Not my day

The other night I hopped on my Triumph Thruxton to go for a late night ride, start it up get it out the gate then rode off, got about 500 meters down the road and my engine warning light comes on so I turn around and head back home, next day I jump on my Norton to go to the dealers, on the way home I took off from a set of lights, all of a sudden I threw it into second then a big bang, tryed to shift gears and nothing but grinding noises, motor still going, I was in the second lane and had to dodge traffic, had no phone on me, no money and 6 miles from home, thinking I have blown the gear box (been 33 years since it was rebuilt) go to the shop where I pulled up and asked if I could use their phone and they were very helpfull.

Rang the wife to ask her to bring the trailer down and pick me up, I walk back to the bike, when I got to it I throught, what a dickhead, it had snapped the rear chain, I just didn't take any notice when I first pulled over, but the chain has rapped around the inside of the drive sproket and I can't pull it out, its jammed, so one new bike broken and my old Norton broken, at leese its not a gearbox rebuild, I have and will have a few days to be to busy to fix so have to wait till Monday.

Ashley

Look at the bright side. Nothing is injured but your pride.

Both bikes still exist. Small inconveniences.

We have all had those days.

Years ago there was one day I tried to ride to work, went thru 3 bikes before I took the truck.

Really, no ventilated crankcases, and no emergency room trips. You are going to be fine (hope the Thrux is as simple as the Nort)

Ashman, reading your post, all I could think of was to close my eyes, cover my ears and shout "LALALALALALALALA I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR THIS! LALALALALALALALA".

I am glad to hear that it seems, at least, to be minor.

Didnt you realise it was the THIRTEENTH .

actually , once you calmed down , you had a look . wouldve been like stepping on Hot Coals for a while there - so quite understandable . o.m.g. it was like , like , I mean . . . .

Triumph Hinkley engines are a dime a dozen on Ebay U S A , you could probably put a Trophy 1200 in the Triumph . .

Contact Andychain, even though he's on holiday, an emergency iwis is probably in his suitcase, ready to ship

Yep Sir each ride a leap of faith but at least the quaint Commando breaks the ice easier with new friends that road fates introduce. Everyone glad you didn't get run right over. I've had a number of chains come apart on couple bikes but never had chain wrap up just unwind on the road to stay behind or pass me like a sci fi mechanical snake as bike slowed down. Once you free chain need to determine what failed. All mine were master link let goes either by pure wear or something wedged the clip off on non rivet m-link. Hope nothing jammed the tranny shafts or snatched the life out of bushes clearances. They say bad things come in 3's so wish next in a row is rather mild too.

Yer it had to happen, the chain has been on the Norton for 4 years now since I done the rebuild and it haug on my wall for a few years before that and was on the bike long before the rebuild so I have no idea how old it is, I have 15,000 miles on it after the rebuild and god knows how many more miles it had on it before that so I think I have done well.

As for the Thruxton its only 1 year old and covered by warranty, the fault light is staying on but the motor is running, no unusual noises and reading the manual if it was something wrong with the motor the light would flash on and off and the motor wouldn't be able to start, so with any luck it will be somethink simple.

Ashley

Thruxton. Engine light comes on but still runs means the ECU went into limp mode. Just enough power to get you where you need to go. Dealer will read/reflash ECU and you'll be good to go. No oil pressure ECU shuts down engine.

Norton. A normal day. Keep those chains tentioned. I try to check each time I check the air pressure. Before each ride.

Both bikes will be fine. Just glad the chain didn't lock up and send over the handlebars. Check sprockets, loose rear axle and a new chain is in order.

Glad you are OK.

And, too, have both bikes.

Seeing the title of the post ,here was me thinking you had wiped out that Joe Hunt mag or ridden off the Storey Bridge on the way to Kangaroo Point!!!
No major damage , lets hope you get the chain out and put a new one on, not a four year old one, good that you are all (nearly ) in one piece
Regards Mike

The Story bridge, I remember in the 70s ridding across the bridge with a mate on the back of the Commando in the middle lane when I had a blow out rear tyre and had to swive to miss cars and truckes and so far from anywhere to get it fixed on a Saturday morning, but we found a one legged man working at a garage, he said I haven't done a bike tyre for years and soon had it fixed, he was so wrapped he didn't even charge me to fix if.

The Joe Hunts are a tuff bit of gear and will with stand a slide down the road and with soft mounting bolts help, but like anything you will do more damage to the rest of the bike, but the idea is not to come off in the first place.

Ashley

ashman said:

The Story bridge, I remember in the 70s ridding across the bridge with a mate on the back of the Commando in the middle lane when I had a blow out rear tyre and had to swive to miss cars and truckes and so far from anywhere to get it fixed on a Saturday morning, but we found a one legged man working at a garage, he said I haven't done a bike tyre for years and soon had it fixed, he was so wrapped he didn't even charge me to fix if.

The Joe Hunts are a tuff bit of gear and will with stand a slide down the road and with soft mounting bolts help, but like anything you will do more damage to the rest of the bike, but the idea is not to come off in the first place.

Ashley

Click to expand...

Good point. Does anyone use aluminum bolts to attach those?

concours said:

Good point. Does anyone use aluminum bolts to attach those?

Click to expand...

The unit sits pretty tight in the housing. Even with the bolt out, it require a little effort to get off. It is also suggest to drill and tap to 1/4-20.

When I was testing the #2 prototype Commando at the Motor Industries Research Association test track, I had a chain failure. We'd been running with 1/4" chain, which most folk thought was dangerous, since the Atlas had used 3/8" chan since it was first introduced.

it was a quiet Saturday morning and the only other vehicle on the banked oval was an Aston Martin. I was in the top-most lane of the banked track doing abou 95 mph, whe the engine rpm went off the clock and propulsion ceased. I managed to get off the banking before the Aston ran me over.

The engine was completely wrecked - holes in the crankcase, bits sticking out. After walking around the track, we found the chain. It turned out that the split link had bent under torque forces and had separated, The Commando went to 3/8" chain immediately.

When we looked at the instruments, the needle on the tach was bent at the end where it had hit the stop. The post-mortem concluded that the chain break at full throttle had let the revs go to about 10,000, the valves bounced and hit one of the pistons. The piston cracked and jammed in the cylinder. The con-rod tore through the piston on the down-stroke, then fell over in the crank-case and punched out through the side.

The engine made a good boat anchor - it was past any rebuilding help.

Well the Thruxton is fixed, it had a volt drop somewhere in the system and it fixed itself, the dealer reset the light and tested everything and it didn't do it again so only time will tell, now what about that chain that is still sitting on the wall :shock:

Ashley