Here we are in Beaver Mines, Alberta, a few weeks ago.
Five of us rode from Vancouver BC to Beaver Mines (2200 kms round trip) in late June.
We had 3 Vincent twins, 1 1971 Commando and me cheating on a modern Triumph Thruxton R.
One of the Vincents had an ignition failure with a modern BTH ignition ( self generating electronic ignition)
Fortunately we were carrying a spare original Lucas Magneto and were able to install that while parked in a Restaurant parking lot about 1000 kms from home.
Joe Lucas to the rescue.
I was particularly proud of Tony Cording and his 71 Commando. Tony is 83 years old . He rebuilt the Commando stem to stern about 5 years ago using the Mick Hemmings videos for engine and gearbox. The old joke in the club is that while some people are mechanically inept, Tony takes it a step further by bring mechanically inert! Tony does at times struggle with this stuff but his Commando was perfect for the entire trip. I could not see even a hint of an oil leak and it ran beautifully.
My Thruxton R did not do quite that well.
The gauges would intermittently shut off then come on again. At a couple of fillups I could not get the estarter to work. All electrical was dead. Then it would magically come on again. I did a bit of checking and all wiring looked fine, fuses fine.
It occured that the issue might be with the ignition switch. I squirted some chain lube down the key slot, worked the key a bitand the problem instantly went away.
It seems that when riding in the rain some rain makes its way down into the vertically mounted ignition switch then corrodes things just enough to interrupt the flow of electrons.
I seem to find at least a few hours of rain on every trip so I will make some sort of waterproof cover for the ignition. That should prevent future problems.
We were staying at club member Sasha's new 7 bedroom place high up in the Rocky Mountains. Sasha bought this place with his friends in mind. Nice to have friends like that!
Each bedroom has a full bathroom attached.
It was like staying in a luxury hotel.
Glen
Five of us rode from Vancouver BC to Beaver Mines (2200 kms round trip) in late June.
We had 3 Vincent twins, 1 1971 Commando and me cheating on a modern Triumph Thruxton R.
One of the Vincents had an ignition failure with a modern BTH ignition ( self generating electronic ignition)
Fortunately we were carrying a spare original Lucas Magneto and were able to install that while parked in a Restaurant parking lot about 1000 kms from home.
Joe Lucas to the rescue.
I was particularly proud of Tony Cording and his 71 Commando. Tony is 83 years old . He rebuilt the Commando stem to stern about 5 years ago using the Mick Hemmings videos for engine and gearbox. The old joke in the club is that while some people are mechanically inept, Tony takes it a step further by bring mechanically inert! Tony does at times struggle with this stuff but his Commando was perfect for the entire trip. I could not see even a hint of an oil leak and it ran beautifully.
My Thruxton R did not do quite that well.
The gauges would intermittently shut off then come on again. At a couple of fillups I could not get the estarter to work. All electrical was dead. Then it would magically come on again. I did a bit of checking and all wiring looked fine, fuses fine.
It occured that the issue might be with the ignition switch. I squirted some chain lube down the key slot, worked the key a bitand the problem instantly went away.
It seems that when riding in the rain some rain makes its way down into the vertically mounted ignition switch then corrodes things just enough to interrupt the flow of electrons.
I seem to find at least a few hours of rain on every trip so I will make some sort of waterproof cover for the ignition. That should prevent future problems.
We were staying at club member Sasha's new 7 bedroom place high up in the Rocky Mountains. Sasha bought this place with his friends in mind. Nice to have friends like that!
Each bedroom has a full bathroom attached.
It was like staying in a luxury hotel.
Glen
