1930 Sunbeam riding through the “Lake District” – England 2015

After completing the 49th Irish Rally,  Dave A. Eric A and Carl M. rode around the passes of The Lake District for a day.

 

 

1930 Sunbeam and 1929 Matchless riding through the Yorkshire Dales – England 2015

After completing the 49th Irish Rally,  Dave A. and Carl M. rode around the Yorkshire Dales.

 

 

 

 

2015 IOM Classic Races

After completing the 49th Irish Motorcycle Rally Dave A. John W. and Carl M. traveled up to Belfast and then across to the IOM to watch the last week of the IOM Classic Races and enter a couple of events with the IOM VMCC.

 

49th Irish Motorcyle Rally – Videos

Some GoPro videos taken on the 49th Irish Motorcycle Rally

 

 

49th Irish Motorcycle Rally

Well Carl, John and Dave competed in the 49th Irish Motorcycle Rally and it was every bit a challenging and enjoyable as the 46th Irish Motorcycle Rally in 2012.

Dave’s uncle Eric took out second prize in the timed Veteran section (not bad on a 1914 Scott and in his eighties), Carl ended up with a puncture on the first timed day and let the team down and was threatened with deportation.

The roads are rough and challenging and the rally organizers are kept busy assisting with keeping bikes on the road.

 

A broken lower triple clamp at the repair area ready to be dismantled and repaired

A repaired triple clamp ready for reassembly to then continue the rally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1920’s Montgomery Oil Cooled Bradshaw

 

A few more photos from the rally:

 

 

2015 UK Tour – Hawes Shakedown Runs

After arriving in Hawes Dave, John and Carl rode a few days of shakedown runs around Hawes before departing for Ireland to ride the 49th Irish Rally.

Some of Hawes scenery:

 

 

 

 

 

 

2015 Manali to Leh Highway – India and Vietnam

Due to unforeseen circumstances the 2015 Manali to Leh Highway (India) tour has been rescheduled to 2016.

John W. joined the 2015 UK Tour in Newcastle on the 18th August.

Carl M. reorganised his tour to take in a couple of days in India and a week in Vietnam, joining the 2015 UK Tour on the 18th August.

Dave A. was  in the UK when John and Carl arrived, with the 2015 UK tour starting on the 18th August.

While touring India and Vietnam Carl M. took a few photos:

Some photos from India

Some photos from Vietnam

 

2015 Manali to Leh Highway (India)

 

Well the UK 2015 Tour is on with Dave A. John W. and Carl M. flying to the UK to then travel across to Ireland for the 49th Irish Motorcycle Rally and then going on to the Isle of Man to see the last week of the Manx Classic Races after which they return to England to then tour Scotland and parts of Northern England.

John and Carl are going to the UK via India and while in India are riding a couple of Enfield Motorcycles over the Manali to Leh Highway in the Himalays. This highway is the second highest in the World with heights above sea level starting at 1950 meters in Manali traveling over 4 main mountain passes (@3980, 4890, 5079 and 5328 meters) before arriving in Leh at 3500 meters. The highway is closed (covered in snow) for around 8 months a year and is just under 500 kms long with road conditions that range from bitumen to dirt to mud to rock strewn steams/water falls across the road.

Below is a diagram/summary of the various heights/distances (the link to the original diagram is http://devilonwheels.com/places-on-manali-leh-highway-a-detailed-description/) :

 

 

Some more information in the Manali to Leh Highway can be found on these links:

http://www.dangerousroads.org/asia/india/96-leh-manali-highway-india.html

http://shoesonloose.com/5-reasons-to-take-on-a-road-trip-from-manali-to-leh/

http://devilonwheels.com/travel-guide-for-manali-leh-highway/

http://devilonwheels.com/places-on-manali-leh-highway-a-detailed-description/

http://devilonwheels.com/manali-leh-highway-status-2015/

 

So John and Carl are arriving in Delhi at around 8:30pm and by that time all the overnight buses to Manali have left so they will be catching a Taxi and driving between 12-14 hours through the night to Manali. On arrival at Manali they will be picking up two Enfield motorcycles pre-tripping them and the following morning heading off on the Manali to Leh Highway. They is no fuel, no backup and just under 500 kms of road to Leh of varying conditions, it is planned to take 3 days to reach Leh with overnight stops at Darcha and Sarchu, two nights in Leh and then return with one overnight stop at Sarchtu, overnight in Manali and then a 12-14 hours Taxi ride to Delhi.

 

In Summary

On arrival at Delhi John and Carl need find a Taxi to take them overnight to Manali

On arrival at Manali they need to find a guy that they have never met (but had an impressive web site) and who is hiring them 2 Enfield motorcycles – this guy has been part paid and may/may not be there and may/may not have bikes and if he is there and has bikes they are of unknown condition.

Ride these motorcycles around 1,000 kms over one of the highest roads in the World with no backup, the highway itself is often featured in documentaries as one of the Worlds Most Dangerous Roads.

Risks of suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness

Find another Taxi to drive 12-15 hours back to Dehli in time to catch a pre-booked flight onto the UK to arrive in time to pre-trip three vintage bikes and travel across to Ireland to compete in the 49th Irish Motorcycle Rally.

Carl is a borderline acrophobiac and hates curry

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Some you tube videos showing sections of the Manali to Leh Highway:

 

Himalaya road trip part 2 Rohtang pass BBC most dangerous road on Royal Enfield motorbikes

 

Himalaya road trip part 3 Baralacha pass challenging road with melting snow of on Enfield motorbikes

 

Himalaya road trip part 4 Lachulung pass first 5000+ in Ladakh kingdom on Royal Enfield motorbikes

 

Himalaya road trip part 5 Tanglang pass world’s second highest pass on Royal Enfield motorbikes

 

Manali to Leh Highway,  a rock slide and a guy who is a bit hard on his clutch 

 

Enfield Bullet ride from Leh to Manali, August 2013

 

 

2015 UK Tour

 

Well the UK 2015 Tour is on with Dave A. John W. and Carl M. flying to the UK to then travel across to Ireland for the 49th Irish Motorcycle Rally and then going on to the Isle of Man to see the last week of the Manx Classic Races after which they return to England to then tour Scotland and parts of Northern England.

 

Electronic Lucas Mag/Dyno Conversion

 

This post covers the modification of a Lucas mag/dyno to halls effect sensor and coil ignition, apologies to the purists out there if this modification offends you but it does eliminate magneto and timing problems forever and was developed for a rider not a show pony.

Background – magnetos produce a strong spark at high revolutions and full advance, but when retarded (for starting) and when turning over slowly they produce a weaker spark. Even when a magneto is 100% a rider is faced with ongoing maintenance adjusting point gap, timing, cleaning contact point faces and possible condenser failure. Magneto problems can be hard to diagnose and rectify, it has been said that all carburetor problems are in the magneto and all magneto problems are in the carburetor.

Carl M. has been running a modified ZE1 Magneto on a 1916 BSA K Model for 3 years with no problems whatsoever (having ridden an estimated 2-3,000 km).

This post covers the modification of a Lucas Mag/Dyno built up out of spare parts and with as much of the components hidden as possible and the external appearance mostly maintained.

The modification is essentially the same as the ZE1 modification

Electronic Magneto Conversion

The coil is hidden in a gutted dynamo body, the magneto armature is replaced with a shaft, the HT lead passing down to the magneto and through the original pickup, a manual advance and retard is retained and the only 2 electrical connections are positive and negative to the D and F terminals of the dynamo (the points cover clip at this stage needs to be changed to the longer version).

Naturally there is no longer a functioning dynamo so this is a total loss system with a 12 volt 4.2 amp/hour gel battery being only half consumed after a two day ride (this is from the BSA modified magnetos experience)

 

This is a you tube video of the modified magneto running both clockwise and anticlockwise