split loom NOT good for alternator wires....

had a scary experience with the stuff, had a float stick and an overflow from the ticklers and the bike caught fire when I started it hot (from a spark or maybe the pipes?)...the loom held a LOT of gas in its corrugations and burned quite well... got the fire out and all is well but it could have been ugly. FWIW have only had the bike for 10 days and there is plenty to sort out, thousands of $$$ in new parts but the prior owner hardly rode it....

Wow-whee bluto, you did luck out or are really prepped with proper tools like fire extinguisher. You can not ingnite even vaporized gasoline with a red hot blown on cigarette or embers throbbing in air flow to just turn gas to white clouds of steam.
Slightest hi temp exposure over ignition point will of course. Electric spark or white hot filament is needed.
Brit Iron is famous for decades old insulation and terminals so its a good idea to key on and jiggle-jerk wire for a pop or a spark.

My P!! ticklers drooled into the points immediately below at a gas station kick start fire flair up on pavement so I almost blew my lungs and brains out to save it.
Took 3 attempts, first 2 didn't get all the flames from below, on last barely alive attempt I started at bottom and blasted flames off to the top and it stayed out.
Then about passed out laid out for quite a few minutes like road kill.

I keep C02 gas type exhtingisher handy and plan to carry a small vintage liquid squirter on my special just in case I or others require it while easy to snuff out.

[video]http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/2602/1287955200037141179S500x500Q85.jpg[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqI-XYu5dKw[/video]

I've seen that video before. It's sad that there were that many bikes and no fire extinguisher close by

hobot said:

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqI-XYu5dKw[/video]

Click to expand...

Ouch. I feel his pain. Makes me want to cry - even though it was a Triumph motor.

yikes, scary video :shock: ....mine lit up like that down between the engine and gearbox but fortunately I spotted it early, the petcocks were off, and was able to put the fire out in a few attempts with my gloves and the split loom is now OFF my bike, this is my 9th bike but the first to catch fire...will have to look for a spark source, do remember reading elsewhere once too that exhaust pipes don't get hot enough to ignite gas. Am now even more aware of how lucky I was, no real damage and was able to ride the bike home once I calmed down a little (got a little perturbed like the guy in the video), will go shopping today for a small extinguisher for the road, already have a few in the garage.

Gasoline varies in its reported-tested ignition temp. 260-280 C / 495-536 F.
You lucked out that there was not much gas flowing and still burning in nooks that glove snuffing can't reach. 9 bikes and its a Commando you will remember most
and this is just the first date to boot!

hobot

I have been riding since before sliced bread was discovered and it always amazes me that motorcycles, traditional ones anyway with fuel tanks over engines, don't explode on a regular basis. It's a 90 degree day (F), you have been riding for 1/2 hour and finally hit the city, stop and go, you don't get out of 1st gear. Your engine oil temp is cresting 200, the cyinder head temp is over 300 and all that heat is headed straight to the bottom of the fuel tank, the vent is working overtime to release vapor pressure.

You might be tempted to think that the mere beating of a gnats wings could send you directly to hell...I 'm not convinced, intelectually, that such a scenario isn't plausible, but my Methuselah grade experience persuades me otherwise. I try to avoid cities during hot weather and I always have a "travel" size of insect killer in a pocket strapped to the handle bars :mrgreen:

RS

RoadScholar said:

I have been riding since before sliced bread was discovered and it always amazes me that motorcycles, traditional ones anyway with fuel tanks over engines, don't explode on a regular basis. It's a 90 degree day (F), you have been riding for 1/2 hour and finally hit the city, stop and go, you don't get out of 1st gear. Your engine oil temp is cresting 200, the cyinder head temp is over 300 and all that heat is headed straight to the bottom of the fuel tank, the vent is working overtime to release vapor pressure.

You might be tempted to think that the mere beating of a gnats wings could send you directly to hell...I 'm not convinced, intelectually, that such a scenario isn't plausible, but my Methuselah grade experience persuades me otherwise. I try to avoid cities during hot weather and I always have a "travel" size of insect killer in a pocket strapped to the handle bars :mrgreen:

RS

Click to expand...

Autoignition of gasoline (depending on additives) is somewhere around 500°, if the inside of your tank is that hot you have other problems.

an overdue update on this....my bike came with new plastic Amal floats that were too wide and that caused them to stick, was easily able to fix this by filing the floats down a little and no problems since

welcome to the club

if you own old bikes and drive them a lot - at some point a fuel mishap is going to happen - hopefully its just a few gallons on the garage floor - or sometimes a fire burst out - best rule of thumb - always have an extinguisher in the garage AND a smoke detector.

while you may not be able to control what goes on on the road - you'll lose a lot more when the garage fire engulfs everything there and spreads to the house

I have yet to have a bike fire, and hope I never do. I have had a truck fire. I have a 1978 Ford F-100 Short bed stepside. 351W C6 9". I did an EFI swap on it using 1996 Bronco stuff. In the process of trying to get it going, timing issues among other things. The return line from the fuel rail popped off, fuel poured down on the open headers, and whooosh flame thrower. I got the battery disconnected and ran past 7 different fire extinguishers before gabbing one and putting the fire out. Why I grabbed that extinguisher, it was the one I remembered the best. There are 2 halon ones inside the truck, I didn't grab those. When you panic at fire alot gets forgotten. Lucily not much dammage was done, mostly melted wires. I pulled the EFI stuff off and sold it. I got a nice carb setup and HEI distributor cheap. I don't like fire.

I've had Norton fires on 2 occassions and saved them in time. I've saved some road side fires not my own by having stuff on hand to help. I"m putting on a small antique brass exhtingisher on Ms Peel or use a paint ball C02 canister. Tire fill units that use small CO2 cartidges will also give a couple seconds of below freezing CO2 dry ice dust blast that may be enough if caught in time.
http://shop.ebay.com/items/antique%20ex ... 2409510214

As serious as the bike fires described were neither of them were potentially life threatining.
I'm truck driver and a year or so ago i saw an incendent at a motorway service station in South Wales (UK) that scared me half to death.
I was parked in the truck park close to the petrol pumps when a crotch rocket pulled up to the pumps to re-fuel. Like most crotch rockets the bike only had a side stand, his passenger got off while the rider stayed astride the bike to hold it upright, opened the filler cap and began to fill it up with fuel.
His passenger distracted him, the tank overflowed, fuel ran down all over the hot engine and exhaust and burst into flames.
His leathers protected him but his open visor directed the fireball straight into his face....
He leapt off and dropped the burning bike, blazing petrol from the open filler cap began to run across the forecourt towards a car parked on the other island with three kids in it (the driver was in the shop paying for her fuel)
As a driver who carries hazardous loads i'm trained to fire fight, i grabbed the two extinguishers from my truck and rushed over along with another driver to tackle the fire.
i worked on keeping the fire away fron the parked car while the other driver and a member of the garage staff tackled the bike and soon had the fire out.
Result) A burned out bike and a rider with severe facial burns....

Moral PLEASE PLEASE Don't sit astride a bike while putting fuel into it.....