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Some years ago, when the children were too small
to answer back (and small enough to fit into a sports sidecar too)
I was piloting our Vincent Rapide outfit down the M6 en route from
Inverness to Monmouth. The luggage racks of both bike and "chair"
were laden with a fortnight's holiday luggage for a family of four.
Above the hood, on specially contrived supports was a pram. In the
Palma sports child/adult sidecar were my children, aged three and
one years old. In there with them was my wife, who had forsaken the
pillion seat and sought refuge in the sidecar from the pouring rain.
This was the beginning of our holiday. No one was enjoying themselves,
least of all me, who had the baleful looks of the other three to remind
him just whose stupid idea this holiday was.
In spite of being well wrapped up the rain had just begun to penetrate
my defenses and was trickling coldly down my neck. Then I got the
rear wheel puncture.
My wife glowered to me the intimation that no one was vacating the
sidecar in the pouring rain. The problem was all mine. Summoning superhuman
strength I heaved the Vincent onto the rear wheel stand and slid out
the tool tray from below the seat.
Everything I required was there, except that I wouldn't be dusting
things with talcum powder in this rain. The Vincent is maintenance-friendly
(just as well, for it required it often enough) and within twenty
minutes we were on our way again. In less time than it would have
taken to walk to the emergency telephone and back.
My preparation paid greater dividends later that evening as my wife
related the tale to our friends in Monmouth. Far from being a pariah,
I had become a hero. I made the most of it, such adulation is ever
transient.
Rubber and the Solution
Check the tube of rubber solution in your puncture kit at least twice
a year, especially if you've opened it before. No matter how carefully
you seal it the stuff either evaporates to nothing or goes hard. I
learned my lesson the hard way, wheel out, tyre off, puncture kit
open, plenty patches - and a tube of solution gone bone dry.
To rub salt into my wound it was a truly beautiful sunny day and by
10.30am, miles from anywhere, it was ruined - for me at any rate.
It is almost impossible today to buy tubes of Rubber Solution on their
own, you'll have to buy a whole puncture kit.
COMMONSENSE AND CHOICE OF TYRES
A slippery subject? I hope not, but as time passes, the old style
favourites may no longer be available to us. There are those who will
want to fit the latest available Hi-Tech rubber to high performance
specials such as Tritons etc, but in the main, cheaper brands are
fine.
The quality of compounds of even the cheapest of today's (often strangely
named) brands is much better than the stuff we used to thrash around
on with youthful exuberance. Our machines were also generally far
less well maintained (ignorance and impecunity) than our carefully
restored mounts of today which tend not to be ridden as hard as when
they were new.
So don't fuss unnecessarily over brand names or tread patterns, lots
of strange aftermarket curiosities were fitted in the past, especially
before the advent of the MOT Test prior to which it was not uncommon
to see large areas of canvas rather than tread. (I recall driving
an Ice Cream Van in this state as a student in the sixties, and that
was post MOT Test!)
Block tread Dunlop K70s were fitted as standard to BSA and Triumph
650s up to the early seventies, hardly the ideal choice for sporty
big twins? The tyre manufacturer just offered their "all-rounder universal"
to BSA -Triumph at a bargain price, and the fast types immediately
changed them for sportier aftermarket items. This was good business.
It does of course, whatever rubber you're wearing, pay to keep it
in good condition. Check pressures and general condition regularly.
When servicing bikes or changing tyres I have found some surprising
objects lodged in the treads. Hedgehog spines are not uncommon, and
are hard enough to be driven right through a worn cover. Least likely
of all was an old-fashioned gramophone needle!
TYRE CHANGING
All the books will tell you that tyre changing is simplicity itself
if you follow the rules. Personally in over thirty years of practice,
I have only rarely found the mythical tyre which can be "simply walked"
onto the wheel rim.
Be absolutely certain that the tube is not trapped below that part
of the tyre bead you are trying to keep in the "well" of the rim while
you break all your fingernails trying to force the opposite edge on
without the aid of levers. Some old tyres are really "hard", and if
you have to resort to mechanical assistance do make sure you don't
"pinch" the tube with the tyre lever.
I use talcum powder for lubricant, and carry a tiny plastic bottle
of it in my tool kit. As a bonus, it smells nice. Also, before you
fit the tyre, especially in haste by the roadside, make sure its empty!
I once found a good 17mm spanner inside a tyre. It was a new tyre
I'd supplied for the customer to fit himself, he brought the bike
to me on a trailer two days later with a puncture. He denied all knowledge
of the spanner, so I kept it. I still have it and often smile at how
I came by it.
| Comments |
| Special Knees 12th April 01 | Thanks TBB, made me smile and remember a few rainy sessions myself.
| | George saul 19th April 01 | Thank you from an old rider
| | PAUL JAMIESON 6th July 01 | I envy you , My series C VINCENT RAPIDE Reg No GUN 63 WAS PART EX FOR A NORTON DOMINATOR IN 1962. I GOT £60 PART EX FOR IT IF OLNY WE NEW THEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW ?
| | Spannerman 16th November 01 | Mmmm - My Vincent was impressive all right I won't deny, but in my experience it was more a hobby than a motorcycle. All those "easy to adjust without a spanner bits" are easy to adjust because they needed to be adjusted far too often! I have never regretted selling it.
Best sidecar tug I ever had though!
Regards, Spannerman
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