuts and pull the metal of the barrel up in the area of the stud, the metal has somewhere to go and a good seal on the head remains. A Del’Orto carburettor had been fitted in the last few years and has made a big difference to the performance.  I have fitted 2CV points and a cheapo condenser. The charging circuit has been modified so that each charging coil has an individual feed to the rectifier to squeeze as much power out as possible. There is a wiring diagram about somewhere for those who want to give it a go.

A few more interesting bits like the heal and toe gear change that had to be fitted inwards instead of outwards because of my positioning of the engine cradle and consequently the exhaust box had a big chunk carved out of it. You make one change and that sets a whole load of thought processes going to get around the problem created by an idea! The heal and toe gear change started as original and I added a suitable toe pad  to a 10mm bar, that was the easy part, making up the loop that went under the frame cradle required a bit of trial and error before getting it right. On the exhaust side I added in a big tail pipe to have a distinctive exhaust note. The rear brake pedal is original LE but modified quite a lot to get in the right position. In the end I decided not to have a centre stand and elected for a side stand only. This curly-wurley thing was all I could get at the time off the shelf. Choosing a side stand only does have its draw backs and I think I should have stuck with a centre stand. Wait for the next special for that one! A folding kick start started life as a standard one and a folding pedal part was welded on.

Back to the fork legs, as I think most people know, much is soldered on the LE and the fork lugs are no exception. Adding 2 inches more length by just moving all the lugs down as far as possible needs a little extra support. The diagram gives the basic idea. I have tried this 2 ways, the first time by welding it all together and doesn’t leave a smooth surface and the second time ( current project ) using silver solder that will have run into all the gaps. It is not difficult to reposition the brake back plate lug and to be similarly silver soldered. The rear suspension is extended by using simple spacers. The handling is as you would expect from an LE, rock stable and very manoeuvrable. In the standard format it is very easy to ground the foot boards. The increased ground clearance and high position foot pegs mean you can really test the cornering ability. I have not found the limit yet!

I have tried a number of things on this special some have worked really well, others are passable, but overall the package does work and has provided me with an interesting motorcycle that always is a talking point.

October Comment 23

 

October 23 Comment

 

I know it is a bit late for the comment now being November but a few things have happened and I feel a bit of a target. First of all my postings from this blog on Facebook have been taken down and I thought it was because there was a mismatch of valid Facebook identifiers. That lead to me setting up a new profile for the blog. I also had to deal with my Facebook page being hacked. Thinking I had got that sorted I am informed that my email page had been hacked giving grief to untold people who received emails purported to be from me. I find my log in has come from Nigeria although someone from California was trying but failing (Microsoft scam). I now do not trust any emails from companies. Individuals have a better chance because they are easily identified. I apologise now for not responding because it has gone to spam. As I am doing the paperwork for the Club Stand at the bike show at Kempton Park on the 2nd December the hacking caused a number of problems for me and the organisers with registering the bike for the show. Never mind electronic communications the old telephone worked well. Talking of telephones BT is going digital in 2025 but if you are like me and had to go digital because my router would no longer function as it used to for the wireless link to my computer I had to upgrade. This system is digital and hackable. I have a genuine friend who has had this new BT phone system hacked and that gave misery to all the people he had numbers for stored on his phone. I have an old phone with no numbers stored on it only a sing along message that seems to put off most callers. You can always phone my land line to listen to it. I now know that it was the hacking of my email account that persuaded Google to take down my postings. They could have told me that. I could get no information other than my posts were offensive to the community with an electronic standard reply. That was about as useful as my touch screen phone when that refused to respond to my finger. You can imagine my frustration with all the safe technology failing at the same time produced a reaction not dissimilar to that we witnessed from John Cleese in the scene from Faulty Towers with the branch beating of the car when it stopped working.

Gita said I should calm down.

After having a brilliant day starting with being in the Shop on Observed Sunday with the Wey Valley Advanced Motorcyclists. So many bikes turned up the car park was full. Great atmosphere. The kitchen in the hall has enough facilities to offer members of the club sausage or bacon sandwiches and tea or coffee to munch before going out on their rides. I usually leave my position in the Shop just before the notices to go around the car park and photo what is there as a record for the day and useful pictures for the Club magazine.

Getting home I still had some hours of daylight I pulled the LE out of the garage to investigate an annoying oil leak coming from the oil pressure gauge pipe off the main oil pipe union. After much faffing about the oil leak remained.

 The next day I removed the fitting and soldered the olive to make it oil tight. It would no longer grip the tiny pipe. That seems to have worked. I have yet to get the engine hot enough to check it out. I need to take it for a run before having to ride it to the show. Not long now.