Broadford and First run for Manx in 21 Years

Hi
Fired the 1955 Manx up for the first time since 1994, after replacing worn cams and broken exhaust pusher and pusher bushes, also replaced the fuel bowl with the correct bowl I had purchased at a swap meet some many years previous, had to machine a new needle for it though as I couldn't stop it from flooding.
After re-timing the valves and lapping them in I thought it might be a good idea to see if the magneto still worked, to my dismay there was no spark at all,
I made a quick phone call to Peter Scott in Sydney who had rebuilt the magneto for me back in 1988, and he said it will be OK just need to polish the points with wet dry because of oxidization, did this and the result was a beautiful fat blue spark again.
Re timed the ignition, set up the roller starter with plug out and earthed, run until pressure showing on cam lube line, refitted plug, turn fuel on and hit roller starter switch and let clutch out roll throttle on and the Manx is running again.
Had to adjust the oil feed pressure to the cams as it was way to high.
Next the trip to Broadford Vic for the annual Easter Bike Bonanza around 10 hours.
Easter Saturday, bike and myself pass OK, start up and warm up for the first run in Pre 1963 racing bike class, fit colder plug all good, out onto the track and bike feels good, get onto the straight run up to 7,000 rev/min in third gear all feeling good testing brakes, all still good , slow down as there is a traffic jam at the right hander which is good as I need to make sure tyres, brakes etc are all OK, engine is pulling strong, no carbuation or igniting problems, down through the left and rights onto the short straight, Alan Cathcart roars past on a big Vee Twin (Vincent I think), OK still good, into the next right hander and front wheel when out from under me, land heavily on right shoulder, the one I broke in two places one other time I rode the Manx at Amaroo Park, result another break between the first two.
The drive home 13 hours was not so good pain wise , but I have done it before so I knew what I was up for.
Damage to the Manx was not so bad, fuel tank dents both sides, right hand foot rest ground down, exhaust pipe and mega bent and squashed, right hand handle bar destroyed.
In the very short run I had I was able to reconfirm to myself that the Manx is a lovely bike to ride .
The moral of the story and another lesson for me is too make sure the tyres are not too old and are safe to ride on .
Regards
Burgs

"The good, the bad, and the ugly"

A photo or two would be nice...

Hi
Did not get much of a chance of photos sorry.

On the bench retiming cams and ign.

A few minutes prior to the faitful moment.

Burgs

That's a really bad ending to what would have been a great day. I hope you get everything fixed again.

Yep
Tank is coming off today to be packed and sent over to Ken McIntosh (NZ) for repair.
New clip ons, new right hand foot rest, assemble spare exhaust system for re chrome and she will be like new, well almost.
New set of tyres prior to next outing.
Burgs

Sorry to hear your outing went badly Burgs.
Be careful on those new tyres, they can be worse than old tires for a few miles , but you probably know that.
I don't usually have a problem with new Avons on the lower powered bikes, but a with new Metzler on the Daytona 955i the bike went right out from under me with just the tiniest bit of throttle, starting off from the second stop and turning right. Fairing damage and wounded ego mainly.

Glen

Ouch ! Hope you heal OK Burgs.
It'll only take mere money to fix the manx...

Hi Rohan
Mending OK can now carry two Schooners, one in each hand.
Damn heavy rain and floods down our way haven't helped, had to get out and try and deflect the runoff water from enter the workshop, not much fun using a mattock with one and a bit arms.
Water beat me in the end, 50mm through the shed, sat back and had a beer.

Burgs

Aye, beer can fix about anything.
Sounds like a bit of a levee could be helpful for next time.
Divert it into the neighbours....

Burgs said:

Damn heavy rain and floods down our way haven't helped, had to get out and try and deflect the runoff water from enter the workshop, not much fun using a mattock with one and a bit arms. Water beat me in the end, 50mm through the shed, sat back and had a beer.

Click to expand...

I can relate!

Water comes off my sister's property and a muddy sheet flow traverses right where my shop doors are, on it's merry way downhill.

Now that I have relocated my garage, the very next step is to have a buddy with his "Bobcat" mini-dozer re-grade the space in between her yard and my shop doors, so as to reverse the grade to form a channel at the property line. THAT should take care of that problem once and for all...

Hi
The neighboring fence is tin and I did dam off the bottom and all was working OK until their rear fence and outlet clogged up with grass and rubbish and the resultant was a dam breach and erosion of ground under the tin fence, had a 2 m long by 100mm deep flow of water under the fence for the rest of the down pour.
Lost half of a gum tree, and son is coming over tomorrow, so long as he can get through to assist in cutting the tree up and cutting the remainder down so we can remove it, wife is not happy her, vegetable garden is under it somewhere.

By the reports around 300 mm fell in 4 to 5 hours, areas around town and further afield are still blocked off, one reported heart attack while being rescued and 3 drownings have been reported also houses washed away, so I personally have nothing to moan about at all.
Power supply is down to several thousand homes, son is not expected to get his reconnected till late next week, generator hire and sales have gone through the roof.

Shed is nearly dry rust already setting in so still work to do.

Please note note Nortons in my shed damaged in this incident .

Burgs

Burgs, you are supposed to stay upright and not lay down on the job. I suspect you didn't ride much in the early days and never experienced the old T1 Triangular Dunlops. We became conditioned to avoiding even the slightest change of mind when racing because it usually meant a crash. I haven't raced much myself in recent years, however I've noticed how poorly most guys ride in the rain these days. To me any modern tyre is the utmost in luxury, however I never take them for granted. I always sneak up on them before I give the first good hard squirt of power for them to cope with. Your Manx looks really lovely, however you should have a think about what it was really like to race one when they were the top bike. In all of the old videos, the bikes go around corners almost vertical.

Hi
I remember the old Triangular Dunlops, when I first brought the Manx back in 1972 it was fitted with them.
I converted the Manx to ride on the road, trouble with that was they wore out in the centre too quick.
When I restored it I fitted new Avon racing tyres and I could not get over how they hung on, compared to road tyres.
Next time I will try not to lay down on the job!
Burgs