Saturday, 11 November 2017

Battlebridge Museum Volunteers




Visit by Battlebridge Motorcycle Museum.

Usually I go of to other museums to see what they have and what they are doing but this Saturday those enthusiastic volunteers came to visit us! 28 volunteers arrived by coach at opening time. It was such fun to be with like-minded people and each adding to the others knowledge. Does it get any better? Stories about Harry, Granville, Irving, Vincent, Page and Turner kept us all talking for hours.





Being the resident LE man I was able to pass on some of my knowledge about those bikes. Would you believe I have been a member of that club for almost 50 years!!! I took my Valiant this day, as it was dry, and there are a few more fans of that little machine. I have now discovered why it is not able to pull full throttle. Have you ever seen black smoke from a small engine? Obviously too rich at the top end so now I need to resolve that issue. Carburration or exhaust or has there been the camshaft replaced with an LE one that has softer timings and lift? I’ll investigate when I do the leaking oil seals that require the engine out and on the bench.


My LE has had some work on it too with a new hollow spindle for the rear wheel. I had a clunk on the transmission that I thought was from worn drive splines. They were worn and after new splines were fitted the clunk was still there. This was because the wear on the splines had caused wear on the hollow spindle allowing movement of the wheel bearings. Now all is nicely firm and quiet too. Another littLE job done.







Doing a bit more on the Greenford Police LE I have attacked the leg shields to get them closer to the original shape. Next will be to araldite thin aluminium plates to the back of the leg shields to support the cracked bits and put some metal into the mounting bolt areas so they can be bolted on. After this a respray should make it look a bit better but still retaining some of the “battle scars” of use. I have now cleaned up and sprayed the oil filter and it is ready for fitting. I need a couple of fibre washers to finish the job.





I have been off to Falmouth and visited the Maritime Museum and discovered there are no Motorcycle Museums around there but lots of boats and ships. Cornwall has some great lanes to whizz around on but too much traffic even out of season!

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